Blackboard General Information Index

The Answers pages below contain information about specific Blackboard Ultra features and settings, including guides on how to locate and set up course tools, and troubleshooting information for common problems.

Ideas pages (listed at the bottom) contain overviews and discussions on more general online teaching and learning questions, and suggestions about how to select the best instructional tools and/or policies to meet your goals.

• Accessing Blackboard — Basic information regarding Blackboard access for Syracuse University instructors and students. 
• Updates and System Changes — With the transition to Blackboard Ultra Course View there has been an increase in the frequency that significant improvements are being made to the system. This page represents an attempt to summarize the most relevant changes for Syracuse University users.
  • Blackboard Original Course View — Blackboard Original Course View (OCV) was used to create courses from 2003 through 2023. As of July 2024, all new Blackboard courses and organizations are created in Ultra Course View. Older courses and organizations created in OCV remain archived and accessible to instructors for reference and copying of course materials.
• Events, Trainings, & Workshops — Online Learning Services (OLS) and Information Technology Services (ITS) are committed to supporting University instructors through a wide range of resources focused on enhancing teaching and learning with technology, with a primary emphasis on effective use of Blackboard. Recognizing that faculty—especially those new to the University—have varying needs and timelines, OLS offers flexible support through synchronous training sessions in different formats and schedules, as well as asynchronous ma
  • Events Page — Explore our upcoming and past events, including workshops, Lunch and Learn sessions, and other professional learning opportunities. Use the sections below to see what’s scheduled and to browse highlights from previous sessions.
• Blackboard Support Contacts — Get Blackboard support through Online Learning Services and the ITS Help Desk, or find contact information for your school/college help desk. 
• Editing Your User Profile — How to edit your Blackboard user profile, including accessing your user profile, changing your profile picture, and information regarding system settings
• Locating Courses — There are three primary reasons that instructors may have difficulty locating a course in the Blackboard course list. This page details all three with solutions for each. 
• Organizations — Blackboard Organizations are an extension of Blackboard Learn at Syracuse University to support non-course groups. These organizations can serve as an online meeting space for groups that would like a space for information sharing, collaboration, and communication.
  • Organization Enrollments — Organization roles control access to content and tools within an organization. Users with the role "Organization Leader" are responsible for adding, removing, and changing the enrollments of other users in their organizations.
  • Organization Self-Enrollment — An organization can be set for participants to self-enroll in an organizations that has been made available.  
• Blackboard Integrations — This article provides an overview of the tools integrated with the Syracuse University Blackboard System with information about how to find support for each.