Useful and Important Linkss

• BB System (to access BB Courses): http://bb.rhsmith.umd.edu

• Request BB Course (for Instructors/TAs only. The BB course request form is required for each course, each new semester)

• Blackboard Login Help and Email, Browser Issues

• Find your University Directory ID and Set/Reset Password

• Setup Email address in your University Directory account: Faculty/Staff, Students

• Review Course Syllabi (for syllabi prior to Fall 2008. Public Access, login not required)

• Instructor FAQ

• Student FAQ

• Blackboard Quick Start Documentation (for Instructors, as used in the Blackboard training classes)

• Blackboard site with quick training videos for the new version

• Preview of the new Gradebook and other upgrade features

• Schedule of Class on Testudo

• UM Academic Calendar by Semester, or by Year

Instructors:

Term-based Blackboard courses must be requested EVERY SEMESTER. Please visit our Request BB Spaces page for more details.
 

Please Note: UM Course Availability Policy

Note 1: Student access to courses will continue for 3 weeks after the course ends. Students will then no longer be able to see these courses when login to Blackboard. So, STUDENTS: If there are any course contents you want to keep longer, you need to save the documents from your course to your local computer as soon as you can, any time before the course is Unavailable for you.

This policy is set by the Campus Registrar Office. Please email concerns if there are any to Registrar Customer Service at: rr-cs@deans.umd.edu.

Note 2: With campus OIT's policy, all term-based courses more than Two years old will be purged from BB system. To be specific, ALL COURSES before Spring 2007 will be COMPLETELY REMOVED at end of year 2008. After that, all subjected courses will be purged twice a year. As a response, we have set those old courses as "Unavailable" to students now. So, both Faculty and Students: If you want to save any course documents, PLEASE be prepared in advance. There is NO Way to get your course documents back once the course be removed.
 

Important! Directory account Password Information

You need to use your Directory ID and Password to gain access to Blackboard online course system. Please review carefully about UM Directory Password Information and policy.

Smith IT has similar information when you visit http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/smithit/,  then go to Accounts under IT Support area and check on the Password Policy page.

Password Expiration

All new UM Directory passwords remain valid for up to 180 days. If you allow your password to expire, you will be unable to access the many services that utilize the Directory password.  Change your password by visiting http://www.oit.umd.edu/password/ and clicking the Update Your Directory Password button at the left of the page (at https://directory.umd.edu/password).

If your password does expire before you have an opportunity to change it, you will be able to use your old password for the sole purpose of selecting a new password. You can also contact Campus OIT helpdesk at 301-405-1500 regarding your password issue.
 

Useful Blackboard Course Features for Instructors (please visit Instructor FAQ page for details):

• Assignment Tool and Gradebook (- Post assignment using "Assignment tool", then retrive students submissions and post grades in the Grade Center)

• Managing Gradebook (- the biggest improvement of BB 8)

• Setup Groups (- create groups for collaborative activities)

• Using Clickers

• Wimba Online collaboration tools

• Quick Edit View (- shortcut for instructors and other course builders to access Control Panel area

• Managing Content Collection system (pdf file, Version 8.0)  (- Managing Course Content and My Content,  uploading single and multiple files to the Web folders, creating "reusable objects" in the Content Collection system, etc.)