Blackboard can be an overwhelming environment for any user when they first login, and it can be the same for administrators. Many administrators find the Blackboard environment assigned to us with little training and lots of documents to read. When family and friends ask me what Blackboard is, I normally compare the software to a virtual community. We as administrators play dog catcher, city plumber, master planner, police officer, garbage collector, fire fighter, and even the mayor. With all these different hats that we wear, it's time that we spend time learning more about how we can improve the ways in which we serve our virtual community.
In this chapter we will work to become familiar and comfortable with what Blackboard is and how we are going to set up our new Blackboard Learn instance.