The Blackboard Homepage
At the end of 2021, CMU updated Blackboard to a version called Ultra Base Navigation (UBN). This upgrade resulted in a change to the Blackboard homepage -- it did not impact the set up, functionality, or navigation within courses. When logging into Blackboard, the opening screen that appears is changed--instead of modules set within columns, a fixed menu of various tabs appears along the left-side menu. When a link is selected from the list, a global view across all courses you are enrolled in is seen. The "Courses" tab is the default entry point to the Blackboard homepage.
To access a course, click on the course name (displayed in bold text) within the Courses list.
Watch this short Blackboard Homepage Overview video [10m 31s] for a more detailed look at the new Bb homepage.
[IMPORTANT NOTE!] This update to UBN only impacts Blackboard's opening page. All courses and course tools will function in the same manner as always.
To learn more about each menu button, click the item below:
Institution Module
User Profile
Activity Stream
Courses
Organizations
Calendar
Messages
Grades
Assist
Tools
Sign Out
The Institution page communicates information related to Blackboard performance, pending maintenance, and/or planned outages. In addition, links for requesting technical assistance from the CMU Helpdesk are provided, as well as links to access Knowledgebase articles, CentralLink, one's CMU email, and other similar resources.
Basic Information
The Profile page contains personal information and settings. The Email, Student ID, and Password fields are pre-populated and may not be changed. First names only may be changed by hovering the mouse over the Full Name box and then clicking on the pencil icon that appears to edit at the next screen. Additional identifying information such as other name/nickname or preferred pronouns may be added if desired by again hovering the mouse over the desired box, then clicking on the pencil icon that appears to edit at the next screen.
Profile Image
By clicking the pencil icon next to the generic profile image at the top of the page, users can upload a new profile picture (.gif, .png or .jpeg formats) which appears on the course roster and in discussions, blogs, journals, wikis, and group activity pages. Images must be less than 5MB and at least 50 x 50 pixels in dimension.
System Settings/Language
At the system level, English is the default language used in Blackboard. At the course level, instructors have the ability to set a different language pack that everyone in the course sees. In addition, by clicking the pencil icon within the Language section, each user may choose to set their preferred language.
System Settings/Privacy Settings
By default, only Instructors and Blackboard administrators may view profile information, but by clicking the pencil icon to edit the Privacy Settings option, users may grant access to their profile to anyone in their course.
System Settings/Global Notification Settings
This area allows you to view/modify the notifications you will receive about activity in all your courses. Notifications can be delivered through the Activity Stream (Global Icon), Email (Envelope Icon), or as Push Notifications (Bell Icon), which appear in the Blackboard app when using a mobile device. The types of activities listed will vary depending upon your role in the course. Some activity types cannot be changed and will always generate a notification.
For a complete list of the types of notifications and which ones are editable, visit the appropriate Blackboard Help article below:
Notifications for Students
The Activity Stream shows course announcements from the instructor, reminders, overdue assignments, tests, as well as graded discussions and newly graded items. Activity stream items are grouped into four categories to make the list easier to scan:
Important: Any overdue assignments, tests, and graded discussions will appear here highlighted in red. If you dismiss an item in this section, you won't be able to view it again even if you sign out and sign in again. When you dismiss a stream item, the original content isn't affected. You just remove the notification from the activity stream.
Upcoming: View the top five events that will occur in the next seven days. Select Show More for a complete list. This section won't appear if no upcoming events are available.
Today: See everything happening and due in the next 24 hours, including institution-wide announcements about any emergency notifications and updates. If your instructors added announcements, they appear here or in the Recent section.
Recent: If you haven't checked in for a bit, stream items that were previously listed in the Today section over the last seven days will appear here.
Customize your stream
Users can choose to show or hide some types of activity from within the Notification Settings area which is accessed by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner. These are the same Notification Settings available from within the User Profile tab.
- Activity stream (globe icon): Choose which activities appear on your Stream page.
- Email (envelope icon): If you want to receive email notifications, add an email address to your profile page. Then, choose how often and which activities you want to receive notifications for.
