ATUS Home

Blackboard Basics for Students

What is Blackboard?

Blackboard is an easy-to-use online course delivery and management system. Using Blackboard's graphical point-and-click interface, instructors can incorporate learning materials from word processing, audio & video, spread sheets, and presentation files without ever learning HTML.

Features in Blackboard include:

  • Announcements
  • Content presentation
  • Calendar
  • Threaded discussions
  • Online quizzes, surveys, and gradebooks
  • Real-time chat and whiteboard
  • Group Pages for student team projects
  • Online File Exchange and so much more.

Blackboard may be used to deliver entirely online courses as well as serve as a supplement for traditional classroom courses. The use of Blackboard is becoming more and more widespread at Western as instructors take advantage of the system to enhance their courses.

Logging into Blackboard

You can access your courses in Blackboard by first going to your MyWestern home page. Once you have logged in to MyWestern, a list of all of the classes which you are currently enrolled and that have Blackboard sites will be displayed. Use the following directions to log into Blackboard:

1) Go to the MyWestern Home Page and log into your account using your universal user name and password:

http://www.mywestern.wwu.edu

2) Once you have logged into MyWestern, you will see a list of all of your Blackboard courses. Select on the course you wish to access.

3) You will be directed to an additional login page to verify access into Blackboard. Enter in your universal user name and password (the same user name and password you used to log into MyWestern).

4) Select Login . You will be directed to your Blackboard courses page, which lists all of the current Blackboard courses that you are instructor for. To access one of these courses, simply click on the link to that course.

Technical Requirements

In order to use Blackboard effectively, it is recommended that students meet the following requirements:

Computer Skills

  • Use of Web browsers.
  • Entering Uniform Resource Locators (URL's ).
  • Downloading files from the Internet
  • Completing online forms.

Hardware Requirements

  • A live Internet connection. Students will need access to the Internet using a telephone modem connection, DSL, or cable modem.

  • A monitor capable of displaying information at least 800x600 pixels. For best performance, access Blackboard using 1024x768 resolution or higher.

Software Requirements

  • A compatible Browser. Blackboard does not work well with AOL or Opera web browsers. If you are using AOL to connect to the Internet, simply connect through AOL and then use one of the above mentioned compatible browsers to navigate to your Blackboard course site.
  • Although it is not required to access Blackboard, it is helpful for students to have access to Microsoft Office 2000 or Office XP in order to view and access documents provided by the instructor.
  • If the file is Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you can download a free viewer that will allow you to open, print, and download documents, but not edit.
  • You may need a variety of plug-ins for your browser, particularly for sound, movie, or Adobe Acrobat files. It is a good idea to install the most recent versions of Flash Player, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, Real One Player, and Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer.

Learning to Use Blackboard

The Blackboard system provides an easy to learn system for delivering online instruction, however, if you are new to using Blackboard it is helpful to spend a little bit of time exploring some of the features to become comfortable with using them. A good resource to start out with is the Blackboard Getting Started document. This will provide you with a general overview of the Blackboard interface and some of the most commonly used features.

The Blackboard Student Manual provides a comprehensive resource that documents all of the features in the program.