New to Blackboard? Or need a refresher on how to use some of the functions of Blackboard? This section can help you:

	Blackboard Tutorials
	Create a discussion board forum
	Manage group spaces
	Use the Gradebook functions
	Assignment Feature

Blackboard Tutorials
If you are just getting started with Blackboard, you may want to begin with these brief online tutorials that can get you started quickly and easily. Topics include:

• Review of the Control Panel
• Enabling and Disabling Your Course Site

For your students:

• Student Blackboard Overview

Creating a Discussion Board Forum
The Discussion Board tool in Blackboard is a communication tool that allows for asynchronous discussion on any class topic. Unlike the Virtual Chat tool, you and your students do not need to be present at the same time to communicate online. An additional advantage of the Discussion Board is that student conversations are logged and organized. Conversations are grouped into threads that contain a main posting and related responses.

To create a Discussion Forum:

1. Log into your course and click the Communication button
2. Click the Discussion Board button
3. Click the Add Forum button
4. Create a forum name in the Title field
5. Create a description of the forum in the Description field
6. In the Forum Settings field select any of the following options:
• allow or disallow the ability for your students to post anonymously
• allow or disallow the ability for your students to edit a message once it has been posted
• allow or disallow the ability for a student to remove a message once it has been posted
• allow or disallow file attachments
• allow or disallow the creation of new threads by your students (meaning that they can create new topic messages within the forum)
7. Click the Submit button

Managing Groups
Within Blackboard you have the ability to organize your students into groups for group project assignments. You can designate each group with certain functionality, such as a group discussion board, a group virtual chat (collaboration) space, and a File Exchange section, allowing your students to submit files for review by other group members.

To organize your students into groups, do the following:

1. Log into your course site and click the Control Panel button
2. Under the User Management heading, click the Group Pages link
3. Click the Add Group button
4. In the Name and Description fields, type the appropriate information for the first group
5. Scroll down to the Group Options section
6. Select the functionality you wish the group members to have access to:
• Group Discussion Board : Each group can have its own Discussion Board for asynchronous communication. If you wish to have your students use the Group Discussion Board feature, you must create a Discussion Forum within the group space
• Group Virtual Classroom : Each group can have its own Virtual Chat space for synchronous communication
• Group File Exchange : Each group can have its own space for sharing files. This features works in much the same manner as the Digital DropBox
• Group Email : Each group can have its own Group Email functionality, allowing group members to send a group e-mail message all group members at once
7. Click the Submit button
8. Click OK

Repeat steps 3 thru 8 to create group space for the rest of your groups. Once you are finished creating group space for all of your groups, use the following steps to add students to each group:

1. Click the Modify button to the right of your first group
2. Click the Add Users to Group link
3. Click the Search button
4. A list of enrolled students will appear. Place a checkmark in the box to the left of each student you wish to add to the group.
5. Click the Submit button
6. Click OK

Repeat steps 1 thru 6 for the remainder of your groups.

Creating a Group Discussion Forum
To create a Discussion Forum in a group, do the following:

1. Log into your course and click the Communication button
2. Click the Group Pages button
3. Click on the link to a group
4. Click the Group Discussion Board link
5. Click the Add Forum button
6. Create a forum name in the Title field
7. Create a description of the forum in the Description field
8. In the Forum Settings field select any of the following options:
• allow or disallow the ability for your students to post anonymously
• allow or disallow the ability for your students to edit a message once it has been posted
• allow or disallow the ability for a student to remove a message once it has been posted
• allow or disallow file attachments
• allow or disallow the creation of new threads by your students (meaning that they can create new topic messages within the forum)
9. Click the Submit button

Repeat steps 1 thru 9 for the remainder of your groups.

Using the Gradebook
You have the ability to store student grades within your Blackboard course sites. The Gradebook feature allows you to create entries based on each assignment and assessment, weight grades according to pre-determined values, and display grades to students in either numeric or letter values.

Students can view their grades within the My Grades section of Tools . Students can only see their own grades, although they can see a Class Average for each particular Gradebook item.

