Everyone already has a Blackboard shell. They are created for every class and are made available to you prior to student enrollment. Instructors on record and students enrolled are automatically populated to these courses. Updates are made in Blackboard within 24 hours of a change; therefore, any student enrolling today will not show up in the course until tomorrow.

Blackboard courses are created as unavailable to the enrolled students. The instructor must make a Blackboard course available before the students can access materials in the course. For information on making a course available, please see Course Availability immediately below.

If you have never used this course, you must make Your Course Available

1. Go to the Course you wish to make available

2. Click on the padlock icon in the upper right-hand corner

3. The padlock icon will be locked when it is not available to students

4. The padlock icon will appear unlocked when the course is available to students

Course shells are provided to the faculty on record prior to the start of student enrollment. Each course is assigned a generic Blackboard shell. To see the Bb shells for courses you have been assigned follow these steps:

• Login to ucmo.blackboard.com

• Click on the Courses tab found on the right-hand menu

• You will see the courses you are assigned either as a list or as thumbnail images depending on which viewing feature is selected.

Depending on which web browser you are using and your configured settings within that browser, some features in Blackboard may not function correctly. View the following link for more information on recommendations for specific browsers Browser Settings in Blackboard.

Student enrollments from credit-based sections are automatically loaded from MyCentral to Blackboard. Typically, there is no need to add student enrollments in the manner described below. It may, however, be necessary to manually enroll a user to a section for other reasons. Please click on the following link for directions for enrolling users into a course Enrolling Users Into a Course in Blackboard

Course navigation menu items -

Left-hand navigation: All UCM Blackboard courses are created with default menu items as follows:

• Course Home - default landing page for your course

• Course Information (Content Area)

• Assignments (Content Area)

• Discussion (Tool Link)

• External Links (Content Area)

• Tools (Tool Link)

• Help (Web Link)

• Faculty Information (Content Area)

• JCK Library (Web Link)

• Panopto Video (Web Link)

1. Make sure Edit mode is on.

2. To the right of each course menu item is a chevron icon

3. Click on the chevron

4. From the drop down menu, select Rename Link option

5. Modify the name for the link

6. Click on the green check mark to accept, or the red ‘x’ to cancel

A final warning will appear - This action will permanently delete the item - select Delete if you are sure you want to delete the course navigation menu item

First, make sure Edit mode is on.

1. Hover the mouse pointer over the icon above the Course Menu

2. From the drop down menu, select the desired course item, (Tool Link, Web Link, Course Link, Content Area, etc.)

3. Type a Name for the new item

4. If you choose Tool Link or Web Link, make sure the Type matches the item from the drop down menu

5. Make the item available to your users

6. Click on Submit

Finally, move the item where you would like it to be within your course menu area using the directions immediately following

1. Make sure Edit mode is on.

2. Hover your mouse to the left of each course menu navigation item and you will see up and down arrow icons

3. Click and hold the arrow icon to drag the item up or down in the menu list

4. Release the mouse button when you are done moving the item

1. Make sure Edit mode is on.

2. To the right of each course navigation menu item is a chevron icon

3. Click on the chevron

4. From the drop down menu, select the Delete option

5. An additional window will open to confirm deleting process

6. Select Delete content in this window

7. A final warning will appear - This action will permanently delete the item - select Delete if you are sure you want to delete the course navigation menu item

Every section where you or the learner can create content has a Text Box Editor toolbar. This is where you can type and format your content using common options (underline, bold, italics, etc.) or import various types of media (image/photo, video, PDF, etc.). If you cannot see all rows of the various buttons as depicted below, just click the three dot button in the upper right of the toolbar to expand the toolbar button set. Note: Your toolbar may be arranged slightly differently based on the width of your display. See a detailed description of each tool by clicking on the Text Box Editor Toolbar link above.

For detailed instructions for creating a written assignment, click on the Create a Written Assingment link above.

Tests may be created in three ways:

• By directly creating individual questions inside the Test Creator,

• Using questions from a Test Pool,

• By importing tests or question pools from 3rd party textbook publishers.

1. Select Test from the assessments tab inside a content area or folder in which you wish to create a test.

2. At this point you will be able to choose to create a new test or to deploy a test that already exists in the course’s test bank (if you have completed a Course Copy or copied exams from previous courses they will be seen here). To create a new test, choose the Create button.

3. Type a descriptive name for the new test. You might also add the word Test or Quiz to the title for clarity to your students.

4. Make learners aware of any restrictions you’ve set, including time limits, open or closed books, completion in one sitting, automatic submission, multiple attempts, etc.

5. Provide any additional instructions (such as how to submit for a “file” type question, or use the mathematical notations). These appear when the test is launched, with test settings details below instructions.

6. Click Submit

1. Navigate to Course Management>Control Panel>Tests, Pools and Surveys

2. Select Pools

3. Use the Build Pool button

4. Name your question pool (description optional)

5. Click the SUBMIT button to create.

6. Build your Pool of questions in the Pool Canvas:

   1. Create Question - for new questions you create

   2. Find Question - to use existing questions inside your course

   3. Upload Questions - from specially formatted text files

Remember to look for the More Help link at the top of the page in the header, during each step of Blackboard creation processes for more detail.

Setting Test Availability Exceptions allows instructors to respond to student emergencies or disability accommodations that require individualized time extension, number of attempts, or dates of access.

To grant student(s) extended time, or unique access dates on timed quizzes or tests:

1. Use the chevron next to the title of test/quiz

2. Select Edit Test Options

3. The third section you’ll see is Test Availability Exceptions

4. Select Add User or Group

5. Check the box next to the name of the student needing an exception

6. If more than one student needs the SAME exception, you can check all the students that will need this specific exception

7. Submit those checked names

8. Depending on the parameters you’ve set for that test/quiz you will see areas you can edit that will allow that student to see or access it uniquely from your general settings.

9. If you have other students who need different settings, use the Add User or Group that appears above the first student exception information.

10. Create as many unique situations as you need with this process.

11. Don’t forget to use the SUBMIT button at the very bottom right of the page when you’ve finished.

12. Exceptions can be cleared using the X found to the very right of each student’s exceptions detail line.

Assignments are not timed, so there is no way to provide extended time, unless you use Adaptive Release rules to extend a due date. You can do this based on individual or group, so if you have an individual that needs extra days, you can provide that.

Any activity to which you have assigned points in Blackboard will appear in the Grade Center (this includes assignments, tests & quizzes, discussion boards, blogs, and wikis). It always appears in the very last position of the Grade Center, so if you can't find something you just created, just scroll to the right and you should find it.

Click on the Grade Center and Layout link above for identification of each area within the Grade Center.

For information on copying a course in Blackboard, click on the Course Copy link above.

When you archive a course, you create a complete “backup” of your Bb section (course content, settings, student grades, course statistics, etc.). This gives you a permanent record of everything you and your students have done in the section for the semester. Archives are only viewable when reloaded back into the Bb system. They are not intended for frequent reference, or for content re-use, use the export process instead. Archives can only be restored by a system administrator.