Blackboard Learning System
LeTourneau University uses the Blackboard Learning System to provide web sites and communication tools for all students and instructors. The tutorials and documentation listed below are designed to assist students who are new to Blackboard. If you have any additional questions about using Blackboard, check with your instructor first. If your instructor is unable to answer your question or resolve the problem, then send an e-mail message to blackboard@letu.edu.
- Quick Start - Provides students with a quick introduction to accessing and using their course sites within MyLETU Courses.
- Tutorials and Documentation - Contains various handouts and tutorials designed to help students use MyLETU Courses.
- Student Guide to Using MyLETU Courses - This page contains instructions for some of the more common features of Blackboard.
- Online Learning Orientation - An online tutorial is available for students through Blackboard. To access this tutorial, log on to Blackboard using the user name "newstudent" and the password "blackboard" (without using quotes in either the username or password). Then follow the instructions on the screen.
Courses and User Accounts
All faculty and students are given Blackboard user accounts. Course sites are handled differently depending on the type of course, as described below.
- Getting Started in Your Blackboard Learning System Course - A quick tutorial from Blackboard to help students get started using Blackboard in their courses.
- Blackboard Support Site for Blackboard - To access the great training materials on this site, you will need to create an account and indicate that you are a student using Blackboard.
Online Courses
Creation of course sites: Online course sites are created by copying "master" course sites that are maintained by the School of Graduate and Professional Studies. Course sites are created 30 days prior to the scheduled start of the course. For example, an online course scheduled to begin August 1 is created July 1 in the Blackboard Learning Management System.
Each course site is labeled with an ID consisting of the year, session, course number, section number, and the letters "ol" (for online). For example, section 77 of the course EDUC-4123, Curriculum for the Middle School, being offered in the fall of 2009, would be created with an ID of "09fa_educ_4123_77_ol".
Faculty course enrollments: The instructor is enrolled in the course immediately following the creation of the online course. Instructors are notified by email of their course creation and enrollment. The instructor will need to update necessary information and prepare the course for instruction before student course enrollments begin.
Student accounts and course enrollments: Every online student is given a Blackboard account automatically, that coincides with the student's LETNET account. Students will be enrolled in their online course one to two weeks prior to the course's scheduled start date.
Removal of course sites: Old course sites are removed from Blackboard Learning Management System at the conclusion of the following term. For example, a fall 2009 course will be removed at the conclusion of the spring 2009 term.
Technical Problems: LeTourneau University seeks to provide an effective technical and administrative network to ensure your online course is always functioning correctly; however you may encounter technical or other problems in an online course from time to time. To assist you in resolving any problem, contact information is provided for you at http://online.letu.edu
Evening Courses for Working Adults
Course sites: Each faculty member is automatically given a Blackboard course site for each course that he or she teaches, but not for each section of that course. The course site is labeled with an ID consisting of the course number, the letters "nt" (for not-traditional), and the faculty member's username. For example, if John Brown periodically teaches BIBL-1003, Biblical Foundations for Living, then he would be given one course site with an ID of "bibl_1003_nt_johnbrown." Additional course sites can be created upon request; simply email your request to blackboard@letu.edu
Student accounts and course enrollments: Every non-traditional student is given a Blackboard account automatically that coincides with the student's network account. However, students are NOT automatically added to their course sites. The faculty member who wishes to utilize Blackboard must enroll students into their course sites at the beginning of the course, and then remove students from their course sites when the course is ended.
Removal of course sites: Course sites are not generally removed from Blackboard until the faculty member leaves LeTourneau University. Faculty members may request removal of course sites that they are no longer using.
