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Technology Enhanced Learning
Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Table of Contents
Add Module to Workload ........................................
Page 3
Add Colleagues to a Course ...................................
Page 6
Add Announcement.................................................
Page 8
Add Contact...................................................................
Page 11
Add Folder...............................................................
Page 13
Add Item...................................................................
Page 16
Add Web Link...........................................................
Page 20
List Staff and Students ......................................…….
Page 23
Send Email .....................................................……...
Page 25
Make Course Available...........................................
Page 28
Course Copy ..........................................................
Page 30
© Northumbria University 2015 (last updated: 14th May 2015)
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Technology Enhanced Learning
Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Points to Note
Student Preview Mode
A new feature in Blackboard is the Student
Preview mode. When this is turned on, you
will be able to view a Blackboard module as
the student sees it. To do this, go into a
module, programme site or organisation site.
On the top right of the page, you will see a
group of icons. To go into Student Preview
mode, click the left-most icon.
You will now see an orange band across the top of the screen:
You will now be viewing the site as a student.
To go back to the normal view, click Exit
Preview. You will be given several options
when you do this. Just accept the default option,
Delete the preview user and all data
(Recommended) and click Continue.
Edit Mode
Edit Mode needs to be set to ON when you
want to add new material or edit items. When
Edit Mode is switched to off, the menus which
allow you to make changes and add material
will not be available/visible. You can switch Edit
Mode on and off using the button which
appears on the top right of the screen when you
are inside a module, programme or organisation
site.
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Add Module to Workload
Before you can begin to prepare your course, you need to attach yourself to it. This could
be a module or a programme site. These will have already been created in Blackboard for
you.
Points to Note
There will be a new module site for each new year or semester. Programme sites which
are umbrella sites for course routes are permanent sites which exist across academic
years.
Remember that students are attached automatically to courses through the enrolment
process but members of staff are not.
You can attach yourself to a course on the eLearning Portal Home tab by choosing the
Add Module to Workload link in the Management Suite box. The process for adding
yourself to an organisation site is similar but is done on the Organisations tab.
Detailed Instructions
1. Go to the Management Suite on the bottom right of the eLearning Portal Home page
and click on the ‘Add Module to Workload’ link.
Courses
Check Enrolments
Add Module to Workload
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2. The Add Course to Workload page opens. Enter the module code you wish to find.
Just enter the part of the code you are sure of, for example LA0700, and click the
Go button. (If you do not know the module code, you may search by the module
name. To do this, select Course Name instead of Course ID and enter the part of
the name you are sure of, leaving the second option set to Contains.)
3. You will be presented with a list of available sites, including sites from previous years.
Click on the radio button next to your chosen site and click Submit.
4. You will now be asked to confirm you are teaching on the module. Click Submit to do this.
5. You will see a final confirmation screen stating you have enrolled. Click the OK button to
return to the eLearning portal home page. You will now see the course/module listed in
the Course List and it will also be listed in the Management Suite area on the bottom
right of the screen.
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Points to Note
There may be several variations of a module code with different endings. Please ensure
you add yourself to the correct module. One very effective way to do this is to check that
a student who you know is doing the course is listed in the module.
You may add yourself to organisation sites in a similar way. The main difference is that
you do this from the Manage Organisations section on the Organisations tab.
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Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Adding Colleagues to a Course
When you are getting your course ready, you may find that you need to add colleagues to
the course team. External staff will not be able to add themselves. You can do this via the
course link in the Management Suite box on the Home tab. You can use the same tool to
remove users from the course.
Detailed Instructions
1. On the Blackboard home page go to the Management Suite on the bottom right of the
screen. It lists all the courses on which you are enrolled as a tutor. NOTE: if the course
you require isn’t listed, you will need to add yourself to it first – see instructions on page
three of this guide.
2. Click on the course you want to add
your colleague to.
3. On the Manage Team page, click the Enrolment button.
4. If you know your colleague’s username, enter it and click Go.
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5. You will be presented with a list of matching usernames (usually only one). Click the
Submit button to go ahead and add the colleague.
6. If you don’t know your colleague’s username, you can search by family name. To do this,
select Family Name in the first search box, type the name in the third box and click Go.
