Blackboard

Think of Blackboard as a portal to courses and course resources at UAA. For the CRS Certificate Program, it is the student's first step in participating in classes, accessing required readings, communicating with classmates, turning in assignments, and monitoring grades. It is a web-based system, meaning that it's easily accessible for people using either PCs or Macs and needs only an internet connection. The following information describes some of the more commonly used features of Blackboard.

Course Content and Navigation

Your course in Blackboard contains all the content and tools for the course that have been enabled by your instructor and the system administrator. The course areas you can access appear in the course menu in the frame on the left of all course pages. The appearence of your course may differ from the standard setup shown below.

Announcements	Course updates, reminders, general announcements are displayed here. The announcement area is usually the first page you see when you enter your Blackboard course.
Course Information	General information about the course - the syllabus is typically placed here.
Staff Information	Instructor and staff information (e.g., contact info, office hours, personal web site) is posted in this area.
Course Documents	Course outlines, handouts, lecture materials, and readings are usually posted here. The syllabus may also be posted here.
Assignments	Assignments and assessments (i.e., quizzes & surveys) are typically located in this section.
Communication	Send Email, Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, Roster, and Group Pages are linked to from here.
External Links	Links to web sites that are related to the course are provided in this area.
Tools	Digital Drop Box, Edit Your Homepage, Personal Information, Calendar, Check Grade, Manual, Tasks, Electric Blackboard, and Address Book are linked to from here. Can also be labeled Tools or User Tools.
Course Map	A site map of the course contents

Elluminate Live! (E-Live)

Elluminate Live! (eLive) is UAA's web meeting tool that is available for any type of distance activity - be it a course or meeting. Used primarily in teaching distance education courses, eLive use is beginning to be used as a way to bridge distance and campus courses, have special guests at the state and national level, hold virtual office hours and bring together colleagues from all over the US and world. One-page white paper on "eLive at UAA" (PDF file). The E-Live software is distributed to CRS Certificate students prior to their first online course meeting.

If you are new to eLive, you'll need a headset. The UAA Bookstore has basic ones available. Windows users will need a headset while Mac users, at a minimum, will just need headphones. Want a guide to the tools? Print out the
Student Quick Reference (PDF file).

In learning about eLive, there are always three options:

Contact Chris Sturm in eMedia, 786.4463 or anjcs@uaa.alaska.edu
contact Call Center for quick questions, 786.4646, option 1, option 1 or CallCenter@uaa.alaska.edu

Some best first steps to take with eLive is to utilize the talk feature as well as the interactive whiteboard, application sharing and recording/archiving of sessions. This and more are covered in a Getting-started "video" (17 minutes long and uses Java).

Discussion Board

The Discussion Board is a forum for communication comprised of a topic and threads of replies from your classmates and instructor.

Enter the Discussion Board section of your course.
Click on the forum title, read the description if one is provided.
Click on any underlined link to view the text of the discussion.
Click the Reply button to open a text editor window and compose your reply.
Click Submit when ready to post.

Location of Discussion Board

Look for a button called Discussion Board in your course navigation bard, or find it under Communication > Discussion Boards

For a more detailed explanation of Discussion Boards please see Discussion Board Forums from the Blackboard User Manual.

Email - Forward your UAA Email

All email from Blackboard is sent to your UAA Email Address. If you have another email address you can set a forward on your UAA email.

Login to your UAA computer account at http://username.uaa.alaska.edu
Type your preferred email address in the field titled "Forward UAA Mail to this address"
Click Update
Logout

Animated demo of how to forward your UAA email

Important Note - After you have set a forward on your UAA email account your UAA email messages will be forwarded. Messages will no longer arrive in your UAA email inbox after you have set a forward on your UAA email account.

Email - Send email within your Blackboard course

You can send an email to your course instructor or classmates. Email will be sent to the persons UAA email address.

Step 1 Open a Course.

Step 2 Click Communication on the Course Menu.

Step 3 Click Send Email .

The Send Email tool allows you to send a message to anyone in your course. It does not save sent messages or provide a spell check.

File Types - Common Document Formats in Blackboard

Your course in Blackboard may have several different types of documents and files such as Word (.doc) and Adobe (.pdf). For many courses you will only need Microsoft Word and Adobe Reader. If your course contains other types of documents and files the computer you are using will need to have the appropriate software and plugins to view the files. Software, plugins and other requirements

You can determine which type of file you are working with by looking at the file extension (the .doc part of My UAA Screen in Blackboard 6.doc , for example).