Information Technology: Blackboard Instructor Help - Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I login to Blackboard?

1. Go to http://blackboard.fsc.edu.
2. Click the Login Button.
3. Use your fsc.edu email username & original password to login to Blackboard. (ie. username for "jdoe@fsc.edu" is "jdoe").
   If you need to request a faculty email account you can do so by completing the Online Employee Email Request Form.
4. Click the Login Button.

Q. I'm teaching a course this semester, but it's not listed under "My Courses" in Blackboard?

A. Most likely you have not been officially assigned as the instructor for the course in Banner (student information system). To make this happen you will need to contact the appropriate office to make sure that the necessary paperwork has been completed.

Contacts:

• Full or part-time faculty call Academic Affairs at 978-665-3185
• Graduate & Continuing Education (GCE) faculty call 978-665-3182
• Extended Campus (ie. MEC, ERR, HEC and JENMARC) faculty call 978-665-3794
• Professional Development Center (PDC), ALFA or Teaching American History Grant faculty call 978-665-3636

Once you have been officially assigned as the instructor of a course Blackboard will reflect the change in Banner within 24 hours or less.

Q. Students are telling me that they don't see my Blackboard course site listed when they login, but the students are showing up when I check List/Modify Users in my course Control Panel.

A. Make sure Course Availability has been turned on.

Q. I'm teaching multiple sections of a course. Is it possible to have my course sections combined into one site?

A. Yes, just complete the "Merge Multiple Course Sections Request" online form.

Q. I have many courses listed under the "My Courses" module displayed immediately after I login. How can I reduce the number of courses displayed?

A. Click the Edit My Courses Module icon in the right hand corner of the "My Courses" module. Uncheck the boxes under the "Display Course" column next to each course that you would like to not display and click the Submit button.

Q. When I click on a forum the messages load very slow in the Discussion Board. Why is this happening?

A. If there are too many messages in the forum slow downloads can occur, particularly for students and faculty using dial-up connections off-campus. To avoid this problem "chunk" messages by creating separate forums (forums can only by created by instructors) for each topic, assignment, or week.