Blackboard is Davenport's Learning Management System (LMS). Blackboard serves as the digital set of tools used to conduct online courses and the interface for content outside of campus based courses. As a student, you will use blackboard to interact with other members of your class, check your grades, turn in assignments, and work on group projects.
As a new student at DU we recommend that you complete three tasks before classes start:
- Check your browser to ensure it is compatible with Blackboard.
- Access Blackboard and review the following key items on the Institution Page: Activity Stream, Profile, Courses, Calendar, & Assist
- Courses are not available in Blackboard until three days before they begin
- Optionally you can also download the Blackboard Mobile app but note that not all class assignments can be completed in the app
- Review one or both of the Blackboard Course views
Feel free to also review other related technology used in courses at DU: Class.com & Kaltura
Blackboard Course Views
Courses are in two views: Ultra and Original
Determine your course view
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Original Course View: The course menu appears on the left side of your window—your access point for all course content. Select an item to open it. Content appears in the main window to the right of the course menu.
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Ultra Course View: on the Course Content page, your instructor's name and picture appear. At the top of the page, you can open frequently used tools. Select each tab to access course content, check the course calendar, drop in on class discussions, access your grades, and send a message if allowed. As you open pages, they open as layers. Close the layers to return to a previous page or the list.
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Ultra View
You can find additional information on Discussion Boards here.
You can more information Submitting Assignments here.
You can find additional information on Blackboard Tests here.
You can find more information on Checking Grades here.
You can find more information on assignment grades here.
SafeAssign is used by your instructor to check submitted assignments for originality. SafeAssign compares your assignments against submitted assignments website, etc. to identify areas of overlaps.
The SafeAssign process
SafeAssign is based on a unique text matching algorithm capable of detecting exact and inexact matching between a paper and source material.
Assignments are compared against several different databases containing millions of articles dating from the 1990s to the present. After the comparison, a report is generated that provides detailed information about the matches found.
Your instructor is using SafeAssign if you see a SafeAssign statement and a list of supported file types on the submission page.
More on how to submit work with SafeAssign
SafeAssign originality reports
Original View
You can find additional information on Discussion Boards here.
You can more information Submitting Assignments here.
You can find additional information on Blackboard Tests here.
You can find more information on Checking Grades here.
SafeAssign is used by your instructor to check submitted assignments for originality. SafeAssign compares your assignments against submitted assignments website, etc. to identify areas of overlaps.
The SafeAssign process
SafeAssign is based on a unique text matching algorithm capable of detecting exact and inexact matching between a paper and source material.
Assignments are compared against several different databases containing millions of articles dating from the 1990s to the present. After the comparison, a report is generated that provides detailed information about the matches found.
Your instructor is using SafeAssign if you see a SafeAssign statement and a list of supported file types on the submission page.
More on how to submit work with SafeAssign
SafeAssign originality reports
After a paper is processed, a report is generated detailing the percentage of text in the submitted paper that matches existing sources. The report also shows the suspected sources for each section that returns a match. When the paper is a continuation of a previously submitted work, your instructor can delete matching sources from the report and process it again.
The Originality Report does not state whether a phrase that matches a source is properly referenced. Your instructor must read the report and determine if you used proper citations.
Your instructor decides if you can see the report.
Other Technology
Video management and creation tool available inside Blackboard. Staff and students can easily create, upload, edit, manage, publish, discover, and deliver high quality videos to any device live or on demand.
Davenport uses the Kaltura Video Platform to enable students and instructors to create and share videos within courses.
View this Getting Started Guide, or watch the videos below, for detailed information about how you can set up Kaltura for use in your course.
Locate your My Media gallery and install the Kaltura Capture recorder to begin making your own recordings.
Visit the Kaltura Learning website for detailed information on how to use the Kaltura Capture Recorder to create recordings.
Post your Kaltura recordings in any Blackboard course.