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ACCESSING Bb:
Technical
Requirements (system,
browser)
Logging
on to Blackboard (how-to, troubleshooting)
Password Security
Who Can
Use Blackboard
Auditors
Special / Non-Princeton Students
Levels
of Access
Restricted
Areas
Non-Princeton Users
Accessibility
for Persons with Disabilities
Technical requirements
Q:
What are the system requirements for Blackboard?
A:
Platform: Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista / Mac OS 9 or higher.
Hardware:
64 MB of RAM, 20 MB of free disk space.
Modem:
56 k modem or higher.
Browser:
For best results, we recommend Internet Explorer 5>. See the Blackboard
Certified Client Browser Configurations defined in the following
question.
JavaScript
& Cookies must be enabled.
(Vista users click here)
(AOL
users click here)
Q:
What are the browser requirements for accessing Blackboard?
A:
Click this text for a PDF of the Blackboard Certified Client Browser Configurations for Blackboard release 8.
Q: Is Blackbaord compatible with Microsoft Vista?
A: Blackboard has tested Release 7, Application Pack 2 of the Blackboard Academic Suite with Microsoft Windows Vista using both the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Web browser and the Firefox 2.0 Web browser. The results of the testing show that Microsoft Windows Vista is compatible.
1. Blackboard Content System folders cannot be viewed through WebDAV (Web folders) at the operating system level. Users will receive an error message. WebDAV folders cannot be viewed by configuring the connection through the Blackboard Content System. Users will receive an error message or the folder will display the content but options to work with content items and folders will not appear. Blackboard is working with Microsoft to resolve this issue.
2. In some instances, the Collaboration Tool opens with grayed out options.
3. The WebEQ option in the Visual Text Box Editor is not functioning correctly. When the user begins to create an equation, the following message displays: Dropdown menu is not available.
Q:
I seem to be having trouble logging in on AOL. Is it not compatible?
A:
You need to open a different browser (while using AOL
as your default browser). Instructions:
1.
Sign on through AOL (access the Internet)
2.
Locate the "keyword" button to the immediate top right,
click on it
3.
Type in "smile4u" in the search field, click on "GO"(submit)
4.
A yellow smiley face should appear; minimize your AOL browser
5.
Double click on the Internet Explorer [IE] icon on your desktop
(open up IE)
NOTE:
These steps should allow you to work on IE without AOL timing out
and removing you from the Internet because of inactivity; this workaround
has not been verified using AOL 5.0 or 6.0.
If
you are using AOL e-mail, mail sent to the class through
the Blackboard site may be filtered out as spam.
Logging on to Blackboard
Q:
How do I login to Blackboard?
A:
Go to https://blackboard.princeton.edu/,
where you will be presented with the login screen. If you have
a Princeton NetID, enter it in the appropriate fields, along with
your IMAP e-mail password and click the Login button. Alumnae/i
who are registered in an @princeton course should enter their
TigernetID
and password, check the small box and click the Login button. Auditors
and other who have been assigned a special username (generally
this
will begin with ci_) should enter it along with the password
that was assigned, and click the Login button. All others should
click the Preview button.
Q: Is there a way to login directly to my course site?
A: By typing a URL the location bar of your browser based on the formula below, you can go directly from login to your Blackboard site.
https://blackboard.princeton.edu/pucourse/SITE_ID
For SITE_ID substitute your entire Blackboard SITE_ID in UPPERCASE. If your Backboard SITE_ID is ENG310_F2004, your URL is:
https://blackboard.princeton.edu/pucourse/ENG310_F2004
This works for organizations, as well as for courses.
How do you find your SITE_ID? For courses, find your site in the Course List found under the orange Courses tab in Blackboard. The SITE_ID is listed under the course title. For organizations, search your site in Organization Catalog found under the orange Organizations tab in Blackboard. The SITE_ID is in parenthesis (ALL_CAPS) to the right of the site's name:
Office of Information Technology (OIT)
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Blackboard support at blackboard@princeton.edu or 258-0737.
