Online FAQs

All courses, regardless of course length, cover the same material as our standard 16-week format courses. In order to be successful in online classes, students should be prepared to spend a significant amount of time and effort both online and offline. These classes require student dedication and responsibility. Please review the information provide as an overview.

Blackboard Learn (or simply Blackboard or Bb) is a learning management system with over 35 unique tools for use in 24/7 online education activities. It is used for online courses, hybrid courses, and as an enhancement to face-to-face courses. Blackboard can be access through the MyEagle Portal.

In the myEagle portal, you can register for classes; check grades, pay your tuition, and access your class all from any computer with Internet Access. Once in the portal, click on the Student tab. Click on the Blackboard icon to access your class. Blackboard is the service that will deliver your course content to you.

Other important icons represent the following;

• Click on the Web mail icon to access your NTCC email.
• Click on the Pay Tuition tab to see your bill and pay your balance.

If you login to the myEagle portal, you will not need to login separately to Blackboard. You can simply click on the Blackboard button on the Student page. Your login to Blackboard and the myEagle portal, i.e., is the username portion of your NTCC Eagle Mail address (username@ntcc.edu) as their username and their date of birth in an 8-digit format, mmddyyyy, as the password, unless you have changed your default password. Passwords may be changed using the myEagle portal’s Password Management functionality. The default format for your NTCC Eagle Mail username is first name initial + last name + last 3 digits of SSN. For example, if your NTCC Eagle Mail address is jjackson678@ntcc.edu, your Blackboard login will be jjackson678. Your password is your 8-digit date of birth, mmddyyyy.

Upon logging into Blackboard you will find My Courses. The classes you are enrolled in should appear in that area. If your class does not appear, please be aware of the following:

• Students will not be able to login to any courses offered on Blackboard prior to the first class day of the class unless the instructor has allowed early access. (typically online classes will be opened a couple of days early so you can read the syllabus and get registered for the course materials needed.)
• Remember all courses do not open the first day of the semester:
  • If TR is in the course section name – there should be available the first day of classes
  • If FE is in the name, check the start date in the course schedule it is considered a Flex entry class and will start at a later time.

First steps to try:

1. Change to a different browser
2. Close all browsers and restart your computer  Often add-ins, open applications, processes running in the background will interfere with access to various features of Blackboard. 
3. Evaluate the speed of your internet connection. Often features requiring audio or video cannot be supported by dial-up or even some DSL connections. You may need to plan on using another connection – either on campus, a public library or even a public wi-fi area when trying to access media intensive

Most instructors will accept submissions written in Microsoft Office or Google Documents. As a student you are entitled to 5 free installations of Office 365. Once you have access to the MyEagle Student Portal resources, information will be posted there as to how to gain access to the installation files needed.

Sometimes the connection through the student portal to Blackboard may be broken or the portal itself may be down. You can access NTCC’s Blackboard directly at https://blackboard.ntcc.edu even if the portal is down.

Note if this address does not connect while using Satellite Internet Services Try the following before contacting IT support on campus:

• Try resetting your device by unplugging it from the electrical outlet, wait 30-60 seconds, and then plug it back in.
• If you know how to get to the settings for the satellite modem, turn OFF web acceleration (or it may be called web caching). Yes, this might mean your connection might be slower but it is also likely that this feature is what is causing an issue with Blackboard. If you can determine how to do this and it fixes the problem, you can turn it off whenever you need to access Blackboard and leave it on for everything else. Your service provider technical support can help you do this.
• If there is a nearby location which offers access to free WiFi, go to that location when you experience the problem.
• If you have good cell reception at your home, you might consider purchasing a cellular hot spot, sometimes called a MiFi. If you purchase one that does not require a contract and which allows you to purchase bandwidth as needed, such as a Straight-Talk device, you could use this device only when you need to access Blackboard. Be aware, if the server is completely down, check your NTCC student email. You will be provided notification there.

Northeast Texas Community College refunds tuition and fees according to a schedule set by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Refer to the course catalog for the refund schedule.

Grade entry will open for your instructors on the last day of class and grades will be moved to transcripts two days after the class has ended. The Registrar’s Office will begin sending out official transcripts after that time. You may retrieve an unofficial transcript from CampusConnect as soon as grades have been posted.

All requests for withdrawal should be sent to the registrar’s office.

Many online courses at NTCC require that some, or all, of the exams be proctored, but there are several ways this can be accomplished. Students can test on the main campus at the Northeast Testing Center. Students who reside outside of the Northeast Texas Community College area can test at an approved college testing center or public library with an exam proctoring service. Students can also use one of Northeast’s online testing proctoring services with instructor approval. All proctoring costs are the responsibility of the student.

Online courses will be delivered using the Blackboard platform. You can access Blackboard through the MyEagle Portal using the following steps:

1. Go to the myEagle Portal.
2. Follow the login instructions (Need login assistance?).
3. Click on the Student tab, and then on the Blackboard icon.
4. Click on the title of your course. 
5. You can access your NTCC email account by clicking on the Web Mail icon. NTCC email is the official form of communication used by the college.

Sixteen-week classes will be available on the first day of the semester as published in the course schedule. Classes that meet fewer than 16 weeks will be available on the date published in the course schedule.
The section number will tell you when to look for your class to be available: 

• .088 or .089 sections begin the first day of the semester and are 16 weeks long.
• .082 sections will begin the first day of the semester but are 8-weeks in length.
• .083 sections are also 8-week classes but will begin in the middle of the semester. Check the course schedule for that semester for exact dates.

Students should contact Miles Young in the Distance Education office (903-434-8257; myoung@ntcc.edu) if their class has not appeared in Blackboard on the first class day.

Should the myEagle portal be inaccessible for any reason, students may be able to login directly at https://blackboard.ntcc.edu/ using the same username and password as the portal.