Dominican College

Blackboard Learning Management System

(LMS)

Policies and Procedures

Introduction……………………………………………….………………….….3

All Dominican College Blackboard Users……………………………………….3

Learning Management System…………………………………………………..4

Link to Browser Settings for use with Blackboard

Link to Blackboard Browser Compatibility Matrix

Computer Requirements

A-Office of Online Instruction-Programming Responsibilities……………..…...4

Student Enrollment/Withdrawal Procedures…………………………..……..5

B-Director of Online Instruction General Responsibilities……………….……..5

C-IT Department Responsibilities…………………………………………….....6

D-Division Directors or Department Chair Responsibilities…………………....6

E-Instructor Roles and Responsibilities…………………………………..…..…6

F-Student Roles and Responsibilities………………………………………...…8

Blackboard Notification Policy……………………………………………..…..9

Planned Shutdowns……………………………………………….…….9

Unplanned Shutdowns…………………………………………….……9

Online Instruction Contact Information………………………………….……..9

Dominican College

Blackboard Learning Management System

(LMS)

Policies and Procedures

Introduction:

This manual is a set of guidelines for the use of Blackboard (Bb)course management software licensed to Dominican College.

Included are statements related to All Dominican College Blackboard Users,Division Directors, Instructors, Students, the Office of Online Instruction and the IT Department.

These policy statements have been reviewed and approved by the Academic Technology Committee and the Administrative Council.

This manual is intended to reside online for ease of access by all users as well as to provide the most updated version. Please do not rely solely on a printed copy without checking that it is the latest version as indicated by the “Last Updated” date provided at the end of the document.

All Dominican College Blackboard Users:

  1. All Dominican College students, staff, full and part-time faculty are granted user accounts on the Blackboard system while with the College.
  2. Other users may be given guest account privileges.
  3. Dominican College policies apply to all students, staff, and faculty and “guests.”.
  4. Student user names must follow the convention set forth on the Blackboard LMS home page
  5. Initial passwords are assigned by the system administrator as described at the Blackboard LMS home page
  6. Users are encouraged to change their passwords as soon as possible to protect their work.
  7. Student passwords may be reset by the Director of Online Instruction or faculty member teaching a course.
  8. Dominican College’s Acceptable Use Policy applies to all users of the Blackboard Learning Management System.
  9. By the act of logging on, all users acknowledge that their email addresses will be seen in the discussion area.
  10. Dominican College’s Student Code of Conduct

applies to all Dominican College student users of the Blackboard Learning Management System.

  1. Pages created in Bb should meet federal guidelines and standards for accessibility. See specific Blackboard compliance at
  2. Institutional Announcements will be used only to explain disruption of Blackboard Services, school closures, and items of pressing need to all Blackboard participants.
  3. Users may not use Blackboard for profit-making, politicking, spamming or any ventures other than those approved by Dominican College Administration.

Learning Management System

Link to Blackboard Browser Compatibility Matrix

Link to Browser Settings for use with Blackboard

Link to Tutorials in Portal

A-Office of Online Instruction -Programming Responsibilities:

Creation and Access of Courses

  1. All official DominicanCollege course sections will be provided with a Blackboard course shell as informed by the JenzabarRegistration system. This shell will provide typically used buttons (links)for Course Announcements, Course Documents, Discussion Board, etc. These can be changed at the discretion of the faculty member teaching the course.(Access is through the Control Panel, specifically Course Design and Course Menu.)
  2. Course shells will be created 6 weeksprior to each academic term and will be available to instructors.(Instructor access to courses is contingent upon the Department Chair scheduling the correct instructor as the “instructor of record” with the Registrar’s Office, as the instructor name is an essential part of course availability in the Blackboard system.)
  3. Student initial enrollment in each Blackboard course corresponds with the official enrollment maintained by the College and is updated throughout the registration and late registration period.(When a student drops a course, the instructor should keep that up to date, as per the guidelines in Instructor Responsibilities and Student Withdrawal Procedures in this document.)
  4. Students will have access to Blackboard shortly after their financial records are up to date, provided the instructor has made the course available through the Control Panel of each course (specifically, Settings). Students should contact the Director of Online Instruction if access is not available and should be.
  5. Students’ accountsmay be created manually as needed.
  6. Each course in Blackboard is identified by the semester as well as the course ID and section, for example AC111-DA2-SU07 indicatesCourse AC111, Daytime-Section 2, and Summer 07 as the semester.
  7. After each course is initially created, it remains on the system for one year and 30 days. It is either marked available or unavailable at the instructor’s discretion.
  8. After one year and 30 days, the course will be deleted from the system. (Instructors should archive their courses prior to that dateif they wish to retain student records). The system administrator will archive courses twice a year- Fall and Spring.
  9. Archived courses must reside on computers within the department under which the course is administered to conserve space. Archived courses can be restored as needed by the system administrator.

