How to Access the Global Navigation Menu and My Blackboard

The Global Navigation menu allows you to access your Blackboard courses and ‘My Blackboard’ for quick access to timely information in your courses.The Global Navigation menu can be accessed from the top right corner in Blackboard where your name is displayed by selecting the drop down arrow. On selecting this arrow the global navigation menu opens.

The Global Navigation panel consists of a set of text links within the user menu – this is the right panel headed ‘Courses’. Selecting a course link will take you to that Blackboard Course. The My Blackboard menu with icons is located on the darker left panel. These menus give you a personalized view of your learning environment.

The user menu on the right provides access to your Blackboard courses, Blackboard communities, as well as the Home and Help links at the very bottom of the panel.

My Blackboard menu (on the left) shows you timely course communication, recent posts on Blackboard blogs, wikis, journals and discussion boards and access to a calendar. It provides icons and links to various areas of Blackboard.

	Selecting the ‘Bb Home icon’ displays the five most recent activities relevant to you.
	Selecting the ‘Posts’ icon displays the latest posts (in discussion boards, Blackboard created blogs, wikis and journals) in the courses and communities you are enrolled in and follow. By clicking on a specific post on the left side of the page, the post is expanded on the right side of the page. You can reply directly from the global navigation menu by clicking on the Reply button or you can double-click on the title of the post to go directly to that communication tool within a course. You can click on the @me button above the list of posts to only view communications involving you. Please note Campus Pack posts will not be displayed here.
	The ‘Updates’ tool is currently not enabled in our Blackboard system. We do not use this feature
	This icon allows to access the Retention Center. Find out more about the Retention Center here. Please note that this tool is disabled by default and can be enabled through Control Panel | Customisation | Tool Availability. This tool once enabled will be available to all instructors on the Blackboard course. This tool needs careful planning (setting rules to identify students at risk on elements that you can define). You will need to enable this tool in each Blackboard course that you wish to use it in.
	Access your Calendar and review everything you have due and be reminded of when you need to complete it. The Calendar section of the global navigation menu provides an aggregate view of calendar events (including due dates) posted in all of your courses in addition to any personal events or institution events. You can create or edit calendar events from this page as well as obtain an external web link. Find out more about the Calendar here.

When users first log in to Blackboard, they will see an overlay that highlights these new features. After the first login, when users click on the Global Navigation link, the Global Navigation panel will appear.

Click ‘Close‘ link to close this view.