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Important Information Regarding Scheduling (How to get a Blackboard Shell)

SJSU has integrated the CMS (PeopleSoft) database with the Blackboard CE 8 server. When a department scheduler submits the list of classes and instructors to Academic Scheduling they designate a code specifying the class as either "in-person" (the default), "PW" (in-person, but web supplemented), "WW" (online), or "M" (mixed mode, meaning regularly scheduled in person and regularly scheduled online meetings). The designation of PW, WW, or M triggers the CMS to send instructions to Blackboard to create the new CE 8 class shells, enroll the instructor immediately, and add the student enrollments a couple of days before the scheduled start date. Students are granted access starting midnight of the scheduled start date of the class, with the exception of cross-listed sections. Cross-listed sections are enrolled two days before the start date with access allowed immediately. Adds are automated, but instructors must unenroll drops through the gradebook.

Resource Website

All instructors are enrolled in the eCampus designed and moderated course, "CE 8 Design Issues, Teaching Practices, and Tutorials" containing numerous tutorials and resources to assist new and experienced instructors. It's a great place to find new ideas for using Blackboard CE 8. In CE 8 Design Issues:

• Look under Course Tools > Learning Modules > Documentation, for a file called "Fundamentals with Exercises" for a good start in terms of functionality with the tools.
• Check out “Some quick visits to instructors courses…” for rare looks at how SJSU instructors from a variety of fields are using Blackboard CE 8, narrated by the instructors themselves.

For best system performance with Blackboard CE 8, follow these three steps before logging on:

• Clear browser cache
• Allow pop-ups
• Follow the steps described at Blackboard's Browser Tune-up site.

Recorded Tutorials on CE 8 Tools

eCampus has created 3- 20 minute tutorials explaining and demonstrating numerous CE 8 tools and some design ideas to help instructors get started. Link to the tutorials from the home page in "CE 8 Design Issues, Teaching Practices, and Tutorials".

Logging Into CE 8

STEP 1: Go to the Blackboard CE 8 Web site at http://sjsu6.blackboard.com/.

STEP 2: Enter Username and Password.

Username: Your full 9 digit SJSU ID number, with no "W" in front.
Password: 4 digit code representing the month and day of your birth, e.g., February 13, would be "0213".
NOTE: Faculty in need of password assistance, please contact Mark.Adams@sjsu.edu, or 924-2618. Students contact the helpdesk by calling (408) 924-2377 or submitting a help ticket using the University Help Desk online form.

Setting Up Your New Course

STEP 3: Once logged in, all available courses should appear on the "My Blackboard" tab.

• Faculty teaching eCampus sections are automatically enrolled in an instructional course titled "CE 8 Design Issues, Teaching Practices, and Tutorials". This course provides resources and examples of ways to use Blackboard CE 8, and areas for instructors to share comments and issues regarding online and hybrid teaching and Blackboard CE 8.
• A practice shell titled "CE 6 Practice Course - Section X" will be available for instructors to practice designing courses and organizing course content.
• Instructors already assigned a PW, WW or M course will have the actual course shell available. Course content will either need to be created from scratch, or assigned from another course. See instructions below.

STEP 4: Assign Course Content

To create a course from scratch: select "Set up Blank Course", click "Continue".

To move course content from a CE 6 practice shell into a real course:

1. Select "Copy content from another course", click "Continue".
2. A list of available courses will appear, including the CE 6 Practice Course.
3. Select the course to be copied to the "real" shell, click "Continue".
4. A progress bar will appear as the course in copied.

Fixing Download Issues

Some users may experience an issue in which their My Computer icon does not appear when attempting to upload documents to Blackboard CE 8. These users may be working with a version of Java that is incompatible with Blackboard. Click on the tutorial "How to fix downloading issue in Blackboard CE8 (PDF)" for instructions on installing the correct version.