Faculty Information

Getting a Login Name/Password

When you join Saint Xavier University, you receive a username and password for Blackboard. If you have problem logging into your account on Blackboard, e-mail cat@sxu.edu

Adding Faculty Information

You can add your information from "Control Panel > Staff Information". You can also add information regarding teaching assistants and other staffs from the same tab.

Adding Course Information

Course information usually consists of a syllabus and other learning units like exercise, tutorials, demonstrations, simulations etc. To add these to your course, use "Control Panel > Course Information" and select "Add Item" or "Add Learning Unit" as required.

Adding Course Documents

Course documents usually contain materials relevant to the course, like lecture notes and learning units that you find useful.

Adding course documents is similar to adding Course Information. Use "Control Panel > Course Documents" and select "Add Item", "Add Folder" or "Add Learning Unit" as necessary.

Enrolling Students

You can add new users to the course from Add User tab in "Control Panel > User Management" section.

Using Digital Dropbox

Digital Dropbox is one of the effective ways of sending files to the students. Use "Control Panel > Digital Dropbox". You have an option of adding the file to the dropbox for later use, or sending the file directly.

Just adding files to the dropbox does not send it to your student. This option is useful as it allows you a place to actually save your file, like a repository, and then work on it at later time from anywhere. You don't need floppy disks or Zip drives and it is highly unlikely to fail.

To send the file to your student(s), you have to select the Send File tab in Digital Dropbox. If the file is in your Dropbox, you can give the filename, otherwise you can browse to your local hard drive and select it to send to your student(s).

Announcements

You can add new announcements by selecting "Control Panel > Announcements", and "Add Announcement".

Adding Assignments

Posting assignment in Blackboard is similar to adding course information and course documents. Go to "Control Panel > Assignments" and select "Add Item", "Add Folder" or "Add Learning Unit" as required.

Communicating with Students

When you communicate from Blackboard, you do not need to remember e-mail addresses for any of the users. You can send mail to all the users, selected users, teaching assistants (if any) or instructors only.

Another means of communication is using Discussion Board, where you can start a forum for discussion and ask your students to use the forum.

Grading Students

Your online gradebook is available from "Control Panel". You can add online quizzes and assessments in Blackboard.

Customize the Course Area

You, as an instructor, can customize your course in Blackboard. From "Course Options" in "Control Panel", you can set course properties and even change the button and images that are used.

Recycle/Archive for the Future

If you are offering the same course again, then you can save your time for managing the course on Blackboard by using "Control Panel > Course Utilities > Course Recycler". Here you can select the areas to remove from the course. You can also archive your course from "Course Utilities".