1. Blackboard student guidepage 1 of 21 Blackboard Basics – finding your way  this guide explains how to find your way around a Blackboard course.  click your mouse button to step through this guide  use the yellow button to retrace your steps

2. Blackboard student guidepage 2 of 21 viewing this guide full-screen Try this now: Position the cursor anywhere over this guide and click your right mouse button. Then select Full Screen from the pop-up menu Press the Esc key on your keyboard at any time to return to Blackboard. Try this now: Position the cursor anywhere over this guide and click your right mouse button. Then select Full Screen from the pop-up menu Press the Esc key on your keyboard at any time to return to Blackboard.

3. Blackboard student guidepage 3 of 21 accessing your Blackboard courses after you have logged in to Blackboard, you can access any of your courses by clicking on the links in the My Courses area of your Welcome page

4. Blackboard student guidepage 4 of 21 navigation buttons click these navigation buttons to view different parts of this Blackboard course the course tutor can specify the number, colour and design of these buttons – so each course will look different

5. Blackboard student guidepage 5 of 21 navigation buttons click this button to hide the navigation buttons – this can be useful if your PC has a small screen

6. Blackboard student guidepage 6 of 21 navigation buttons click the button again to show the navigation buttons when you need them

7. Blackboard student guidepage 7 of 21 content area the course content selected using the navigation buttons is displayed here

8. Blackboard student guidepage 8 of 21 announcements the Announcements page is the first thing you will see when you enter a Blackboard course use these tabs to see announcements posted more than 7 days ago some courses may have a title graphic – but most do not it is like an online notice-board with messages about the course posted by your tutor.

9. Blackboard student guidepage 9 of 21 course information the Course Information area contains administrative info and documents, such as the unit outline, syllabus and reading list some of the information may be directly readable other information may be provided in linked files – simply click the link to view the file

10. Blackboard student guidepage 10 of 21 course information use your Web browser’s Back button to return to the Course Information page or use any of the navigation buttons to move directly to that area of the course the file is displayed in the content area

11. Blackboard student guidepage 11 of 21 staff information the Staff Information area contains your tutor’s contact details, office hours etc.

12. Blackboard student guidepage 12 of 21 course content many tutors use Blackboard to give you easy access to lecture notes, presentations and other learning resources. They can give the navigation button any name they choose, so please explore! this tutor has used folders to organise the learning resources for each session – click a link to open the folder

13. Blackboard student guidepage 13 of 21 course content some of the information may be directly readable other information may be provided in linked files – simply click the link to view the file see other guides for further advice on viewing, downloading and printing files

14. Blackboard student guidepage 14 of 21 the breadcrumb trail this breadcrumb trail appears at the top of each Blackboard page and tells you where you are you can click these links to retrace your steps

15. Blackboard student guidepage 15 of 21 other content areas your tutor may have created buttons that link to other course content areas – such as assignments, web links or project work. You should explore these areas to discover what they contain. your tutor may have created buttons that link to other course content areas – such as assignments, web links or project work. You should explore these areas to discover what they contain. note that some areas may have no content at the start of the course – your tutor will make it available at the appropriate time and let you know in person, by email or with an announcement

16. Blackboard student guidepage 16 of 21 communications the Communications area has links to all the various communication features available in Blackboard – but note that not all of them may be used in this course see other guides for further details on the use of these features courses that use discussion boards often have a direct navigation button

17. Blackboard student guidepage 17 of 21 the course map the Course Map button opens a new window that contains a linked overview of the whole course click on a + icon to view a list of the content in any area

18. Blackboard student guidepage 18 of 21 the course map click on a link to jump straight to that content item

19. Blackboard student guidepage 19 of 21 the course map the course map window always stays on top of the main Blackboard window click here to close the course map window

20. Blackboard student guidepage 20 of 21 the course map click the My Southampton University tab at any time to return to your Welcome page

21. Blackboard student guidepage 21 of 21 where next? you will probably need to learn how to download and print files – please look at the list of guides

22. Blackboard student guidepage 22 of 21 a final request  that is the end of this guide  please take a minute to provide me with some feedback on this guide:  would you recommend it to other students?  how could it be improved?  what other topics should these guides cover?  simply follow this link to the feedback formthe feedback form  it will literally take just a minute to complete! Thank you.

23. Blackboard student guidepage 23 of 21 credits please email a.j.warren@soton.ac.uk if you would like to use this guide to support students at your own institutiona.j.warren@soton.ac.uk © 2003 Centre for Learning and Teaching – www.clt.soton.ac.ukwww.clt.soton.ac.uk