We have broken up our Blackboard training into several key areas – please choose which best suits your needs:

NEW: Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation

Blackboard has recently been updated to incorporate Ultra Base Navigation. Essentially, this change affects Blackboard’s main landing page – the first page you see when you log in. Once you enter a course, the Blackboard interface looks the same as before.
For further information, read the Guide to Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation.

Basics of Using Blackboard

For new users who want to learn how to navigate the system, become familiar with the in-built tools and add basic content.


Using Blackboard to Create Content: Making Your Course Look Good

Once you know the basics of Blackboard, this training shows you a few simple tricks for upgrading the visual quality of your course.


Creation of Blackboard Summative and Formative Assessments

Learn how to add Blackboard Tests into courses for both Summative and Formative learning activities.


Blackboard Assignments

Blackboard has its own Assignments tool that allows you to check for plagiarism, mark online and release grades and feedback at a given date. If you are collecting posters or videos from your students, this may be a preferable choice over Turnitin.


Live / Asynchronous Lectures, Seminars and Small Group Teaching (Tutorials) via Blackboard Collaborate

Online lectures may be run either live or recorded using inbuilt Blackboard Collaborate. Likewise, the system can help with your small group teaching.


Using the Preview User

The Blackboard system allows you to test almost all parts of your content via the use of a “Preview User” option in your course. This 2 minute video goes through how to use this part of the system.


Personalising the Student Experience: Adaptive Release of Content

Adaptive release tools in Blackboard allow you to release content under certain pre-set circumstances (rules), enabling you to personalise student learning.


Reading Lists and Blackboard

To create or edit your reading list, view the University Library’s guidance.

If your Reading List is not available in the Blackboard left-hand menu, follow the guide created by the University of Manchester’s Library team, which you can find here.


Groups for Collaboration, Group work and Administration

This training is designed to introduce to you the “Groups” tools in Blackboard. These tools enable you to separate your students into groups to:

– Allow students to work together collaboratively
OR
– Allow you to administer students on your course OR
– Allow you to personalise the learning of your students


Using the Grade Centre to Access Student Grades

The Blackboard Grade Centre stores all student grades and submission data for Blackboard assignments and tests in a course. It is possible to manually mark submissions from the Grade Centre, and it can be used to calculate overall weighted grades or averages for multiple assessments.