Help

You can download developer products like Visual Studio, operating systems like Windows 10, Windows Server, and other products like Microsoft Access, Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project. You cannot download Microsoft Office.

This weekend, Friday October 13 beginning at 6pm through Monday October 16th at 8am, The Q will be undergoing maintenance. If you are not able to access The Q, Blackboard may be accessed by going directly to https://mycourses.qcc.edu .

Your username is your Student ID and should be the same password as your The Q password. If the password does not work, please contact the IT Service Desk at 508.854.4427.

At this time, QCC recommends using Mozilla Firefox, available at the Firefox Website for both PCs and MACs.

For technical help or more information on operating systems and download links to browsers and plugins for Blackboard see this Blackboard Help page.

Contact your instructor. Your instructor controls the availability of all course content.

Blackboard Learn doesn't keep a record of emails sent or received. To locate an email message you sent, do the following:

• Student: Login to your Qmail account and check messages in the Sent folder

• Faculty: Login to your QCC account and check messages in the Sent folder

From the Blackboard Learn website: "Blackboard measures and evaluates accessibility using two sets of standards: the WCAG 2.0standards issued by the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act issued in the United States [by the] federal government."

This is the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT).

Screen Reader Tutorials for Blackboard Learn are available as well.

To succeed in an online course, you should:

1. Know how to use Blackboard to contact your instructor and for discussions, assignments and tests.
2. Be able to create, send and download emails, with and without attachments.
3. Create, edit and submit word processing, spreadsheet and presentation files.
4. Copy and paste
5. Download, locate and install software applications and plug-ins.
6. Some courses might also require the use of head sets and microphones or other course-specific software or peripherals.

Please see the attached Qwickly Attendance job aid for detailed instructions.

Please see the attached How to Navigate your Blackboard Course. job aid for detailed instructions.

Please see the attached How to Submit Assignments in Blackboard job aid for detailed instructions.

Please see the attached How to Access Online Course and Support job aid for detailed instructions.

We have created a consolidated list which reflects some of the most commonly asked questions, click here to view.  It includes links to many different resources, including:

•  Blackboard Help video links
• Computer technical requirements
• Internet browser resources
• Where to get Office 365 for free if you are a current student!
• QCC's Alden Library Research and LibGuides site
• Netiquette & Communication
• Accessibility links to publisher & tool providers (not all may be listed here, check with your instructor for course specific tools and applications)
• Self Help FAQs (no login required)
• 24/7 Blackboard Support - Call, Chat, or Submit a Ticket

We hope you find this resource useful!

Before using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra for the first time, be sure to watch this short video  which will help you become proficient in using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. Blackboard recommends using the Chrome browser with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.

Moderators must join the session from a desktop or laptop computer. Moderator tools are not available from a mobile device.

Go to the Blackboard Mobile web site to see the features available with Blackboard Mobile™ Learn.

No, the students see a slightly different view of their grades when they look at them on the mobile app. You may want to have them check their My Grades area from a regular computer if they are confused by what they see in the mobile app. The main difference is that the mobile app has a percentage field in front of each item even if you assign points, not percentages, for their grade.

For example, a student takes quiz 1 worth 20 points and gets only 5 points. When they view this in My Grades on the mobile app, the first column will show 25% and the second column will show Quiz 1 points: 5/20. If they look at this same item on a regular computer, they would see Quiz 1 Grade 5.00/20 and there wouldn't be a percentage listed.

You can learn how to use the Blackboard Mobile app and get technical assistance from the Blackboard Mobile App website.

You must go to the Registrar’s Office with a legal document (marriage certificate, divorce papers, etc) that states that your name has changed. At that time, you can ask that your Qmail username be changed.

The default password will be the first two letters of your last name, followed by the last four digits of your social security number, then the letters “Qc”. This password is all lowercase. If you are unable to login using this password, contact the IT Help Desk to have it reset.

Login to Blackboard and click on the "My Bb Help" tab, this will open the Help page and another menu will appear as shown below. 
Click the Hoonuit tab as shown below.

Click on the Hoonuit icon for automatic login to access and search the video tutorials.

This short video will show you how to search the Hoonuit Library.

Note: You must be logged in to Blackboard to access Hoonuit videos.

You can find tutorials at the Hoonuit website. You will need to login to Blackboard first.

Students

Your full student email address is your Qmail username.  You can find your username by logging into the Q. Where it displays "Welcome back your name..." in the top right, click “My Profile & Settings”

Click on Contact Information > Email Addresses  click the down arrow to view email address.

You may also go to the Registrar's Office with a photo ID or call the IT Service Desk at 508.854.4427 (You must know your Student ID number).

• e.g. John Smith - Qmail user name is jsmith [at] qmail.qcc.edu

The default password will be the first two letters of your last name, followed by the last four digits of your social security number, then the letters “Qc”. This password is all lowercase. If you are unable to login using this password, contact the IT Help Desk to have it reset.

Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 365, or Office 2013 users can open documents created without any additional action. Customers using earlier versions of Office may need to download and install a compatibility pack.

