Welcome to the Blackboard update tutorial for the Indiana Wesleyan University
community. This video will demonstrate important
changes in our latest upgrade to Blackboard Learn 9.1, Service Pack 10. These include: Login Screen, Global Navigation Tool, and Content Editor. The first change you will notice is obvious even before you login. This streamlined login screen clearly displays
important Blackboard system announcements, such as
scheduled maintenance or updates on known issues. It also places the
Username, Password and the Login button in a more convenient,
central location. When you login for the first time after the
update, a screen overlay will appear inviting you to
explore the new features, including the new Global navigation menu and your new Blackboard profile. This is only a courtesy announcement. No action is required at this time. This welcome screen will not appear again, however, you will have access to the tools
and settings the announcement is promoting
every time you login. Once you reach the Home tab, Blackboard
has the same tabs, buttons and features in the same places they
were in previous versions. So you do not have to change the way you
get to your courses. However, the capabilities of the new Global
navigation menu will provide new and better ways to access information across your courses. The new Global Navigation tool contains the
user menu and My Blackboard. To access the global navigation panel, select the arrow next to your name at the top
of the screen. It is available from anywhere in Blackboard. The user menu lists direct links to your
recently visited courses in the top tab and personal settings below. My Blackboard is found in the left column and rolls up information from all of your courses
into one location. This includes My Blackboard Profile, Posts,
Updates, My Grades and People. The My Blackboard Profile allows you to
share basic personal information such as a profile
picture, your preferred display name, your area of
study, general information and your primary email. This information may also be imported from
Facebook or Twitter. Finally, you may choose whether your profile is visible to all IWU Blackboard
users, just your classmates or completely hidden. Once your edits are saved you can preview
your profile as it would be seen by others. The Posts button chronologically displays recent discussion board, blog and wiki posts from all of your classes. You can view all posts, sort them by course
or view only posts made by you. From the Posts button, you can also reply to those posts without navigating into your
course. If you do want to view the posts in the
context of the course, simply select the title. The Updates button chronologically displays , recent Blackboard system announcements, course announcements and updates about
your course assessments and assignments from all of your classes. By selecting the gear icon in the top right
corner, you can select whether to hide or show
various types of notifications. The My Grades button displays grades and feedback from all of your classes. Viewed by date, this tool only displays
assignments that have been graded. Viewed by course, it displays all graded and
ungraded assignments from that course. The People button allows you to view the
profiles of other IWU Blackboard users who have created and shared their profiles. They can be sorted by all people you have
had classes with, all public IWU profiles or by specific course. A search feature is also available to locate
profiles. The improved content editor is a WYSIWYG, "What You See Is What You Get" editor. It appears throughout the system in areas
such as content areas, learning modules, folders, items, announcements, and test questions. By default, the content editor’s tool bar is
collapsed, only showing the most commonly used text
formatting options and four special buttons: preview, help (containing a full legend of the content
editor functions), full screen and show more (which expands the tool bar revealing all of the advanced
functions). When the content editor’s tool bar is
expanded, the second line includes advanced editing
and formatting tools including copy and paste, alignment, subscript, and spell check. The third line contains advanced media
options including the new Video Everywhere and
Mashups tools, emoticons, tables and an improved math
editor. Finally and most importantly, this new editor
more effectively handles text pasted from
Microsoft Word, maintaining spacing and other formatting. In conclusion, the Blackboard SP10 Update does not fundamentally change the existing
environment. But with the addition of a new Login Screen,
Global Navigation Tool, and Content Editor, both students and faculty new options in navigating and contributing to their courses. Beyond these visible changes, SP10 also includes some back-end updates that may interest faculty and students. Select the links below to view more SP10
videos from Blackboard.