• Home
• CTL Info
  • Intro
  • Services
  • Staff
  • Mission, Vision & Goals
  • Contact Us
• Teaching
  • Perf Improvement
  • Instructional Design >
    • Front-End Analysis
    • Design Phase
    • Development Phase
    • Formative Evaluation
    • Implementation
    • (Summative) Evaluation
  • Learning Outcomes
  • Events of Learning
  • Learning Theories
  • Psychology of Learning
  • Quality Matters
  • Assessment >
    • Kirkpatrick Evaluation
    • Rubrics
    • Attitudinal Surveys
    • CATs
  • Writing Objectives
  • Intro Assignment
  • Syllabus
  • Distance Education
  • Discussions
  • Presentation Design
  • Memory
  • Education Papers (PDFs)
• Technology
  • Hardware >
    • LCD Projector
    • Handheld (PDA)
    • Media Storage
    • Clickers
    • Scanner
  • Software >
    • Free Software
    • MS Office 2007
    • MS Word 2007
    • MS Excel 2007
    • MS PowerPoint 2007
    • MS Outlook 2007
    • MS OneNote 2007
    • MS Publisher 2007
    • Adobe Photoshop
    • Adobe Flash
  • Integration Techniques
  • MWCC on iTunes U
  • Podcasting
  • Tablet PC's
  • Social Networking
  • Blogs
  • Wikis
  • Virtual Worlds
  • News & Web Links
• Prof Development
  • Prof Development Day
  • Funding Form
• Service Learning
  • General Info
  • Form Index
• WAC 
• Reference Desk
  • General Reference
  • General Academic
  • By Subject
  • Web Searches
• Library
• Blackboard
  • Log In
  • Getting Started
  • Blackboard Resources
  • SafeAssign
  • Troubleshooting
  • Tips & Tricks
  • FAQs

FAQs

How do I?
Back-up/archive my course?
Make my course available/unavailable?
Change my course title?
Download my Grade Center?
Recycle my course and remove students?
Remove single or multiple student users from my course?
Export/copy a test or survey from one course to another?

Add Students or Additional Instructors to My Course?
- Enroll a single student user into my course?
- Enroll a fellow instructor into my course?
- Copy my students from a semester section into my master?

Copy Course Content?
- How do I copy my course content from one course into another?
- How do I copy individual course content materials from one course into another?

How do I back-up/archive my course?
It is good idea to make periodic backups of your course, especially after making major changes to content or in a large class after students have completed an online exam. Archive courses are a permanent record of the course. Archive courses are saved as .zip files. Archiving a course does not remove it from the system.
Follow the steps below to archive your course:

1. Enter the course you wish to archive.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Packages and Utilities, select Export/Archive Course
4. Click the Archive button.
5. If you wish to include the grades in the archive, check the box next to Include Grade Center History
6. Click Submit
7. You will receive a receipt message in a green box: “Success: This action has been queued. An email will be sent when the process is complete.”
8. Be patient, this may take up to 15 minutes or so.
9. **Important** After the archive file link appears, download the archived package from the Bb archive page and save it to your local computer. To do this, right-click on the archived file link and select “Save link as…”. Choose where on your computer you want to store the archive package. The archive is a zipped file.  Do not open it. If there is an emergency, the zipped file can be used to restore your course as it was when you archived it.

Note: If the course is set to available, all students enrolled in the course will have access. If the course is set to unavailable, students will not see a link to the course.

Follow the steps below to make your course available/unavailable:

1. Enter the course you wish to make available or unavailable.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Customization, select Properties
4. Go to Section 3: Set Availability
5. DO NOT use Section 4: Set Course Duration This will make the course unavailable to everyone including yourself.
6. Select either Yes or No to make the course available or unavailable to students.
7. Click Submit

How do I change my course title?
You have the ability to change your course title in order for it to make more sense to you and your students. You CANNOT change the Course ID.
Follow the steps below to make your course available/unavailable:

1. Enter the course in which you wish to change the course title.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Customization, select Properties
4. Go to Section 1: Name and Description
5. Edit the Course Name as you see fit
6. Click Submit

