Blackboard Preferences

Topics in this Article

Overview
My Courses
Manage Course List
My Settings
- My Profile
- My Tool Options
  (e.g. Set Number of Items Shown per Page)
- My Time Zone
Browser Check
My To Do List
My Calendar

Overview This tutorial outlines the function of the My Courses page in Blackboard. My Courses is the first screen that you see after logging into Blackboard. Think of it as your Blackboard home page. From My Courses you may perform a number of tasks including including: manage your Course List proceed to each of your Blackboard courses load up the Course Roster Tool used by Instructors to enroll students in the Blackboard classes add and modify a Personal Photo as part of your Blackboard profile setup Forwarding to another email address in your profile for all mail messages originating in Blackboard adjust the Number of Items shown per page change your Time Zone perform a Browser Check turn on and use the Blackboard To Do List view and modify your personal Blackboard Calendar

My Courses	TOP
Go to Blackboard www.blackboard.uidaho.edu Enter your myUIdaho account and password Click OK Note: To access the My Courses page from inside your course, click on My Courses in the top left area. The My Courses tab allows you to access your courses. Click on the course title under to Course List to access a course. For Instructors, the Course Roster Tools link allows you to manage your student roster for each course.

My Courses - New Item Icons

All Notification Icons are turned off by default in Blackboard. There is a significant performance improvement for you and your students when the notification icons are turned off. However, if you would like to turn several of the notification icons on for a specific course, you may do so by going to that course's Manage Course under the Build tab.

Warning: There is a known bug regarding the New Discussion Posts indicator which causes it to be randomly inaccurate.

Under either the Build or Teach tab, go to Manage Course
Click on Settings

Under Tools, select My Courses

Check the box next to any news icons you'd like to display
Press the Save Values button


Manage Course List	TOP
You may reorder and alphabetize your course list. You may also hide courses that you don't wish to see on your My Courses list. To manage your Course List, go to the My Courses screen Click on the Pencil icon for the Course List To alphabetize (A-Z) your courses, press Restore Default Click the Hide Link button to remove a course from your list To reorder the courses, check the box next to a course you want to move, and select the double arrow button to move the selected item above or below that location. Click on My Courses tab to return to the standard course list.

My Settings	TOP
The My Settings tool allows you to: Upload your Personal Photo. Make the HTML Creator start by default. Forward your Blackboard email to another email address. Set the Number of items shown per page. Set your Time Zone. My Profile Click on My Settings To view your profile options, click on the My Profile tab. To change your public photo, click on Edit Profile. Click Browse to navigate and upload a new public photo. Save your Profile when you're finished Note: Next to E-mail, you should see your Official UI Email Address. This is the email address Blackboard mail will sent to when forwarding has been turned on. This Official UI Email Address cannot be changed through Blackboard. Contact the ITS Help Desk (208) 885-HELP for more information. My Tool Options Click on My Settings Click on the My Tool Options tab. *Uncheck* the box next to Start the HTML Creator by default so that it is NOT run automatically. Bb's HTML Creator does not function correctly for all browsers in either Windows or Macintosh and thus, it is best not to have it run automatically Check the box next to Forward all mail messages to the e-mail address in my profile. For more information on e-mail forwarding, refer to the Forwarding E-mail Tutorial. Paging Preference default is 10 items per page. This setting refers to the number of discussion posts, assignments, assessments, learning modules, etc. shown per page before you are required to press next to get to the next set. Change this default number to something much larger (e.g.200) to increase the items listed per page and avoid missing something hidden from view because it is not displayed in the initial set of items. If you are located in a different time zone than Pacific Time, be sure to change the time zone. Refer to the details below for additional information. Click Save when you're finished. My Time Zone If you are located in a different time zone than Pacific Time, be sure to change the time zone. Dates and times will display according to the time zone you select. The University of Idaho Blackboard server is located in Moscow, Idaho which is in Pacific Standard Time. Example: If you live in New York, select Eastern Time. Blackboard assignment/assesment due dates and times will display in your local time, not in Moscow, Idaho PST time. So, if an assignment is due at 5pm PST, it will show up as being due at 8pm Eastern Time for the student or instructor who has set their time zone to Eastern Time. If you select a time zone that uses daylight saving time, the time will automatically adjust for daylight saving time changes. Log In to Blackboard (www.blackboard.uidaho.edu) Select My Settings Select the My Tool Options tab Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Select your time zone. Press the Save button.

Browser Check	TOP
It is a good idea to check your browser using Blackboard's Browser Checker to ensure that Blackboard will work correctly. This document also shows how to modify the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) settings to allow Blackboard to function and allowing the following operations to occur: Document Downloading Mixed Content Pages Pop-up Windows For information on how to perform a browser check, see the Browser Check Tutorial.

My To Do List	TOP
Channels allow you to turn on additional blackboard features, such as the To Do List. From the My Courses page, click on Channels. Check the box next to To Do List. Click Save.

My Calendar	TOP
The Calendar feature allows you to see all the calendar entries in one place for any Blackboard course using the calendar tool. You may also add personal entries to the calendar. From the My Courses page, click on the Calendar Icon. To add a new entry to the calendar, click Add Entry. Enter the necessary information and click Save.

Return