Using blackboard
LSC 551.30
Fall 2008
Dr. Bateman

Blackboard is course software that is used in web-based academic courses. You may have used or heard of other course software such as WebCT, Moodle or Sakai. You will be using the course blackboard site to find lectures, course documents, readings, syllabus, course calendar and other materials for the course. You will also be contributing to course discussions using the discussion forums and uploading assigments to the digital drop box. If you send email in blackboard it will be sent to the email address the individual has specified when they set up their account. I have set up my email address as judith.ann.bateman@gmail.com and any email you send to me from blackboard will go to that address. Blackboard is maintained by the CUA computing center. If you have problems with Blackboard check with me before contacting the computing center

Setting up your BlackBoard account

  1. Go to the CUA blackboard site: Http://blackboard.cua.edu/
  2. Click on create account
  3. Fill in the required information (the items with red astrisks are required).
    1. The email should be your preferred email since that is the email I will use to send you course information, comments and grades.
    2. Select your own user name and password. Your user name should be some combination of your first and last names and something you can remember.
    3. Click on submit
    4. The next screen should indicate that the account has been successfully created. Click on ok.
  4. The next screen should be the login screen. Use the user name and password for the account that you created in step 3.
  5. The next screen should be your home screen for blackboard. If you have never used blackboard at CU before it will indicate you have no courses. Click on the red my courses tab just below the CUA logo on the upper left side of the screen.
  6. On the next screen you will see a search box on the upper left side. Type LSC551a into this search box.
  7. The next screen should display: Organization of Information - LSC 551 (lsc551a)
    Instructor(s): Judith Ann Bateman
  8. Click on the enroll button on the far right side of the screen. The next screen will be a self enrollment screen and will have the course number and my name on it. Click on submit.
  9. You will get the following message: Receipt: Failure
    Request for enrollment has been forwarded to the Instructor. When the enrollment is processed a notice will be sent.
  10. Ignore the first line (all it means is that I have to give you permission to enroll in the course)
  11. Click on ok.
  12. This will send a request for enrollment to me. I will be checking my email 3 or 4 times during the day and will give you permission to use the course as soon as I get the request (provided you are on my class roll in cardinal station). You will recieve an email from me with the sujbect line: Enrollment Accepted for Organization of Information - LSC 551 (lsc551a). The body of the message will repeat your user information.
  13. If you have any problems please let me know right away. My email addresses are bateman@cua.edu and judith.ann.bateman@cua.edu

Logging in to the course

  1. You should have a username and password for blackboard at CUA.
  2. Go to the CUA blackboard site: Http://blackboard.cua.edu
  3. Click on the login button
  4. When the next screen is displayed enter your username and password and click on the login button.
  5. This should take you to an annoucments page for CUA blackboard course and any blackboard courses you are enrolled in.
  6. Click on the red "my courses" tab on the upper left hand side of the screen (under the CUA logo)
  7. You should have a link to LSC 551 Oganization of Information with a course ID of LSC551a and my name (Judith Bateman) as the instructor.
  8. Click on the course link

Using the course

You will find a list of links to different areas of the course along the left hand column of the display. This section will cover each area in the same order as the list.

