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Using
Blackboard
In this course, we will use Blackboard only for the following:
- Logging on to Blackboard
- Announcements
- Online Orientation
- Online Pretest for All
Developmental Courses Except MATD 0330 Basic Math Skills
- MyMathLab Course ID
- Submitting Written Homework
Electronically
- Getting Help with Blackboard
Logging on to Blackboard
for the First Time*:
If you have not
used Blackboard before in another class (recently)**, you must do the following
to log in to Blackboard:
1. You will need your ACCeID and password in order to log in to
Blackboard. Go here for step-by-step
instructions on how to find out what yours are and how to activate them, if you
don't have that information already.
Your ACCeID is the first initial of your official first name followed
immediately by your full 7-digit ACC ID, found in the upper right of your ACC Photo ID,
which you may get at any ACC Admissions & Records Office. Unless it has changed, your initial ACCeID
password and ACCmail password are the same and are ten digits: the last 4
digits of your ACC ID (not Social Security Number) followed immediately by your
6-digit birthday in MMDDYY form. You
will be asked to change these passwords the first time you activate your ACCeID
and your ACCmail.
2. Go to the Blackboard login page
on the web.
3. If you do not already know
your ACCeID (Username) and Password (which you could have created in step 1
above), from the Blackboard login page,
click on the link below the yellow key that says "Enter your ACCeID login
information below. You must Activate Your
ACCeID before you can access Blackboard." Then log into Blackboard using your ACCeID and password.
4. Immediately go to the
"Personal Information" in the left menu and follow the link to
"Set Privacy Options." You can then choose whether to make your email
and other information public or not. (Note that your email address may still be
available to other members of the class when you post on the discussion boards,
regardless of what you choose here.)
Always be sure to click on "Submit" after you have made your
changes. Please note that while on the
"Personal Information" web page, you may also change your name,
address, Social Security Number, and/or major, by viewing and printing the
Student Data Change form, which you will then have to submit to any ACC
Admissions & Records Office.
5. If you are registered for
this course already, the course should be listed under "My Courses"
on the main page when you first log into Blackboard (or click on the
"Courses" tab at the top of the page).
6. Click on the "My ACC"
tab at the top of the page and then check "My Announcements" for any
course-related announcements.
7. Always click on
"Logout" near the top center of the page when you are finished.
*If you have never used Blackboard before, it may help to read through the
"How to Log into
Blackboard" page.
**If you have
used Blackboard recently at ACC, then it is very likely that your privacy
settings are already correct in ACC's system.
Announcements:
Every time you log into
Blackboard, be sure to check for any new announcements related to the course.
(Click on "My ACC", then check "My Announcements". If you
are already logged into this course, you can just click on
"Announcements" in the menu bar on the left.) If I do post new announcements, I will do my
best to send them as emails to the entire class, and whenever I send emails to
the entire class, I will post them as permanent announcements in Blackboard for
quick reference later in the semester.
Online Orientation:
At the beginning of the semester, be sure to
complete your Online Orientation quiz for the course. You should take this Orientation quiz as many
times as is necessary to make a perfect score on it. Each time that you take it, you may review
your answers, and for any problems you missed, you will be told exactly where
to find the answer. There are 11
questions on the Orientation quiz, but the question that asks you which campus
Testing Center you will be using does not count in your score. Therefore, a perfect score is 10 correct out
of 10 possible questions. Be sure to
submit the Online Orientation quiz to me when you make a perfect score on it.
You do
NOT need the MyMathLab access or textbook in order to complete the online
orientation. Just read the information in the web pages at
or linked to the home web page for your class and in your course handouts at http://www.austincc.edu/jbickham/handouts, and answer
the questions. After you have completed the
online orientation quiz and have received feedback explaining what you missed
and where to get that information, retake the Orientation quiz until you get a
perfect score. Then be sure to Submit it
to me. If you are unable to find the
information you are looking for, please contact me. I have found that students who are unable to
make a perfect score on this Orientation quiz are the students who likely will
not succeed in the class, so if you find the Online Orientation quiz to be
difficult, please change to an ON-CAMPUS section of the course as soon as
possible. If you have not completed the Orientation with a perfect score by the Friday
of the first week of class, you may be dropped from the course.