If you are using Microsoft Office Word 2007 or Word 2010, you can open .docx or .docm files that were created in Word 2019, 2016 and 2013. However, a few newer features may not be supported in older versions or they may not be editable. For example, equations in later files are converted to images in earlier versions of Word, which can’t be edited.

Although people who use previous versions of Microsoft Office and have installed the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, can open documents that are saved in the Microsoft Office Word 2007 format, they may not be able to change some items that were created by using new or enhanced features.

The ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Office programs designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task. You'll find some of the things that were previously on the ribbon available now under the File menu, including the Save and Options selections.

There are several ways that you can control the appearance of the ribbon: Auto-Hide Ribbon, Show Tabs, Show Tabs and Commands.

The ribbon can be minimized so that you only see the tab names and not the command groups and buttons. To always keep the ribbon minimized, right-click on a blank area of the ribbon, then select Collapse the Ribbon from the menu. (To revert this setting, click on one of the tabs, then right-click on a blank area of the ribbon and de-select Collapse the Ribbon from the menu.) You can also double-click on an active tab name to toggle this setting.

Students
Office 365 is a subscription based version of the Microsoft Office suite. It includes the latest full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher*, and Access* as well as cloud services and 1TB of OneDrive storage.

Faculty & Staff
Office 365 is a subscription based version of the Microsoft Office suite. It includes the latest full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher* and Access* as well as cloud services and 1TB of OneDrive storage. 

 *Microsoft Publisher and Access for PC only.

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• Publisher*
• Access*
• OneNote*
• InfoPath*
• * Publisher, Access, and OneNote are only included in the Windows Version
• 1TB of OneDrive Storage
• Office Online
• Access to Yammer

For more details, please visit the QCC on the hub product page.

You may install Office 365 on up to 5 PCs or MACs, as well as other Mobile Devices.

Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus can be installed on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Mac OS 10.6.8 or later.

Please click here for more information.

For additional training, students, staff and faculty can watch Hoonuit video tutorials (formerly Atomic Learning). These are available once logged into Blackboard by clicking on My Bb Help at the top of the page, then Hoonuit- click on any of the links and Hoonuit will launch. Search for Office 365 to show the video tutorials.

1. The Open Professionals Education Network sponsors a search engine that can help you locate OER materials from various web sources and includes tips for using the different websites. It allows searches for videos, images and music, too.
2. At the OER Commons website, you can browse to locate materials, or, if you prefer, use their topics list.
3. The Community College Consortium for open educational resources lists open textbooks by discipline.
4. The Open Course Library "is a collection of shareable course materials, including syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments... Unless otherwise noted, all materials are shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY) license.OCL courses and materials have undergone testing for accessibility and have been designed using the industry-standard Quality Matters (QM) rubric for assessing the quality of online courses."
5. Lumen Learning offers courses in Mathematics, Science, Technology, General Education, Developmental Education, Business and Education.
6. Openstaxcollege.org, an initiative of Rice University, is a nonprofit organization "committed to improving student access to quality learning materials." Their peer-reviewed free online and low-cost print textbooks include supporting materials.
7. Saylor Academy is a large, free and open course initiative on the web funded by the Constitution Foundation. It offers more than 300 free college-level, credit courses for transfer to accredited public and private partner institutions. Many of their online materials are creative commons licensed.

Don't know where to start?

We can help! Schedule a Remote Learning Orientation with a Tutor in the General Academic Areas Tutoring Center!

• Call us at 508.854.4279
• Email us at gaa [at] qcc.mass.edu
• Find us on the Web at https://www.qcc.edu/services/tutoring/general-academic-areas-gaa-tutoring-center

How do I get Access to the Internet? (Click here for more information)

Can I get Financial Assistance for Internet access? (Click here for more information)

The college provides access to The Q (personal portal), Qmail (College email), Blackboard Learn (our learning management system), and Starfish (Communicate and monitor your progress) to all credit students. We recommend that you log into all college systems 7 days before classes start to ensure everything is working. 

The Q is Quinsigamond Community College's secure website or portal. Think of it as the gateway to the college; it's the one stop which allows current students and faculty the ability to access their personal college information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Your student id number is your username for The Q. Your username for The Q and password information was sent to you prior to the start of your first semester here at QCC via email or mail.

You can reset your password to The Q, but you need to have access to your Qmail to do so.

If you don’t have your login information, contact the Registrar’s Office, or via email qccreg [at] qcc.mass.edu. Their office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

Please note that the Registrar’s Office will not release this information over the telephone.

The login page for The Q is accessible through any internet browser.  At this time we recommend Firefox (or Chrome) as your internet browser. Visit The Q

• Click here to see how it's done! 

For more information on The Q, visit The Q help section.

For technical support, contact the IT Service Desk, Technical Support.

• Phone Number: 508.854.4427
• Email: Help [at] qcc.mass.edu
• Help Website 

We recommend that you test your access to "the Q" one week prior to classes starting.

