Blackboard FAQ
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Gaining Access to Your Blackboard Sites FAQ
- How do I get a Blackboard site for my unit of study?
- How can I add other lecturers or tutors to a Blackboard site?
- How do I get a Faculty computer account?
- I've forgotten my Faculty username or password; what do I do?
- Can I request multiple Blackboard sites for streamed units of study?
Other Frequently Asked Questions
- I have a new Blackboard site - how do I modify it?
- Why can't students see my Blackboard site?
- Why can't students see some of the materials in my Blackboard site?
- Why can't students post to the Discussion Board in my Blackboard site?
- Can I require students to submit assessments electronically?
- How are Blackboard announcements ordered and how can I change them?
- How can I make sure that the correct marks are allocated to the correct student when I upload grades into the gradebook?
- How do I get copyright clearance to post my teaching resources on Blackboard?
Gaining Access to Your Blackboard Sites FAQ
How do I get a Blackboard site for my unit of study?
If you are a coordinator for a unit of study in the Faculty of Economics & Business you can have an online Blackboard site to accompany your unit. To gain access to your Blackboard site you simply log in to the Online Application to Activate Form, and select the desired unit code from the list in Step 1.
You should receive notification from the Faculty IT Helpdesk that you have access to your site within 1 working day.
Once your site is available for building it will appear in Step 2 on the Online Application to Activate Form.
Adding other lecturers and tutors to your Blackboard sites
You can add other staff members to your site by logging in to the Online Application to Activate Form. Click on the Add Tutors link next to your site in Step 2.
NOTE: All staff members must have a Faculty computer account before they can be added to a Blackboard Site (see Getting a Faculty Computer Account below).
How do I get a Faculty computer account?
Staff can only access Blackboard site after they have received a Faculty computer account. You can find the Request for Computer Account (RCA) form on the IT Forms page. You should receive information about your Faculty account within 3 working days of the RCA form being submitted to Faculty IT (Fax: x14662).
I've forgotten my Faculty username or password; what do I do?
If you have forgotten your Faculty username or password the Faculty IT Helpdesk can assist you. For more details please contact:
Faculty IT Helpdesk
Room 118 of building H69
Phone: (02) 9351 5409
Email: helpdesk@econ.usyd.edu.au
Can I request multiple Blackboard sites for streamed units of study?
Occasionally large units of study are broken into a number of separate streams for teaching purposes. In these cases, coordinators may wish to have a separate site for each stream in the unit. To arrange streamed units with Blackboard sites you will need to have the permission of your Head of Discipline. Streamed sites can be arranged by contacting the Faculty IT Helpdesk (x15409, helpdesk@econ.usyd.edu.au) once permission from the Head of Discipline has been granted.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
I have a new Blackboard site - how do I modify it?
Download and follow the instructions on how to Modify your Blackboard Site Template (
74Kb).
Why can't students see my Blackboard site?
If students cannot see your Blackboard site, the chances are that the site has not yet been released to students. You can see if a site is released to students by logging into Blackboard. Once you login you should see a list of sites you have access to on the right hand side of the screen. If your site is unavailable you should see '(unavailable)' to the right of your site title as below:
If your site is unavailable, you can release the site to students by using the Online Site Request Form. Follow the instructions on the page to get the site to stage 3 and activated.
Why can't students see some of the materials in my Blackboard site?
It is easy to upload content into a site and forget to reveal this content to students. If students cannot access content that you have uploaded, it could be because one of the menu item buttons on the left of your Blackboard site has not been revealed to students.
For instance, I have added content to the Resources area of my site (by navigating to the Resources area via the Control Panel and uploading some files). However, when I look at my homepage – the Resources button is not there! (See below).
For students and yourself to see the Resources menu item on the homepage you must reveal the button using these simple steps:
- Go to your Blackboard site
- Click on the Control Panel
- Choose 'Manage Course Menu' from the Course Options
- To the far right of the Resource button click the 'Modify' button
- Check the box next to 'Available for Student/Participant users'
- Hit the 'Submit' button, then click OK on the next screen
The same applies to any of the menu item buttons that are displayed down the left hand side of your Blackboard site. You (and your students) should now see the button ‘revealed’ as below:
If the above does not solve your problem, please contact the:
eLearning Helpdesk
Phone: (02) 9036 6433
Email: elearning@econ.usyd.edu.au
Why can't students post to the Discussion Board in my Blackboard site?
You can add a Discussion Board to a Blackboard site, but unless you add Forums to the Discussion Board, no one will be able to post anything. Below is what appears to students in you have not added a forum to your Discussion Board:
To add a Forum to your Discussion Board, follow the simple instructions below:
- From the homepage, click the 'Discussions' button
- Click on the 'Add Forum' button
- Give the forum a title (e.g. Questions about Assignment 1) and a brief description. The description is a good place to outline what kind of messages should (and should not) be posted to this forum. Select your desired settings. Please see the "Setting up & managing a Discussion Board" guide on the Blackboard Guides page for more detailed information about the settings
- Click the 'Submit' button
How are Blackboard announcements ordered and how can I change them?
Announcements are in order of permanence (ie. Permanent vs non-permanent) then chronological order, so if you have a permanent announcement it will always appear above any non-permanent announcements regardless of how recent they are. Permanent announcements are also in chronological order, so the newest permanent announcements are at the top followed by older permanents, then newer non-permanents then older non-permanents. If you want to change the order, you can make permanent announcements non-permanent, or you can remove them and repost them. There's no other way to re-order announcements.
How can I make sure that the correct marks are allocated to the correct student when I upload grades into the gradebook?
There are differences between how Blackboard and MS Excel sort students by name. Due to these differences, when you upload a spreadsheet of grades into the gradebook for a large class you may find that the grades are allocated against the wrong student.
There is an MS Excel file which you can use to re-sort your own spreadsheets to ensure that your grades are matched against the correct student. This file is accessible via the eLearning Studio in Blackboard.
- Log into Blackboard
- Click on eLearning Studio under “Courses in which you are enrolled” (if you cannot see this file listed, please contact Faculty IT to request access to this course)
- Select “Library” from the lefthand menu
- Open the “Practical Resources” folder
- Open the “Downloads & Plugins for Bb” folder which contains the “Upload grades to Gradebook” file
- Click on the “UploadMarksToBlackBoard13.xls” link and save the file to your computer in an easy to remember location.
- Navigate to where the file has been saved and open it
- Select “enable macros”
- Follow the instructions within the file to upload your grades correctly
How do I get copyright clearance to post my teaching resources on Blackboard?
Refer to the Copyright Policy page.