Online
Pretest for All Developmental Courses Except MATD 0330 Basic Math Skills:
At the beginning of the semester, except for
those students in MATD 0330 Basic Math Skills (which has no prerequisite), you
must complete your Online Pretest for the course. This Pretest is different from the Online
Orientation quiz, and can only be taken one time. However, if you need a break, you may save
your work and come back to finish it later.
The Pretest is over math topics that were covered in the previous math
course and is what you are expected to know when you begin this math
course. If you do not understand the
math concepts covered on it, then you are likely setting yourself up for
failure in this course. Be sure to
submit this Pretest to me when you are finished with it.
If you are unable to get at least 70% of the
problems correct, then that is a good indication that you may need to enroll in
the previous math course. I realize that
you likely took a placement test that may have placed you into this math
course, but the Math Department has found that those placement tests do not
always place students into the correct course.
This is why we give a Pretest at the beginning of the semester. You may find Reviews for the Pretests of
almost all of our math courses at http://www.austincc.edu/math/prereqreviews.html, and I highly recommend
that you complete the Prerequisite Review for your math course before you take
the Pretest so that you will be prepared for it. If you
have not completed the Pretest with a score of at least 70% by the Friday of
the first week of class, you may be dropped from the course. Please contact
me if you do not score at least 70% on the Pretest. And again, this Pretest does not apply to
MATD 0330 Basic Math Skills students because that course has no prerequisite.
MyMathLab Course ID:
In order to enroll in MyMathLab, which is a required part
of this course because it is the computer program we use to explain the math
concepts, you must have a Course ID.
This is found by clicking on the CourseCompass Course ID button in your
course in Blackboard. For more
information about purchasing and registering in MyMathLab, please refer to the Information about MyMathLab handout.
Please note that if you are repeating this SAME course using the SAME
book and have already registered in MyMathLab for this SAME course, you will
NOT need to buy new MyMathLab access, and it is highly recommended that you
enroll in an ON-CAMPUS section of this course. In addition to enrolling in this course, please consider simultaneously
enrolling in a one-hour math lab course MATD 0011 Developmental Mathematics
Lab, which will provide regular help with this course. For more
information about how to register in MyMathLab for a different section of this
SAME course or if you are registering for a new additional course in MyMathLab,
please refer to http://www.austincc.edu/jbickham/ChangingCoursesInMML.pdf.
Submitting
Written Homework Electronically:
One of the many ways that you may submit your
Written Homework to me is to scan it and attach it by going through the Written
Homework section of this course in Blackboard.
Homework is submitted by week, and it will tell you which sections of
homework you should be submitting that week.
For more information about how to submit homework, please refer to http://www.austincc.edu/jbickham/homework.
Getting Help with
Blackboard:
The best
place to start when looking for help with Blackboard is at the Blackboard login page. There is a
link to Student Support on the left side of the page, which will hopefully work
again soon. There is also a Blackboard
Support tab at the top left side of the page, which should have helpful
information if you click on that.
Usually, the Help button at the top of the Blackboard login page and within
Blackboard will also take you to helpful information, but it currently takes
you to the Faculty Support page. You may also contact the ACC Helpdesk at (512)
223-4357 for Blackboard support issues.
If you have tried this and still cannot figure something out, please contact me and I will do my best to
help.
IMPORTANT NOTE: According to the
Blackboard system, you can send your instructor an email message from within
Blackboard, but that often does not work. You can send one, but I might not
receive it. So please do not use that feature. If you have any questions or
want to send me a message, send me an
email message in the normal way and be sure to state which course you are
in. Thanks!
Return to Janet Bickham's Home Page
Visit other ACC websites: ACC Home Page, ACC Open Campus (Distance Learning) Home Page,
or ACC Math Dept Home Page
Last Updated August, 2011
Copyright © 2011,
Austin Community College
Send comments and questions to Janet Bickham: jbickham@austincc.edu