Academic Technology Services

Navigating Blackboard terms, elements, and icons

Blackboard has features and terminology that may be new to users. This list of terms, elements, and icons may be helpful when reading pages in this series, navigating your courses, and requesting/receiving support.

Common Icons

gear icon
Settings
three horizontal dots
Ellipsis



image-20230719-211434.png
Search tool


plus sign in circle
Add button


question mark in circle
Blackboard Help
image-20230719-211745.png


purple box with white x inside
Exit/Close button


circle pie chart
Analytics
arrow pointing in a box (download), arrow pointing out of a box (upload)
Download and upload
image-20250205-170113.png


two arrows, one up and one down
Move arrows


pencil
Edit tool


=

an eye (visible), an eye with a slash through it (hidden)
Visible / Hidden
purple star
Favorite


circle with an 'i' inside
Information


purple swallowtail flag
Accommodation


purple conversation bubble
Feedback


green check market in a circle
Progress tracking



picture of a mountain and sun
image


Top tabs on the landing page

screenshot showing the top navigation tabs in a Blackboard course

Each tab opens a page. Clicking on the purple exit/close button will exit you out of the course. Click on Content to return to the main area of your course.

  • Content: Your course opens to the Content page by default. Add course content here.

  • Calendar: Provide opportunities to communicate important dates and deadlines.

  • Announcements: Send important course announcements to students.

  • Discussions: Provide opportunities for your students to discuss course topics.

  • Gradebook: Access your Gradebook and facilitate students accessing assessments and grades.

  • Messages: Create course or individual messages to send to students and groups.

  • Analytics: view reports on Course Activity, Question Analysis, and more.

  • Groups: Manage, create, and import Group Sets.

Patterns in Blackboard Ultra

Familiarizing yourself with the repeating patterns helps move efficiently through your course building, communications, and course maintenance tasks. Here are a few common tasks and some corresponding patterns

  • Magnifying glass: Search the entire course content.

  • Student Preview: Experience your course from your students' view.

    screenshot of student preview link
  • Plus sign: Click on the plus sign that appears when you hover between horizontal/vertical lines to create new content, copy content, upload files, access cloud storage, the Content Market, and Content Collection.

screenshot showing where the plus sign appears in the course content page
  • Three dots (…): To edit, and access options for any course content item, click on the ellipsis on the right side of the same row as the item.

screenshot of the three dots functionality
  • Up/Down arrows: Click on the down arrow of a folder to open items. To close it, click the up arrow.

    down arrow icon

Some hidden actions

Some icons are hidden until you hover over them. This can include:

Plus sign: The plus sign in Gradable Items and Grades to add new columns or rows appears when you hover between existing items.

screenshot showing a vertical plus sign line between two gradebook items in 'Grades' view

Edit: The “Edit” icon appears when you hover over item titles.

screenshot showing the pencil icon that appears when you hover over an item title

Trash can: The trash can icon appears when you hover over the Access code and the Time limit. It appears to the right.

screenshot showing the trash can that appears when you hover over the access code

Pointer finger icon: Hover over icons and notice the finger pointer indicating a clickable action and the tool tips that appear (e.g., in the Gradebook, Upload Gradebook, Download Gradebook, Settings)

screenshot showing the pointer finger that appears when you hover over clickable icons.

Open hand icon: Hover over Course Content and Discussion items and notice the hand icon that appears. Click and hold to move items.

screenshot showing the open hand icon that appears when you hover over something that can move

Details & Actions menu

Familiarize yourself with the affordances and tools in this area by clicking and opening each of the areas. For example, your Roster allows you to view everyone in your course, Course Image allows you to upload a picture as a banner for your course.

Blackboard Help Resources

Learn the Terms

Find your Courses

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