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TO:   William Paterson Undergraduate and Graduate Students
FROM:   Joshua Powers, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
DATE:   March 13, 2020

As Provost, my job is to guide the academic side of the University. Know that a lot of folks, particularly your professors, are working intensively in the background to be ready for online course delivery by March 25. As we move from in-person to online instruction for most William Paterson courses, you of course want to know how it will work. Your professors will be communicating with you on that and some may already have done so. You will want to follow their instructions first and foremost.

Although professors may use different online tools for the delivery of their classes (be sure to check with them), the majority will utilize Blackboard. With the help of WP’s Department of Instructional Research & Technology, here are some resources that I encourage you to browse if you are new to Blackboard:

To access Blackboard, click on the Bb icon in the upper right part of the WPconnect screen:

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You will see your Blackboard Home Page, including those courses that have been made available by your faculty member. If any of your courses are missing from the list, please contact your instructor for further instructions. There is also a Student Support page with links to information about a variety of Blackboard topics. 

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Alternatively, here is a list of links to instructions for the most popular Blackboard topics: 

If you need help, please call the IT Help Desk at 973-720-4357, or create a Help Desk ticket. Type Blackboard as the ticket type and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

As a reminder, the University is not closing. Services will continue to be available, including the services of the Library. Computer lab accessibility information can be found at this website: https://wpconnect.wpunj.edu/labusage/