The Blackboard portal allows users to survey NIU services supporting online teaching and learning resources without actually logging into Blackboard. To access actual courses, users must still login to Blackboard with a valid NIU AccountID.
USERNAME: Your NIU AccountID (e.g.: a1234567).
PASSWORD: Your NIU AccountID password.
Note: Users who do not have an NIU AccountID or do not normally login to Novell, must have their department office request an NIU AccountID; specify it is to be used in Blackboard. There is no charge to departments for this account.
There are a series of tabs on the top which provide access to various services as follows:
NIU: Faculty and students can access all classes they are teaching or are enrolled in and can check grades, calendar, and personal information. From this tab, the user can click the underlined course title to enter the course.
Note: Be certain to click the link under My Courses rather than My Announcements, the latter will provide only a view of current announcements but not the course content.
Courses: This tab provides a complete detailed listing of all the courses the faculty or students are enrolled in, including the Course ID number, making it easier to differentiate among courses. Users can click course titles to enter the course.
Community: By clicking this tab faculty and students can access all communities they are members of. From this tab, the user can click the underlined community name to enter the community. Click here for more information about Communities. 
Services: Links to NIU Services, including course lists and Blackboard course copy requests.
Logout button : It is important to click the Logout button after your session to prevent unauthorized access to your Blackboard account.
Navigation Menu: Located on the left side of the screen, it provides access to different sections of the course. The items in the navigation menu can be modified to suit individual courses. Click here for details.
Control Panel: This button is available to the faculty only; it provides access to the Control Panel of the course. Faculty can use the Control Panel to perform various tasks like changing the appearance of the course, adding new course materials, removing or editing documents, etc.
Navigational history: These links display the the navigational history of the user.
Tabs can be used to directly access different parts of Blackboard.
When inside the course, users can scroll to top of screen and use navigational history to return to desired part of course. The first link in the navigational history (in this example: FIN DEC MAK SVC MNGR) will always link to the course homepage.
Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to getting started teaching with Blackboard? Review the answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff regarding getting started teaching with Blackboard. Also, consider attending an upcoming Blackboard workshop.
Last Updated: 05/13/2008