Blackboard
The Blackboard Learning System™ is a tool to support teaching and learning at Missouri State University. Missouri State University has adopted Blackboard™ as their course management system to assist faculty in delivering online learning. Blackboard™ provides an integrated set of web-based tools which enable faculty and students to communicate and collaborate through threaded discussions, real-time conferencing, Podcasts, Wikis, and Blog tools. Instructors can add a variety of course materials, resources, and media-rich content. These same online materials and activities can also be used to complement a seated class – often referred to as a ‘blended’ or ‘web-enabled’ course.
Blackboard Course Request
Beginning with the Summer 2011 semester, courses will be created automatically and students automatically enrolled based on Banner data.
Instructors who wish to use a course developed by another instructor should collaborate with that instructor and ask to be enrolled as an instructor in the original course. Instructors may use the Control Panel to copy content from one course to another. If you need help on how to copy a course, go to http://experts.missouristate.edu/display/bb9/Copying+a+Course.
Blackboard Course Enrollment
All Blackboard courses are password protected and faculty and students only have access to the courses they are associated with; either as an “Instructor” role or a “Student” role.
Instructor Role
The instructor of the course is granted access to the course when the requested course website is created.
Student Role
Blackboard tutorials are now available for students. Please see the Learning with Blackboard section of the Blackboard 8.0 documentation.
Course Availability
Before each semester
Courses made available to students when they are created. If an instructor makes their course Unavailable while developing the course content, it is their responsibility to make the course site available to students prior to the first day of the semester.
At the end of each semester
It is the responsibility of the instructor to make their course unavailable to students at the end of the semester. If they do not do so, students will still have access to content and exam materials.
Archiving Courses
Courses that are older than one academic year will be archived and removed from the Blackboard system without instructor action with the following exception:
If there is only one copy or version of the course, then it will remain on the system unless you request that it be removed.
If you need access to an archived course, send an email to blackboard@missouristate.edu with the course id and the length of time that you need the course available.
Blackboard Upgrade & Maintenance
In order to maintain peak performance of the Blackboard system, routine maintenance is required. Faculty and students will receive prior notification of any scheduled Blackboard maintenance.
Scheduled Upgrades:
Missouri State University will be upgrading from Blackboard 8 to Blackboard 9 in the coming semesters. The current tentative plan is that both Blackboard 8 and Blackboard 9 will be run in parallel during Spring of 2011. A pilot group, consisting of any interested faculty, will use Blackboard 9, while other faculty use Blackboard 8 until they can be trained on Blackboard 9. During Summer of 2011, all courses will be taught via Blackboard 9.
Faculty will be receiving more information in regard to this upgrade including training opportunities for Blackboard 9, and updates will be posted here as they are announced. If you are interested in being part of the Blackboard 9 pilot group, please contact Brenda Burrell, Technical Training and Documentation Administrator.
