Frequently asked questions about Blackboard  (revised February 2006)

This site contains answers to the top 10 most frequently asked questions.  If you cannot find the answer to your question, please call 845 257-3188 or 257-3117 during business hours, 8:30AM - 4:30PM  to talk to an Instructional Technology professional.  After hours, you can call the Student Help Desk at 257-3597.  The students may be able to help with connectivity issues; they may NOT be able to help with your username and password; they cannot provide help with your Blackboard course related questions.

1. What is BlackBoard?
2. What is my username and password? 
3. How do I use BlackBoard? 
4. How do I participate in a discussion? 
   
5. How do I send an attachment in the discussion?
6. What is the best way to save a file to be submitted digitally (through an e-assignment, as an attachment in a discussion, as a turnitin assignment, or through the digital drop box) and why can't my instructor retrieve my file when I know I submitted it?
7. How do I take a quiz online?
8. When my instructor sends an email to the class, what e-mail address is used by Blackboard?
   
9. How do I submit a digital e-assignment?
10. How do I allow sites to get past my pop-up blocker settings?
    

http://blackboard.newpaltz.edu

BlackBoard is course management software that is licensed by SUNY New Paltz.  Blackboard at SUNY New Paltz runs on two Linux servers, one for the application, another for the Oracle database.  Blackboard allows your professor / instructor to place course materials on the web in a password protected environment; it provides a course site for the distribution of course material without the trouble of learning complicated web authoring tools.  Blackboard is a portal to your  academic communities.

 
Students, your username and password is created within 24 hours of registering for a credit bearing class, and is imported from the Records & Registration database.   Students, your NPCUID (New Paltz Computer UserID) should be:  up to the first six characters of your last name plus the last two digits of your social security number.  (There are exceptions!)  Faculty and staff, your NPCUID should be:  up to the first seven characters of your last name and the first character of your first name. Students and faculty passwords follow the scheme of the letter s plus the last six digits of your social security number.

Password resets can be done through my.newpaltz.edu  You CANNOT change your password on Blackboard! 

Passwords can be reset by Academic Computing personnel (not students at the help desk.)  If you need to have your password reset, be prepared to provide your first and last name as well as the course number and section of the course in which you are enrolled.  Go to the Academic Computing office, WSB1F or contact smithl@newpaltz.edu

The campus supplies email to all students, faculty and staff.  You are REQUIRED to use your campus email for campus business.  You cannot change the email address known to Blackboard.  When faculty send email through Blackboard it will be delivered to your campus email address.  Point your browser to https://npmail.newpaltz.edu to read your campus email.

Open a forum.  There may be several forums inside the Discussion Board.  Each forum will contain threaded discussion where faculty may engage students in discussions about specific topics. 

To start a new thread, click on Add New Thread.  Blackboard displays information to you about the forum in which you are posting, the date and time as well as your name.  Type a subject in the provided field and type or copy paste your message into the message window.  

If you are asked to Reply to an existing message, with the forum open click on the subject title.  (If you click on the name of the person who posted, your browser will  launce your web email.)  As you reply to the original topic and other students reply to you and / or to the original topic, the threaded discussion grows. 

Whether creating a new thread or replying to an existing one, be sure to type, or  COPY / PASTE your message and then click SUBMIT

NOTE:  To paste into a discussion board from MS Word or other word processor, copy all text and in Blackboard, be sure to click in the "Message box".  When you see the cursor blinking in the box, press Ctrl-V (if using Firefox, Netscape or Internet Explorer) or use the "Paste Icon" with Internet Explorer.  Your cursor MUST be in the correct location to paste the contents of your copy procedure.

Some (but not all) faculty will allow attachments to be incorporated into a discussion.  If your discussion permits attachments, you will see a field next to Attachment   Do not type anything into the empty field!  Click the Browse button.  The same technique will be used if a faculty member asks you to submit your assignment digitally.  This may be done through a Turnitin assignment (to check your work for plagiarism) or through a digital e-assignment or via the digital dropbox.

Highlight the file to be attached  (Note:  The browser may be looking for "Files of type HTML"  Change the file type to All files *.* if necessary.)

Click on Open and then Submit

NOTE:  Blackboard will not display files with names longer than thirty (30) characters.  Remember that Blackboard is a web environment and may not work well if you allow "blank spaces" in the file name.  Follow these guidelines for naming files:

No blank spaces; no "special characters" such as / * & ^ % $ # @ !   If you need a separating character to replace the blank spaces use a dash - or an underscore _

To save your work in a format that others should be able to read,  click File Save as and choose either:

Rich Text Format - RTF - NOTE: when choosing RTF, don't insert extra punctuation into the filename! A file named: my.final.rtf may not open correctly

Or MS Word.  

Some (but not all) faculty ask students to take a quiz online.  Some quizzes are used for review and may be taken multiple times.  Others may be timed or may be taken only once or may be passworded.  Some may display one question at a time and you may resume taking the quiz where you stopped.  (If this method is chosen and the quiz is timed, the TOTAL ELAPSED time from the moment you began your quiz, INCLUDING any time between quitting and resuming your quiz.)  Your instructor will include directions and indicate whether the quiz is for review and may be taken multiple times or whether it is timed or if passworded, what the password is prior to the taking of the online quiz. Click on the link to the quiz (as directed by your Professor) to begin the quiz.  

• Click the appropriate response to indicate whether you want to take the quiz.  If you choose to take the quiz and then do not submit, NONE of your responses will be recognized.
• Elapsed time will be displayed in the "tray" at the bottom of your browser window IF the quiz has a time limit.    Blackboard generates:  Timed assessment:  You have 5 minutes to complete this assessment. The elapsed time appears at the bottom of your browser. A 1 minute warning will be displayed.  A pop-up message appears when one minute remains.  Be sure to Submit before the time has elapsed.   (NOTE:  You will be allowed to submit after the time has expired.  Your quiz will not be auto-graded until your Professor sees the total elapsed time you used to take the quiz.)
• If "feedback" has been enabled, you will see your results immediately.  Otherwise, click on the Tools button and then My Grades.  Click on the score to view the feedback if it is enabled.

When finished with all tasks for any given session, be sure to LOGOUT. 

Online guides for connecting your computer to the college dialups is available for various operating systems. Simply click on the name of your operating system under the "Internet" heading.

Help with Blackboard is provided by Academic Computing professional staff members.   During business hours (8:30 - 4:30 M-F), call Academic Computing at 845 257-3816 and your call will be directed to a professional staff member who can provide help.   Contact the instructional technologists directly via email:  smithl@newpaltz.edu or moraa@newpaltz.edu  Do NOT contact the Student Help Desk for Blackboard issues.

Last Modified:  November 2006
Instructional Support Online:  smithl@newpaltz.edu