Students Getting Started Guide
College of DuPage uses Blackboard as our learning management system (LMS). If you are taking online, hybrid or VCM courses, you will access some or all of your course materials through Blackboard. All courses will have the syllabus in Blackboard for your reference.
The following resources can help you get comfortable with Blackboard. Reminder: the videos are examples; your course will appear similar to the videos, but may not look exactly the same.
You can also use the Student Quick Start Guide to learn more about setting up and using Blackboard.
Accessing Blackboard
To sign into Blackboard, you will need your COD login information. This is the same login that you use to access email and other campus resources.
Once signed in, you will be able to see all of your courses and navigate to course tools, assignments, and more.
Navigating Your Courses
Assignments
Submitting assignments in Blackboard is a common practice in online courses. Blackboard assignments allow students to easily:
- Access Assignment Details: Each assignment includes detailed instructions, due dates, and any necessary attachments or resources provided by your instructor.
- Submit Work: Upload your assignments directly to Blackboard in various formats, such as Word documents, PDFs, or multimedia files.
- Track Deadlines: Use the calendar and notifications to stay on top of due dates and manage your time effectively.
- Receive Feedback: After submission, you can view your grades, read instructor feedback, and check for any comments or annotations on your work.
For more information about Assignments in Blackboard, see these Blackboard Help articles:
- Blackboard Help Page – Assignments
- Submit an Assignment
- Assignment Grades
- Common Questions About Assignments
Tests and Quizzes
Tests and quizzes may be required to be completed through Blackboard. Tests and quizzes can be found and accessed in your course.
For more information on taking exams in Blackboard, see the following Blackboard Help articles:
Discussion Boards
Discussions are an important part of many online courses, since it is often the main way that you will connect with your classmates and discuss what you are learning.
This video will help you learn how Discussions in Blackboard Ultra view work, so you can get started posting information in your course.
For more information, see the following articles on Blackboard Help:
Viewing Your Grades
As you complete and submit assignments, exams, and other gradable work, your instructor will issue grades to you.
For more on how to view your grades, see the following Blackboard Help article:
Alternative Formats
College of DuPage uses an Alternative Formats tool in Blackboard called Ally. It lets you convert course content into formats like PDFs, audio, ebooks, and translated versions.
Available Alternative Formats
- ePub: The ePub alternative creates a digital publishing file that can be viewed on mobile devices. Readers can take notes, highlight content, adjust text and background, and in some cases use text-to-speech.
- Electronic Braille: The electronic braille alternative creates a BRF file that can be read on a refreshable Braille display (RBD), other Braille reading devices, or within a Braille software like Duxbury.
- Audio: Audio playback for documents, suitable for both online and download listening.
- Immersive Reader: Allows for customization of text preferences, grammar options, and reading preferences while following along with audio playback.
- Semantic HTML: Display as a webpage in a dedicated browser tab to customize the document’s appearance using the Website Accessibility tool.
- BeeLine Reader: BeeLine Reader makes reading on screen easier and faster. Instead of using plain black text, BeeLine Reader displays text using a subtle color gradient that helps pull your eye through your readings.
- Tagged PDF: A Tagged PDF alternative uses tags and elements—such as blockquote, paragraph, and headings—to add meaning to a page. It aids screen reader users with good content structure.
- OCR PDF: OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. The OCR PDF alternatives are created when the original content is a PDF of an image. OCR technology analyses the content and converts the image into searchable text.
- Translated Version: This alternative format provides a machine-translated version of the original content into multiple languages. PDF, Word, Powerpoint, and HTML documents are supported.
Alt Format Resources
To learn more about Ally, you can use these resources:
Blackboard Mobile App
The Blackboard app is designed for viewing course content and staying connected to your courses with push notifications. The app’s current version is available for iOS and Android mobile devices and tablets. When taking tests, working on assignments, or viewing assignment feedback, Google Chrome’s mobile browser offers a higher quality experience than the Blackboard app.
Notification Settings
Blackboard will notify you when:
- Announcements and assignments are available
- Assignments are due or past due
- Content or a course is available
- When a course message is received
- When an items, surveys and tests are available, due, past due or graded
- You have unread blogs, journals, and discussions
You can choose which notifications you receive about activity in all your courses under the Notification Settings panel. You can adjust settings for:
- Activity Stream: Choose which activities appear on your Activity Stream and whether you see all or just certain kinds of notifications.
- Email: If you want to receive email notifications, you can add an email address to your Profile Page. Then, choose how often and which activities you want to receive notifications for in the Email notifications settings.
- Push notifications: Messages pop up on your mobile device if you have the Blackboard app for students installed. You can select which notifications are sent to your device.
If you need help setting up or modifying your notifications, the following resources can be useful:
