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Blackboard Access Guide

Which best describes your access problem?

Typical access problems fit into one of the three following scenarios. Click on the one best describing the problem you're experiencing:

1. You cannot access the Blackboard server at all (i.e., http://courseweb.library.upenn.edu/ does not respond);
2. Blackboard does not recognize your User ID and Password;
3. Blackboard does not show your courses.

If none of the above describes the problem you're experiencing, view Other Areas to Troubleshoot, below.

A Brief Overview of Blackboard Accounts

To sign on to Blackboard you will use either your PennKey or a Blackboard-only username beginning with "bb-" (e.g., bb-jdoe). Most accounts are based on PennKey; "bb-" type accounts are provided only to those with no PennKey but who have a need to access Blackboard.

If you are a registered student in a course using Blackboard and have a valid PennKey, you will automatically be given access to Blackboard. You will have access approximately 24 hours after registering (or making changes to your schedule--for example, into another section of the same course). Full information about PennKeys and the policies regarding them can be found at http://www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey/.

Instructors and TAs are not automatically given access to Blackboard. When an instructor or TA requests a course, she or he is added to the course by a Blackboard administrator. Additional instructors, TA’s or course builders can be added into the course by either the primary instructor, a TA or a Blackboard administrator.

If http://courseweb.library.upenn.edu does not respond

If you cannot access Blackboard's login page (but can access other Internet sites) the problem is likely one of the following: a power outage on campus; a Blackboard server outage; a library network outage. If this is the case:

• Check http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bb for information. Support staff will post a status message when a server outage is reported and will also estimate the anticipated duration of the outage.
• If no information about the outage appears, please notify Blackboard administrators by using the following form: http://www.library.upenn.edu/forms/bb-gethelp.html.

A mailing list is maintained (Bb-Announce) for those who would like notification of events affecting the availability of Blackboard. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this list online. This list will be used to notify subscribers of planned and unplanned Blackboard server downtime.

When Blackboard does not recognize your User ID and Password

Login failure indicates Blackboard has no record of a User ID and Password matching those you've entered. Please select your status:

• Registered Penn student, faculty or staff member with a valid PennKey & password
• Senior Associate
• Guest lecturer (no PennKey)
• Visiting student or faculty

If you enter your PennKey and password and receive the following message:

This message means your PennKey and password are valid, which is good news; the bad news is that your PennKey information hasn't yet been input into Blackboard. The reason for this is likley one of the following:

• Updates to course site rosters occur overnight--if the Blackboard course you need access to was added today, you will not have access until tomorrow morning.
• Changes you make to your course schedule through Penn InTouch take from 24 to 48 hours to be reflected in Blackboard's records. If you've just added a class to your schedule, try logging in again tomorrow morning after the system has updated.
• Not all courses use Blackboard. Verify that your instructor has a Blackboard site.

Otherwise check for the following:

• Are you using your PennKey and password when attempting to login? Blackboard access is based on PennKey authentication.
• To test whether or not you are using a valid PennKey and password, login to the following site to view your Penn Card photo: https://galaxy.isc-seo.upenn.edu:7778/ws/pc_photo.
• If you unable to access your photo, there is a problem with your PennKey and/or password. If this is the case, you need to either create a PennKey or to reset your password.

If none of the above applies to you, please use our Blackboard Support Form to report your problem.

Senior Associates do not have automatic access to Blackboard, but they may request a Blackboard account for the course they are taking. Follow this link to request a Blackboard account. Alternatively, a Senior Associate can ask the instructor of the course s/he is attending to create an account. Please note: any Blackboard user accounts which are not based on PennKey will work for logging into the Blackboard server only.

Guest lecturers can be given temporary Blackboard accounts, which will remain valid for the duration of the semester unless other arrangements are agreed to. To request an account, please follow this link.

Students from other institutions who are taking a course at Penn which uses Blackboard may request a temporary account. This account will expire at the end of the semester. To request a Blackboard account, click here.

If you don't see your courses under My Courses on main Blackboard page

If you successfully login to Blackboard and see either no course(s) listed, only your old course(s) listed or not the course(s) you're looking for, the access problem is likely due to one of the following:

• Blackboard does not yet have a record of your enrollment in the course in question. Registrar information takes 24-48 hours from time of enrollment (not counting weekend days) to be reflected in Blackboard;
• The instructor of the course you're looking for is not using Blackboard (i.e., not every course uses Blackboard).

NOTE: If you've suddenly lost access to a course you're registered in, please notify the Blackboard Support group using the Support Request Form.

Other areas to troubleshoot

What browser are you using?

• Make sure that you are using a recent, supported version of Netscape or Internet Explorer. A .pdf listing of Blackboard compatible and Blackboard "Certified" browsers can be found here.
• Do not use the AOL Browser.
• If AOL is your Internet Service Provider, use the AOL Browser to log in. Then minimize the AOL Browser, and use Netscape or Internet Explorer to access Blackboard. The AOL Browser does not give dependable results in accessing either Blackboard or the Library Proxy Server.

Make sure you're going to the correct website

Blackboard at Penn is available at: http://courseweb.library.upenn.edu. Links to a previous website will not work.

Use PennInTouch (https://sentry.isc.upenn.edu/intouch/) to verify that you are enrolled in the course

Note that there is a delay of 1-2 business days after you register for a new course or section.

Verify that you have a valid PennKey username and password by viewing your photo on the web (see above)

If you can login and see your PennCard picture, then your PennKey username and password are correct. If you cannot login to see your PennCard picture, then you don't know your PennKey password. You'll need to re-establish your PennKey password. Visit the official PennKey website for instructions.

Check simple things

Check that your caps-lock key isn't on. On a public computer, make sure the previous user has logged out (see instructions for Logging Out).

Report the problem

If you still cannot access Blackboard, report your difficulties at http://www.library.upenn.edu/forms/bb-gethelp.html.