Semester Quick Start Guide – For Faculty

Blackboard is our web-based course management software used by instructors to build and manage online classes. This guide will help you get started setting up your courses.

If you have trouble finding the information you need, or if you have a question about something not included here, please feel free to contact us!

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Copy a course

When preparing for a course for an upcoming term, you may plan to use content from a previous version. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use the Course Copy utility in your course and this Quick Start Guide will explain how to copy the contents of a course from the old semester’s shell into a new shell.

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Merge Courses

Merging courses allows instructors to manage multiple sections from one shell. When merging sections the instructor will identify one of the sections to be the primary or “parent” course, and all enrollments from the sections known as “child” courses will be merged into the parent.

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Make your Course Available

Student access to a course depends on two settings: enrollment availability and course availability. Enrollment availability is controlled by the registration system and begins one week before the term starts. Instructors can set a course as available at any time, but students cannot access it until enrollment availability opens.

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Edit your course banner

Customizing your course banner adds visual appeal and helps differentiate between courses. You can upload your own images or select from an array of royalty free images provided directly through the interface.

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Import and Export Courses

Export a copy of your Ultra course to save a back up for your own records by following these steps for saving a .zip file of the course. Exported course files can be imported into a blank shell, shared with colleagues, or simply stored for future use.