Blackboard - Navigate in Blackboard
On this site you will find an introduction to the user interface and tips and tricks on how to navigate more efficiently in Blackboard.
Norsk versjon - Blackboard - Finn frem i Blackboard
Topic page about Blackboard | Pages labelled Blackboard
Blackboard Landing Page #
Did you know that there are several ways to navigate easily within Blackboard? In this article, we will introduce you to the user interface and show you some useful tips on how to navigate more effectively in Blackboard.
Overview #
When you log on to Blackboard as a student, you will arrive at the default landing page. The picture below shows this default landing page for a fictional student "Wesley Crusher". 
The landing page contains the following features:
- A: Quick Links: Shows you where you find what in Blackboard. Here you can also find a few keyboard shortcuts.
- B: Top Menu: At the top of the page, you will find the Top Menu. Read more about the top menu here: Top Menu.
- C: My Announcements: Important announcements from your courses and any organizations you are affiliated with.
- D: Fra Innsida: Alle studenter: Newsfeed from Innsida (NTNUs intranet) to all students.
- E: My Courses: An overview of your courses in Blackboard. You can access any course you are enrolled in from this list.
- F: My Organizations: Overview of organizations you are affiliated with. Organizations can be manually set up for e.g. studyprograms at NTNU. This box will be empty unless you are enrolled in a program that uses organizations to share information across courses. Organizations work just like courses in Blackboard. For example, they have content, discussions, messages, and more.
- G: Global Navigation Menu: This menu is available across all pages in Blackboard, and gives you a personalized view of your learning environment. Click on the small arrow to access the global navigation menu. Read more about the navigation menu here: Global Navigation Menu.
- H: Language Settings: Change your personal language settings between Norwegian (bokmål/nynorsk) and English.
- I: To Dos: Gives you an overview over important deadlines in your courses in Blackboard, for example assignments and tests.
- J: Ressurser for studenter: A collection of relevant resources for students, for example link to Innsida and IT support.
Top Menu #
At the top of the page, you will find the Top Menu. It contains several tabs: Hjem (Home), Varsler (Notifications), O365, Hjelp (Help) and Inspera. This menu is accessible from all Blackboard pages.
- Clicking the Hjem (1) tab will always take you to the default landing page, the page you arrive at when logging in to Blackboard.
- The Varsler (1) (Notificaton) tab gives you an overview of To Dos (A) and Whats New (B) in the active courses you are affiliated with.
- All students and employees have free access to Microsoft Office 365.The O365 tab gives you quick access to these tools within Blackboard. Learn more about these tools here: Office 365, Innsida.
- The Hjelp (1) (Help) tab links to the Blackboard help page in Innsida. It contains information and links to help resources regarding the use of Blackboard.
- Clicking the Inspera (1) tab takes you to the digital exam system Inspera Assessment.
My Courses #
You can find the My Courses module on the landing page in Blacboard or in the Global Navigation Menu (discussed in the next section). Here you will find an overview of all your current and past courses in Blackboard. The image below shows how you navigate to tha landing page in Blackboard by clicking the Home (1) tab and the overview of your courses in the My courses (2) module. 
The courses are sorted by semester. You can open/close the dropdown meny by clicking the small arrow (1) next to the semester.You can also select wich courses you want to display in the My Courses module by clicking the gear-icon (2). 
Global Navigation Menu #
You can access the Global Navigation Menu from every page in Blackboard. It gives you easy access to several useful links and tools. Click the small arrow (1) behind your name in the page header to open the munu. 
Courses #
The Global Navigation Menu gives you wuick access to all of your courses in Blackboard, sorted by Recently Visited (A) and My Other Courses (B). 
Links #
Click on Links (1) in the Global Navigation Menu to get an overview of links to useful resources such as Innsida, IT-hjelp (IT support) and Programvare (Software). 
Tools #
Click on Tools (1) in the Global Navigation Menu. Here you will find several options (2):
- Announcements from all organizations and courses you follow in Blackboard.
