Blackboard is now part of UCM's Single Sign-on. You can find more information about this on their web page:

https://www.ucmo.edu/offices/office-of-technology/single-sign-on/

For questions about logging into any UCM site or system, please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (DLII). Have your 700 number handy.

Students can now change their "display" name in Blackboard to their preferred first name. You may want to advise them of this, especially if you teach online classes.

 To make the change, students should log into Bb and then click on their name in the upper right corner. Click on the top icon from the pop-up box that appears. This may be the profile picture or some other image. This will open the profile page. From there, click the "Settings & Privacy" button to get to the screen where the name can be changed. They can also edit the visibility of their profile page and add a personal bio if they wish.

Note: pronoun changes are done in MyCentral, which then feeds into Blackboard.

Tip:  You can drag the courses up and down to reorder them and that’s the order they will appear on YOUR Bb main page. Students can do this on their own, too!  In addition, you can "rename" courses in the COURSE PROPERTIES section in Bb.  However, if you rename a course, ensure all pertinent information is included (course name, course number, semester, year).

Making a Course Unavailable (closed)

After the official end of the semester, you should make the course unavailable to students. You can provide students a few extra days to save materials if you like but should close off the access either sometime during the weekend after finals or whenever you get your final grades submitted. When in Blackboard – select “Customization” (located on the left-hand side under Course Management which is close to the bottom); select “Properties”; choose NO under “Make Course Available”.

Complete the form linked in the box above to request a course merge or go here: https://www2.ucmo.edu/webapps/courseMerge/

DO NOT merge them yourself. This causes data retrieval problems.

If you have both graduate and undergraduate students in the same course, you'll have a separate Blackboard class for each section. 

If you wish to combine these into one course in Blackboard, please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (DLII) to request a Course Merge.  Doing this makes it easier for the faculty to manage because you can grade both within the merged sections. It also makes it easier to identify the course should it need to be retrieved from the Blackboard archive.

Grade Entry Note: Enter students' grades into the separate class numbers (CRN) in MyCentral, even though the class was run as one class in Blackboard.  

When you export your course, you are downloading only those areas an settings of your Bb section you want to save to an external location, such as your personal computer, portable storage device, or a cloud server. Exports do not save enrollments, course statistics, or grades. Export files can be imported into a new Bb section at a later time.

Step 1: Select Export/Archive Course from the Packages and Utilities area of the control panel of the source course (the section with the material in it you want to save).

Step 2: Click Export from the Export/Archive Course screen.

Step 3: Under section 2 “File Attachments” of the Export Screen, choose the second selection (default) for each option. Failing to select these two will cause permission errors when students try accessing file attachments.

Step 4: Select the areas and settings you want to export and click Submit. We recommend you select everything so you have a complete export file. You can be selective about what is imported during the import process.

Step 5: You will receive an email in your UCM email account when the process is complete. Exports can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes or more depending on how large your course is.

Step 6: Once the export is finished you will need to download and save the export file. Select Export/Archive Course from the Packages and Utilities area of the control panel of the source course.

Step 7: You should see the export file listed on the Export/Archive screen. Click the .zip file link listed. The filename should begin with ExportFile.

Step 8: When prompted, save the file to your computer. Select a file location that is easy to remember. We suggest you do not remove “Export” from the .zip file’s name. Also avoid modifying the .zip package. You could corrupt the export file and make it unusable.

Avoid importing to the same course more than once. Blackboard does not replace existing material, but only adds to what is there. You can end up with duplicates of anything that was imported previously, which will exponentially increase storage space (for which UCM is fiscally charged). It is best to import material to an empty course shell for the same reasons. Always add new content after the import has been completed.

Step 1: Select Import Package / View Logs from the Packages and Utilities area of the control panel of the destination course (the section you want to load the material into).

Step 2: Click Import from the Import Package/View Logs screen.

Step 3: Browse your computer to locate the export file you previously saved.

Step 4: Select the areas and settings you want to import and click Submit. You can be selective about what is imported, but typically it is best to select everything and then remove what you don’t want from the course once the import process is finished.

Note: Under Settings there is an option for Availability. Selecting this will use the availability setting of the source course. In most cases this should not be selected.

Step 5: You will receive an email in your UCM email account when the process is complete. Please wait an additional 30 minutes before accessing or modifying the course.

Step 6: Once you have received the above mentioned email, select Import Package / View Logs from the Packages and Utilities area of the control panel of the destination course (the section you want to load the material into). You should see an import log file. Click on it to ensure the import completed without errors. Take note of any errors or warnings reported.

Avoid importing to the same course more than once. Blackboard does not replace existing material but only adds to what is there. You can end up with duplicates of anything that was imported previously, which will exponentially increase storage space (for which UCM is fiscally charged). It is best to import material to an empty course shell for the same reasons. Always add new content after the import has been completed.

Step 1: Select Course Copy from the Packages and Utilities area of the control panel of the destination course (the section with the material in it you want to reuse).

Step 2: Click Browse from the Copy Course screen.

Step 3: In the new window that opens, select the destination course (the course you want to copy to) and click Submit.

Step 4: Select the areas and settings you want to copy and click Submit. You can be selective about what is copied, but typically it is best to select everything and then remove what you don’t want from the destination course once the copy process is finished. If you do not check all boxes, some materials (assignments & tests) may not be copied

Note: Under Settings, there is an option for Availability. Selecting this will use the availability setting of the source course. In most cases, this should not be selected.

Step 5: Under section 3 “File Attachments,” choose the second selection (default, "Copy links and copies of the content"). Changing this option from the default selection will cause permission errors when students try accessing file attachments in the destination course.

Step 6: DO NOT check the option to Include Enrollments. This will copy all students from the source course to the destination course.

Step 7: You will receive an email in your UCM email account when the process is complete. Course Copies can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes or more depending on how large your course is. Please wait an additional 30 minutes before accessing or modifying the course.

Note:  Avoid copying the same course more than once. Blackboard does not replace existing material but only adds to what is there. You can end up with duplicates of anything that was copied previously. It is best to copy material to an empty course shell for the same reasons. Always add new content after the copy has been completed.

If you have any questions regarding copying course sections, contact the Office of Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (DLII).