How do I download my Grade Center?
Instructors have the ability to download Grade Center data as a delimited file that can be used in other applications such as Spreadsheet programs (Excel) or statistical analysis programs. Instructors can select specific data to download, or download the complete Grade Center data set. Downloaded files can be saved on a local computer drive.
Follow the steps below to download your grade center:

1. Enter the course in which you wish to change the course title.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Evaluation, select Grade Center
4. Hover over Work Offline (located in the upper right side of the Grade Center)
5. Click Download from the menu.
6. Leave the preset option as they are. This will download the entire gradebook using the right format.
7. Click Submit
8. Click the Download button.
9. Make sure that "Save to Disk" is selected and click Ok to finish the download.
10. Once the file is downloaded, you can navigate to the file and open it with Excel. You may receive a dialogue box that wants you to verify that the file is not corrupt and is from a trusted source. Click Yes and the file will open.

How do I recycle my course and remove students?
Caution: You should archive and download your course to create a permanent record of the Course before recycling.

Instructors can Recycle their courses at the end of each semester in order to reuse the same Bb course for the following semester. It allows Instructors to select information to be deleted from a Course and keeps the rest of the Course areas for use in the future. For example, remove Students and Grades but keep content. The Course Recycler will remove all users with a role of Student from the Course.

Follow the steps below to recycle your course:

1. Enter the course you wish to recycle.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Customization, select Recycle
4. Under Select Content Materials to Delete, Select the check boxes for areas within the Course that will be deleted. For example, if Staff Information is selected all of the data within Staff Information will be deleted.
5. Under Select Other Materials to Delete, Select the check boxes for areas within the Course that will be deleted. For example, if Discussion Board is selected all of the Discussion Boards in the Course will be deleted.
6. Select Users and Groups. This will only remove the users and groups from your course.
7. **Important** Selecting content and other items will delete them entirely from your course!
8. Note on Discussions: You should manually delete student discussion responses instead of recycling the discussion boards. This will keep you from having to recreate the discussion boards.
9. Type Delete in the box
10. Click Submit to finish.

How do I remove single or multiple student users from my course?
Caution: When a user is removed from a Course all of the information associated with the user, such as, Grade Center information, is removed.
Follow the steps below to recycle your course:

1. Enter the course you wish to remove students.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Users and Groups, select Users
4. To find an individual in the course to delete, Enter the appropriate user information in the search box, and click Go. You can use the drop down menu to change the search criteria.
5. To return a list of all users in the course select Not Blank as a criteria, and click Go. This will allow you to remove multiple students.
6. Only 20 names will appear on a page. If more the 20 users are found during the search, multiple pages may be viewed. Instructors may only select and remove users from one page at a time. For example, if the search returns three pages of users, the Instructor must select the users to remove on the first page and click Submit before continuing to the next page. It is easier to click the Show All button at the bottom right corner of the page and remove everyone at once.
7. Select the check box next to the names of the users you wish to remove.
8. Click the Remove Users from Course button.
9. A dialouge box will appear that states "This action is final and cannot be undone. Delete users?" Click "Ok"
10. The page will refresh in a few moments and the user(s) will be removed.
11. Note: Removed users cannot be restored to the Course. To restore a removed user, the user must be enrolled in the course again. A restored user is only readded to the course and will not have Grade Center data as it was deleted when the user was originally removed.

How do I enroll a single student user into my course?
Note: You can only add one user at a time with this method.
Follow the steps below to enroll a student into your course:

1. Enter the course you wish to enroll a student.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Users and Groups, select Users
4. Click the Enroll User button.
5. Click the Browse button after the Add Enrollments page appears.
6. A pop-up window will appear that will allow you to search entire Blackboard database for the student you wish to enroll.
7. To find an individual, Enter the appropriate user information in the search box, and click Go. You can use the drop down menu to change the search criteria. For instance, you can search with "Last Name" and "Starts with".
8. Select the check box next to the name of the user you wish to add.**Important** Make sure you have selected the correct individual. If you are unsure, seek guidance.
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and click Submit. This will close the window and put the student's user name in the username text box.
10. Click Submit. Assign the users a role by selecting a Role from the drop-down list. Users are enrolled with a Course role of Student by default.
11. The student is now enrolled in your course.

