Student Information

Getting Login Name/Password

When you enroll at Saint Xavier University, you receive a username and password to use Blackboard. The username is your IMail username, without any period (.). The password is initially set to your SXU student ID number. If you have problem logging into Blackboard, e-mail cat@sxu.edu.

Course lists in Blackboard

If you cannot see all the courses you are currently enrolled in, that is probably because your instructor has not added you into the course. E-mail your instructor with your request.

On the other hand, if you are wondering why your previous courses are still listed in Blackboard, then that is because your instructor probably has not removed the course from the system.

Finding users in User Directory

Can't find your colleagues (or even yourself) in the user directory or roster in Blackboard?

By default Blackboard does not publish user information. To make your information publicly available, you have to change the privacy settings by selecting "My Institution > Personal Information > Set Privacy Options".

And, of course, your colleagues have to make their information public too.

Using Discussion Board

You cannot start a new topic in a Blackboard Discussion Board. Your instructor must do so, then you can add a new thread and reply to your colleagues' threads.

An alternative to discussion board is Virtual Classroom. Whereas Virtual Classroom requires you and your colleagues to be online simultaneously, discussion board lets you leave a message and check back later for additional posts.

Virtual Classroom

Virtual Classroom is an effective way of distance learning. Your instructor can set up a time for all the students to be online at the same time, and you can take your class online, instead of in a traditional classroom. Your instructor can also invite guest speakers into the Virtual Classroom.

Archive and Virtual Classroom

Virtual Classroom keeps record of everything: the participants, when they logged in, and the things that were discussed in Virtual Classroom. You can find them all in the Archive section of Virtual Classroom. The archives are listed by date; in order to review the class, you must know the date of the class.

Using Digital Dropbox

You can use Digital Dropbox to submit your assignments. It's easy and similar to adding an attachment to an e-mail. You have two options with your Digital Dropbox: one is to add your files to the dropbox, and another is to actually send it to your instructor.

Just adding files to the Dropbox does not send it to your instructor. 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 USB drives, and it is highly unlikely to fail.

To send the file to your instructor, 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 instructor.

External links

External links are the place where your instructor can add the URLs and additional Web links, that are helpful for the course.