Getting Started With Blackboard

Getting started with Blackboard takes you through a few of the most common tasks as you begin using Blackboard with your courses.

Adding a Profile Picture

Students may choose to add a profile picture to their account at any time. Profile photos are displayed next to your name in a variety of places within your courses in Blackboard, including the class list, discussion boards, blogs, etc. To add a profile picture

  1. Click on your name in the upper right corner near the logout button and then click on the Settings and then Personal Information.

  2. On the next page, select Personalize My Settings and browse your computer to upload your profile image. Images must be valid GIF/PNG/JPG files, less than five megabytes in size, and at least 50x50 pixels in dimension.

Students are encouraged to post a profile picture within Blackboard and all photos must be appropriate in nature. Inappropriate photos should be reported to the OIT Service Desk.

Screenshot of Blackboard header menu. Outline of a person followed by a name, a red box with 19 in white text inside of it with a drop down arrow, and the power button icon. There is a pink arrow pointing to the user's name.

Locate Your Courses

The standard naming convention for courses is as follows:

ACCT101-03-20XX-09

  • The first four letters indicate the department (ACCT)

  • The next three or four numbers indicate the course number (101)

  • The next two numbers indicate the course section (03). Sometimes there will be an "L" after this number. This usually indicates a lab.

  • The next four numbers indicate the year (20XX)

  • The last two numbers indicate the semester the course is offered (09 indicated Fall, 01 indicates Spring, and 06 indicates Summer)

Sending Email & Accessing Grades

Once you have entered a course you can email your professor or other students in the class and access your grades by clicking on the Tools link in the course navigation on the left side of the screen. On the Tools screen, look for either of these items:

Screenshot of My Grades icon. The icon is a paper with a pencil on top of it.To the right is text that reads My Grades. Below that is text that reads Displays detailed information about your grades.
Icon of a white envelope with an arrow with text next to it that says Send Email. Underneath, the text says Send email messages to different types of users, system roles, and groups.

Submitting an Assignment

If your professor uses the assignments feature within Blackboard to collect written assignments from students, you will need to follow the instructions below to upload your submission.

  1. Within your course, locate the Course Materials area (it may be named differently depending on the course).

  2. Locate the assignment that you are working on. You will see the icon to the right to signify it is an assignment.

  3. Click on the title of the assignment to go to the submission screen.

  4. Submit your document based on the instructions and write any necessary comments for the professor and click Submit.

Note: For long documents it is best to attach the submission, not to copy and paste the document into the submission text box.

An assignment icon that looks like a white page with lines on it and the upper right corner folded down.
When using educational technology tools, be FERPA aware. To learn more, visit the Registrar's FERPA Guidelines site.