STUDENTS > Blackboard Tutorial
Navigate a Course Section
Course sites are highly customizable, and courses from different instructors will likely have different options available on the main course menu (the menu on the left side of the course site), though there are certain features which are common to all sites. When you enter a course site, by default you will see the Announcements page. If there are new course materials or quizzes available, you will likely see an announcement pointing you to the location of those resources in the course site.
At any time, you can see the path you followed to get to your current location in the course site by checking the “breadcrumb trail”—you are never more than one click away from the main course page.
The buttons or text that appear in the main course menu correspond to Content Areas of the course as designated by your instructor. Content Areas you will see in most course sites include: Course Information, Staff Information, Course Documents, Assignments, Communication, Discussion Board, External Links, and Tools. Following are some examples of these common Course Areas and the information that is typically contained within each area:
Course Information will likely contain a link to the course syllabus, as well as any information regarding the course’s location, meeting time, etc.- Staff Information contains information about your instructor and any GTAs in your course, including office hours and location.
- Course Documents is the area in which most course materials will likely be stored. Think of it as a folder, which may hold individual items (including documents, PowerPoint slide shows, web links, etc.) or other folders.
- Assignments usually contains activities requiring submission of a file or files to the instructor.
- Communications provides access to the Discussion Board, as well as the virtual classroom and chat tool (under Collaboration) and for the course ‘Messages” tool (like email, but course specific). If you use Groups in your course, you can access group-specific pages here also.
- Discussion Board provides an asynchronous communication tool, used to promote discussions among classes, groups, or individuals within a specific course.
- External Links typically contains a list of web links relevant to the course you are taking.
- The Tools area contains links to several of Blackboard’s key features, including:
- The Digital Dropbox allows files to be uploaded for editing later, or for file submission to the instructor (your instructor will decide if you should submit files via the Digital Dropbox or the Assignment Manager, but you may still use this area to store your course files, regardless).
- My Grades allows one-click access to your course grade (for instructors who use the online gradebook).
- The online User Manual is a valuable resource for getting to know BlackBoard, as well as for experienced users.