What is Blackboard
Blackboard (Bb) is the University’s Virtual Learning Environment, providing an electronic space for staff and students to interact. It is designed to provide a dedicated site for every module. One of the fundamental principles of Blackboard is members of staff are able to take full ownership of their sites. The freedom to make Bb sites match the way the module is delivered, building folders, creating content areas and even changing the design without having to call on a system administrator.
“What can I do with Blackboard?”
Blackboard provides a well-structured environment to make course materials available to students.
However, it is capable of far more, including:
- Links to external resources
- Discussion Forums
- Tools for creating and monitoring online assessments
- Collaborative areas for groups of students with communication and file sharing facilities
- Student online submission of work
- Wikis
- Blogs
- Embedding multimedia content
Key concepts and terminology
Site
In Blackboard the site is the basic building block of the system. It is an area to support the delivery of a programme of study to an identified group of students. At the University of Lincoln, a Blackboard site will automatically be set up for each module. Additional sites exist at programme and subject level, and can be made available to students as required.
Instructor
Each site can have any number of designated instructors. These are members of staff who have the administrative rights to manage the site, post learning materials, enrol users, monitor student performance, etc.
An instructor can also assign this role to another member of staff, without calling on a system administrator. Instructors cannot remove other instructors, only system administrators have the necessary permissions.
Community
In addition to module, programme and subject sites, Blackboard provides Community sites. This enables the creation of an interactive area for example for student societies and committees.
“Where can I find out more?”
Bb is available at http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk.You can log in using your network username and password. Begin by browsing the system and familiarising yourself with the standard features and layout. For further help and guidance, click on the Help & Support tab for support materials and contact details, or email helpdesk@lincoln.ac.uk.