Online Course
New Students Guide
The Mid-Atlantic ATTC's online course program uses the Blackboard Learning
System for the course environment. We hope you will find Blackboard
a friendly and straightforward method for taking this course.
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What is Blackboard?
Blackboard is an easy to use on-line course tool which enables teachers to aim beyond the constraints of the classroom; where students can reach teachers, interact with classmates, and access learning materials anytime, anywhere.
Entering the Course
Each online course offered through the Mid-Atlantic ATTC lasts five weeks. On the first day of the course, you will be sent an email message containing your login username and password.
To access the course, begin by clicking on this address http://blackboard.vcu.edu or typing it into the address textbox of the browser:
- You will see the Blackboard Login Instruction page
Click the Login Icon at the top of the page .
- You will be prompted to enter
your User Name and Password.
- After you enter this information and click login, the "My Blackboard" page will be displayed welcoming you to Blackboard.
- The Blackboard course will appear showing the Announcements
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The Course Environment
The Blackboard environment window consists of two "panes", side by side, in your web browser window.
The left pane contains the selection menu, which is a list of the individual options that when clicked, changes the right pane to display the contents of the option corresponding to your choice.
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The "Announcements" page will display each time you enter the course. The instructor will post any announcements here for the entire class to read, such as updates, class deadlines, and schedule changes. |
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Documents on the "Course Information" page contain general information about the course such as; course description, syllabus, grading policies, prerequisites, etc. |
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This page is where the course modules are stored. Most of the course content will be accessed through this page. |
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The Discussion Board contains the Discussion Questions from each module. Students answer questions simply by selecting a specific question then selecting "Thread". The Discussion Board is an open forum for communication between student and instructor. |
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Here you will find information about the instructor, assistant staff and contact information. |
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The Communication page contains various tools for communicating with other members of your class. Take some time to explore this area and learn these tools. You may find them very useful. |
The Course Process
After you have entered the course, take some time to familiarize yourself with the environment, by exploring the buttons described above.
When you're comfortable navigating around the Blackboard environment, follow these steps to prepare for the course:
- Click the
button and read any announcement
the instructor has posted for you.
(this page is displayed automatically when you enter the course). - Click the
button and read the Syllabus
and this New User Guide if you haven't read it already. - Click the
button, this is where all of the course materials are located. Proceed through the material by starting at the top with the Pre-Evaluation and work your way down through the Modules to the Post Evaluation.
You must complete the Pre-Evaluation and Pre-Test before beginning the Modules.
(Note: You MUST take the Post-Test and Post-Evaluation in order to receive contact hours for this course.) Do NOT take the Post-Evaluation or the Post-Test until you've completed the Modules.
The Modules:
The Module materials will appear in the right pane, and you can read through the materials and respond to the assignments as required. The modules can be printed if you'd rather read away from the computer, but they might have links to visit as well, so keep an eye out for those.
The
assignments are included in the modules and also listed on the 
.
An assignment may require you to visit other web sites, send an email to the instructor, or post to the Discussion Board. You will find instructions for the Discussion Board as the first item on the Discussion Board itself:
Discussion Board
Discussion Board Instructions
Post your response to a discussion question by clicking on the question
you wish to respond to, then select "Thread" (top left).
When you have completed all the readings and assignments for Module 1, you may continue to Module 2 and so on.
You can complete the work on your own time, whenever you like. We recommend that you complete one module a week in order to keep up with the class and complete the work before the course ends.
After you have completed the readings and assignments for all the modules, you are ready to complete the Post Test and Post Evaluation.
If you score 70% or better on your post-test and submit a post-evaluation, you will be awarded a certificate of completion. It will be mailed to the address you registered with within a month after the end of the course.