blackboard for the first time


Welcome to the Blackboard support page for First Time Blackboard Instructors. This is for faculty new to UPS, or for current faculty who have not used Blackboard before. Read this page first to get an idea of the basic procedure for getting started with Blackboard, and for where to find more detailed information.

What is Blackboard ?

Blackboard is courseware - web based software that is an online extension of the classroom. It can contain syllabi, readings, assignments, links and other information that you may post to it.

  • Blackboard is optional. You may or may not use it in a course, or use it in some courses but not others.
  • You will have to inform your students in class of the name of the Blackboard course, and tell them how to enroll in the course.

The fundamental metaphor inside Blackboard mimics that of a traditional classroom: the user with the role of Instructor organizes and presents the information, and users with the role of Student access the information. There is also some limited support for group activities and discussion boards. Blackboard works well for such basic information presentation.

For other learning and class styles, you should consider extending your courses with other software, such as online forums, wikis, blogs, tagging sites, and other technologies known collectively as "social software." Contact Randy Thornton for more information about those.


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How to get started

The basic procedure to get started is to follow these two steps:

  1. Follow the instructions to Create an Account in Blackboard
  2. Contact Randy Thornton (or x2540) to have your Instructor status verified, have your account granted the ability to create courses, and set up a time for an initial session for getting familiar with Bb and setting up your courses


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What to do next

  • For the most commonly asked questions, visit the main Blackboard for Instructors web page.
  • For common student questions, visit the Student's Getting Started with Blackboard page.
  • Once set up in Blackboard, you can enroll in the course Blackboard 101 which is a support site filled with information on how to do add content, manage your users, configure your course, and other topics. (To do this, on the Courses tab, search for "Blackboard 101", and an enroll request will be made to add you to the course.)

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If you used Blackboard elsewhere

If you are new to UPS, but have used Blackboard for teaching before, you may find some differences. Mainly, certain administrative items are not done automatically for you. At Puget Sound:

  • All users create their own accounts
  • Instructors create their own courses
  • Students enroll themselves in those courses
Much of the information in the main Blackboard Support FAQ is about dealing with these issues. This is because the course and enrollment information in Blackboard is not connected in any way with the actual Registrar database for the enrollments in courses. We are currently in the process of evaluating new courseware which will solve these issues by integrating Registrar data in our courseware.


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