FAQ's

Blackboard: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. When are old Blackboard courses deleted?

  2. How has the default Blackboard shell changed?

  3. What is Mobile Learn? How do I use it?

  4. How do I use the McGraw Hill add-ons to Blackboard?

  5. How do I add other people to my course?

  6. How do I enable guest access to my course?

 

1.  When are old Blackboard courses deleted? 

Each year on April 15 we delete course shells that are more than 3 years old as of the prior December. On April 15, 2013, we will delete course shells from Fall 2009 and earlier. These were more than 3 years old in December 2012. If you have a course that you want to keep, contact the Call Center. Development shells are never deleted. Here is the policy on purging old course shells (section V.6.)

 

2.  How has the default Blackboard shell changed?

The default Blackboard shell for spring 2013  has been modified due to faculty input and to be ready for the new features of Service Pack 9:

  1. A link to email has been added to the menu.
  2.  Instructor Help has been renamed Faculty Help.
  3. Instructor Info has been renamed Faculty Info.
  4. The Help (for students) now has a link to the library.
  5. In Tools in the menu bar, most tools have been hidden from student view.
  6. The default colors have been changed back to the Blackboard defaults. 

We hope these changes will help Blackboard be more useful to you and your students.  You can easily change any of these items to suit your pedagogical needs.

3.  What is Mobile Learn? How do I use it?

See the Knowledge Base article on Mobile Learn.

4.  How do I use the McGraw-Hill add-ons to Blackboard?

Need additional help or training?


Workshops, individual consultation and training are available from the Faculty Technology Center

 

 
5.  How do I add other people to my course?
How to Find Users to Enroll

In your Blackboard course shell:

1.  On the Control Panel, expand the Users and Groups section.

2.  Click Users.

3.  On the Users page, select Find Users to Enroll.

4.  Type a username or click Browse to search for users. Only users that are not already enrolled in the course will be identified in a search for users.

5.  Select or type as many usernames as desired. Separate multiple usernames with commas.

6.  Select a Role and Enrollment Availability for the users.

7.  Click SubmitaddusersLocated Users: The results of a search will display up to 25 names on a page. Searches that result in more than 25 users will display users on multiple pages. It is not possible to enroll multiple users who appear on different pages. Instead, select users to enroll from a single page and click Submit. Redo the search to select additional users to enroll.

Availability: Users who have been made Unavailable by your Blackboard administrator cannot be enrolled in a course. Users who have been enrolled in a course but made Unavailable by you will not see the course in My Courses and do not have access to the course. You need to set the course to Available for these users so they can see they are enrolled in the course.

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6.  How do I enable guest access to my course?

You can control whether or not the guest and observer roles have access to your course.

Guests in a course can include guest lecturers, potential students, or other users who are not directly participating in your course.

Observers are typically assigned to follow specific users in Blackboard Learn without interacting with the system. Observers are able to view the course and track student progress. Also, you can communicate Early Warning System notifications to observers as well as students, or just to the observers of a student.

How to Allow Guest and Observer Access

1.  On the Control Panel, expand the Customization section

2.  Select Guest and Observer Access.

3.  On the Guest and Observer Access page, select Yes for Allow Guests and Allow Observers to allow guests and observers to view your course.

4.  Click Submitguests 

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