Navigating through Blackboard

• Once you have logged into the Blackboard system, you will be presented with your Blackboard home page. From here you can access all your SAO units, which are listed in the My Units of Study box on the top right of the page. Follow the link(s) to your Unit website.

  

• Once on your Unit Bb site website, you will see the current announcements displayed as the default on the Unit homepage. On the left hand side of the screen you will see the course panel with takes you to the different area's on your unit's website. Underneath the course panel you'll find a link to the course map which can help you if you ever get lost.

  

• The 15 course panel buttons (the exact numbers of button does depend on the Unit) are:
  1. Announcements: this link will contain any important announcements and weekly updates, which you should check every time you access Blackboard
  2. Introduction: this page contains a brief introduction to your Unit, a few words about SAO in general, and some hints about using Blackboard
  3. Unit Outline: this page contains a link to the Unit of Study Outline document. This document contains important information that you will need while studying with SAO. It contains links to various important pages within your unit as well as important information for all Swinburne students. If you're looking for specific information you can probably find it here!
  4. Course Content: this will link you to the online course content for your Unit. Major Project Units will not have this link.
  5. Study Guide: this page provides a Calendar of the 12 week semester, with information about the syllabus and assessment deadlines, and a downloadable Study Guide.
  6. Textbooks: this page contains textbook information and the reading list.
  7. Assessment: this site contains information about all your Unit's assessment tasks, their weighting, marking criteria, dues dates and much more!
  8. Documents & Links: this page includes links to all the assessment coversheets and submission forms, as well as a link to the SAO project database
  9. My Grades: this link will take you to the Blackboard GradeCenter.
  10. Classlist: this link will take you to the Unit classlist of students.
  11. Communications: this site contains information about the newsgroups, rules of use, helpful hints and contact details for your instructor, project supervisors and other important SAO staff
  12. Newsgroups: this page contains links to the newsgroups
  13. SAO Resources: a list of SAO resources, including Astronomy news, Blackboard help page, Search Engines & Astronomical Databases, Writing Resources, The Science of Science powerpoint presentation, the SAO Image Gallery, Correction & Comments reporting web pages.
  14. Blackboard Tools: a list of Blackboard tools
  15. MySurveys: links to the Student Feedback Survey (SFS) which is available towards the end of the smester

  When you first log on to your Unit homepage you should spend some time navigating through the course panel to find out where various information can be found.

• For a Flash animation showing how to nagivate through your Blackboard site, follow this link.