Adding New Gradebook Items
To create an entry in your gradebook for storing values for an assignment or assessment, do the following:

1. Proceed to your Control Panel and click the Gradebook link
2. Click the Add Item button
3. In the Item Name field type the appropriate name of the assignment
4. In the Category field click the drop-down menu and select a category for the assignment.
   NOTE: This step is only necessary if the grades will later be weighted by category
5. In the Description field type any necessary descriptive information about the assignment.
6. In the Date field select the appropriate date that the assignment is due (or the date when the assignment was announced)
7. In the Points Possible field type the maximum number of points possible for the assignment

Setting Possible Points
Be sure to set points possible upon creation of the item – you can not go back and edit it after you have posted student grade data as it will not recalculate the student grades based on a new points possible amount

1. In the Display As field click the drop-down menu and select how the graded value will be displayed to the student. You have the following options:
• Complete/Incomplete: Displays the grade as the nominal values Complete or Incomplete. Assignments designated Complete receive the maximum Points Possible value. Incomplete assignments will receive a value of zero
• Letter: Displays the grade using the standard A,B,C,D or F model. The grade, if calculated as a percentage, will display as an A if the percentage is between 100 - 91%, B if the percentage is between 90 - 81%, etc.
• Percentage: Displays the grade as the percentage out of a total value of 100
• Score: Displays the grade as a numerical value between 0 and the total number of "Points Possible" as selected in the previous step
• Text: Displays the grade as a string of instructor assignable text up to 8 characters long
2. For the Make item available to users option select Yes if you wish to allow your students to view their grades for this assignment
3. For the Include item in Gradebook score calculations option select Yes if you wish for this gradebook item to be included in the final grade calculations
4. Click the Submit button

Entering Grades

1. From within your Gradebook, click the link to your assignment (which is located in the top row of the gradebook spreadsheet)
2. Click the Item Grade List link
3. Under the Grade column heading, enter a numeric value for each student's grade. You can press the Tab key on your keyboard to move down from field to field
   NOTE: You can only enter numeric values into the gradebook. If you wish to have numeric values displayed as a letter grade to students, you still must enter a numeric value into your gradebook. Blackboard will make the conversion to a letter grade based on pre-determined conversion values
4. Once all numeric grade values are entered, click the Submit button

Removing Unwanted Grade Items

1. From within your Gradebook click the Manage Items button
2. Next to the item you wish to remove, click the Remove button
3. Click OK to verify that you wish to remove the item
4. Click OK to return to the Gradebook

Weighting Grades by Individual Items

1. From within your Gradebook click the Weight Grades button
2. Select the Weight by Item option
3. Enter a percentage value for each gradebook item in the text box to the right of the entry
   NOTE: The sum of the percentage values must equal 100%
4. Click the Submit button

Weighting Grades by Category

1. From within your Gradebook click the Weight Grades button.
2. Select the Weight by Category option
3. Enter a percentage value for each gradebook item in the text box to the right of the entry
   NOTE: The sum of the values of the percentages must equal 100%.
4. Click the Submit button

Editing Letter Grade Values

1. From within your Gradebook click the Gradebook Settings button.
2. Click the Manage Display Options link
3. Click the Manage button to the right of the Letter option
4. Enter the percentage values into the appropriate fields for converting numeric values to letter grades for your students
5. Click the Submit button

Assignment Feature
As an Instructor

Entering your Exam/Assignment

1. Go to the Control Panel of your course
2. Go into any Content Area (Course Documents, etc.)
3. From the far right drop down box, choose Assignment and then “Go”
4. Give your Assignment a Name
5. Choose a points possible
1. You must choose points possible because it gets entered into the Gradebook. 
2. Many professors enter 100 points in this box
6. Give any special instructions you might have
7. Attach the file you wish (typically this is the exam itself)
8. Choose any Options for availability and/or date restrictions
9. Submit your Assignment/Exam
10. NOTE:  you might want to include an announcement to ensure students can find the Assignment/Exam easily
11. NOTE:  Do not put spaces or special characters in your file names.  Please keep the file names in this format thisIsMyExam.doc to ensure it will not be corrupted by Internet Explorer.

Finding the timestamp/giving a grade:

1. Once a student has downloaded and re-uploaded (see below for process) the assignment (or exam) it will appear in the Gradebook.
2. To access this, do the following:
1. Go to the Control Panel of your course
2. Go to Gradebook
3. Find the Column with the Name you gave the Assignment
4. Click on the exclamation point (!) in the row of the individual listed to see more information and give a grade
3. This is where you will see when it was last submitted

Assignment Feature
As an Student

1. Go to your course in Blackboard
2. Find the Assignment (typically in Course Documents or via an Announcement)
3. Click on the link of that Assignment Item (>> View/Complete Assignment: ___)
4. Click on Assignment Files (Name Upload) to save the exam to your computer
5. When complete - Go back to this same area
6. Enter any comments you might have
7. Attach the file (or files) you wish to include as your completed Assignment/Exam
8. Hit Submit
9. You are done.
10. NOTE: Do not put spaces or special characters in your file names. Please keep the file names in this format thisIsMyExam.doc to ensure it will not be corrupted by Internet Explorer.