7. You will be presented with a list of matches.
Click the radio button next to the username to select the person you wish to add and
click the Submit button to proceed. You will then be returned to the Manage Team
page and your colleague will now be listed as a tutor on the course. Click the Home
tab to return to the home page.
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Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Adding Announcements
The Announcements tool is used to alert students to important course-related information
such as forthcoming events. Students access their course related announcements on the
Course Home page or from the Announcements link in the course menu (if present). NOTE:
If there is no Announcements link in the course menu and you want to find out how to add
one, see separate guide ‘Add Menu Item – Create Tool Link’.
Tutors can choose to email an announcement so it goes out to all staff and students
attached to the module. The Announcements tool may be used to create an introductory
message, welcoming students to the course.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. If you are not already in the Announcements section,
click Announcements in the main course menu.
3. Click Create Announcement to begin. (N.B. make sure Edit Mode is ON)
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4. Enter a Subject for your announcement (this is required as a bare minimum) and enter
the Message.
5. There are various options you can set for your announcement. If it is a permanent
announcement, click the Not Date Restricted Duration option. If you wish to display the
announcement for a specific period, click the Date Restricted option and set the Display
After and/or Display Until options. You can set the date and time for each option by
clicking the calendar icon and time icon to the right of each box and making a selection.
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6. You can optionally email the announcement to all the students in the module by ticking
the Email Announcement check box.
7. Lastly, you can create a Course Link to a folder or item in the module by clicking the
Browse button and selecting the item from the menu which appears.
8. Click Submit to post your announcement.
9. If you wish to reposition announcements so that they appear in a specific order, float
your mouse over the announcement title. Your mouse cursor will change to a fourpointed cross-cursor. You can now drag the announcement into the desired position.
If you wish to prioritize a specific announcement by putting it to the top of the list
permanently, drag the announcement above the notice New announcements appear
below this line………. Any new announcements will then appear below it.
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Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Adding a Contact
It is recommended that you add your contact details and a photo to your courses. You can
include your office hours, phone number, office location and a short resumé.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home tab, click the link to your course in your course list.
2. Ensure Edit Mode is switched to ON (top right of the screen)
3. On the main left-hand menu, click Staff.
(This may be called Staff Information.)
4. Click Create Contact.
(You may optionally group contacts together by first creating separate folders.)
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5. Fill in the form with as much information as possible. The Email field has to be completed.
NOTE: Students appreciate information about where and when you will be available. This is
especially important for Distance Learners. Add important information in the Notes box.
6. You can optionally add a photo. If you wish to do this, please ensure the photo is 150 x
150 pixels in size. You will be able to resize your photo using the Paint application which
is available on your staff PC in the Accessories folder on the Windows start menu.
To attach an image click the Browse button to locate the image on your computer. You
can also add a link to your own website if you like using the Personal Link box.
7.
To submit your profile, click the Submit button.
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Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Add a Folder
To effectively organise your content in Blackboard, you will want to create a folder structure.
For example, in the Module Documents section, rather than having one long list of
materials, you can break this up into easier to understand sections where you can group
material using separate folders, perhaps one folder per week or per topic.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. From the main course menu, go into the content area section you wish to add a folder to,
e.g. Module Documents.
3. Ensure Edit Mode is set to ON (top-right of screen)
4. Hover your mouse over Build Content and click Content Folder in the New Page
column.
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5. Enter a name for the folder. All other information is optional, but students will find a short
piece of explanatory text useful.
6. You can leave all the Standard Options set to their default values.
Optionally, you can set date and time restrictions on the availability of the folder. To do
this, tick the Display After and/or the Display Until boxes and click on the calendar
icons and clock icons to set the restrictions.
N.B. Permit Users to View this Content must be set to Yes in addition to ticking and
setting the Date and Time Restrictions for the folder to become available for the period
you have set.
7. Click the Submit button to go ahead and create the folder.
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8. If you wish to edit the folder or delete it after you have created it, hover your mouse over
the folder name. Click the grey down arrow which will appear to the right of the name.
9. A pop-up menu will appear. If you click Edit, a form will appear a form will appear
allowing you to edit or change any of its properties. You can edit or change any of the
information or options you wish to. If you click Delete, you will be asked to confirm you
wish to proceed.