  1. Announcements
    1. I will post any annoucements about changes to the course, readings or due dates in the announcements section. I will post the same information in the course update discussion forum. This is the first page you will see when you first enter the course.
  2. Course information
    1. This link will take you to the syllabus, the course bibliography, a course schedule, course guidelines and course expectations.
    2. Look through these docuements carefully and send me an email if you have any questions or issues.
    3. The course guidelines and expectations are important to read because they will give you an idea of how the course will be conducted and what I will expect from you. If you have not taken an online course before look at all the documents in this area. Contact me if you need clarification or more information.
  3. Staff information
    1. Percy is the official course helper kitty. He has helped with many, many online courses. You can always email him and he will let me know what your question is.
  4. Course documents
    1. you will find 4 folders that contain the lectures, some of the readings, a glossary and links to other glossaries and models of some of the tools we will discuss in the course. Below is some specific information on each folder
      1. Lectures: the lecture folder contains a powerpoint folder and a lecture notes folder.
        1. The lecture notes are word documents that contain the complete lecture information so you will want to make sure you look at these notes.
        2. The powerpoints are presentations that only cover the bullet points and do not have added notes. You do no have to use these but some students like to look at the powerpoint as they read the lecture notes.I will be adding new lectures every week and I will let you know on the course update discussion and the course annoucements area.
      2. Models: I have included a number of scanned pages and images from the different library organization tools that we will study in this course. You will find Subject headings lists, the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress Classifications etc. As we study each tool you should look at the model in the section. The course schedule (in the course information area) will suggest the models you should look at each week.
      3. Glossaries: If you are new to the program you will quickly discover how much terminology you need to understand. I have created a glossary for you that you can download as a text file and I have added links to other Library and Information Science glossaries. Your text also has a glossary. If these glossaries do not adequately explain a term, please let me know. This terminology is not easy and this course is terminology heavy.
      4. Readings: This is one of the places you will find readings. This area is where you can find Palais, Buckland, Cleveland chapters 6 and 7 and Kulthau readings. You can find other readings by coing to the cours information area and opening the course bibliography. On this bibliography you will find links to any readings that are available on the web. The bibliography will also indicate when you need to look for the full text reading on LIbrary Literature or Haworth Press databases.
    2. Using Blackboard: you can find a link to this document here.
  5. Assignments: This is an area where you will find instructions for most assignments. Check for the first assignment which will help you get started in the course and the card catalog assignment. When I add a new assignment I will post a message to the course update discussion forum and to the course annoucements area.
  6. Communication:
    1. Annoucements takes you back to the course announcements area.
    2. Collaboration may be used by several individuals to chat online. I will ask you to form groups for the thesaurus project and you may use this area to chat if you wish. The thesaurus assignment will be posted the 3rd week of the course.You can also arrange to chat with me if you wish. I also will be happy to take your phone number and call you if you wish.
    3. Discussion board is a link to the dicussion forums, it takes you to the same area as the link in the left hand column. You can find instructions on the discussion forums in next section.
    4. Group pages: if you form a group with other students you may use this area. You will need to let me know the name of your group and the names of the students in the group. I will then create a group for you on blackboard.
    5. The roster lets you see everyone who is enrolled in the course.
    6. Email: To send an email to an individual (including me) click on the email link and then on select users. A list will be displayed where you can select the user you wish to send email to by clicking on a check box. If you send me email it will go to judith.ann.bateman@gmail.com If you send Percy email it will go to bateman@cua.edu :)
    7. Discussion board:
      1. You will find different discussion forums to read and to post to. You should check the course update discussion regularly for new course information, including any new forums that I expect you to post to. You may add new threads to any dicussion or you can just reply to the threads (links) that are already there.
      2. Click on the course update forum and see what happens where you click on expand all and collapse all (upper right area of the screen).
      3. You can also click on the show options tab to see how you can manage the discussions for yourself. One option that you may want to use is the collect option which gives you a nicely formated list of any messages that you have selected by using the check box.
  7. External links: I will add links to websites that have useful information and tools for this class. Be sure to check this area as class progresses since some of these sites will be more useful later in the course.
  8. Tools:
    1. You can create a homepage if you are that ambitious. Use the homepage editor here. When you are ready to view your page you will need to go to the communication area and select roster. You can then do a list all and clicking on your name will display your home page. Percy has a homepage (of course) and you can click on his name to see how this works. The big advantage of a home page is we can upload photos of ourselves and that should help us feel more connected as a class. However, this is optional.
    2. The digital dropbox is used for you to send files to me. Select send files and and choose the file you wish to send from your computer. Make sure you put your name in the file area and comments about what this file contains in the comments area. When you click on submit the file will be uploaded to your dropbox and sent to mine. I will return assignments with comments using the digital dropbox so be sure to check this on a regular basis. If you are more comfortable emaling me assignments directlty that is acceptable.