Blackboard Instructor Wiki for Staff

Getting Started with Blackboard

From BbInstructorWiki

This page is designed as a quick introduction for staff new to the BLE (Blackboard), or those who just want a refresher. Blue chunks of text below are hyperlinks to other pages you may find useful.

Please note: in Blackboard terminology, a single module is known as a course. Where we use the term course below, we mean your Blackboard module shell (rather than a whole programme of study). As Birkbeck generally uses the term module, we have tried to be consistent with this in menus and student-facing information.

Also note: if you don't yet have access to the Blackboard course for a module you are teaching, please contact your departmental admin team who can arrange this for you via SITS - please see the Enrolling Instructors page for details.

Also note: as well as modules, department and programme -level areas are also available on the BLE - please contact us if you wish to use one. We also create custom areas for purposes which don't neatly fit with module, programme or departmental groupings.

The Standard Template - 2011/12

Most Birkbeck BLE module shells are created from a standard template. A few departments also use custom templates which look a bit different, however most of the information below is still applicable/useful.

The template menu is the same as in 2010/1 and provides a basic set of content areas and tools, grouped into three sections. As part of the template you will find some support information and the Past Exam Paper Search tool (this automatically finds exams with the same module code but you can also use it to do a keyword search - for more information please see this document. There are also six empty groups set up in the template course - if you want to make use of the groups functionality of Blackboard, you can add your students to any of these and rename them if you wish.

Section 1 - Administration
- This section contains the Announcements and Staff Information tools and a 'content area' (where you can upload files) called Module Information.
- These top menu items should enable students starting a module to orient themselves, find key information (e.g. module outline, important dates) and as the module progresses, keep up to date with any current/breaking information that can be fed via the Announcements.

Section 2 - Learning and Assessment
- By default this section contains two content areas entitled Learning Materials (renamed from 'Course Materials') and Assignments.

Section 3 - Communication
- By default this part of the menu consists of the Discussion Board and Email tools. Please note that students can use the email tool to send messages to individuals, groups, or the whole class. If you remove the tool from the menu they will lose access to the email function but staff can still use it via the Control Panel.
- Here you could also add any other tools you want to use for communication and collaboration, such as Blogs or Wikis.

This template design has partly been based on student feedback requesting more consistency across modules but is not intended to be overly prescriptive. As indicated above you can add any extra menu items (additional content areas or tool links) or remove/rename any of the current ones.

If you are not sure how to add extra tools or content areas to your course menu, please read the Course Options section in the Bb instructor manual (see especially the info on Manage course menu).