Blackboard Help for Faculty

Update your Profile Photo

Your profile picture will appear on course content pages, course cards, in the activity stream, discussions and messages next to your activity. 

1. Log in to Blackboard.
2. Click your name from the left navigation.
3. Point to the generic avatar and click the pencil icon to upload, change, or remove an image. 
4. In the panel, select " Upload new profile picture". Or, you can drag a file to the upload area. 
5. Your image is saved automatically. Close the panel to return to your profile.

Blackboard Course Generator

• Visit the Blackboard Course Generator page. 

Beginning of Semester

• Blackboard Courses by default are available for students to see in their course listings. If you don’t want students looking at a course while you are developing content, you will need to make your course unavailable (for instructions click here). Make sure to turn your course back on for students to see for the first day of class.
• For quick access to current courses, the My Blackboard Course listing can be sorted by term (for instructions click here).
• Learn how to Customize your Blackboard Course Menu.
• Want to see your course through your students’ eyes? Use the student preview feature to experience exactly what your students do, including submitting assignments and taking tests.
• When uploading files for Blackboard, it is recommended you do not use special characters (# ? % ! @, etc) in your file name.

End of Semester

• Archive your course content to make sure you have a copy for your records (for instructions click here).
• Students are not removed from courses at the end of the semester. You may want to make your course unavailable or make sure assignments and test/quizzes are not available for students to see.
• If you wish to make your course unavailable to students, please follow these directions:
  1. Log into your course
  2. Click on the Control Panel
  3. Click on Customization
  4. Click on Properties
  5. Under Set Availability select No to Make Course Unavailable

Blackboard Ultra Course 

Visit the Blackboard Ultra page to view a collection of videos, documents and other resources to make your transition to Blackboard Ultra successful. 

Panopto

Panopto is an easy-to-use tool for recording in-class lectures, events, presentations, and tutorials that can be distributed to students through Blackboard.

Zoom

Zoom is a conferencing service that offers both video and audio conferencing and screen-sharing capabilities. 

Poll Everywhere (PollEv)

Poll Everywhere is a student response (SRS) that allows instructors to engage students with questions and polls on any Internet-enabled device. 

Grade Center

Grade Center (pdf) - Learn how to manage your students' assignments and grades in Blackboard's Grade Center.

NameCoach

NameCoach is a tool to help others with the proper and preferred pronunciation of names. Access the NameCoach recorder directly at namecoach.wm.edu or through Blackboard. 

Usage Instructions

• NameCoach Recorder (pdf)
• NameCoach Roster (pdf)
• NameCoach Player on Cascade Directory Pages

Gradescope

Gradescope is an online grading tool used for diverse assessment types, including scanned, pen-and-paper, bubble sheets, and free-response handwritten tasks. It caters to both individual students and instructors by offering streamlined workflows for efficient grading and feedback for assignments and exams. 

Gradescope resources for instructors

Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally works seamlessly with the Learning Management System (LMS) to gauge the accessibility of your content. Ally provides guidance and tips for lasting improvements to your content accessibility.

• Receive feedback on the accessibility of your content
• Improve content accessibility with Ally's step-by-step instructions

In addition to providing instructors with insight to their content accessibility, Ally automatically creates alternative versions of files. This allows students to choose the type of file that best suits their needs. 

Benefits

• Automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards
• Gives students accessibility and flexibility to download alternative formats such as audio and electronic braille when they see this icon:  
  • Discover what alternate formats are available. 
• Delivers accessibility guidance to instructors tthrough the use of Accessibility Indicators that are only visible to instructors in their course. (Pictured below). 

Helpful resources to get you started

• Ally Sample Course Accessibility Report for Instructors 
• Learn more about Accessibility Scores and Feedback
• Ally Help Website: Find help for students, instructors and administrators. 
• Watch an overview video about Ally

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Watch Blackboard Ally Tutorials

Impact

Impact is a new tool that will help with inline support for faculty and students when navigating in Blackboard. Customized messaging will allow users to get help when needed by providing support articles and videos to help perform tasks. Impact will replace the Blackboard Help messaging that is currently in the system and allow users to find materials for help when needed.

When completing tasks in Blackboard, look for the question mark  to find help materials along with pop-up tutorials to guide you through the process.  

Blackboard Ultra

• Customizing the Blackboard Ultra Course Listing

Merging Blackboard Courses & FERPA Concerns

• Please see the University Registrar's site about FERPA & Merged Blackboard Courses.