Note: If you delete a folder, you will also delete any items you have added to that folder.
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Add an item
Adding an item is a very similar process to adding a folder. Your item could be a piece of
information, a PowerPoint file, a Word document or any other type of document, for which
you could add some descriptive guidance for the students.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. From the main course menu, go into the content area section you wish to add an item to,
e.g. Module Documents. If you wish to add the item to a specific folder, click the folder
name to go into it.
3. Ensure Edit Mode is set to ON (top-right of screen)
4. Hover your mouse over Build Content and click Item in the Create column.
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5. Enter a name for the item and enter your description in the main text box.
6. To attach a file, click the Browse My Computer button. A Windows Explorer window will
open. Find the file on your computer and click Open.
7. The file will now be attached using the original file name. You may change this if you wish
by editing it in the Link Title field. To cancel the attachment, click Do not attach.
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8. You can leave all the Standard Options set to their default values.
Optionally, you can set date and time restrictions on the availability of the item. To do this,
tick the Display After and/or the Display Until boxes and click on the calendar icons and
clock icons to set the restrictions.
N.B. Permit Users to View this Content must be set to Yes in addition to ticking and
setting the Date and Time Restrictions for the item to become available for the period
you have set.
9. Click the Submit button to go ahead and create the item.
10.If you wish to edit the item or delete it after you have created it, hover your mouse over
the item name. Click the grey down arrow which will appear to the right of the name.
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11. A pop-up menu will appear. If you click Edit, a form will appear allowing you to edit or
change any of its properties. If you click Delete, you will be asked to confirm you wish to
proceed.
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Add a Web Link
It is easy to add links to external websites or perhaps videos available on sites like Youtube.
N.B. Do not try to add links to other courses in Blackboard.
Detailed Instructions
1. Open a new tab or window in your web browser and navigate to the website you want to
use.
2. Select the address and right-click to select copy
3. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
4. From the main course menu, go into the content area section you wish to add a folder to,
e.g. Module Documents.
5. Ensure Edit Mode is set to ON (top-right of screen)
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6. Hover your mouse over Build Content and click Web Link in the Create column.
7. Enter a name for the link, then right-click in the URL box and select Paste. The address
should be the complete address including http://
All the other fields are optional. You can add a description if appropriate and you can
attach a file by clicking the Browse My Computer button.
8. By default, the web link is set to open in a new window. This should be left set to open in
a new window to avoid problems with security settings in some web browsers.
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9. You can leave all the Standard Options set to their default values.
Optionally, you can set date and time restrictions on the availability of the web link. To do
this, tick the Display After and/or the Display Until boxes and click on the calendar
icons and clock icons to set the restrictions.
N.B. Permit Users to View this Content must be set to Yes in addition to ticking and
setting the Date and Time Restrictions for the item to become available for the period
you have set.
10. Click Submit to post the web link.
11. If you wish to edit the web link or delete it after you have created it, hover your mouse
over the web link name. A grey down arrow will appear to the right of the name.
12. If you select Edit, a form will appear allowing you to edit
or change any of its properties. If you select Delete you
will be asked for confirmation.
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List Staff and Students
Use this to see a complete list of all students and staff members enrolled on a specific
course/module.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. In the COURSE MANAGEMENT section of the main left-hand
menu, click on Users and Groups. If you cannot see
Users and Groups or the other menu items, click on
Control Panel to expand the menu.
3. From the sub-menu which appears, click Users.
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4. You will see a list of users in alphabetical order by surname.
5. To search for a specific user, use the Search boxes. The simplest way to do this is to
change the Not blank option to Contains and then search by either Username if you
know it, or by First Name or Last Name. Click Go to start the search.
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Send Email
The Send Email tool provides a very useful way of sending students information without
them needing to log in to the eLearning portal. Tutors can send an email to all users
attached to the course, both staff and students. They can also select users or groups of
users as the recipients of the email.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. From the Control Panel, select Course Tools, then Send Email.
Expand the menus if necessary by clicking Control Panel, then
Course Tools.
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3. Click on one of the listed options,
e.g. All Student Users.
