Skip to Main Content

University of Tennessee

Main Navigation:

Get Help!

Contact Information
Phone: 865.974.9670

Innovative Technology Center
400 Dunford Hall
915 Volunteer Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37996

Send us suggestions for changes and new services:
bbsuggestions@itc.utk.edu


ABOUT ONLINE@UT > Policies and Procedures

General Use

University and Blackboard-specific policies are relevant to Blackboard users because they speak to:
  1. Possible abuse of the system that could affect privacy and access
  2. Rights of the authors of materials placed on Blackboard
  3. Retention and safeguarding of information placed on the system

General Policies

No user or administrator of the Blackboard system should use it in any way that a reasonable person would interpret as:
  • Doing damage to normal access to, materials placed on, or the performance of the system
  • Infringing on the privacy of any user in the system
  • Infringing on the ownership and intellectual property rights of anyone who has placed materials on the system
The administrators of Online@UT, Innovative Technology Center (ITC) and Office of Information Technology (OIT), will make every effort to:
  • Safeguard the privacy of individuals using the system and
  • Limit access to materials placed on the system to the individuals specified by instructors who request course sites
There will be no unauthorized reuse, copying, or modification (i.e., removal from the system) of materials posted by either instructors or students on Blackboard unless those materials are part of a policy violation (e.g. intellectual property violation or violation of general UT policies).

Note: If violation of policy has occurred, then notification will occur before materials are removed.

Back Up and Recovery

Although routine backups of Online@UT will be made, we cannot absolutely guarantee that any of the information placed on Online@UT will not be lost. For this reason, instructors and students are responsible for retaining their own copies of all pieces of information placed on the Online@UT system if loss of that information would prove damaging.

We emphasize to instructors that the grade book feature of Online@UT is intended for publication of grades for students and not as a secure, reliable repository of grade records.

Warning: Instructors are responsible for their own course back-ups. Also, keep a back-up of the grade book after every grading change. Follow these instructions on the Quick Start Guides to create both course and grade book backups.

Course Access Privileges

Only instructors of record for a course can request that access be given to their course materials to anyone other than a student officially enrolled in the course (or provide access privileges through the administrative tools for their Online@UT course). The instructor making these requests or providing access privileges should be aware that they are thereby limiting our ability to prevent unauthorized access to materials and loss of critical materials from the system.

WARNING: Be advised to limit instructor or TA access as much as possible to those individuals who are completely competent in using the system.