Blackboard is the University of the Arts' Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

A VLE is an online space that provides tools for the support of teaching and learning, course management, and communication between students and staff.

Access to Blackboard is via the internet. The web address is: http://blackboard.arts.ac.uk/

You will require a username and password to access Blackboard. Staff and currently enrolled students should use their IT network username and password.

You will also find documents to assist you in using Blackboard on the log in page.

All staff and students at the University have a Blackboard account so they can access sites relevant to their studies or work. Students are automatically enrolled onto the sites for their courses once they have enrolled. Staff can request to be given access to specific areas of Blackboard for the courses they are teaching on by emailing Blackboard Support.

There are two major areas within Blackboard, called Courses and Organisations.

Courses: If the course you are studying or teaching has a site, you will have access to important announcements, internet links, assignments, quizzes and be able to take part in online discussions. You'll get University of the Arts news and be able to send emails to staff members and other students studying on your course.

Organisations: Organisations enable access to other information that is often of relevance to a larger group of staff or students within a college (e.g. IT at LCF) or across several colleges (e.g. Student Services).

Blackboard allows the upload of content material for sharing between the staff and students who have access to that particular site. Content can take the form of documents (Word, PDF, Powerpoint, Excel, video, audio, etc).

Training

CLTAD provides support and training for staff in the pedagogic and technical use of Blackboard. We have an annual programme of central events, which are held at Richbell Place. These are open to staff from all colleges.

Users can find information about upcoming training at http://www.arts.ac.uk/mybbsite/introduce/training.html.

Additionally, events are organised on location in the colleges throughout the year.

All training can be arranged on request by emailing Blackboard Support

Building Blocks

CLTAD staff have a great deal of experience in developing additions to the standard functionality of Blackboard to improve and extend how Blackboard can be used. These additions are known as 'Building Blocks'. Some of them are widely used by staff and students as part of the teaching and learning process. Others have been developed to offer increased administrative functionality within Blackboard.

Building blocks with pedagogic applications:

• AV Tools - desktop video-conferencing
• Post a single announcement on multiple course sites and / or organisations
• Image Board - allows the posting of images alongside discussion board postings
• Visual Student Records
• SMS Messaging Service - send text messages to staff / students from within Blackboard
• University of the Arts London Blog - integrate a blog within Blackboard
• Update student email and mobile phone details

Building blocks also allow Blackboard system administrators to obtain:

• Active Bb course IDs listed by college
• All usernames by courses
• Change user's course role
• User list of courses and roles
• List Course Directors by course / organisation
• List users by portal role
• Batch remove list of users from a course site
• Remove specific users from multiple sites
• Retrieve users last login date and time

My Blackboard Site

For more information about the University's Virtual Learning Environment, please visit the My Blackboard Site