- Push notifications (bell icon): Messages pop up on your mobile device if you have the Blackboard app for students installed. NOTE: Blackboard is not configured for SMS text messages. Push notifications are only sent to a mobile device through the downloaded Blackboard app and not via a text message.
In this section, a view of all the courses a user is enrolled in is provided. Courses are grouped based on their associated semester. Use the dropdown menus at the top to display courses for a specific term.
A Special Note About Course Listings: Courses will not appear under the categories of “Upcoming” or “Completed”. This is not a bug of the system, but rather because CMU utilizes a “Continuous” course duration setting, rather than a “Term Duration” setting — all courses are recognized as being in a current status by Blackboard.
The Filter option provides several pre-set filters to narrow down your listing of courses. The Search box allows you to find a specific course within your list by typing in the course designator or a few letters from the course name.
The items per page is also customizable from this same location.
Click the Star icon to mark the course as a favorite so it will appear at the top of your course listing, for easy access.
Courses Not Associated with a Semester: A course not associated with a semester or that uses custom start and end dates and is currently active, will appear in the 'Assorted Dates' group on the Current Courses page.
List vs Grid View of Courses
Users can view the Courses page in a List 
or a Grid
layout by selecting the respective icon. The information listed for the course includes course ID, course title, and instructor. If a course has multiple instructors, then 'Multiple Instructors' is listed as a link, which, when clicked, then displays the names of the instructors associated with the course. Select 'More Info' to see the description and schedule, if added.
Courses displayed in Grid format are shown as a course card with an image displayed for the course. This image is either a stock image provided by Blackboard or, if a banner exists inside the course, that banner then becomes the image for the course.
Organizations are not currently in use at our institution.
The global calendar displays events and dates from multiple courses in one location. The course calendar displays due dates, the course schedule, office hours, and course-specific meetings and events. When instructors create content with a due date, it automatically shows in the calendar. Calendars can be viewed in either Schedule mode or as a listing of Due Dates only (upper left corner) or by Day or Month (upper right corner). When enrolled in multiple courses, users can see that courses are color-coded for easy identification.
Schedule View
Due Date View
Adding Events
Events can be added to a calendar by clicking the + icon in the upper right corner. Events added by a student appear on their own personal calendar and only that user can view personal events. Any calendar entries added to your courses will be collated here.
Calendar Settings
By clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner, users can select which calendars they want to display. By default, all calendars from courses a user is enrolled in are displayed.
By clicking the 3 ellipses to the right of "Calendar Settings", the user can then opt to add a calendar or share a calendar:
Instructors have the ability to create and send messages to students within the course. Messages are organized by course and all message activity remains inside Blackboard -- messages are not sent to user's CMU email accounts and are only viewable/accessible inside Blackboard.
When a user has a new message, a number displays on the Message tab to indicate the arrival of a new message. Note: A notification of a new message does not appear in the user's Activity Stream.
Users can determine which course they have a new message for by the indicator that appears beneath the course title.
Click on Inbox (under Folder heading) to display all the messages stored within the user's Inbox:
By clicking on the message title under Subject, the message is opened/displayed. The STATUS column will indicate read/unread messages.
Students have access to all of their courses' grades on the global Grades page.
A list of recent grades and the overall grade for each course will appear. Students will also see any recently posted grades in their activity streams.
The Assist tab provides a list of student-facing services and resources available at CMU centering on student academic success, health and well-being, and financial services. These resources can also be added within one's course shell as a menu button item. For more information, see the Student Services module.
The Tools tab provides a method to integrate 3rd party tools into Blackboard making them accessible from the UBN Homepage. Some tools that are available include:
- Adobe Creative Cloud - A one-stop shop for everything Adobe available free to CMU students faculty and staff.
- Application Authorization - Used to configure certain 3rd party tools, no additional user action is required and it can be ignored.
- EvalutionKit - EvalKit is a course evaluation and general survey tool for on-line survey delivery.
Sign Out
When done using Blackboard, be sure to click the Sign Out option to logout and end your session. This is particularly important if using a public or shared computer.