CITDL :: Tech Support

Click the Login button, then enter your Blackboard User Name and Password in the dialogue box that appears. Use your Louisiana Tech username as username and initial password (details here). You will then see a page with a listing of all Blackboard courses for which you are currently registered as well as recent announcements and other tools and resources. Click on any of the courses to enter that Blackboard site.

Note: Your Louisiana Tech username is only the first part of your LaTech email address. For example, if your LaTech email address is jqp789@latech.edu, then your LaTech username is jqp789.Use your Lousiana Tech ID as username and your student ID as initial password (details here

Q: What username and password should I use?

A: Blackboard accounts use your Louisiana Tech ID as your Username.

As we cannot know your Louisiana Tech network login password when we make your Blackboard account, we use your Campus Wide ID (CWID) as your initial password for Blackboard. When you are later enrolled in other Blackboard courses, you will be using the same username and password for all of them.

If you forget your password, you should contact CITDL, who can reset your Blackboard password for you. Please make sure that you do not forget your password in the first place.

Q: How do I change my Blackboard password?

A: Choose Personal Information on the left hand column of your Welcome page in Blackboard, and then Change Password . Enter your new password twice, then click Submit. Once you have changed your password, this will affect all of your courses that use Blackboard, because you have effectively changed your password for your login.

Changing your Blackboard password will NOT affect your Email password nor your Louisiana Tech network login password and vice versa. They are totally independent.

Q: The system does not let me in. What's wrong?

A: Make sure you are using the proper username and password. The password is case-sensitive. If it is still not working, contact CITDL and ask them to reset your password to your CWID.

If you are getting a message that a connection with the server could not be established, the server might be down. Chances are that the server will be back in 5 minutes maximum, because Computing Services might already be working on fixing it.

Q: I am behind a firewall. Can I access Blackboard?

A: This is not an issue with most of Blackboard. The only issue that may happen is with the Collaboration Tools (Chat or Virtual Classroom). Make sure that ports 8010 and 8011 are available to use these.

Q: Can I enter Blackboard/see a course I am not enrolled in (as a guest)?

A: No, although Blackboard has a "Preview" feature, this feature has been disabled to make all courses as secure as possible.

Q: What kind of browser do I need to use Blackboard?

A: For full functionality, you need a browser that supports JavaScript (such as Netscape 4.7, 6 or 7, or MS Internet Explorer 4, 5 or 6). Your browser must also support frames in order to view Blackboard sites. Furthermore, if your course uses the Java chat tool, you must be using a 4.x browser or newer. Also see the comment on the text-only interface for Blackboard .

Q: Is there a text-only interface to Blackboard?

A: In Blackboard version 6.2 compliance with the accessibility guidelines was achieved, therefore there is no text only version available. Whether your particular site contains only accessible materials, however, depends on the instructor.

Q: How do I get help for Blackboard?

A: Students experiencing technical problems should consult their instructor for the course first for Blackboard related problems. If your instructor cannot help, then contact CITDL for further help.

If you have a serious problem with Blackboard, make sure to tell your instructor the following details:

What exactly you were trying to do
Any error messages you got. Literally!
When exactly this occurred
What browser you were using, and what version (use Help > About to find out what version you have)
What operating system
If accessing from home: what ISP you are using
Any other clues related to your problem

Your instructor can then contact the Blackboard administrator with these details, thus giving us a basis for troubleshooting the issue.

For all general questions about using your web-browser, connecting to the Internet, using your email etc., please contact the Computing Center

Q: How do I upload a file?

A: In Dropbox or Discussion board click the Browse button. Select a file from your hard disk. (In Netscape you will need to look for Files of type: All Files (*.*) to see more than just HTML files).
Note: The filename should not contain spaces or special characters, be under 20 characters in length, and have the proper three-letter extension indicating the file's MIME-type (PDF document), so others can open it. This is especially important if you are using a Macintosh, where files don't automatically have the right extension.

When your browser receives a file from the webserver that it does not have the built-in functionality to handle, it opens it in a plug-in (or in an external "helper application") based on the file's "MIME-type". When the file does not have the proper three-letter extension, the server cannot determine the MIME-type and may not handle the file properly. The server may also not be configured to handle your kind of file, if it is an uncommon type (check the list of configured types (PDF document)). You can zip/stuff it to avoid this problem, but then the others also need to have an archiving utility (e.g. WinZIP, Stuffit) to open it (Stuffit Expander can be downloaded for free).

Q: I cannot upload a file in the student dropbox.

A: Make sure you are using a modern browser (level 4 or higher at least). Older browsers do not support http-uploading. Some ISPs also disallow file-uploading (in that case, consider changing ISPs).

Avoid spaces in your filenames and keep your filenames reasonably short (under 20 characters). Obviously, special characters such as forward slashes or colons cannot be used in filenames on the web, as they serve to separate directories on some operating systems. Tip: stick to letters, numbers, and underscores, and you will never have trouble.