Your class may require your attendance in a virtual classroom. At QCC there are two tools you may need to know, Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom.

Blackboard Collaborate is part of the Blackboard Learn system. You're instructor will make the course room available at the required time. To access the virtual classroom, log into Blackboard and click on the VIrtual Meeting link located on the left of the course page. For more information on Blackboard Collaborate visit the Blackboard Collaborate help section.

Zoom can be accessed from within Blackboard or by a link supplied by you professor. For more information on Zoom, visit the Zoom meeting help website.

For more information on how to use Blackboard Collaborate or Zoom, contact the General Academic Areas Tutoring Center.

• Phone Number: 508.854.4279
• Email: gaa [at] qcc.mass.edu
• GAA website

For technical support, contact the IT Service Desk, Technical Support:

• Phone Number: 508.854.4427
• Email: Help [at] qcc.mass.edu
• Help website

We recommend that you test your camera and microphone one week prior to classes starting.

What you need:

• Your syllabus (to reference your course and section number)
• A course ID number (provided by your professor, usually on your syllabus)
• Your access code (on the course materials you purchased)
• Navigate to the product page, as instructed by your professor. This is usually provided on your syllabus.
• Click on any option where it says “Register.”
• Enter the information as it asks you to. This might include your name, your course and section number, your course ID number, and your access code. You may also have to sign up with a username and a password.

If you have issues with your username and password, contact the product company’s customer support line. If you need a course ID, contact your professor,

Make an appointment at the General Academic Areas Tutoring center by emailing  gaa [at] qcc.mass.edu or calling 508.854.4279

Contact Cengage Directly: https://cengage.force.com/s/

What you need:

• Your syllabus (to reference your course and section number)
• A course ID number (provided by your professor, usually on your syllabus)
• Your access code (on the course materials you purchased)
• Navigate to the product page, as instructed by your professor. This is usually provided on your syllabus.
• Click on any option where it says “Register.”
• Enter the information as it asks you to. This might include your name, your course and section number, your course ID number, and your access code. You may also have to sign up with a username and a password.

 If you have issues with your username and password, contact the product company’s customer support line. If you need a course ID, contact your professor,

Make an appointment at the General Academic Areas Tutoring center by emailing  gaa [at] qcc.mass.edu or calling 508.854.4279

Contact McGraw Hill Connect Support Directly

Students

• Your student id number is your username for The Q. Your username for The Q and password information was sent to you prior to the start of your first semester here at QCC.
• If you don’t have your login information, contact the Registrar’s Office, or stop by Room 152A (Administration Building) from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. You must present some form of photo identification, preferably your QCC student id card or driver’s license.
• Please note that the Registrar’s Office will not release this information over the telephone.
• If you need help resetting your password please contact the IT Help Desk. Give them your name, your phone number or email address, your id number and a brief description of your problem. Mention that you have a portal problem. Do not send your password.

Faculty/Staff

• For new faculty/staff the first part of your email address is your username. Contact the Registrar’s Office, or stop by Room 152A.
• To reset your password, enter your username and click on the "I forgot my password" link. A new password will be sent to your QCC email. If you are still having trouble, contact the IT Help Desk. Give them your name, your phone number, email address and a brief description of your problem. Do not send your password information.

Login to The Q. Select the My Academics Tab, then select either Initial Attendance or 60% Attendance from the menu on the left. Follow the on screen instructions.

Login to The Q. Click on the My Academics tab. Click on My Registration. Click on the My Degree Audit link on the right. Select "What-If Degree Audit" if you want to run an audit for a major other than your currently elected major. If your major is Undeclared you also should select a "What-If Degree Audit," as you do not have any "Your Curriculum Requirements" degree audit until you have applied and received a letter of acceptance from the Admissions Office.

Please visit the Registrar's Office in the Administration Building, Room 152A to update your student record. Bring a photo ID with you.

If your student record is correct, but your Qmail name is incorrect (either the username or the viewable name), contact the IT Help Desk.

If any other information on the Q is misspelled or needs to be changed, you can update it by doing the following:  Click the Personal Info link next to your name. Click on the Biographical Info tab. Click on the pencil icon next to "Name, Address and Personal Details". Enter your changes, then Click [Submit]. Information will be updated within two to three business days.

Students

Turnitin is accessed through the course assignment.  Information on training for Blackboard can be found on our Blackboard Help page.  Information on how to submit a Turnitin assignment can be found here (Please remember that you do not login to the Turnitin website to submit your paper).  

Faculty/Staff

We have linked Blackboard and Turnitin so all you will need to do is add a Turitin assignment.  You will not need to create a course and upload your class list because that information comes from Blackboard once you have created an assignment.

• Information for faculty can be found on the Turnitin Instructor Training site.
• UMass Amherst has training information that is closely related to how we have integrated Turnitin with Blackboard.
• The Office of Professional Development and Distance Education offers workshops to show faculty how to use Turnitin. (Please click on the green checkmark if no workshop is scheduled to request training assistance.)