Blackboard Student Manual

• Student manual provided by Blackboard Support

Communication

• Class emails
• Click on Communications, then select “Send Email”

• Discussion Boards
• The Discussion Board feature in Blackboard will allow for asynchronous posting and responding to forum messages. A forum is any main topic to be discussed in the course. An advantage of the Discussion Board is that conversations are logged and organized by forums. Conversations are grouped in threads that contain a main posting and all related replies. To begin working in the Discussion Board click on “Communications” in the left pane. Then select “Discussion Board.” Please note, your instructor must create a discussion forum before you are able to post discussions.
• Chat and Virtual Classroom
• Chat
• Using the Chat feature in Blackboard can be an excellent way to communicate with the others in your class.  Please note, Chat is in “real-time.” This feature uses JAVA to facilitate the interactivity seen within the chat session.
  
  You can join sessions from the “Communication” button on the navigation area.  Then select “Collaboration.” From this screen, pick the appropriate Chat tool and select “Join.”
• Time outs in Chat
• Blackboard has an Inactivity Timeout feature in Chat. This is set for 10 minutes of inactivity. If a participant in a Chat session does not respond with a post within 10 minutes of inactivity they will be prompted to launch the Chat session again. Inactivity is defined as not submitting a post. Please note that no posts will be lost and that this is a feature of Blackboard 8.0. *The University of Louisville, along with other institutions, is asking Blackboard to revise this feature.
  
  Note: It is always best to launch a Chat session a day before the first scheduled class Chat and 30 minutes prior to each chat session thereafter to ensure enough time to resolve connection issues if they arise.
• Firewall considerations
• Firewall Information Page
  
• Virtual Classroom
• Using the Virtual Classroom in Blackboard can be an excellent way to communicate with the others in your class.  It is a real-time chat with many features that allow the instructor/moderator to use websites, drawing tools and documents already residing within the course while chatting with the students in your class.  This feature uses JAVA to facilitate the interactivity seen within the chat session.
  
  You can join sessions from the “Communication” button on the navigation area.  Then select “Collaboration.” From this screen, pick the appropriate Virtual Classroom tool and select “Join.”
• Group Pages
• Group Pages allow students to communicate and share files easily when working on group projects. Instructors can create groups and enable tools like group file exchange, discussion boards and email.
  
  Group pages can be accessed from the "Communications" link in the course. If there are no groups or if you cannot access your group (group names appear as gray text), contact your instructor and request that groups be created or that you be enrolled in your group. 
  

Assignments and Exams

• Assignments
• SafeAssignments
• Taking Exams
• Checking grades