Alabama's Public Liberal Arts University

Computer Services

Blackboard Guidelines

 

Introduction

These guidelines are intended to provide members of the University of Montevallo (UM) community with standardized practices for using the Blackboard system (http://online.montevallo.edu). They are subject to change at any time.

System Administration

Computer Services is responsible for maintaining the software and the servers dedicated to Blackboard. The Blackboard Steering Committee is composed of the webmaster and the Blackboard representative from each college:

These individuals are responsible for establishing end-user policies and procedures. Any request to change the way Blackboard is managed/administered should be sent to either the webmaster or your Blackboard college representative for consideration.

The webmaster has the ability to monitor any course established on Blackboard. To contact the webmaster, send email to webmaster@montevallo.edu.

Becoming a Blackboard User

Students
Registered students automatically get an account. However, students must first be entered into our Student Information System (SIS) before their accounts can be setup in Blackboard.

Faculty
Full or part-time teaching faculty automatically get an account. However, faculty must first be entered into our Student Information System (SIS) before their account can be set up in Blackboard.

Staff
Staff do not automatically get accounts. A staff member must request an account it if they desire to use Blackboard by sending email to webmaster@montevallo.edu.

All users must have a UM email address to have an account in Blackboard.

Student email accounts are established at registration. However, new faculty must request that an email account be established by having their departmental secretary or chair send an official request to helpdesk@montevallo.edu.  The secretary or chair will need to include the faculty member's status (full or part-time) and his/her social security number in the email.

Blackboard Accounts for People not in the UM Community

Blackboard is provided and supported for use by the UM Community only.

Blackboard Data

All users and courses are pulled from SIS.

Account Login & Password

A student’s Blackboard login is the username portion of their UMail address. Faculty and staff use the username portion of their Outlook email address. The webmaster sets the password. Users should change their passwords the first time they log in. It is the responsibility of faculty and staff to notify students in their courses as to their usernames and passwords. Users can also come to the Help Desk with their UM ID to find out their login/password.

Blackboard Course ID

The course IDs used in Blackboard consist of the course of instruction ID, the section number, and the semester being taught. This allows users to relate more easily to the course ID in SIS.

For example, the course below would be represented as ENG2340012004S in Blackboard.

Course ID Section number Semester
ENG 234 001 2004S

 

Requesting Courses

To request the creation of a course in Blackboard, send an email to webmaster@montevallo.edu with the information below. If the course is to be cross-listed with another course, provide the same information for the second course and specify it is to be cross-listed. Requests can be made at any time as long as the course(s) already exists in the SIS system.

Course of Instruction ID
Course Description
Session Number
Semester

Student Enrollment in Courses

Upon course request, the webmaster will create the course and enroll in it the students currently shown in SIS as being in that course. Subsequent adds and drops are the responsibility of the Blackboard instructor but a request can be made to the webmaster to refresh the course enrollment.

Deleting Courses

All course materials are left online for instructors’ reference for two months after the semester ends. The webmaster will notify the instructors when courses will be purged from the system with the recommendation to archive the course before the deletion date. The ability to leave a course online after two months will be based on available server space and faculty needs.

Computer Services is responsible for recovery of the whole Blackboard system in case of a disaster but is not responsible for recovery of an individual instructor’s course material.

Archiving Courses

Faculty and staff are responsible for archiving and maintaining backups of their course material. In the event a course needs to be restored, the faculty or staff member is responsible for providing the archived copy.

Training

It is highly recommended that faculty and staff attend the Blackboard training sessions offered by Computer Services every semester even if the instructor knows how to use Blackboard. Check the training schedule on the Computer Services website.

Training is also offered to the colleges as needed. College Blackboard representatives will contact the webmaster with training needs and desirable dates.

Copyright Issues

Faculty should abide by the University of Montevallo Official Policies for Copyright compliance, specifically Policy 01:012.

Proper Conduct for Use of Blackboard

The content contained in Blackboard and the use of the system fall under UM’s Computing Guidelines.

Help

Refer to the online Blackboard FAQ's. If you still need assistance, contact your college Blackboard representative.

The current college Blackboard representatives are:

Faculty members can also send email to the webmaster with their contact information and the type of assistance needed.

System Backup

Computer Services maintains the Blackboard server. A full backup is performed each weekday for disaster recovery purposes. Individual courses cannot be recovered using these backups.

Upgrades and Maintenance

Upgrades and standard maintenance are occasionally required to the Blackboard system. The webmaster will inform the users of upcoming maintenance by posting the announcement in the Blackboard system within an adequate period of time before the maintenance is to be performed.