Assumption College Blackboard Support

Blackboard > Blackboard Support > Tools: Course Site Overview

Course Site Overview

What you need to know

OK, there are three things that you need to know. The Navigation Path, the Course Menu, and the Content frame.

The Navigation path is like a cookie trail. It's where you've been and it's how you get back. Instead of hitting the browser back button you can just click on a segment in the path. For example: COURSES > BLACKBOARD TEST COURSE - CHENG > COMMUNICATIONS > COLLABORATION >LAUNCH LIGHTWEIGHT CHAT. So I want to get back to Courses, but I don't want to hit back a million times. I simply click on the courses link and I'm there!

The Course Menu is a listing of all the content areas and tools. It will be very useful in your ventures.

The content frame displays the Web pages accessed through the buttons and the navigation paths.

What are all the different areas?

There are several areas in Blackboard. The names are customizable by the Instructor or the System Administrator.

• Announcements: these are posted timely information critical to the courses success. They are usually in the Main Frame when you open the course you want to view.
• Staff Information: provides background about the professor as well as contact information. Might be called Office Hours, Faculty Information, Teachers...
• Content Areas: These areas contains a variety of information such as course information, like the syllabus and course objectives. Also, course documents may be posted here, such as lecture notes. Instructors may group content by topic, date, or type of content. So you might have a links for handouts and homework or Week 1, Week 2,... depending on how your instructor organizes the content.
• Assignments: the instructor can post assignments and due dates can be modified. They can view attached files given by the professor or submit assignments for their classes. This might be a separate area, or the instructor might include assignments in another content area.
• Communication: This contains a variety of tools. It allows users to send and receive email, read and post messages to Discussion Boards. You can enter the virtual classroom, view student rosters, and group pages.
• External Links: Instructors may add extra links to help foster learning and aid in studies.
• Tools: these are tools you can you in the course web site. They include: Digital Drop Box, Edit home Page, Personal Information, Calendar, View Grades, Student Manual, Tasks, Electronic Blackboard, and Address Book.
• Resources: gets you to the Blackboard Resource Center.
• Course Map: allows you to navigate through Blackboard.