Blackboard Semester Procedures

Prior to semester's start date

Blackboard Administrator: Course sites are created for all courses and made available to students about 8 weeks prior to each new semester.
Blackboard Administrator: Students are enrolled in and have access to Bb course as they register for the course.
New Faculty (or new to Blackboard): Attend a skill-building course or the 3-hour Blackboard "Getting Started" Training, which is only for new participants.
Faculty: Begin building your Bb course site. Do not make the course unavailable to students as you do this (make individual course content unavailable instead). Students will expect to see your course in Blackboard after they register.

Semester start date

Faculty: Introduce students to Blackboard & explain how you will be using it.

First few weeks into semester

Blackboard Administrator: Students will be dropped/added according to the current information available through the registrar's office.
Faculty: Export online gradebook to Excel for a backup.

At semester's end

Faculty: Export online gradebook to Excel for a final backup/archive.
Faculty: Make your course unavailable from the Control Panel.
Faculty: copy your course content into your new semester courses and export/archive your course to your computer for possible re-use in later semesters.

Important: Your course will remain on Blackboard for 14 months. Blackboard courses that are not recycled/copied after 14 months will be removed. It is the responsibility of the instructor to export a course and save it for later use.