Blackboard

Blackboard is an online course management system available to the entire USC community. Every course offered at USC has a Blackboard course generated for it. USC departments and organizations may also use Blackboard to share information.

Students: If you’re enrolled in a course that uses Blackboard, be sure to find out how Blackboard will be used in that course.

Instructors: Please inform your students on how Blackboard will be used in the course you are teaching.

Organizations, Departments, Dissertation Credits and Independent Study Courses: Please note that these may not be automatically created in Blackboard. Contact the UTS Help Desk or email bbsupport@sc.edu for help.

For information about the latest Blackboard 9.1 version, please click here.

| Getting Started | More About Blackboard | Supported Browsers | End of Semester |

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Getting Started

To get started in creating a course, organization or Blackboard group, please use our Getting Started section or contact the UTS Help Desk for additional assistance.

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More about Blackboard

This Web-based course-management system is designed to allow students and faculty to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials and activities to complement face-to-face teaching. Blackboard enables instructors to provide students with course materials, discussion boards, virtual chat, online quizzes, an academic resource center, and more. The degree to which Blackboard is used in a course varies. For example, instructors may supplement an on-campus class by putting their syllabus and handouts on their course sites. In contrast, other courses may be conducted entirely through Blackboard, without any on-campus sessions.

Features:

• Security: Blackboard courses are secure requiring a unique login and password, and only students that are registered in your course can access the content. This enables you to track which students are accessing particular course materials, and quiz students online. Students can access their grades and securely submit assignments.
  
• Easy to Build: All content is added through the use of online forms. You can easily add items created in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and many others.
  
• Communication: Instructors can email students individually or as a group. Discussion boards and chat rooms facilitate communication among course members. Small groups can be formed and given their own tools for collaboration.
  
• Customizable Content Areas: Blackboard Learning System is a customizable interface.
  
• Course Calendar: Allows students and staff to record and exchange information about their schedules.
  
• Email Function: all students, all instructors, all groups, select users
  
• Course Discussion Board with archive function
  
• Course Chat Room with automatic archiving of discussions
  
• Student groups with separate communication tools
  
• Safe Assignment Check for Plagiarism
  
• Student Home Page: Students create and share their own!
  
• Online Quizzes and Surveys: can be imported, exported and pulled from a pool of questions
  
• Online Grade Center: lots of features, including import/export to Excel
  
• Course Statistics: track when items are viewed

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End of Semester Information for Instructors

Once the semester is completed, it is in the instructor's best interest to retain a copy of their own course(s). Please refer to our Instructions and Documents page for a checklist of information to do at the end of the semester for each class.

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Information and tips to help USC instructors continue teaching and minimize course disruption if students or instructors miss class due to flu.

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