Q:
I'm having trouble logging in. What should I do?
A:
The following information applies to the following scenarios:
- You
are having problems logging in to Blackboard with your Princeton
NetID
- You
having trouble logging in with an ID that begins with ci_
- You
are using AOL
If none of the above apply, enter Blackboard as a guest.
1.
Troubleshooting for people with a Princeton NetID:
Make
sure your Caps Lock is off.
Are
you using the correct NetID? To learn more about Princeton NetIDs,
see:
http://kb.princeton.edu/5240
Have you had your name withheld from the
Princeton Campus Directory? If so, you must contact blackboard@princeton.edu
to be activated in Blackboard.
Are
you using your LDAP password? To learn more about your LDAP passwordword, see: Knowledge Base Solution 9288.
Did
you arrive by BOOKMARK or a URL sent to you by someone? Try
clicking
on or pasting into your location field this URL and logging in
again: https://blackboard.princeton.edu/
If
you have tried and fail repeatedly to login, close your browser
completely, including your e-mail, and start again. Or if you have
an alternate browser, try that one (e.g., if you are using Netscape,
try Internet Explorer).
Still
having log in problems? Please contact the OIT Help Desk at 8-HELP
(258-4357)
Or, send e-mail to helpdesk@princeton.edu
and while you wait for a response, you might try accessing your
site as a guest. Unless the instructor has denied guest access
to
the site, most of the site content will be accessible to visitors.
Organization sites are created without guest access, so unless
the
Leader has made it available to guests, you will probably not have
access.
3.
Troubleshooting for people with IDs that begin with ci_:
Make
sure your Caps Lock is off. Remember passwords are case-sensitive.
Are you typing your ID correctly? Be sure to use an underscore not
a dash after the ci and do not leave a space.
Did
you arrive here by BOOKMARK or a URL sent to you by someone?
Try
clicking
on or pasting into your location field this URL and logging in
again: https://blackboard.princeton.edu/
If you have tried and fail repeatedly to login, close your browser
completely, including your e-mail, and start again. Or if you have
an alternate browser, try that one (e.g., if you are using Netscape,
try Internet Explorer).
Still
having log in problems? Please contact the OIT Help Desk at 8-HELP
(258-4357)
Or, send e-mail to helpdesk@princeton.edu
and while you wait for a response, you might try accessing your
course as a guest. Unless the instructor has denied guest access
to the site, most of the course content will be accessible to visitors.
4.
Troubleshooting for people using AOL:
OPEN
ANOTHER BROWSER (while using AOL as your default browser):
a.
Sign on through AOL (access the Internet)
b.
Locate the "keyword" button to the immediate top right,
click on it
c.
Type in "smile4u" in the search field, click on "GO"(submit)
d.
A yellow smiley face should appear; minimize your AOL browser
e.
Double click on the Internet Explorer [IE] icon on your desktop
(open up IE)
NOTE:
These steps should allow you to work on IE without AOL timing out
and removing you from the Internet because of inactivity; this workaround
has not been verified using AOL 5.0 or 6.0.
Password Security
Q: How
do I know my password is not being intercepted?
A: Your
password is protected in transit by using a network protocol
called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). With 128-bit SSL, information
passing
between
the browser and the Web site is encrypted or scrambled to make
it extremely difficult for anyone who intercepts the information
to read it. Thus, only web browsers that support SSL may be used
to login to Blackboard. You will know that you have a SSL connection
when you see "https:" instead of "http:" After
login, the "https:" will revert back to "http:"
Who Can Use Blackboard
Q:
Can I make my web site accessible to everyone, not just users
enrolled in the site?
A:
Yes. The default setting for course sites at Princeton permits
anyone with Web access to access two of the Content Areas: Course Description and Syllabus. Place materials you would like to be available in those areas. The other two default Content Areas, Course Materials and Assignments are not available to those not enrolled in your course. . Place materials that, by copyright restriction, should only be available to enrolled students, in those areas. If there is an Erserve link in your course menu, it cannot be made available to those not enrolled.
