1	Student Blackboard Orientation
2	Technology Requirements Minimum Hardware Requirements: 400 Megahertz Intel Pentium III Processor (933 preferred) 64 Megabytes RAM (128 or more preferred) 6-Gigabyte Hard Drive 56.6 Kbps Modem (or Cable Modem / DSL if available) Internet Service Provider (other than AOL) Email account (all registered TU students have Email and Blackboard accounts) JAVA Compliant Web Browser
3	Blackboard Login The following screen is the first screen that you will see when you log on to Blackboard. The address is http://bb.thomasu.edu This is the address that you will use each time that you access your classes. Maybe you will want to add it to “favorites” as a shortcut.
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5	Login After you click the login button, you will get the next screen. Here you will enter your login name and password that is your first name last name with no space between. Then you will click the login button again.
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7	Courses you are taking This will take you to a page that is different from mine. Where mine says courses you are teaching, yours will say courses you are taking. All the courses that you are taking should be listed on this page. Please let me know if you have more than you are supposed to be enrolled in for this semester.
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9	Courses You have two choices to go into your courses page. On the welcome page the courses that you are enrolled in are listed. There is also a courses button across the top of the page under the Thomas University logo. If you click on that tab it will take you to the following page where you can search for and enroll in other courses.
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11	To Enroll in a Course Click on category your course is in. A list of all courses in that area opens If there is an enroll button on the right You can click it to enroll. It will take you into the course.
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13	Enter the course After you enroll or when you click on one of the courses in your list that you are taking it opens to this next screen. Note the menu buttons on the left to navigate around in the course. You may notice that all the example slides do not have the same color buttons. That is because the instructor can choose the designs they prefer. If they happen to be different it may help you keep straight which course you are working in at the time.
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15	Announcements From this page you can read the current announcements. You can also access tools and check your calendar from this page. The first tool that you want to access will be personal information.
16	Tools From this page you will use tools frequently to check your calendar, check your grades or change your personal information. It looks like the following screen.
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18	Name / password / e-mail The first thing you should do is change your password and enter your correct e-mail address. You can check the email address by clicking the Personal Information button. This is where you can alter the name you use but not your user name. You can add a phone number for the instructor to be able to contact you.
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20	Personal Information Clicking on the personal information button will take you to the previous page where you can edit personal information, or change your password. You can also set your CD Rom Drive and your privacy options on this page. Use your back button to return to this page after you have set your personal information and password.
21	Back to navigating Choose one of the courses that you are taking and click on the link to that course. It will take you to the following page.
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23	Getting around This is the page that I use most often to get around in Blackboard. I like the menu buttons on the side of the page. Here you have your Announcements, your Course Information, Staff Information,Course Documents, Assignments, External Links and Tools all on one page. Some courses will have discussion board as a left menu button. If you don’t see it there it will be under Communication.
24	Announcements You should notice the tabs across the top of the announcement listed here. There is a view today,view last seven days, view last 30 days and a view all. I use the view all so I can see all the announcements that have been posted. They are posted from the bottom up so that the top one is always the most current, unless there is a permanent one and it comes right after that one.
25	Back Button Remember you can use your back button to return to the page that you just left. Also on some of the pages, especially when you get into assignments you will notice text links across the top that take you to the top and back into the folder that you previously had entered.
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27	Course Documents Under Course Documents, you will find additional information that will help you understand what the objectives are for each section and the course as a whole.
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29	Assignments The assignments will be broken down by either chapters or weeks and will include all the information necessary for completing course work. These will vary from course to course depending on the materials used in the course.
30	Communications Under Communications you can send an email or enter the discussion boards.
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32	Discussion Boards These are forums that are to be used for discussing items just like you would in class except that you are doing it online. Please read the assignments so you know which ones are to be sent to the instructor and which ones are to be posted in the Discussion Boards.
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34	External Links External Links will always include other sites that supplement the course. Sometimes the assignment will call for you to look at the link, and sometimes the instructor has included the information for you to peruse at your leisure.
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36	Changing courses You will notice a text link right above the Announcement tab on the left that says courses. This will take you out of the course that you are in and will take you back to the list of courses that you are enrolled in. This is an easy way to change classes. If you have questions about the course content contact your professor. If you can not get logged in to Blackboard email pash@thomasu.edu.