Useful and Important Linkss

• BB System (to access BB Courses): http://bb.rhsmith.umd.edu

• Request BB Course (for Instructors/TAs only. The BB course request form is required for each course, each new semester)

• Blackboard Login Help and Email, Browser Issues

• Find your University Directory ID and Set/Reset Password

• Setup Email address in your University Directory account: Faculty/Staff, Students

• Review Course Syllabi (Public Access, login not required)

• Instructor FAQ

• Student FAQ

• Blackboard 7.1 Quick Start Documentation (for Instructors, as used in the Blackboard training classes)

• Blackboard site with quick training videos for the version 7

• Comparing BB 7.1 to 7.3

• Schedule of Class on Testudo

• UM Academic Calendar by Semester, or by Year

Useful Blackboard Course Features for Instructors (please visit Instructor FAQ page for details):

• Quick Edit View (shortcut for instructors and other course builders to access Control Panel area

• Assignment Tool and Gradebook

• Setup Groups

• Discussion Boardd

• Using Clickers

• Online Tests

• Wimba Online collaboration toolss

Blackboard Upgrade to version 7.3:

Blackboard has been upgraded from version 7.1 to version 7.3 on 12//28/2007. There are visible changes to the discussion board, the gradebook, and the rich text editor that we think people will really appreciate. Detailed release notes for faculty can be found at here (Bb7.3.Faculty.Release.Notes.pdf, 200Kb).

Alert for Blackboard System Outage

Want to be notified in the event of an emergency? Campus OIT provides an alert system that you can get email or voice mail when Blackboard or other selected system is down. Click here to sign up.

Instructors:

Term-based Blackboard courses must be requested EVERY SEMESTER. The Summer 2008 and Fall 2008 courses are ready to be setup now. Please submit your Course Request as soon as you can. Visit our Request BB Spaces page for more details.
 

Please Note: UM Course Availability Policy

Student access to courses will continue for 3 weeks after the course ends. Students will then no longer be able to see these courses when login to Blackboard. So, STUDENTS: If there are any course contents you want to keep longer, you need to save the documents from your course to your local computer as soon as you can, any time before the course is Unavailable for you.

This policy is set by the Campus Registrar Office. Please email concerns if there are any to Registrar Customer Service at: rr-cs@deans.umd.edu.

In addition, with campus OIT's policy, all term-based courses more than Two years old will be purged from BB system sometime in mid-summer. That is ALL COURSES before Fall 2006 will be COMPLETELY REMOVED in mid-summer. As a response, we have set All those old courses as "Unavailable" to students now. If you want to save any course documents, PLEASE be prepared in advance. There is NO Way to get your course documents back once the course be removed.
 

Important! Directory account Password Information

You need to use your Directory ID and Password to gain access to Blackboard online course system. Please review carefully about UM Directory Password Information and policy.

Smith IT has similar information when you visit http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/smithit/,  then go to Accounts under IT Support area and check on the Password Policy page.

Password Expiration

All new UM Directory passwords remain valid for up to 180 days. If you allow your password to expire, you will be unable to access the many services that utilize the Directory password.  Change your password by visiting http://www.oit.umd.edu/password/ and clicking the Update Your Directory Password button at the left of the page (at https://directory.umd.edu/password).

If your password does expire before you have an opportunity to change it, you will be able to use your old password for the sole purpose of selecting a new password. You can also contact Campus OIT helpdesk at 301-405-1500 regarding your password issue.
 

Instructors: Two ways to request your Blackboard course sites

The course instructors are required to request their term-based Blackboard course sites Every Semester so we can ensure that everything is set up as you would like on time. You could start to request Summer 2008 Blackboard courses as soon as you know the course that you are going to teach. We follow the guidelines and course setup procedures that campus OIT provided. Once you post course Syllabus to your course, Smith IT will post it to the public Course Syllabi page within a week.

There are two way to request your Blackboard course now.

Instructors are welcome to use the *Campus-wide ELMS LearningOnline course request form to submit course requests. You will find the ELMS form when you log into Blackboard system and look in the “Common Tasks for Instructors” frame. It's fairly easy to use when you have a standard course request. Use your Directory ID and password to login.  All courses requested there need to be officially listed in Testudo or your UMEG account.
(*Note: Our Blackboard system is called "ELMS" (enterprise learning management system) in campus wide.)

Smith IT maintains an additional Smith School BB Course Request form to request a course. It has been used for years by our faculty/staff to request any courses, and it allows more flexibility especially in the following situations:

• If you are a new or adjunct faculty who does not have an active UM Directory account yet.

• When the course is not listed in Testudo or UMEG, or not listed under your name (please indicate in Comments field).

• When you're teaching a Cross-listed course and want to combine different course IDs into one course.

• When a Staff member requests a course for a faculty member.

• When you have special requests (i.e. you need to combine part of the course sections you are going to teach).

• All EMBA Courses are required to use this Smith School form, to ensure proper naming convention is followed.

You can find the Smith form by clicking the “Request BB Course” tab at the top of the screen.