4. Enter a Subject and a Message. Click the Return Receipt checkbox if you would like an
email confirming which recipients were sent the email.
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5. If you wish to attach a file, click Attach a file.
6. Now click Choose file and browse to the file on your computer. When you have found it,
select it by clicking the file name and then clicking Open.
7. Click Submit to send the email.
8. A confirmation of who the email was sent to will appear at the top of the screen.
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Make your course available to students
Once you have set your course up and you are ready to release it to the students, you will
need to set the course as available. Until you do this, students will see the course listed on
their Blackboard home page but it will be greyed out and they will not be able to access it.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the required course in your Course List.
2. In the COURSE MANAGEMENT section of
the main menu, click Customisation to
expand the menu and click Properties.
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3. In SET AVAILABILITY, click Yes to make the course available to students.
4. Finally, click the Submit button. The course will now be available to students. The (not
currently available) notice will no longer appear under the course title.
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Staff Help Guide – Getting Started with Blackboard
Course Copy
Course Copy enables you to re-use the material from a previous year’s course in the
course site for the current year without having to re-upload every item separately. You can
select which areas of the course you want to copy and re-use tests and surveys.
Points to Note
Before you can do a course copy, you will need to have added yourself to both the
course you are copying from and the course you are copying to.
Detailed Instructions
1. From the Home page, click on the link to the course you want to copy from in your
Course List.
2. In the COURSE MANAGEMENT section of
the main menu, click Packages and Utilities
to expand the menu and select Course Copy.
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3. The Course Copy page appears. Firstly, select the destination course you want to copy
to by clicking the Browse button.
4. From the list of your courses, click the radio button next to the course you wish to copy to.
Now click the Submit button. You may have to scroll to the bottom of the window to find
the Submit button.
5. If you have a large number of courses, you can search for the destination course. Enter
the part of the code you are sure of into the search box and click the Search by Course
ID radio button. Now click the Search button.
You will be given a list of matching courses. Select the correct one and click the Submit
button.
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6. There are several sections on the Copy Course page which let you select the material
you want to copy across. There are several sections on this page.
7. Content Areas
These are the sections, like Module Documents, which contain the materials you have
added. If you wish to copy everything across, check the Content Areas box. Alternatively,
you can opt to copy specific areas across by checking the boxes for them individually.
Points to Note
Material like Word documents, PowerPoint files etc. which have been added to
the Assignments section will be copied across. However, tests and surveys
which have been added there will require additional settings to be made. This
will be covered in the next section. Turnitin assignments cannot be copied
successfully and must be set up from scratch in your new course. If an old
Turnitin assignment appears in your new site, just delete it.
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8. Select any of the boxes below. However, it is not recommended to select any of the
Settings.
If you have Adaptive Release
Rules that contain user criteria,
If you have
these criteria will not be copied
because they will not be relevant
to the new students.
You may copy across
Discussion Boards with
their structures and settings
but the messages will not be
copied across.
The only one of the Settings you need
to set is Banner Image if you use a
custom banner and you wish to copy it
across. Leave all the other settings
unchecked.
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9. Tests and Surveys – a special note
If you wish to copy tests and surveys you have created and set up in the old site to the
new site so that the tests and surveys are made available in the new course in the same
content area/s, for example Assignments, with the same test settings, there are three
separate items you will need to set.
They are:
a) The content area they are in
b) Grade Centre Columns and Settings
c) Tests, Surveys and Pools
So to copy across a test you have in the Assignments section of your source course and
make it available with the same feedback options and other settings, check the following
boxes:
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10. FILE ATTACHMENTS
Copy links and copies of the content (include entire course home folder) copies
everything across, including all files in the content collection of the original site, whether
or not they have been deployed. If in doubt. Use this third option.
Copy links and copies of the content results in only the files which are in use in the
original site being copied. There may be files in the content collection of the original site
which have never been deployed.
It is recommended that you do not select the Copy links to Course Files option. If you
do this, the files will remain in the content collection of the original course and any
changes to the files will need to be made in the original site.
11. Click submit to proceed with the course copy. You will see a confirmation that the
course copy is underway. There may be a short delay before the copy is completed and
the material appears in the destination course. You will also receive a system-generated
email confirming the course copy has been completed.
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