Getting Started with Blackboard for Students
Blackboard address: https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk
- Accessing Blackboard
- Logging into Blackboard
- New users to Blackboard
- Managing your account
- Enrolling onto your course
- Working with Blackboard
- Downloading and Printing Files from Blackboard
- How to take a Test using Blackboard
- How to Post to a Blackboard Discussion Board
- How to submit an assignment through the TurnItInUK Plagiarism Detection Service
- How to submit an assignment using Blackboard's assignment submission feature
- How to view Blackboard assignment results
- How to send and receive files using the Digital Dropbox
- How to access a Group Area in Blackboard.
- How to use Blogs in your Blackboard course.
- How to use Wikis in your Blackboard course.
- How to Search Blackboard.
- How to use Podcasts in your Blackboard course.
- How to mark Blackboard course content as "Reviewed".
- How to Remove old courses from your My Courses list.
- Frequently Asked Questions for Blackboard
- Help and Support
- Additional Resources
Accessing Blackboard
Blackboard is a web based online learning platform that may be used to support some or all of the modules you are studying. You can access it using a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.
The web address for Blackboard is https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk
Logging into Blackboard
Click on the Login button and enter your iSolutions username and password. This is the username and password that you would use to login to an iSolutions Public Workstation or to check your email.
New users to Blackboard
Please note that once you have subscribed to iSolutions services you will be able to use Blackboard the following day.
Managing your account
Remember to click on Logout when you have finished using Blackboard. The button is always situated along the top of the screen.
Enrolling onto your course
Blackboard uses separate course areas to store course content. To access a course it is necessary to enrol onto it. In some cases this will happen automatically and in others you will need to enrol yourself onto the course. Read the information below to find out what to do in either case.
Automatic Enrolment on regular (Banner) courses
You should be automatically enrolled on any Blackboard versions of Banner courses that are available. Banner courses are the course modules that you signed up to through the online enrolment process. "Banner" is the name given to the central database which holds your course enrolment details and is maintained by Student Services.
An example list of banner courses
You can check which courses you are enrolled on via the SUSSED Portal http://www.sussed.soton.ac.uk.
Blackboard synchronises this information every night. If you make a change to your banner record any relevant changes (such as selecting a module) will be carried over the following day to Blackboard.
It may also be possible to self-enrol onto your Blackboard course if the instructor has allowed for this.Note: There are a number of reasons why your course may not appear in Blackboard, please read this part of the student FAQ for more infomation before contacting the ServiceLine.
Self Enrolment onto "Arbitrary" courses
There may be times when you are asked to enrol yourself onto a Blackboard course. Often these are courses which are for whole year groups, for special activities, or to cover several modules within one course. Usually you will be required to enrol yourself onto the course using an access code. You will also need to know the Course Name or the Course ID of the course. Below are instructions for enrolling yourself onto a course.
Once you are logged into Blackboard, follow these instructions enrol onto your course.
- Click on the Courses tab along the top of the screen.
- Type the Course Name into the Course Search box and click Go or press the Enter key.
- Your course should be found. You will not be able to access the coures until you have enrolled onto it. Click on Enrol.
- Follow the instructions on screen. You may be asked for the Access Code.
- Once you have entered the code click on the Submit button below or press Enter. You will now be enrolled on the course. Click on OK and you will be taken to the course.
Once you have enrolled onto a course using the above procedure, you will not need to do so again. To access the course click on the link to it in the My Courses box on the right of the My Institution area.
If you have difficulty accessing a course, due to not knowing an access code or Course Name / Course ID please contact the tutor responsible, who will be able to provide these details.
Working with Blackboard
- Downloading and Printing Files from Blackboard
- Use this guide to learn how to save or print files from Blackboard which your tutor has put online.
- How to take a Test using Blackboard
- This guide covers how to take a test in Blackboard and explains the different types of questions you may encounter.
- How to Post to a Blackboard Discussion Board
- Read this guide to find out how to post messages to a discussion board.
- How to submit an assignment through the TurnItIn Plagiarism Detection Service
- These pages describe how to submit an assignment through TurnItInUK PDS.
- How to submit an assignment using Blackboard's assignment submission feature
- This guide provides instructions on using Blackboard's assignment feature to submit an assignment.
- How to view Blackboard assignment results
- This page describes how to access your assignment results, this is for assignments submitted using the process illustrated in the web page linked to above.
- How to send and receive files using the Digital Dropbox.
- Instructions covering how to send and receive files using Blackboard's "Digital Dropbox".
- How to access a Group Area in Blackboard.
- This guide explains how to access a group area that your instructor may have set up on your Blackboard course.
- How to use Blogs in your Blackboard Course.
- This guide explains how to use Blogs that have been set up in your Blackboard course.
- How to use Wikis in your Blackboard Course.
- This guide explains how to use Wikis that have been set up in your Blackboard course.
- How to search Blackboard.
- This guide explains how to search Blackboard.
- How to use Podcasts in your Blackboard Course.
- This guide explains how to use Podcasts that have been set up in your Blackboard course.
- How to mark Blackboard course content as "Reviewed".
- This guide describes how you can mark content as "reviewed" provided this feature has been enabled for particular content items.
- How to Remove old courses from your My Courses list.
- This guide explains how to hide old courses (e.g. courses from previous years) from your My Courses list.
- Frequently Asked Questions for Blackboard
- Please read through this list of frequently asked questions before sending any Blackboard queries to the ServiceLine.
- Back to contents
Help and Support
If you require support with Blackboard please contact the ServiceLine.
Additional Resources
Please note: items listed here are suggested as a supplementary material. While we think these resources are useful, iSolutions is not responsible for the content. Some information may not apply to our local environment.
- LATEU Student Blackboard guides are interactive powerpoint tutorials introducing how to register and other useful topics. The guides are available from http://www.elearning.soton.ac.uk/students.htm
- Information about Blackboard and Accessibility for example use of screen readers with Blackboard can be found on Blackboard's website at: http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx.
- If you find that you are unable to view Office documents that have been placed on Blackboard and you do not have Microsoft Office software on the computer that you are using, you can download Microsoft's viewers from Microsoft's website.
- If you find that you cannot view .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files you can download the reader freely from Adobe's website.
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