Blackboard Essentials

Logging in

1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer (other browsers are not recommended).
2. Type online.union.edu for your URL and press Enter.

3. Click the “Login” button.
4. Enter your Username and Password.
   Your Username is composed of:
   first seven letters of your last name +
   first letter of your first name +
   last three digits of your Union College ID number.
   
   The default password is your Union College ID number.
5. Click the “Login” button.

Changing Your Password

1. Login to Blackboard.
2. Click Personal Information on the left hand side of the welcome page.

3. Click Change Password.
4. Enter the new password and click Submit.

Change Default E-mail

1. Login to Blackboard.
2. Click “Personal Information” on the left hand side of the welcome page.
3. Click “Edit Personal Information”.
4. Under the section changePersonal Information the E-mail field to the e-mail address you wish to receive e-mail from your professors and classmates.
5. Click Submit at the bottom of the page.

Logging Out

When you are finished with your work, do not forget to logout by clicking the icon on the top of the screen.

Not doing so may result in unauthorized access to your account. Logging out is particularly important when you work on freely accessible computers in classrooms, the computer labs, or the Schaffer Library.

Supported File Types

When you upload any files, please make sure they are in a commonly used format. Failure to do so may result in other users not being able to open your files on their computer.

The most commonly used formats are:

.doc	MS Word document
.pdf	Adobe Acrobat document
.htm, .html	Internet document
.xls	MS Excel spreadsheet
.jpg	Image (photographs)
.gif	Image (drawing and animations)
.ppt, .pps	MS PowerPoint slide show
.aiff	Uncompressed sound file
.wav	Uncompressed sound file
.mp3	Compressed sound file
.mpg, .wmv, .mov	Digital video
.zip	File archive