Student Enrollment/Withdrawal Procedures

  1. Student initial enrollment in each Blackboard course corresponds with the official enrollment maintained by the College and is updated throughout the registration and late registration period.
  2. Students will have access to Blackboard shortly after their financial records are up to date, provided the instructor has made the course available through the Control Panel of each course
  3. Student enrollments in existing courses are maintained for one year and 30 days. After one year and 30 days on the system, student and course information will be removed and will be inaccessible to the instructorsandstudents unless the information has been archived and is subsequently restored by the System Administrator.
  4. Instructors must not enroll students in courses without proof of registration.If there is an exception, instructors should request provisional enrollment from the Director of Online Instruction.
  5. Instructors should maintain student work in Blackboard. Because removing a student also removes his/her work in Blackboard, if a student officially withdraws, this student can be removed. However if a student simply withdraws unofficially, the instructor must not remove the student name from the roster.
  6. For any student who officially withdraws from the course or the College, the instructor should contact the Director of Online Instruction with will disable the student’s access to Bb.
  7. Requests for “guest” enrollments should be submitted to the Director of Online Instruction.

B-Director of Online Instruction General Responsibilities:

  1. Provide training in Blackboard course functions for Online and web-enhanced courses and Organizations by offering a number of diverse classes and workshops.
  2. Research and recommend use of Blackboard LMS and other technological features and functionalities based on academic and pedagogical needs.
  3. Provide help desk support by phone, email and in person for course specific technical assistance. Screen for necessary forwarding to other departments to resolve.
  4. Communicate to Faculty and Department Chairs concerning semester process and procedures for Blackboard courses.
  5. Research and test new or modified online functions in coordination with the IT department.
  6. Refrain from making any changes to courses unless requested by the instructor.
  7. Act as the liaison between all academic and administrative offices regarding the policies and procedures of the Bb Learning Management System.

C-IT Department Responsibilities:

  1. Maintain computer access to Internet in all offices and computer areas.
  2. Create and maintain College email accounts.
  3. Maintain any in-house servers that enable Online Instruction.

D-Division Directors or Department Chair responsibilities:

  1. Schedule courses on the Registrar’s master schedule specifying the instructor of record.(Instructor access to courses is contingent upon the Department Chair scheduling the correct instructor as the “instructor of record” with the Registrar’s Office, as the instructor name is an essential part of course availability in the Blackboard system.)
  2. Request new instructors make an appointment with the Director of Online Instruction.
  3. Approve newly developed online courses.
  4. Maintain quality of online courses through encouraging training, observation and monitoring evaluations.
  5. Assure that online courses (generally defined as more than 2/3 of course content online and more than 2/3 of seat time as virtual attendance) are capped at 15 students, whenever possible.
  6. Notify the Dean’s Office when a course is offered online for the first time.

E-Instructor Roles and Responsibilities:

