HOW TO USE BLACKBOARD FORUMS

• Online assistance and answers to frequently asked questions can be found at the VCCS Bb Help Site.
• The Bb Student Manual provides instructions on how to use Blackboard's features.
  
  All students will use the forums on Blackboard to post their work. 

When you click on Blackboard, it will take you first  to a password box, which asks for your username and password, which are based on your email password.  

• Email Password: Your password consists of the birth date you supplied during registration. It consists of 6 digits -- two for the month, two for the day, and two for the year. For example, a student born on April 5th, 1972, would have the password 040572. If you did not provide a birth date, your password is the last 4 numbers in your student number (usually your Social Security number). Blackboard User Name: Your Blackboard user name consists of everything to the left of the @ symbol in your VCCS email address. For example, if your VCCS email address is krandom0001@email.vccs.edu, your Blackboard user name would be krandom0001.
• Blackboard Password: Your Blackboard password is the same as your email password as described above.

Once you log on to Blackboard, you need to select the English 115 Course. Then, select "Communications," and finally select "Discussion Board."The Blackboard forums are all listed on one long page. Scroll down to locate the one you need. Click on the highlighted title of the forum to open it. Then click on Start New Thread to open a message box for posting your writing.  

NOTE!! Complete instructions for each task are NOT on Blackboard, but in the course Unit Guide. You must use the Unit Guides in order to do the work correctly.

I recommend writing on your own word processor and using copy/paste to post your writing into the message box. Click the cursor once in the new message box before going to the edit menu of your browser to select "paste." There are three button choices at the bottom of the message box. Select the one that says “Smart Text.” It will preserve your format. Click on Submit (lower right corner below the message box) to post your writing on the forum.Note: if you use html, you must leave off the header section and end section in order to post it successfully to Blackboard.Note: do not save a Word file as an html file before trying to post to Blackboard--it will get very messed up.

I suggest printing out this page, so you have the instructions handy as you work through the course. However, remember that printouts do not retain the hotlinks!

 

(c) Diane Thompson:12/3/1998; updated: 12/06/2006