Saturday, March 19, 2011

Monday, March 07, 2011

Student Home Pages in Blackboard

Older versions of Blackboard (versions 7.x and previous) had a "Home Page" tool where students could post some information about themselves including a picture for the instructor and other students.

The newer version of Blackboard (9.x +) has retired the "Home Page" tool.  Instructors can now use the "Blog" tool to achieve a similar result.  To create a place for students to post information about themselves, the instructor can make a Blog, and all students can post some information about themselves on it.

Below there is a link to a video that shows three things:

1.  Creating a Content area on the left called "Home Pages" (this is optional; you can put the Blog into any section of your course)
2.  Creating a Blog called "Home Page" to simulate the title of the previous feature
3.  After turning Edit Mode off at the top right, the video shows how a student would access the blog and post something about him/herself.

The students can upload pictures of themselves using the "Avatar" feature under "Personal Information".  Please see this page for instructions for how to upload an avatar/profile picture to Blackboard.  This should be noted in the "Home Page" Blog instructions (see the video), so students will know how to do it.


We hope this information is helpful for you and your students.