- Application authourization: This site is not working at this time.
- Goals links to the Goal Performance Dashboard for students, not commonly used in Blackboard at NTNU.
- Innsida: Link to Innsida, NTNUs intranet
- Portfolios which offer a means to demonstrate formative and/or summative progress and achievement. The My Portfolios Page contains all your portfolios. You may create additional portfolios, modify, share or delete existing portfolios.
- Send Email gives easy access to send e-mails to other users within Blackboard.
- User Directory is a list of users within your courses in Blackboard. Users will only appear if they indicate that they want to be included. This can be done by clicking Set Privacy Options and edit your settings on this page.
Settings #
By clicking Settings (1) in the Global Navigation Menu you can manage the following options (2):
Icon Links #
In addition to the above mentioned shortcuts, you will also find a row of icons on the left side of the Global Navigation Menu:
- (A) Bb Home: Provides an overview of calendar due dates, recent discussion board posts and recently graded items.
- (B) Posts: A personal quick-link to all recent posts, comments, and replies from discussion boards, blogs, journals, and wikis.
- (C) Updates: Shows a list of notifications from your courses and organizations.
- (D) My grades: Shows available results from assignments, tests and other graded activity in your courses.
- (E) Calendar: Opens the built-in calendar in Blackboard. You can also find a personal calendar by logging on to Innsida. These calendars are not linked by this time.
Course Front Page #
The Course Front Page is the default landing page for courses in Blackboard. Note that lecturers may choose to customize their course design. Therefore the course front pages may look different. You access the Course Front Page by clicking Course Front Page (1) in the course menu on the left side. 
The Course Menu #
The Course Menu is always available on the left side of the screen. As long as this template has not been customized by your lecturer it will consist of:
- (A) Course ID and Course Name (e.g. GEO101 Introduction to geography)
By clicking the course name, you can switch between viewing the whole menu or only the lower part of the menu. - (B) Link to the Course Front Page. The default Course Front Page will display:
- My Announcements
- Lenker/links (read more about this in the next section)
- To Do
- What's New.
- (C) Course content (only headline, not clickable).
- (D) Default course content areas: These are areas where the lecturers can add material, assignments, group information, presentations etc. available for students. What is shown is defined by the lecturers. If this is not changed, you will find the following:
- Course information
- Course work
- Sources and syllabus
- Learning materials
- Previous exams
Course Modules #
Course Modules on the course front page contain information about new content and due dates in the course. The information is shown in boxes called modules, for example My Announcements, Lenker/links and What's New. 
Lenker/links #
Lenker/links is a module on the course front page that gives you several useful links. 
- My Grades: Gives you an overview over your grades in the course.
- Email: Allows you to send emails to others in your course inside Blackboard without having to enter your email provider.
- My Announcements: An overview of course related announcements.
- Calendar: The calendar in Blackboard contains important events such as assignments and tests in the courses you are enrolled in. You can read more about using the calendar here: Announcements, notifications and calendar
- Instructors: Get an overview over lecturers and learning assistants in the course by clicking on Instructurs. By hovering the pointer over Endre visning (1) (Change view) you can change the view of Studenter (Students), Ansatte (Employees) and Gruppesett (2) (Group sets).
- Groups: Gives you an overview over your groups in Blackboard, for example lab groups and study groups.
Display Course Menu in a window #
- Click the Folder icon (1) in the top menu if you want to display the full course menu in a new window.
- By clicking the +-icon (1) (Expand all) in the upper right corner, the content areas of this course will expand and you can easily navigate directly within the course. By using this function, you can get a better overview of your course.
Expanded Navigation Bar #
- If you are working within a subfolder in one of your content areas, it is possible to navigate by using the bread crumbs: This allows you to navigate back one or more steps.
See also #
- NTNU Blackboard guides for students
- Frequently asked questions for students
- Group enrollment
- Announcements, notifications and calendar
- Navigate inside a course
Contact #
- Orakel Support Services can help if you have questions or if you encounter difficulties.