The Communications
features and Tools are also restricted to only those enrolled in the course (this
cannot be changed). The default setting for Organization sites
denies
access to guests.
To
change the default setting, In the Control Panel go to
Course Options / Organization Options > Settings > Guest Access, turn on
the "Yes" or "No" radio button, then click Submit.
Q:How do special students and community auditors get enrolled in Blackboard site?
A: SPECIAL UNDERGRADUATE-FOR-CREDIT STUDENTS
Whether a student at the Princeton Theological Seminary, a student at another college or university, or a high school student taking a course at Princeton , enrollment begins a process that will produce a Princeton NetID to provide special students taking undergraduate courses for credit with access to certain services and resources, including access as a student to the Blackboard site for the course.
To find out your Princeton NetID, go to the Princeton Home Page and look in in the Princeton People Search. Once you have located your NetID, call the Princeton help desk (609.258.HELP) and tell them you need to activate it. When you have a password, you will be ready to login to Blackboard.
Note: If you have a Princeton NetID, your course e-mail will be sent to your Princeton e-mail address. If you do not wish to use that account, when you call the help desk to get your NetID activated, ask them to help you forward your Princeton e-mail account to your preferred account.
SPECIAL GRADUATE-FOR CREDIT-STUDENT
Special students enrolled in a course at the graduate level, such as those in the Rutgers exchange program, are not usually assigned a Princeton NetID, thus not automatically enrolled in the course Blackboard site. Send your name and email address to your course instructor so s/he can make a request to blackboard@princeton.edu to have you enrolled in the course. A special Blackboard account will be set up and the login information e-mailed to you.
Note: If you do not have a Princeton NetID your course e-mail will be sent to the address your Blackboard ID and password were sent to (special graduate students) or the address you registered in CAP with (Community Auditors).
(Warning to those with AOL e-mail accounts: AOL does not always accept e-mail from Princeton Blackboard and Princeton Listservs.)
COMMUNITY AUDITORS
Beginning Fall 2006, if you enroll in a course through the Community Auditing Program that allows you to use its Blackboard site, the Community Auditor Office will enroll you in the Blackboard course site. To log into Blackboard, use the Blackboard NetID found on your account page in the Community and Regional Affairs site: https://webdb.princeton.edu/cap/engine.asp?action=customerExternalAuth. The password for Blackboard is the same as your CAP password.
If you have a Blackboard ID from past semesters, it will get you into the Blackboard pages for courses you took prior to Fall 2006, but not into Fall 2006-or-later courses.
Please contact the Community Auditors Program Office for all Blackboard access issues: 609-258-0202 / PUCAP@princeton.edu.
Note:
If you do not have a Princeton NetID your course e-mail will be sent to the address your Blackboard ID and password were sent to (special graduate students) or the address you registered in CAP with (Community Auditors).
(Warning to those with AOL e-mail accounts: AOL does not always accept e-mail from Princeton Blackboard and Princeton Listservs.)
PRINCETON NetID HOLDERS WHO ARE AUDITING
The course instructor should send an e-mail request to blackboard@princeton.edu asking that you be enrolled as an auditor.
Q:
Why is a student, "Library Blackboard Zzzzz" (username
"pubserv"), enrolled in my course web site?
A:
To facilitate the work of the librarians, who have been getting
requests for assistance from students regarding information and
assignments in the sites, as of the Spring 2001 term we have provided
them with student access to all Blackboard web sites as "ghost" students (they will not receive class e-mail, nor will they have
access to the Control Panel). The last name is "Zzzzz" to avoid interference with the sequence in your Grade Center. To hide this user in your Grade Center, put your cursor over the "Zzzzz," click the double down arrows, and click on Hide Users.
