Welcome to MPCC’s Online Course

Student Orientation

Welcome to an orientation on using the Blackboard online course system. You will find instructions on logging-in, navigating and utilizing some of the tools within the online course.

After viewing the material presented, we hope you will find Blackboard easy and intuitive to use.

Table of ContentsClick on a link below to go directly to that subject matter.

– How to Login

– How to access your course

– Course home page – what to expect

– Announcements

– Assignments

– Email & Messages

– Discussion Board

– Groups

– Grades

To Login click on link at bottom of MPCC homepage

You will need your Mid-Plains Username and Password to access your online class.

This was given to you in your Welcome Letter.Save this link as a Favorite on your web browser

Access your CourseWhen you have successfully logged in, your homepage will come up on your screen. You will see all of the courses you are enrolled in under My Courses

and also found in the right hand corner tab “Courses.”

Access your online course by:

Clicking on the name of the course -or - go to the Courses Tab located in the title bar of the Blackboard page.

On your course homepage

On the left side of every home page is the navigation area. It consists of a series of links or buttons that will take you to other areas such as your assignments, email, discussion area, tools, etc.

Or you may click within in the other areas see above to access those areas.

Depending on how the instructor has set up your course, links may vary somewhat from course to course.

Announcements are seen in several places* Announcements from all of your classes are seen on your login home page. Click

on an announcement and go directly to that course announcement.

* You will also see Announcements on your curse home page.

Home Page Course

Announcements continued....

Like announcements in a traditional classroom, your instructor may post announcements about assignment changes, due date reminders, etc.

Many instructors post a Welcome announcement, which welcomes you to the course, directs you to access and read the course syllabus, and points you to your first assignment.

Assignments Many online courses use the Assignments area to organize course assignments, such as required

readings, projects, term papers, discussion topics, etc. (sometimes called Course Assignments or Lesson Modules)

Course assignments are frequently organized into folders. Some teachers organize their courses by timeframe, such as Week 1 or Unit 2, whereas other teachers may arrange their courses by topic.

If you find assignment folders, just click the folder name, which is a link to the assignment items within that folder. Your assignments for that week or topic will be displayed

Actual Assignment

From this area, you can: fully read the assignment; write a response in the submission area, attach a file, or just write a quick comment to the instructor.You have three options at the bottom.

Click Cancel to exit the upload assignment screen without saving any changes.Click Save to save the information that you have entered and be able to return later to continue working. Click Submit to submit that information to the instructor.

NOTE:

Once you click submit you can not make any changes unless the instructor enables you to.

Assignments continued

Once you have submitted the assignment you can view that information.

You will also see the grade and comments from the instructor once the instructor has graded the assignment.

NOTE:

An exclamation point “!” indicates the item still needs to be graded by the instructor.

E-mail & Messages

Both the E-mail and the Message Tool can communicate to your instructor and other students in you course.

However, please use the Message Tool when communicating with your instructor and other students within a particular class.

The Email Tool should be used only to send communication using the MPCC email address.

Messages ToolOnce you click on the message link you will go to the screen

below.

Compose Message

EmailOnly use email for correspondence other then regular classroom work.

Discussion Board

In a traditional classroom, you have time to ask questions and also spend time answering and discussing questions posed by your teacher.

In an online class, this can be done using the Discussion Board tool in Blackboard.

Discussion Board Instructors include a discussion forums for asking general questions about the course content or assignments. Within a

forum, messages are organized into threads, that begin with one person’s answer to a question or problem and include

all replies to that initial posting.

The Discussion Board enables you to have asynchronous, threaded discussions. Using this tool, you can read

messages posted to the discussion board by your instructor and classmates, and they can read messages posted by

you, anytime and anywhere. By reading other people’s messages and replying to those messages, an electronic

discussion occurs, similar to hearing what other people say in a classroom discussion and responding to those ideas.

Having a discussion in this way can be confusing at first because multiple conversations are occurring and these

conversations unfold slowly over time. However, the research on asynchronous discussions shows that students like

having time to read and construct thoughtful replies, and that this results in more in-depth discussions.

Groups Not all online classes have a Group button – only if it is part of your class. When you click on your group name, it is a link to your group’s electronic

workspace. You will have access to a private discussion board, chat room, file exchange, and e-mail.

These tools work just like the ones available to the entire class, except only you and your group members have access to this space.

Grades

Blackboard has an

electronic grade

book tool.

If your instructor

has enabled this

tool, you can check

your course

assignment grades

and evaluate your

performance.

You access your

Grades through the

Tools area.

More about Grades

Individual assignment grades can be displayed as points, percents, or letters depending on your instructor’s grading policy.

Total points and class averages are automatically calculated, so you can compare your performance with the course grading scale and with other students in your class.

• Note: These grades are not your official course grade. Your instructor determines your final course grade at the end of the semester and submits it to the Registrar

We hope this program has been helpful.Please email Charles Osteen at osteenc@mpcc.edu or

Mary Lister t listerm@mpcc.edu if you have suggestions for additional information you think would

be useful to you or others.

Thank you for choosing Mid-Plains Community College.