Timely, relevant knowledge and tools for today s nonprofit professional. Blackboard User Guide for Participants A Professional Development Entity of the Mail Code 4120 411 N. Central Ave Suite 500 Phoenix, AZ 85004-0691 602-496-0500 Fax: 602-496-0952 http://nmi.asu.edu http://lodestar.asu.edu
Welcome to your NMI online course. Before you begin your course, please read through this Blackboard User Guide for Participants. This document contains information on how to login to the course, where to find class materials, how to participate in discussion questions, where to find help if needed, and the overall navigation of the course. This course is made up of five sessions. Each session is three days in length, making this course 15 days. In each session, you will have assigned readings, 1-2 activities, and three discussion questions to complete. Read through your Participant Guide s Guidelines for more information regarding what is required of you during this course. Please note that since none of your work is graded, you must complete all discussion questions and activities in order to receive credit for this course. The purpose of the NMI Certificate courses is to allow you to build upon prior knowledge and receive feedback and comments from professionals in the nonprofit sector. Login After registering, visit http://ce.asu.edu and click the "LOG IN" button in the upper right corner of the screen.
Sign In Enter your account credentials and click the "SIGN IN" button. If you are an ASURITE user, click the "Sign in using ASURITE UserID" link and follow the sign in instructions.
Go to the "My CE" page Once logged in, click on the "My CE" tab in the top banner. Click on the "Blackboard 1.0" Link Courses that you have registered for will appear under the "COURSES I'M REGISTERED FOR" heading. If your course offers a Blackboard page, there will be a link under the Course Links heading. Click on the "Blackboard 1.0" link corresponding to the course that you wish to navigate to in CE Blackboard.
Course Features Announcements The first section of the course homepage is Announcements. This is where your instructor will list announcements for this course. This will also be where your instructor will announce availability, tips, and possible updates to the Participant Guide. Participant Materials The Participant Materials section contains five resources that you will need to complete this course: Participant Guide, Successful Online Learning, ASU Help Center, Plug-in Software, and the Blackboard User Guide for Participants.
After you enter your course for the first time, the first step is to download and review the Participant Guide. This document provides you with information about the learning objectives, methods, activities, and due dates for this online course. Technical issues may arise during your participation in this course. If this occurs, you can contact the ASU Help Center for technical and computer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just visit the ASU Help Center link in the Participant Materials section to gain access to live chats, frequently asked questions, to
open a ticket, and contact the ASU Help Center directly. In this course, you will need access to Firefox Browser, Adobe Reader 8 or higher, and Adobe Flash Player. If you do not have this software already, you can download a free version by going to your Participant Materials and selecting the folder entitled Plug-in Software. Here you will find links to download Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, and MS Word 2007 Compatibility Pack.
Sessions As stated previously, there are five sessions in each NMI online course. Each session will contain your readings, videos, websites, presentations, and activities for you to complete. Session Reading Presentation Video Websites Activity
Class Biographies Your instructor s biography can be found in this section of the ASU Blackboard. After reading your instructor s biography, you will be asked to reply to his/her post with your own biography. More information can be found in your Participant Guide. Activity Discussions As stated previously, each session of the course will have three discussion questions in which you will be required to participate. Your instructor will post all three discussion questions at the beginning of each session. Please locate the due dates for each session s discussion question posts in your Participant Guide.
Discussion Board As stated previously, each session of the course will have two discussion questions in which you will be required to participate. Your instructor will post both discussion questions at the beginning of each session. Please locate the due dates for each session s discussion question posts in your Participant Guide. Access Discussion Board Forum Step 1. Log in to the desired course (http://myasucourses.asu.edu). Step 2. Click the Discussions link in the course menu, or a direct link to a specific discussion forum in a content area. Instructors should define the proper procedure for accessing Discussion Boards for their class in the syllabus.
Step 3. From the list of forums available to users, click the topic link. Step 4. All threads in the forum are displayed on the page. To read a thread, click on the appropriate subject link. Step 5. After clicking on the subject link, the message is displayed in a preview pane under the list. Click the Next Post icon (as shown below) to navigate to the next post in the Discussion Forum.
Create a New Thread Main topics in a discussion forum are called threads. A thread begins a discussion point and eventually contains a list of connected posts called replies. Note to Learners: If you do not see the Create Thread button, then the instructor or forum manager is not allowing you to create new threads. You should still be able to reply to existing threads set up by the instructor. Step 1: In the forum, click the Create Thread button. For example: Step 2: Type your Subject (required) and Message. For example: Step 3: Click the Submit button to post your message. Everyone who has access to this forum will now see your message. NOTE: If you click the Save button (instead of Submit), your message is NOT posted for all to view. To access saved messages, see article, How do I find messages I saved so that I can post them to the forum? in this knowledge base, for details.
Reply to a Thread Step 1. After reading any message you can reply to it by clicking the Reply button located at both the top and bottom of the preview pane. Step 2. The response window is displayed. Complete the fields as indicated below: Subject: this will contain the same subject as the original posting with Re: added before it. You have the option to change the subject to something more descriptive. It is suggested you leave it the same so that the thread and its replies can be easily located based on this field.
Message: type your message in the text box or paste text from another source. Attachments: you have the option to attach a file to support your posting. Click the Attach a file link and browse for your file. Submit: when you are finished with your thread, click Submit. Step 3. Your new message is now displayed indented from the original message. Any replies to your reply will be indented further one level. Tools In this section you will have many tools available to you. Not only can you view announcements and get blackboard help in this section, but you can also send messages to your instructor and other participants, get contact information for other participants, send emails, and much more. I suggest you review this section in great length before starting your class.
Submitting Activities/Assignments Under each session will be a list of the activities each participant will need to complete. You can submit assignments from the Assignments link in your course. In order to submit your assignment to your instructor, follow the instructions below or watch this Video Tutorial. Step 1. Click on the link for the assignment. Step 2. The first section gives details about the assignment.
Step 3. Depending on the assignment, type text into the Submission box and/or click the Browse for Local File to add a file from your computer (such as a word file). Step 4. Add comments, if desired. Step 5. Click Submit to submit your assignment, or you can click Save as Draft to save your work without submitting (for example, if you started on an assignment and ran out of time and want to return to it later).
View Graded Activities/Assignments Access the video View a Submitted Assignment by clicking on the link below. For your NMI course, intead of using the My Grades tab to locate your graded activities, you will click on the Submitted Activities tab. It is under this tab that your instructor will submit your activities with feedback. http://www.asu.edu/courses/oasis/bbassignments/studentviewsubmitted/studentviewsubmitted.html