If
you would rather the librarians not have access to your course materials,
you can make the site unavailable to them by going to Control
Panel > List/Modify Users > Search > Properties (next to entry
for Blackboard, Library) then select "No" under Available,
then Submit.
Levels of Access
Q:
What levels of access are available in Blackboard sites?
A:
User roles determine the level of access to a site.
There are five user roles:
Courses
/ Organizations
Instructor / Leader
Instructional Staff / Assistant
Course Builder / Organization Builder
Grader / Grader
Student / Participant
Each
user can have only one user role per Bb site. These roles are site-specific,
so a single user could be assigned the Instructor role in one Bb
site, but be assigned the Student role in another Bb site.
Instructor
/ Leader
The Instructor / Leader role has the highest level of privilege
within a site. Typically, the Instructor is the person teaching
or leading the class. The Instructor / Leader has access to everything
in the Control
Panel .
Instructional Staff / Assistant
The role of Instructional Staff / Assistant is the rough equivalent of the Instructor / Leader. This role would be assigned to a user who will be significantly participating in the teaching of the class or management of the site, but is not listed in the PeopleSoft Course Information System Catalog as a primary instructor. The Instructional Staff / Assistant role has access to everything in the Control Panel except for the ability to remove an Instructor / Leader from the site, or change the Instructor / Leader's role.
Course
Builder / Organization Builder
The Course Builder / Organization Builder role has access to the
site's Control Panel , but not to the Grade Center and site statistics.
An Instructor / Leader would assign someone the Builder role so
that person could assist the Instructor in the creation of content
and in some of the management. As with the Instructional Staff / Assistant role, access
within the User management section is limited to prevent the Builder
from removing Instructors, modifying user properties, etc.
Grader
/ Grader
The Grader role has access to the Control
Panel, but
only to the Assessment section. A Grader would assist the Instructor
/ Leader
in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of online assessments
delivered through Blackboard.
Student
/ Participant
The Student / Participant role is the default site role. A user
with the User role of Student / Participant has no access to the
site's Control Panel .
Restricted Areas
Q:
When access to an area is restricted, who can get in? Just people
enrolled in the enrolled, or anyone in the Princeton community?
A:
By default, Blackboard organization sites at Princeton are restricted
to enrolled users, but course sites are set so that only the
Communication
features and Tools are restricted. Content Areas can be viewed
by anyone anywhere with Web access (even those outside the
Princeton community). Some content
materials, such as copyrighted files, should not be made available
to guests.
To
restrict access to areas you want to keep private to those enrolled
in your site, go to the Control
Panel > Course Options/ Organization Options > Manage
Course Menu/ Manage Organization Menu. Then click the modify button
to the right of the name of
the area
you
which
to restrict.
Uncheck the box to the right of "Allow guest access:" and
click Submit.
Q:
Why is a student, "Library Blackboard Zzzzz" (username
"pubserv"), enrolled in my course web site?
A:
To facilitate the work of the librarians, who have been getting
requests for assistance from students regarding information and
assignments in the sites, as of the Spring 2001 term we have provided
them with student access to all Blackboard web sites as "ghost" students (they will not receive class e-mail, nor will they have
access to the Control Panel). The last name is "Zzzzz" to avoid interference with the sequence in your Grade Center. To hide this user in your Grade Center, bput your cursor over the "Zzzzz," click the double down arrows, and click on Hide Users.
If
you would rather the librarians not have access to your course materials,
you can make the site unavailable to them by going to Control
Panel > List/Modify Users > Search > Properties (next to entry
for Blackboard, Library) then select "No" under Available,
then Submit. Or just e-mail us at blackboard@princeton.edu.
Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities
Q:
Is Blackboard ADA Compliant? How does it work with screen readers?
A:
Blackboard, Inc. has a page that addresses accessibility issues: http://www.blackboard.com/clientcollateral/accessibility_and_the_academic_suite.pdf
August 20, 2008 |
