Overview
Tutorial Overview
This tutorial is designed to provide you with an overview on how to use Shippensburg University's Blackboard Enterprise Course Management System. The Blackboard system allows for greater access to course materials and provides the opportunity for communication outside the classroom in a virtual online environment. This tutorial will take you through the process of initially acquiring your email username and through using the basic features in the Blackboard Enterprise Course Management System.
Please note that your professor has complete control over the content placed in your Blackboard Course Shell (class site). Your professor will indicate how often you should check Blackboard and what content will be made available in Blackboard. Some information that you might find in the Blackboard course shell may include:
- Announcements
- Syllabus
- Discussion Questions
- Quizes or Exams
- Instructor Information such as office hours and her/his phone number
- Course Content: PowerPoint files, class notes, short videos and/or external links
Using this Tutorial
We suggest completing each section of the tutorial as follows:
- Read each section,
- View the video if available.
- Perform the action in your own browser window (if applicable).
Basic Skills
You should have the following basic skills before using Blackboard:
- Download/Upload files from the Internet using a web browser and save them to your hard or thumb (flash) drive.
- Use/Complete an online form.
If you need assistance learning the skills listed above please contact the student workers at the InfoTech Courtyard located on the first floor of Lehman Library behind the Reference Desk.
System Requirements and Recommendations:
- A telephone connection (56K or better), DSL or cable modem
- A computer that minimally has 64 MB RAM, 1 G of free disk space and is 150 MHz or higher
- We recommend using Internet Explorer (PC) 5.0 or higher and Apple Safari 1.1 (MAC) with the Blackboard Course Management System. (Note: Javascript, Java and Cookies should be enabled)
- The Java plug-in which is used for the Collaboration Tools
- Your Shippensburg University student email account
- You may need the following plug-ins: Quicktime, Shockwave, Flash, Authorware, Real Networks RealPlayer, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office Converter and Viewers
- We also recommend that you have anti-virus software installed on your computer because you will be sharing files with others.
- Associated Programs: Word Processing and Spreadsheet programs (if required by your instructor)