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Use of the Blackboard Learn 9 learning management system implies consent with and adherence to other New River Procedures for Information Technology Services.
New River Community and Technical College uses Blackboard Learn 9 as our learning management system (LMS) and it is available for all New River courses that appear on public course schedules.
This set of procedures is intended to provide members of the New River Community and Technical College educational community with standardized practices for using the Blackboard Learn 9 LMS. These procedures are also intended to insure reliable and consistent service from the technical support staff who administer the Blackboard Learn 9 LMS application. This information is subject to change.
Blackboard Learn 9 is available to all faculty, staff, and students of New River Community and Technical College although privileges vary according to one's position and need. Blackboard Learn 9 is intended primarily to host New River course information.
The Vice President for Information Technology Services oversees the continued development of this document and actively addresses issues involving the use of Blackboard Learn 9. |
There are multiple Roles that a user might have within Blackboard Learn 9 (Course Administrator, System Administrator, Course Administrator/Instructor, Teaching Assistant, and Student). Having an account in Blackboard Learn 9 is a privilege and each of these user Roles has very specific responsibilities. Please consult Dr. David Ayersman regarding the creation of a user account and/or user privileges associated with an account. The Designer role is for instructors and the Student role is for students. The IT staff uses the Administrator accounts and Dr. Ayersman is a System Administrator of Blackboard Learn 9. Instructors are solely responsible for course content and communication with students. The creation of course shells and enrollment management is achieved through integration with Ellucian Banner. Authenticated access to Blackboard Learn 9 is achieved through integration with the New River email system and the College portal, meaning that your email username and email password are required to access Blackboard Learn 9. Students are responsible for their own personal information and their conduct within their online Blackboard Learn 9 courses. Members of the senior administration may occasionally access online courses to review course content and activity. |
To request assistance with accessing and using Blackboard Learn 9, users should contact the Help Desk (itsupport@newriver.edu or 304-929-6725). To request assistance with actual course registrations, payments, and scheduling please contact Student Services (admissions@newriver.edu). Instructors may contact the Help Desk or David Ayersman (dayersman@newriver.edu or 304-256-0281) for assistance with using Blackboard Learn 9.
An Introduction to Blackboard workshop offers information related to account creation, features of Blackboard, instructor resources, and training information on Blackboard-related topics. The information is intended for instructors, but may also be helpful to students. |
Usernames and passwords for Blackboard Learn 9 are the same as for New River email, in fact, the two systems are integrated and authentication is done for both systems by the Microsoft Exchange server. Initial passwords are the New River ID number and should be changed after your first access (see how to change password).
If you ever forget your password use the Forgot Password link on the portal login page to reset it. You may also contact the Help Desk for assistance with resetting your password. You cannot change your password in Blackboard Learn 9, you must do it using the link on the portal login page using the Forgot Password link. |
- Passwords are case sensitive but usernames are not.
- Courses are made inaccessible to students at the end of the term in which the course was scheduled, but instructors are able to change this for any student needing to submit an assignment or complete coursework up until the course is removed from the server (at the end of the term following the term in which the course was scheduled). This schedule provides an opportunity for students with grades of "Incomplete" to complete their coursework (students are responsible for contacting instructors to complete coursework and change an Incomplete grade).
- Courses are archived and removed from the server at the end of the next full semester after the course was taught. Instructors are responsible for maintaining their own backups of course information. Since course evaluations are completed using Blackboard Enterprise Surveys, instructors are also responsible for downloading copies of this information prior to courses being removed from the server. Secondary course archives are maintained by the System Administrator.
- Course shells are created by the System Administrator when the schedule becomes available from the Registrar's office. Generally, this is at least one month prior to the term beginning and Instructors/Designers are granted access at this time. This is to provide ample time to develop the course prior to it being taught.
- Maximum course size for each shell is restricted to 5GB. Large media files should be located outside of Blackboard and integrated within courses using hyperlinks.
- Students automatically gain access to course information on the day that the term begins (and student access ceases after the last scheduled day of the term).
- Naming conventions include: (a) Course ID = (CRN + Term Code) and (b) Course Title = (SUBJ + NUMBER + Course Title from Banner).
- Designers ARE allowed (a) to change Menu Bar and Course Menu colors, (b) to use WebDAV clients, (c) import/export content, and (d) change student status to active/inactive.
- There is a limit of 3 course backup files allowed on the server per course. There is no limit to how many course backups that can be created and downloaded then deleted from the server.
- The equation editor is shown in all courses.
- Instructors/Designers are NOT allowed to (a) change student passwords or (b) create global database records.
- Students ARE allowed to (a) see the class list and (b) check their browsers.
- All users ARE allowed to change their passwords (minimum length of a password is 6 characters and maximum is 12) but not within Blackboard Learn 9. Since the password is actually the one used for the portal, you must change it using the Forgot Password link on the portal, it will automatically change for Blackboard Learn 9.
- System Announcements, Institutional Bookmarks, and default course color sets, and customizing the login/logout pages are the responsibility of the System Administrator.
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Blackboard Learn 9 is hosted and administered by WVNET. New River provides multiple system administrators with varying responsibilities to provide overall management of the system. David Ayersman and Dara Fann currently serve as System Administrators for Blackboard Learn 9 and additional Help Desk staff members serve as User Administrators to assist users.
While system backups are the responsibility of WVNET, it is the responsibility of each instructor to maintain backups of their course evaluations, course content, and gradebook information. |
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