Faculty Resources by IDT: Blackboard and Technology FAQs

Faculty Quick Guide - From Blackboard Ultra, an introductory guide of Blackboard Ultra features and navigation, including a 4 minute video. 

How to Access Blackboard – How to reach Blackboard from the Concordia Connect Portal. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

View Courses in a Different or Upcoming Term – Using Concordia Connect Portal, see courses from other terms. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Add Instructor Information to Blackboard – Step-by-step instructions to edit your instructor information learning module in your Blackboard courses. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Faculty Grade Entry – How to submit MidTerm and Final grades on Concordia Connect. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Create Discussions – How to create discussion boards and control settings for them, including video walkthroughs. 

Create Assignments - How to create assignments and control the settings for your course, including video walkthroughs. 

Create and Manage Groups – How to create and manage different types of course groups for assignments and presentations in Blackboard. 

Create Rubrics - How to create rubrics for assignments and discussions boards on Blackboard. 

Grade Using a Rubric – Step-by-Step walkthrough of how use course rubrics, including what students will see when their grades are available.  

Creating Tests - How to create tests and control the settings for your course, including a 2 minute video walkthrough. 

Adding Test Banks - How to add a test bank from a third-party publisher, including 1.5 minute video walkthrough. 

SafeAssign - Information about the plagiarism software SafeAssign. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Common SafeAssign Errors - How to fix common SafeAssign errors. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Add Assignment Attempts – Sometimes students need to retake an assignment. This guide helps make this a seamless process of Blackboard, reopening an assignment to a single student, a subset of students, or all students as needed. 

Gradebook Overview – Learn how to access the gradebook and use it to open assignments. Also introduces how to customize the gradebook to class needs. 

Set up Weighed Grades and Gradebook Calculations - Learn more about gradebook customization.  

Create Content - How to add any kind of content (learning module, reading assignment, etc.) to your course while controlling student visibility, including a 4 minute video. 

Add Syllabus to Blackboard - Step-by-step instructions to add a file, like a syllabus, to Blackboard. 

Create a Video Lecture – How to use Kaltura to upload a video (introductory video, lecture, workshop, etc.) of any length to your Blackboard course. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Check your Kaltura video’s view counts and analytics - See how many views Kaltura videos are receiving. Requires CUC login to access help article. 

Creating and Using Course Links - A course link is a shortcut to an existing area, tool, or item in a course. Course links let you make an item available in multiple locations within one course. 

Copy a Course - Copy course materials from a previous course into a new one.  

*Always let IDT at IDTsupport@cuchicago.edu know if you are copying content so we do not accidentally override your work!* 

Set Recurrent Teams Meeting – Learn how to create a weekly virtual meeting, like for office hours. Requires a CUC email login. 

Email Students via Blackboard - Best practices concerning student communication using Blackboard. Requires a CUC email login. 

Grade Student Submitted Work - Blackboard Ultra guide on all the ways to grade student work directly on Blackboard, including short video tutorials. 

Merge sections of the same course in Blackboard - How to request a Blackboard course merge, requires a CUC email login. 

Access Blackboard Analytics - Information on how to access and interpret Blackboard analytics for your course. 

Where to Access Course Evaluations - Information on where to access course evaluations after the term is over. Requires a CUC email login. 

Students Can’t See What I Can See - What to check when the faculty view of Blackboard does not match the student view. Requires a CUC email login. 

Student Quick Guide – An introductory guide to Blackboard features and navigation to share with your students. 

View Assignment Grades and Instructor Feedback - Information for students to view faculty feedback and grades through Blackboard. 

Download Assignment with Contextual Feedback - How to download assignments that include instructor feedback such as in-line comments or highlights. Requires a CUC email login 

Resubmit or Retake an Assignment - Steps to submit an assignment after an extra attempt is given. 

How Am I Doing? Report - Guides students to access an overview of how they are performing in a class.