Mastering Blackboard Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Manchester Users

Blackboard Learn is a powerful online learning platform utilized by many institutions, including Manchester, to deliver course content, facilitate communication, and assess student learning. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of Blackboard Learn, focusing on key features and functionalities relevant to users at Manchester, including faculty, students, and staff.

Accessing and Navigating FIU Connect

FIU Connect serves as Manchester's secure online learning platform, offering access to a variety of courses and training programs. Your login credentials will be provided by your course administrator.

Accessing Courses

To access your courses:

After logging into FIU Connect, select “Courses” from the left navigation menu. This will take you to the “Current Courses” page.
Select your course under “Assorted Dates,” and the FIU Connect course titles will appear.
Scroll through the course titles and click on a course cover image to access the material for that course: eg, FIU CONNECT (Trade-Based Money Laundering) - TBML.
From there, browse through the course using the page arrow-key navigator on the right side or from the Table of Contents on the left side.

Course Availability

Users who have purchased individual courses have three months to access and complete each course. If you need to extend your access, you may be able to purchase an extension.

Course Completion

A course is considered complete when you receive a grade of 80% or higher in the Knowledge Assessment found at the end of each course.

Read also: Learn about Blackboard Learn at UD

Checking Your Grades

To check your grades:

While logged in to FIU Connect, select “Grades” from the left navigation menu.
Select your course, and the “My Grades” page will appear.
This page shows which Knowledge Assessments have been completed, if any.
Select "Graded" along the top navigation bar to see only the courses with completed Knowledge Assessments.

The "My Grades" page only shows the grades received for completed Knowledge assessments; it does not show completed modules or completed Knowledge Checks.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Course Not Loading: Pop-ups may be blocked. Ensure that pop-ups are enabled in your browser settings.
Difficulty Opening Course Components: Clear the cache of your browser for best results when accessing FIU Connect.

Computer-Based Training

Some courses offer computer-based training modules that present the same content as digital textbooks but in a different format. Knowledge Checks within the computer-based training modules do not count towards your grade and are designed as self-checks only. You can skip Knowledge Checks or resubmit your answers until a correct response is given.

Course Downloads

FIU Connect courses are updated frequently. To ensure that information provided by ManchesterCF is current and reliable, the download feature is not available.

Navigating the Blackboard Learn Interface

Course Management Menu

Part of the course management menu is the control pane. This is what is used to make the content engaging or enhance the course appearance.

Control Panel

The Control Panel provides instructors with a centralized location to manage various aspects of their course, including:

Course Content: Adding, editing, and organizing learning materials.
User Management: Enrolling students, managing user roles, and tracking student progress.
Grade Center: Creating and managing assignments, grading student submissions, and calculating final grades.
Course Tools: Accessing various tools for communication, collaboration, and assessment.
Customization: Modifying the appearance and layout of the course.

Enhancing Course Appearance

Enhancing the course appearance will make your course more aesthetically appealing. Go ahead and look at some of the teaching style options that are available to you. Note that you can see a sample course menu and examples of how each one can be used. If you choose to add one of these to your course, it will change the look, and there is no way to go back to a blank course shell without deleting everything from the course menu.

Creating and Managing Course Content

Adding Content

To add content:

Click on the "+" in the top left-hand corner.
You can add things like new content areas (content and information are examples of this).

Content Areas

Content areas are used to organize course materials into logical sections, such as:

Syllabus: Provides an overview of the course objectives, policies, and grading criteria.
Modules: Organizes content by week, topic, or unit.
Assignments: Provides instructions for completing assignments and submitting work.
Discussions: Facilitates online discussions and collaboration among students.
Resources: Provides access to supplementary materials, such as readings, videos, and websites.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

"'Open educational resource' means a teaching, learning, or research resource that is in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use, adaptation, and redistribution of the resource by any person. The key distinguishing factor of this type of educational resource is the copyright status of the material. If course content is under a traditional, all-rights-reserved copyright, then it’s not an OER. The 5R permissions are what make OER different from material which is copyrighted under traditional, all-rights-reserved copyright. The 5Rs are a useful way to appreciate the value of OER. These permissions help you, the user of openly licensed content, understand what you are allowed to do with the work.

Types of OER

As you learned from the definitions above, OER can encompass a variety of teaching and learning materials. Many faculty already use OER in their classes - for example, showing an openly licensed course video or using worksheets created and shared by other faculty. Faculty can create and share syllabi, lesson plans, and even entire textbooks for their courses. They can collaborate with faculty at their own institutions, or other institutions around the world. Students can play a significant role in creating and improving OER ─ from simple assignments to full textbooks. One example from Plymouth State University includes students working together to find public-domain materials, write topic introductions, craft discussion forum prompts, and create assignments to go along with the materials to create a full OER textbook.

Roles in OER Initiatives

Librarians: Librarians play a key role in OER initiatives by advocating, developing, exploring, and managing OER. Along with helping you find relevant OER, librarians can help you better understand copyright and licensing concepts, and guide you through your Creative Commons licensing options if you choose to create materials yourself.
Instructional Designers: Instructional Designers can work with faculty and students to integrate OER into teaching and learning and also share and publish their course design templates as OER.

Creative Commons Licensing

The most commonly used intellectual property license for OER that permits free use and re-purposing is called Creative Commons Licensing.

Financial Intelligence Specialist (FIS) Certificate

After you have completed 12 FIU Connect courses within a one-year period and achieved a grade of 80% or higher in each course’s knowledge assessment, you are eligible for the FIS designation. The designation only requires the completion of 12 courses, and the certificate is a standard template.

Additional Features and Considerations

Sandbox Course: Notice that you have a sandbox course already created for you. Don’t forget to test some of these features in your sandbox course. A sandbox course provides a safe environment to experiment with Blackboard Learn features without affecting live courses.
Credly Badges: A Credly digital badge is a verifiable credential.
Institutional Purchases: Inquire about purchasing the training program for your institution.
Course Order: There is no specific order to follow when taking courses for the FIS designation.

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