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Getting Started with Blackboard at Penn -- Students

This document is intended to help you get up and running with Blackboard. It covers the following topics:

• access
• software requirements
• navigational tools
• and available support

Blackboard is a web-based application that allows your instructors to post course-related content and provides tools for easy communication among participants in the course. Popular uses for it at Penn are posting announcements, storing electronic reserves and other course readings and hosting online discussions. When you sign up for a course with a Blackboard site, you're automatically given access to it you need only your PennKey and password to access it. You can find information about PennKey on the PennKey Frequently Asked Questions page: http://www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey/help/faq.html

Note: Senior Associates, course auditors and visiting students are not automatically enrolled in course sites. Access must be provided by your instructors.

A computer with an Internet connection, plus the following software:

Penn-supported browser with basic plug-ins (Adobe Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, Media Player, etc.). More info about Penn-supported software, including a complete list of supported products is at http://www.upenn.edu/computing/product/;

An office software suite with word processor, spreadsheet, etc. (e.g., Microsoft Office) is strongly recommended.

Accessing your courses

The address for Blackboard is http://courseweb.library.upenn.edu. Login using your PennKey username and password.

When you've logged in, you'll see a screen similar the image on the right.

Penn Courseweb serves as your homepage when you're in Blackboard. Tab-style navigation to both this and "Courses" remain visible at all times, providing you with a quick way back to the homepage.

The Penn Courseweb page's features include a set of configuration tools and two content modules, "My Announcements" and "My Courses." The first module aggregates recent announcements posted in your courses. (Access announcements older than seven days by clicking the "more " text link.) "My Courses" is simply a list of hyperlinks into the courses you're participating in.

If your e-mail address isn't set to your preferred e-mail address, messages sent by your instructor won't reach you. To check or set your e-mail address: under Tools, click Personal Information > Edit Personal Information. Your current address appears in E-mail; if you make changes to it, be sure to save them by clicking the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

Courses includes instructor names along with links into courses, as well as a Course Catalog, which is a compilation of all Blackboard course sites created within the past year.

A logout button appears in the blue field at the top of your screen. Please remember to click this when you're done working in Blackboard, especially when at a public computer!

Although the number, labels and color of navigation buttons may vary, you'll always encounter a similar navigational structure in your Blackboard course sites: a series of buttons stacked along the left-hand side of the page (see image below); a content area taking up the bulk of the screen; tab-style links described above along the top.

Navigational buttons along the left side of the screen link into the core areas of Blackboard: content, communication, and personal information management.

Library electronic reserve materials are stored in Course Documents. E-reserves are in Adobe PDF format, so you will need the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view them. You may obtain this software from either the Penn Connect CD or the Penn Computing website (http://www.upenn.edu/computing/product/) (note that you'll need a PennKey to download software from this site).

Tip: You may occasionally run into difficulty when trying to print PDF documents. Although the reasons for such problems vary, you can often fix the problem by selecting the option "Print as image" in the print dialog box.

Communication includes the course Discussion Board, Group Pages, Roster, Virtual Classroom, as well as an interface for sending e-mail. These tools enable you to continue class discussions beyond the classroom. Note: only your instructor can create new discussion board forums. If you wish to utilize discussion boards, please ask s/he to create one.

Tools includes "Digital Drop Box" and "Check Grade." The Drop Box allows you to upload files to a space accessible only by your instructor. Your instructor will advise you as to whether s/he will use these tools.

For quick answers, see our FAQ at http://faq.library.upenn.edu/recordList?action=&library=blackboard.

PennKey and software configuration issues should be directed to your Local Support Provider (LSP). See http://www.upenn.edu/computing/view/support/student.html to find out who your support contact is.

For questions not addressed in our FAQ: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/bb.

Library's "Need Help?" page: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/

Penn Online Research Tutorial: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/PORT/