Blackboard Technical Requirements

Steps to Preparing Your Computer for Blackboard

To ensure your computer runs properly in Blackboard on either PC or MAC, take the following steps for preparation.   NOTE:  Your computer may operate fine without preparation; however, the following is provided for optimal performance.

Before you begin:  It’s a good idea to write down your operating system and browser, and keep it handy for future reference.  If you have a technical issue later and need to call the Help Desk, providing this information to them will help them resolve your issues more efficiently.

Step 1. Ensure your operating system and web browsers are compatible with the Blackboard system and updated
If not, issues may arise with items displaying improperly or not appearing at all. In this first step, you will need to find out what you have, what you need, and how to get what you need. Use the certified or compatible versions recommended by Blackboard because the recommended versions may not be the latest version.

Important note about operating systems: Although you can change the operating system on your computer, it is not advisable. If the operating system you are using is not certified or compatible, consider using an alternate machine with a certified or compatible operating system. For example, some features on Blackboard and other education technologies may not fully work with ChromeOS (found on Chromebook computers).

Step 2. Allow pop-ups in your browser or turn off your pop-up blockers
Some tools such as quizzes in Blackboard utilize pop-ups, so you will need to ensure pop-ups are allowed for the Web browser you are using. The links below provide information for configuring pop-up blockers for the supported browsers:

Step 3. Configure your cookies:  Cookies are used for user-related authentications (log-in) and sessions among other things. Please configure your web browser to allow cookies from Blackboard before logging in. Select the browser you are using from the list below, and then click the link to configure cookies.

Step 4. Install plug-ins:  Many Blackboard courses use browser plug-ins so you can view portions of websites or certain files such as .pdf.  Browsers will generally automatically download any plug-in required by a particular page, but you may want to download and install specific plug-ins to ensure you have them when you need them.