  1. Instructors will be given an additional stipend of 1/3 per course compensation for developing and offering, for the first time,an online course: An online course at Dominican College is generally defined as a course with more than 2/3 of course content delivered online and with more than 2/3 of seat time replaced with virtual attendance.
  2. Instructors who are teaching online for the first time should attend training offered by the Director of Online Instruction.
  3. It is highly recommended that instructors teaching web-enhanced courses attend training prior to using Blackboard as a supplement to on-campus courses.
  4. Instructors are expected to orient students to the Blackboard environment or request the Director of Online Instruction to provide training.
  5. Instructors will use their DominicanCollege email account for all communication with Blackboard users.
  6. All official Dominican College course sections will be provided with a Blackboard course shell as informed by the Jenzabar Registration system. This shell will provide typically used buttons (links) for Course Announcements, Course Documents, Discussion Board, etc. These can be changed at the discretion of the faculty member teaching the course. (Access is through the Control Panel, specifically Course Design and Course Menu.)
  7. Instructors must not enroll students in courses without proof of registration. If there is an exception, instructors should request provisional enrollment from the Director of Online Instruction.
  8. Instructors should maintain student work in Blackboard. Because removing a student also removes his/her work in Blackboard, if a student officially withdraws, this student can be removed. However if a student simply withdraws unofficially, the instructor must not remove the student name from the roster.
  9. For any student who officially withdraws from the course or the College, the instructor should contact the Director of Online Instruction with will disable the student’s access to Bb.
  10. Blackboard course grade books and electronic student work are the sole responsibility of the instructor. The Blackboard administrator is not responsible for deleted grades or work.
  11. Instructors should, at timely intervals andprior to removal of material from the course, make copies of essential materials, such as the grade book or student work.
  12. Instructors are responsible for copying their courses from one semester to the next semester or year and for maintaining copies of essential course material.
  13. Instructors will Export (saves the course content only and can be Imported) if course will not be repeated in a year.
  14. Instructors willArchive (save course content and student activity) courses in which student records must be saved, for example, pending grade appeal resolution.Archived courses must be restored by the Director of Online Instruction (system administrator).
  15. Instructors are responsible for making their courses available and unavailable to students.This is done through the Control Panel, specifically, Settings.Note that courses appear in student accounts unless they are made unavailable.
  16. Online courses must be made available by 8 a.m. on the day the course is scheduled to begin.
  17. Web enhanced courses can be made available at any time during the semester.
  18. Instructors will reply to student emails in a timely manner as determined by the instructor for each class.
  19. Instructors will direct students to the appropriate help desk:
  20. Director of Online Instruction: for Blackboard, Turnitin and GradeMark help
  21. IT Staff for technical assistance/email assistance
  22. Learning Resources Center for academic assistance
  23. Creation of course content is the responsibility of the instructor. The Director of Online Instruction will provide assistance with instructional design, technical issues and training for instructors/staff as necessary.
  24. Both design and content of Blackboard courses must meet federal guidelines and standards for accessibility.
  25. Instructors may request Blackboard space for Organizations and Course Development.
  26. Course syllabi, whether on paper or online, belongs to the both the Instructor and the college and as such, may be used by adjuncts to ensure course consistency.
  27. Outside authors must be cited and course cartridges provided by publishers must only be used via purchased access codes.
  28. Course cartridges or any other Publisher files can be installed in Blackboard provided compatibility and stability exist.
  29. It is highly recommended that faculty change their passwords frequently to protect the integrity of student work.
  30. If a student account needs to be disabled but student work retained, instructors should contact the Director of Online Instruction.

F-Student Roles and Responsibilities:

  1. Students must maintain proper netiquette when using Blackboard according to the Student Code of Conduct. addition, privacy of all users should be respected and protected, especially in the use of discussion forums and email.
  2. Email access should not be used to forward non-Blackboard or non-course related information. Students should use email function of Blackboard responsibly in relation to course goals only, and send only to relevant parties.Users should not “email all users” unless specifically and urgently warranted.
  3. Academic Integrity, including the avoidance of plagiarism and the use of correct citations for sources, must be maintained at all times as prescribed by the Dominican College Student Handbook.
  4. Student initial enrollment in each Blackboard course corresponds with the official enrollment maintained by the College and is updated throughout the registration and late registration period.
  5. Students will only have access to Blackboard after their financial records are up to date, provided the instructor has make the course available through the Control Panel of each course (specifically, Settings). Students should contact the Director of Online Instruction if access is not available and should be.
  6. Student user names must follow the convention set forth on the Blackboard LMS home page .
  7. Initial passwords are assigned by the system administrator as described at the Blackboard LMS home page . Users are encouraged to change their passwords as soon as possible to protect their work.This is done via the Personal Information link found on the left after logging in.
  8. Student passwords may be reset by the Director of Online Instruction or faculty member teaching a course.
  9. Help with use of Blackboard is available through the Blackboard Support link on the Blackboard home page ( ), through the “?” icon within Blackboard, or by contacting the Director of Online Instruction at , 848.4017 or 914.260.6237.
  10. Students should always keep copies of work submitted to instructors via Blackboard.
  11. Students must maintain their official DC email addresses in Blackboard.
  12. Students should frequentlycheck the email accounts that were entered into Blackboard for correspondence from instructors, other classmates, and the Blackboard administrator.
  13. Students should check the Announcements section in courses currently in progress for new information pertaining to the course.

Blackboard Notification Policy (Blackboard Users refer to all faculty and students)

Planned Shutdowns:

  • IT Department will send an email to all Blackboard users with as much advanced notice as possible.
  • Director of Online Instruction will post an announcement of any planned shutdowns in the Announcement section of each course.

Unplanned Shutdowns:

  • The first department to notice the problem should notify the Director of Online Instruction at 845-848-4017 or email IT at or call 848-8049.
  • On evenings and weekends, please notify the Director of IT department at 845-222-4489.

Online Instruction Contact Information:

Dr. Joanne Clemente, Director of Online Instruction

Casey Hall

845.848.4017

Last revised: October 17, 2007

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