This information applies only to the Original experience. Your institution controls which tools are available.

My Blackboard and the user menu are available everywhere in Blackboard Learn and give you a personalized view of your learning environment.

Access the menu next to your name in the page header. The user menu provides access to all your courses and your personal settings, such as text size and personal information.

More on the Settings section

My Blackboard provides access to due dates, users, and social tools that help you discover, connect, communicate, and collaborate with your Blackboard learning network.

My Blackboard icons indicate how many new items appear in each area.

Video: My Blackboard and the User Menu


Watch a video about My Blackboard

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.


Video: My Blackboard and the user menu shows how to access My Blackboard and the user menu where you can receive information about all your courses and change personal settings.


Access My Blackboard tools

When you select one of the icons, a page opens. You can access the My Blackboard menu on the left side of the page.


Default My Blackboard tools

My Blackboard tools
Tools Description
Bb Home: Provides an overview of the items that are due and the five recently graded items. Point to View to reveal your grade.

If your institution has turned on messages, Bb Home shows a preview of your unread messages.
Calendar: Keep track of upcoming assignments, events, and other due dates.
Posts: Displays recent posts, comments, and replies from discussions, blogs, journals, and wikis in all your courses and organizations.

If your institution has turned on the people and spaces tools, the latest posts by the people and spaces you follow also appear.
Updates: View a list of notifications that alert you to important events and information in all your courses and organizations. For example, you can see when an assignment has been graded.
My Grades: View your recent grades for each assignment, test, and activity in all of your courses. Sort the grades by date or course, access your submissions, and view upcoming work.
Home: Displays a site or area your institution chose.
Help: Go to Behind the Blackboard for manuals, tutorials, and more.

The Posts page displays the posts made in the last seven days in the courses, organizations, and spaces you're enrolled in, teach, and follow.

Examples:

  • A new blog entry made by one of your classmates
  • A new post to one of your course's discussion board
  • Your contribution to a wiki in one of your courses
  • An update about a meeting for one of your spaces, if enabled

To access the Posts page, access the menu next to your name in the page header. The My Blackboard menu opens. Select the Posts icon.

If prompted, you must accept the terms of service and provide an email address before you can use this tool for the first time.


The Posts page

Each new post appears with a preview of the content, location, and author. Select a post to expand the content in the right panel. For discussion posts, select Reply or Quote to contribute. You can provide and view comments for wiki and blogs, but an instructor can disallow comments on a wiki. Only instructors can comment on journal entries.

If your institution has the people and spaces tools turned on, the latest posts by the people and spaces you follow also appear.


Filter posts

These filter options appear in the left panel:

  • All: View all the posts in your courses, even if you haven't posted. This filter option doesn't appear if no one has posted.
  • @me: View only your posts. This filter option doesn't appear if you haven't made any posts.
  • Custom: If posts exist in your courses, this filter option appears. If you've posted, you can select the check box in the pop-up box to view only the posts in the courses that you've participated in. If you haven't posted, the custom pop-up box is empty or has no check box.

If you need to view an older post that doesn't appear, access the course and the tool where the post was made.

On the Updates page, you see notifications for each course and organization you're enrolled in or teach.

To access the Updates page, access the menu next to your name in the page header. The My Blackboard menu opens. Select the Updates icon.

If prompted, you must accept the terms of service and provide an email address before you can use this tool for the first time.


The Updates page

  1. Browse all notifications.
  2. View notifications by course.
  3. Open a notification's menu to take action.
  4. Select the notification types you want to show. If you hide a notification on the Updates page, the notification isn't removed from your system-wide notification settings.

How long do updates last?

Posts stay in My Blackboard for seven days. Grades stay in My Blackboard for as long as you have access to your courses. For updates, your institution controls how long notifications stay in My Blackboard. You can dismiss an update after you view it.