Welcome to the Blackboard e-Education Suite™! The Blackboard Learning System offers a robust set of tools, functions, and features for learning. Besides the features that are included as part of the Blackboard Learning System, there are numerous additional tools that can be added to Blackboard Learning System as Blackboard System Extensions.
The Blackboard Learning System (Release 6) Student Manual details the tools and functions included with the platform from the Student or general user perspective. Other Blackboard manuals detail the construction, customization, and management features that Instructors and Administrators use to build an impressive education environment on the Blackboard Learning System.
The flexibility of the Blackboard Learning System means that not all the tools and functions that are available are documented in this manual. Blackboard System Extensions allow System Administrators to add a variety of materials, tools, and functions to Blackboard Learning System. Individual System Extensions are not documented in this manual. For assistance with a System Extension, please contact your System Administrator. In addition, the tools and functions that are documented in this manual may not be available to users or only available in certain areas of the platform because Administrators and Instructors can customize the availability of most aspects of the Blackboard Learning System. Finally, some tools and functions may appear differently in the Blackboard Learning System than the examples in this manual because System Administrators and Instructors can customize the name and appearance of many aspects of the Blackboard Learning System.
The Blackboard 6 e-Education Suite™ includes:
· Blackboard Learning System™ (Release 6)
· Blackboard Learning System - Basic Edition™ (Release 6)
· Blackboard Learning and Community Portal System™ (Release 6)
· Blackboard Learning System - ML™
For most users, it is only important to know what Blackboard products are in use when determining if a particular function is available.
This document does not provide information on Blackboard Learning System – ML.
The Blackboard Learning System Student Manual begins by introducing the Blackboard Learning System. The second section of the manual is dedicated to the course Web site environment and the final section provides a review of the Blackboard Learning System common areas and advanced Portal features.
To make this manual easier to use a number of conventions appear throughout. These conventions are detailed in the table below.
|
Symbol |
Description |
|
[r] |
Required field |
|
Bold type |
A button or field name. |
|
Courier font |
Text that users should type. |
|
Steps |
Tasks users should perform. |
This manual is best read as a reference, rather than as a book to be read from cover to cover. If the manual is viewed online, the embedded links enable the reader to navigate quickly through topics and follow the same workflows that appear in the software. For readers that prefer to print out and read a paper copy of the manual, refer to the table of contents to locate topics that are referenced in the text.
Please note that the Blackboard Learning System Student Manual is updated periodically. The HTML version available through the Student Manual feature and at http://behind.blackboard.com/ is always up-to-date. Also, the Behind the Blackboard Web site includes the most current versions of the user manuals in PDF format for those who would like to print a hard copy.
To report any comments or suggestions regarding this manual, please contact Blackboard Technical Support.
To find out which Blackboard product you are using contact your System Administrator.
The Blackboard Learning System delivers a complete course management system. Within the Blackboard Learning System environment navigation is simple with a header frame that includes images and buttons customized by the institution and tabs that navigate to the different common areas.
The Blackboard Gateway page welcomes users and provides an access point to the Blackboard Learning System. It should be noted that some institutions may choose to skip the Gateway page entirely and allow users to login through a function on the header frame.
This part of the Blackboard Learning System Student Manual includes the following chapters:
· Chapter 1 - Welcome to the Blackboard Learning System
· Chapter 2 - Blackboard Platform Gateway