Your file may be virus infected. The Blackboard server is set to destroy virus infected files at time of attempted upload (not on your drive but on the server) for security reasons. Consider installing a virus checking software and make sure the virus reference files are updated.

If you are on a modem connection and are uploading a large file, you may be experiencing a time-out problem. Large files will need to be uploaded from a fast connection, e.g. on campus from a computing lab.

You may also be abandoning your upload yourself by clicking somewhere else before the upload has completed. Make sure to wait until you see the receipt page confirming that your upload went through, otherwise the file will be missing (you will notice that because a filesize of -1 bytes is displayed in Blackboard).

Q: I tried to upload a file to the Student Dropbox but I got a message "The server encountered an internal error..."

A: Make sure the name of the file you are uploading is not too long (shorter than 20 characters) and contains no spaces. If the problem persists, email your instructor with the exact time the problem occurred, what type of file you were uploading, and what type and version of browser you are using, and what ISP.

Q: I downloaded a file and cannot open it.

A: If the file does not open automatically (i.e. if you get a dialogue-box saying that your browser does not know what to do with this kind of file), simply save it to your hard drive by right clicking on it and choose "Save Target/Link As". Then try opening it in various applications, so next time you get this type of file, you know what application to pick in the browser's dialogue box. Use this method in particular if the file does not have the proper three letter file-name-extension.

Free viewers are available for most file-types used in Blackboard courses. If a file-type you need is not listed on that page, please contact your instructor for help.

Q: I try to take a quiz or survey but it says "Sorry...you already took this assessment on..."

A: If you look at a survey or a quiz, then press your browser's back button, or you start to take the quiz and do not submit it for whatever reason, the next time you try to take this quiz you will get a message from the Blackboard server

Sorry...you already took this assessment on ...

For fairness reasons, you are typically only allowed to take a quiz once and you are not allowed to see a quiz before taking it for credit.

If you feel you are getting this message incorrectly, contact your instructor, giving all pertinent details. If indeed you are getting this message in error, your instructor can reset your quiz attempt and you can take the quiz again. Also see the comments under internal server error for important info!
Note: All transactions on Blackboard are logged. All page requests, times and data submitted are recorded and searchable.

Q: My quiz grade is gone!

A: Situation: you successfully took a quiz and got a grade, but later notice that your grade is gone and only an exclamation mark shows up under Check Grades. This happens when the quiz is set to allow multiple submissions and you later look at it again without submitting it, e.g. because you want to print it. This will establish a new attempt at the quiz, erasing all your previous answers! To see your submitted quiz and compare your answers, click on your grade within Check Grades instead - that is safe.

Q: I try to access a page but I get an error "HTTP/1.1 ... The server encountered an internal error ... "

A: If this happened when you were trying to submit a quiz, chances are you are using Netscape and inadvertently re-loaded the quiz, causing the submission to fail. Netscape re-loads a page when re-sizing the browser window, viewing the page source, or trying to print or save the page. Thus you must not do those when taking quizzes, or simply use MS Internet Explorer (but still avoid reloading!).

If you were in the middle of taking a quiz or survey, inform your instructor via email as soon as possible. Your instructor can clear your quiz attempt and allow you to take the quiz again.

You may also have been accessing a page while the server was temporarily down. If you think the Blackboard server is down, please contact CITDL. They will look into the problem, and contact the appropriate Computing Services personnel, if necessary.

Q: I tried using the mass-email feature and got an error message.

A: You get an error if one or more of the addresses you are trying to send to is invalid.
It could also be that the user has changed his email-setting in Blackboard and has specified a wrong address, or the account is not working properly. Try contacting them via the discussion board and alert them to the problem.

Q: I have been using the system successfully all quarter, but I am now having problems logging in.

A: We have found that this behaviour sometimes occurs when users have not cleared their browsers "cache" after extended periods of use. If you begin experiencing this behaviour and are still able to log on with it from on-campus machines, or if you know that you have not reset your password, then follow these steps to clear your browser's cache:

In Internet Explorer:

1 - Click on Tools>Internet Options...
2 - Click on the tab labelled"General"
3 - Under the 'Temporary Internet Files' subcategory click on "Delete Files".

In Netscape:

1 - Click on Edit>Preferences
2 - Under the 'Advanced' subcategory click on 'Cache'
3 - Click on the button labelled Clear Disk Cache and then click on the button labelled Clear Memory Cache

Q:I sent a file to my instructor using the Digital Dropbox and they claim that they have not yet received it! What do I do!

A: There are two buttons in the student view of the digital dropbox. One button is labelled "Add File", while the other button is labelled "Send File". Using the "Send File" button is what actually transfers the file from the student dropbox to the instructor dropbox. Please try again and be sure to use the "Send File" button.