Contents Page Contents Page... 1 Accessing Blackboard On-Campus... 2 Accessing Blackboard Off-Campus... 2 Course Homepage... 4 Navigation Menu... 5 Checking Your Grades... 6 My Blackboard... 7 Need More Help?... 8 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 1
Blackboard Introduction Before you can use Blackboard you need a Blackboard account. A Blackboard account is created for all students enrolled in a paper or unit which uses Blackboard. SIT2LRN students will be informed by email or letter when your username and password have been set up prior to the start of your course. Onsite students will be given these details by their tutor. Onsite student s details are the same as their network login. Your username is your Student ID number. Accessing Blackboard On-Campus Open an internet browser window and you will be on the MySIT site click on the Blackboard icon on the right hand side of screen. You will be automatically logged in. Accessing Blackboard Off-Campus Open an internet browser window and type my.sit.ac.nz into the address bar. You will be asked to log in here using the username and password supplied to you. Once you have logged in here you need to click on the Blackboard icon on right hand side of the screen to be directed to the home page in Blackboard. On your first login to Blackboard you will see this: You can click on Close to view the main homepage to which you will be directed to every time you click on the Blackboard icon from now on. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 2
In the My Courses section in the centre of the page you will find a list of the courses that you are enrolled in and also a programme info page. Click on the course title to display the home page for that course. The programme info pages contain general information about your programme and this is also where you will find the survey at the end of the year. In the My Community Groups section you will see Student Services, you will also find a link to this course from within your enrolled courses. This contains a lot of helpful materials and resources for the duration of your study, including a few other Blackboard manuals. In the right column you will see a summary of the most recent announcements made within your courses and also a list of tasks that may be pending in your courses. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 3
Course Homepage Once you have clicked on the link to the selected course, you will automatically be redirected to the Courses tab and the Overview page. The Overview page contains useful information on how to access files and submit assessments on Blackboard and will also display any new announcements. It provides a quick snapshot of what is happening in the course. The bulk of the materials you will need are found in the other menu options on the left of the screen. Click each of these to see what your instructor has uploaded for you to view. The Student Services menu option will take you to another course which contains all the information you need about the services available to you for the duration of your study and it also contains a number of useful study resources and Blackboard help manuals. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 4
Navigation Menu The navigation menu consists of the series of links located along the left side of the screen. This menu can be expanded or collapsed as shown below. Selecting any of the links on the navigation menu will take you to that corresponding area of the course. If you cannot see this menu at all you may have accidentally hidden it. You should then see a grey bar and arrow where the menu should be, click on the arrow to display the menu. Note: Not all menu items are shown in each Blackboard Course. Menu Item Announcements Contacts Course Information Course Materials Assessments Student Services Discussion Board Description Announcements are short messages that apply to the whole course group. They are predominantly posted by instructors on your course. Provides staff information posted by your facilitator as well as other useful contacts. Provides a way to locate all the information about the course. This should include at least the course outline and link to the calendar. Holds the majority of information for the course such as lectures, handouts, readings and other related materials. Contains course assignments, tests, quizzes, and surveys required for the course. This menu option will take you to another course which contains all the information you need about the services available to you for the duration of your study and it also contains a number of useful study resources and Blackboard help manuals. Displays any discussion board forums your instructor created. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 5
Checking Your Grades Grades can be viewed by clicking on the My Grades Link on the Home page of Blackboard, or Clicking Tools on menu within a course and then My Grades. The other way is clicking on the arrow on the top right hand side of the Blackboard screen beside your name. They all take you into the following screens OR Select the course/unit you want to see the grades for. On this page you can sort by all courses or graded assessments. Your results will show on the right hand side of the screen along with any feedback that your instructor has made. You can view your attempt by clicking on the assessment title on the right hand panel above. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 6
My Blackboard This chart explains the function of the other buttons in the My Blackboard section. Icon Description Click on the portrait icon, from here you can: Specify how you want your name displayed. State what you are studying. Say a bit about yourself if you want to. Set your privacy options. Import from Facebook/Twitter. After you have finished editing your profile, click the Save Edits button on the bottom OR top right of the page. The Blackboard overview will show you: Recently graded assignments/tests. Messages people have sent you. Recent posts made to any discussion board that you have access to. This shows a list of posts that are made on discussion threads of courses you are enrolled in. Click on the post and it will open up on the right hand side of your screen. You can also see other people s comments on your post. This lists the course and System Announcements. If there are new announcements, it will show with the number of new announcements in a red box. This icon will take you to the calendar where you can add events. Click Get External Calendar Link button on the bottom left to link this calendar with other software so you can view and update your schedule from anywhere. This is a directory of other students, facilitators etc. From here you can view each other s profiles, message them and post on their walls. 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 7
Need More Help? There are a number useful instructional booklets available on the Student Services Blackboard site, these include but are not limited to: Assessment submission instructions Discussion Board instructions Online test instructions Learning resources Essay Writing tips If you cannot find the answer to your question in any of these booklets please contact helpdesk@sit.ac.nz or 0800 748 435 2015 Southern Institute of Technology 8