Course Preparation Outside of Blackboard Ultra

This document provides tips for preparing course materials outside of Blackboard. Specifically, it provides guidance for course preparation when either the faculty member (1) is not yet listed as the instructor of record and therefore cannot access the course within Blackboard, or (2) does not yet have an active SIUE E-ID.

Assignments

Faculty can create assignment instructions, rubrics, and even accept paper/project submissions with OneDrive inside of the SIUE Microsoft Office 365 suite. Consider creating a OneDrive folder for each of your courses and further organizing materials with unit/weekly sub-folder folders. Populate each folder with content, which you can create directly within OneDrive or upload from your desktop. Then, share the main course folder with your students. This will give students access to content within each sub-folder. If you do not yet have an SIUE E-ID, you can access Microsoft Office 365 by signing up with a personal email address. See this article for tips on creating shared folders and files in OneDrive.

Alternatively, faculty can create assignment documents, instructions, and rubrics in a desktop version of Microsoft Office or another document creation software, and then send and accept assignments via email. Student grades should not be communicated via email, OneDrive, or any other cloud service, however. Grades should be kept in Blackboard, CougarNet, or stored securely on your computer's desktop (ex: password protected, logged off, behind locked door).

Tests and Quizzes

Tests and quizzes can be created in Microsoft Word or another word processor, and can later be imported into Blackboard using Respondus. Be sure to use these formatting guidelines as you prepare your assessment material to simplify the import process. Note: Respondus is only available on PCs.

Lecture Material

Faculty can also use YuJa to record videos (syllabus overviews, screen-sharing demonstrations, lectures, etc.). Log into YuJa at https://siue.yuja.com/.

Teams can be used for live lectures or guest lectures. Refer to these KnowledgeBase articles for more information about using Teams.

Communication

Faculty can retrieve student email addresses through CougarNet, or from the department chair. A course email list can be created in your mail client and used to communicate with students outside of Blackboard. See this article for creating a group contact list in Microsoft 365.

Need Additional Support?

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact the ITS Help Desk:

This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!



Keywords:
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Doc ID:
74926
Owned by:
Center I. in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Created:
2017-07-28
Updated:
2026-08-24
Sites:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville