Note: Answers to frequently asked questions listed below are only meant to clarify issues related to access to Blackboard. NIU’s computing policies will apply under all circumstances.
All faculty (including Faculty Members and teaching staff) members are given access to Blackboard when they are issued their NIU AccountID and password. The hiring department must complete all hiring forms for a new faculty and submit them to Human Resource Services (HRS) as soon as possible to ensure timely creation of an NIU AccountID. After HRS has processed the paperwork, an AccountID will be generated for that faculty and access to Blackboard will be granted on the following business day.
Yes. A faculty member may have access to Blackboard, but only when that faculty is listed as the "instructor of record" within the Registration and Records system for a given course can that faculty member request a Blackboard course section be created through the Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities as explained in 5.
The faculty member’s department must indicate in the turnaround sheet for a semester that a particular faculty member will be the "instructor of record" for a course section he/she is assigned to teach, and submit it to the college office to process and send it to Registration and Records (R&R).
After Registration and Records receives the turnaround sheet and enters the "instructor of record" information into the R&R database system, the faculty will be able to request Blackboard course space for particular sections using the Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities (FBCU), which can be found under the “Services” tab at the Blackboard site at http://webcourses.niu.edu. The requested course sections are then automatically created the next business day.
The faculty member can check the course listing in the NIU Course Finder at https://webcluster.niu.edu/SchedBook/servlet/Search
Ordinarily, an individual cannot be issued access to university’s computing resources unless that individual’s hiring paperwork has been received by Human Resource Services and has been entered into the HRS system. Similarly, Registration and Records cannot assign someone as the "instructor of record" for a course section until the hired individual’s information has been entered into the HRS system and has been issued an NIU AccountID. In some exceptional cases when an individual needs access to Blackboard to prepare for a course before his/her contract starts or paperwork/processing is completed, his/her department chair should send an e-mail request to the ITS Helpdesk (helpdesk@niu.edu) with the new or late hire's full name, current e-mail address, duration of temporary access, course name(s) and number(s), and the section(s) that need early creation in Blackboard, along with the reasons for expediting access. If the special request is approved, ITS may be able to create the course sections in advance and give the faculty member access to those course sections.
Faculty members who have access to the Blackboard system can request a Blackboard course for those sections for which they are listed as official Faculty Members of record. Requests for Blackboard course space should be made through the Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities (FBCU), a web-based request form that can be found under the "Services" tab at the Blackboard site at http://webcourses.niu.edu. Instructions for using the FBCU are provided at http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/gettingstarted/fbcu.shtml.
Requests made through the FBCU will take approximately one work day to be processed. The processing interface runs twice daily on week days. After course requests are processed, faculty will see the course title under the Courses tab on their Blackboard accounts after logging into Blackboard.
Yes. Faculty members who are assigned to teach multiple sections of the same course in a given semester have the option of consolidating these course sections in Blackboard into one master course so that the same course materials need not be manually uploaded to each of the course sections. To learn more about this process, please review the information provided at http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/gettingstarted/multiplesections.shtml and contact the ITS Helpdesk at (815) 753-8100 or email helpdesk@niu.edu with any further questions.
Please note that when the Blackboard Content System is implemented (target of spring 2008), faculty members will be able to post the content used in multiple course sections in one folder in the Content System and link to it from different sections of the same course on Blackboard.
Combining enrollments from cross-listed courses is a manual process that has to be performed by a faculty member using one of the following approaches: 1) enroll the cross-listed students manually into one course section; 2) use the Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities available at https://webcluster.niu.edu/BlackBoard/servlet/blackboard_signon_servlet2 to create a Blackboard course for each cross-listed section. Then, copy the enrollments from each cross-listed section into a single Blackboard section that the faculty member selects to make available. The creation of all cross-listed sections is done to obtain enrollment records for each section, so that those records could be combined into one course. Only one section must to be made available. Otherwise, the faculty member will have to maintain multiple sections in Blackboard.
Yes. There are several options available for faculty who wish to share course materials in Blackboard. These include either sharing access to a common Blackboard development shell, sharing access to a scheduled course section in Blackboard, exporting and importing materials from one course to another, or using the new Blackboard Content System (targeted for spring 2008 release) to store and share content within the secure Blackboard learning environment. More details concerning managing content in Blackboard is provided at http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/coursecontent.
Faculty can add one or more teaching assistants to a Blackboard course section and assign the role of "TA" to these individuals. This role provides them with access to most features of the Blackboard Control Panel.
The process to add a TA involves first manually enrolling the TA as a student of the course using "Enroll Users" option in the Control Panel and then modifying this student's properties within the course from student to TA using the "List/Modify Users." For both options, the teaching assistant's last name or AccountID can be used to find the student in Blackboard and enroll into the course as a student. and then find the student again using "List/Modify Users," click on the student's Properties button and change the student's role to Teaching Assistant.
Non-credit students are not automatically enrolled in Blackboard courses as they are not part of the Registration and Records' student enrollment information. Faculty in charge of credit/non-credit courses must manually enroll non-credit students (using either their existing Z-IDs, if those students are also taking a course for credit, or temporary Blackboard affiliate AccountIDs).
An affiliate AccountID is a Novell AccountID which is generated for someone who has an affiliation with NIU but does not fit into the usual classification of a faculty, staff or student. It is only meant to provide access to Blackboard courses and/or communities. Associated E-mail accounts are not generated for a Blackboard affiliate AccountID. The Blackboard community leader or course Faculty Member can fill out the online Computer Access Request form at http://www.its.niu.edu/its/apps/car/ to request Novell AccountIDs for non-NIU participants. After non-credit students are manually enrolled in the course as students, they will also appear in the gradebook of the course or community. They can be enrolled as guests, if the Faculty Member/community moderator prefers to keep their records out of the gradebook.
Only courses taught within the last 13 months will remain in Blackboard and appear among Faculty Members' lists of courses. Course ID numbers are used to identify courses taught within the last 13 months. The 13-month limit is not applied to shell courses. Faculty members should make sure they archive any courses they wish to retain before the course removal process begins. Faculty members are responsible for archiving their own courses. Announcements about course removal are sent to faculty via email as well as posted each semester on the main Blackboard portal and on Teaching with Blackboard Web site at www.blackboard.niu.edu.
Faculty members can request to use a Blackboard Community for purposes which are not directly related to the instruction process and fall outside of the definition of Blackboard Courses. More information regarding communities, including pricing, is available at: http://www.its.niu.edu/its/blackboard/blackboard_community.shtml. To request a community the Faculty Member should fill out the online Blackboard Community Request Form (http://www.its.niu.edu/its/asp2/bbc/default.aspx). For more information or questions, faculty members should call 815.753.8100 or email helpdesk@niu.edu.
If the faculty going on leave during the semester is able, then he/she can give access to his/her Blackboard course to the second faculty by enrolling that faculty first as a student in the course using the "Enroll User" option in the Control panel and then changing that faculty's role in the Properties from student to Faculty Member using "List/Modify Users" option. If the faculty going on leave during the semester is not able to give access to his/her Blackboard course to the second faculty due to medical or other emergencies then the department chair can contact ITS helpdesk at helpdesk@niu.edu and request access to the course for the second faculty, and also submit a revised turnaround sheet to R&R indicating the second faculty is the Faculty Member of record for the course.
Visit the Teaching with Blackboard website at www.blackboard.niu.edu
This list is maintained by the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center. Suggested revisions may be sent to facdev@niu.edu.
Last Updated: 04/26/2007