Frequently Asked Questions - Students

1. How do I get to Blackboard?
2. What is my username and password?
3. I've forgotten my password.
4. What if I have problems or questions about Blackboard?
5. Who is responsible for adding me to my Blackboard courses?
6. When I try to log in, I get the error message "No authentication credentials were provided with the request".
7. When I try to log in, I get the error message "There was a problem with this login request. Contact the system administrator."
8. I tried to post a Word/Powerpoint/Access/PDF file on Blackboard. When I clicked on it to test it, the file came up as gobbledygook. What happened?
9. My Blackboard is cluttered with courses, and it's really confusing! What can I do?

How do I get to Blackboard?

There are a few ways to get to Blackboard. You can get to it directly by typing http://blackboard.noctrl.edu into your browser window. You will also find a link to Blackboard under Students, Online Course Resources on the intranet home page (this link only works if you are on campus). There is also a link to Blackboard from any page here on the ITS site. (click Course Resources, Blackboard.)

What is my username and password?

Your username is the new campus standard . Your initial password is set to your seven-digit ID number. It is important that you change your password as soon as possible.

I've forgotten my password.

Click the Login button on Blackboard, then click on the forgot your password? link. You will be asked to provide some basic information. You will be sent an email with instructions to make the password change.

What if I have a problem or question about Blackboard?

If you have a problem or question about a specific course on Blackboard, talk with your instructor. If you have a technical or general question about Blackboard, please email or call the Help Desk, at extension 5440.

Who is responsible for adding me to my Blackboard courses?

All students who are enrolled for courses prior to the Friday before the term starts should already be added to all Blackboard courses.

However, Instructors will need to add students who register late to their courses.

When I try to log in, I get the error message "No authentication credentials were provided with the request".

Blackboard uses Javascript (a.k.a. "Active Scripting") to encrypt your password when it is sent to the Blackboard server. If Javascript is turned off in your browser, you'll get this error.

To turn this back on in Internet Explorer:

1. Go to Tools > Internet Options > Security Tab
2. Click on the "Internet Zone" icon (the globe)
3. Click on the "Custom Level" button at the bottom of the screen
4. Scroll down the page until you see the "Scripting" section
5. Be sure that "Active Scripting" is enabled

When I try to log in, I get the error message "There was a problem with this login request. Contact the system administrator."

Usually this is a result of having bookmarked the login page (the page that prompts you for your username and password), rather than the top-level page (the page with the oval "Login" button on it).

The only page you should bookmark for Blackboard is the top-level page (http://blackboard.noctrl.edu/).

I tried to post a Word/Powerpoint/Access/PDF file on Blackboard. When I clicked on it to test it, the file came up as gobbledygook. What happened?

Check to make sure that the file extension (.doc/.ppt/.xls/.pdf) on the file is lower-case.

Unfortunately, Blackboard is case-sensitive, so it treats a file with a ".DOC" extension differently from a file with a ".doc" extension, and instructs the browser to display the content as plain text.

Not all browsers obey these instructions, however. In particular, Internet Explorer will ignore them and base how it displays the file solely on the file extension. IE isn't case-sensitive, so the file will display correctly.

We have contacted Blackboard to see if there's some workaround we can put in place to make this work on all browsers.

Until then, however, renaming the file to have a lower-case file extension and reuploading it should solve the problem.

If you can't see the file extensions, choose Tools -> Folder Options from the folder's menubar.

Go to the View tab, and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types."

My Blackboard is cluttered with courses, and it's really confusing! What can I do?

It's pretty easy to only display the courses you want on the main Blackboard page ("My Institution"). Just click on the little yellow pencil icon in the upper right hand corner of the "My Courses" box. This takes you to a screen where you can change which courses will be displayed. (Regardless of what you do here, all courses will still be visible on the "Courses" tab.)

|| Back to Top