Timely, relevant knowledge and tools for today’s nonprofit professional.
Blackboard User Guide for Participants
A Professional Development Entity of the
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http://nmi.asu.edu ▪ http://lodestar.asu.edu
Welcome to your NMI online course. Before you begin your course, please read through this Blackboard
User Guide for Participants. This document contains information on how to login to the course, where to
find class materials, how to participate in discussion questions, where to find help if needed, and the overall
navigation of the course.
This course is made up of five sessions. Each session is three days in length, making this course 15 days. In
each session, you will have assigned readings, 1-2 activities, and three discussion questions to complete.
Read through your Participant Guide’s Guidelines for more information regarding what is required of you
during this course.
Please note that since none of your work is graded, you must complete all discussion questions and activities
in order to receive credit for this course. The purpose of the NMI Certificate courses is to allow you to
build upon prior knowledge and receive feedback and comments from professionals in the nonprofit sector.
Login
After registering, visit http://ce.asu.edu and click the "LOG IN" button in the upper right corner of the
screen.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Sign In
Enter your account credentials and click the "SIGN IN" button. If you are an ASURITE user, click the "Sign
in using ASURITE UserID" link and follow the sign in instructions.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Go to the "My CE" page
Once logged in, click on the "My CE" tab in the top banner.
Click on the "Blackboard 1.0" Link
Courses that you have registered for will appear under the "COURSES I'M REGISTERED FOR" heading. If
your course offers a Blackboard page, there will be a link under the Course Links heading. Click on the
"Blackboard 1.0" link corresponding to the course that you wish to navigate to in CE Blackboard.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Course Features
Announcements
The first section of the course homepage is Announcements. This is where your instructor will list
announcements for this course. This will also be where your instructor will announce availability, tips, and
possible updates to the Participant Guide.
Participant Materials
The Participant Materials section contains five resources that you will need to complete this course:
Participant Guide, Successful Online Learning, ASU Help Center, Plug-in Software, and the Blackboard
User Guide for Participants.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
After you enter your course for the first time, the first step is to download and review the Participant
Guide. This document provides you with information about the learning objectives, methods, activities, and
due dates for this online course.
Technical issues may arise during your participation in this course. If this occurs, you can contact the ASU
Help Center for technical and computer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just visit the ASU Help
Center link in the Participant Materials section to gain access to live chats, frequently asked questions, to
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
open a ticket, and contact the ASU Help Center directly.
In this course, you will need access to Firefox Browser, Adobe Reader 8 or higher, and Adobe Flash Player.
If you do not have this software already, you can download a free version by going to your Participant
Materials and selecting the folder entitled “Plug-in Software.” Here you will find links to download Adobe
Reader, Adobe Flash Player, and MS Word 2007 Compatibility Pack.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Sessions
As stated previously, there are five sessions in each NMI online course. Each session will contain your
readings, videos, websites, presentations, and activities for you to complete.
Session
Reading
Presentation
Video
Websites
Activity
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Class Biographies
Your instructor’s biography can be found in this section of the ASU Blackboard. After reading your
instructor’s biography, you will be asked to reply to his/her post with your own biography. More
information can be found in your Participant Guide.
Activity
Discussions
As stated previously, each session of the course will have three discussion questions in which you will be
required to participate. Your instructor will post all three discussion questions at the beginning of each
session. Please locate the due dates for each session’s discussion question posts in your Participant Guide.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Discussion Board
As stated previously, each session of the course will have two discussion questions in which you will be
required to participate. Your instructor will post both discussion questions at the beginning of each session.
Please locate the due dates for each session’s discussion question posts in your Participant Guide.
Access Discussion Board Forum
Step 1. Log in to the desired course
(http://myasucourses.asu.edu).
Step 2. Click the Discussions link in the course menu, or a direct link
to a specific discussion forum in a content area. Instructors should
define the proper procedure for accessing Discussion Boards for their
class in the syllabus.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Step 3. From the list of forums available to users, click the topic link.
Step 4. All threads in the forum are displayed on the page. To read a thread, click on the appropriate
subject link.
Step 5. After clicking on the subject link, the message is displayed in a preview pane under the list. Click
the Next Post icon (as shown below) to navigate to the next post in the Discussion Forum.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Create a New Thread
Main topics in a discussion forum are called threads. A thread begins a discussion point and eventually
contains a list of connected posts called replies.
Note to Learners: If you do not see the Create Thread button, then the instructor or forum manager is
not allowing you to create new threads. You should still be able to reply to existing threads set up by the
instructor.
Step 1: In the forum, click the Create Thread button.
For example:
Step 2: Type your Subject (required) and Message. For example:
Step 3: Click the Submit button to post your message. Everyone who has access to this forum will now
see your message.
NOTE: If you click the Save button (instead of Submit), your message is NOT posted for all to view. To
access saved messages, see article, “How do I find messages I saved so that I can post them to the forum?” in
this knowledge base, for details.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Reply to a Thread
Step 1. After reading any message you can reply to it by clicking the Reply button located at both the top
and bottom of the preview pane.
Step 2. The response window is displayed. Complete the fields as indicated below:
Subject: this will contain the same subject as the original posting with Re: added before it. You have the
option to change the subject to something more descriptive. It is suggested you leave it the same so that the
thread and its replies can be easily located based on this field.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Message: type your message in the text box or paste text from another source.
Attachments: you have the option to attach a file to support your posting. Click the Attach a file link
and browse for your file.
Submit: when you are finished with your thread, click Submit.
Step 3. Your new message is now displayed indented from the original message. Any replies to your reply
will be indented further one level.
Tools
In this section you will have many tools available to you. Not only can you view announcements and get
blackboard help in this section, but you can also send messages to your instructor and other participants, get
contact information for other participants, send emails, and much more. I suggest you review this section in
great length before starting your class.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Submitting Activities/Assignments
Under each session will be a list of the activities each participant will need to complete. You can submit
assignments from the Assignments link in your course. In order to submit your assignment to your
instructor, follow the instructions below or watch this Video Tutorial.
Step 1. Click on the link for the assignment.
Step 2. The first section gives details about the assignment.
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
Step 3. Depending on the assignment, type text into the Submission box and/or click the Browse for
Local File to add a file from your computer (such as a word file).
Step 4. Add comments, if desired.
Step 5. Click Submit to submit your assignment, or you can click Save as Draft to save your work
without submitting (for example, if you started on an assignment and ran out of time and want to return to
it later).
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.
View Graded Activities/Assignments
Access the video “View a Submitted Assignment” by clicking on the link below. For your NMI course,
intead of using the “My Grades” tab to locate your graded activities, you will click on the “Submitted
Activities” tab. It is under this tab that your instructor will submit your activities with feedback.
http://www.asu.edu/courses/oasis/BBAssignments/StudentViewSubmitted/StudentViewSubmitted.html
Copyright © 2012 Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, College of Public
Programs, Arizona State University.