How do I enroll a fellow instructor into my course?
Note: You can add a fellow instructor in your course as a student or course instructor depending on the type of access you wish to permit.
Follow the steps below to enroll a fellow instructor into your course:

1. Enter the course you wish to add the instructor.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Users and Groups, select Users
4. Click the Enroll User button.
5. Click the Browse button after the Add Enrollments page appears.
6. A pop-up window will appear that will allow you to search entire Blackboard database for the student you wish to enroll.
7. To find an individual, Enter the appropriate user information in the search box, and click Go. You can use the drop down menu to change the search criteria. For instance, you can search with "Last Name" and "Starts with".
8. Select the check box next to the name of the user you wish to add.**Important** Make sure you have selected the correct individual. If you are unsure, seek guidance.
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and click Submit. This will close the window and put the instructor's user name in the username text box.
10. Assign the instructor a role by selecting a Role from the drop-down list. Student is the default setting. Select "Instructor" if you want the instructor to have full instructor access.
11. Click Submit.
12. The instructor is now enrolled in your course.

Note: You must be enrolled as an instructor in any course you wish to copy to and from.
Instructors can copy students from a semester section into a master section.

Follow the steps below to copy students from a semester section into a master:

1. Go into the semester course you want to copy the students from.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Packages and Utilities, select Course Copy
4. Section 1: Select Copy Type should be defaulted to Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course.
5. Click the Browse button next to Destination Course ID under Section 2: Select Copy Options.
6. A pop-up window will appear with a list of all of your courses. Select the Master course in which you want your students enrolled.
7. Scroll down to the bottom right corner of the window and click Submit. This will close the window and put the course ID in the Destination Course ID text box.
8. Select one item under Select Course Materials. (This item should not have any actual content in it.) Choose Glossary for example if you have nothing in the glossary. Note: If you forget this step you will receive a pop-up after trying to submit that tells you "At least one option must be selected from the list."
9. Check the box next to Include Enrollments in the Copy under Section 4: Enrollments.
10. Click Submit.
11. You should see the following message at the top of the window in a green box: "Success: Course copy action queued. An email will be sent when the process is complete."
12. You should receive an email within a few minutes. Once the email is received, you can verify your enrollments have been copied into your Master course.

How do I export/copy a test or survey from one course to another?

1. Go to the Course that contains the test/survey you wish to copy.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Course Tools, select Tests, Surveys, and Pools
4. Select Tests or Surveys, whichever is appropriate for you.
5. Click the double arrow button to the right of the name of the test or survey you wish to copy.
6. Select Export from the drop-down menu.
7. Save the ZIP file when the option appears. Be patient as this may take a moment.
8. Once the file is saved, go to the Control Panel of the course that you wish to add the test or survey to.
9. Under Course Tools, select Tests, Surveys, and Pools
10. Select Tests or Surveys, whichever is appropriate for you.
11. Click Import Test or Import Survey depending on which you are doing.
12. Click the Browse for Local File button and then find and select the ZIP file you just downloaded and click Open.
13. Click Submit.
14. You should receive notice that the package has been processed. You can now deploy the test or survey in any area of the course you wish.

Note: You must be enrolled as an instructor in any course you wish to copy to and from.
Instructors can copy students from a semester section into a master section.

Follow the steps below to copy course content from one course into another:

1. Go into the course you want to copy.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Under Packages and Utilities, select Course Copy
4. Section 1: Select Copy Type should be defaulted to Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course.
5. Click the Browse button next to Destination Course ID under Section 2: Select Copy Options.
6. A pop-up window will appear with a list of all of your courses. Select the course in which you want to copy your course materials into.
7. Scroll down to the bottom right corner of the window and click Submit. This will close the window and put the course ID in the Destination Course ID text box.
8. Select all of the items under Select Course Materials. Note: If you do not want to copy certain items listed, you can leave them unchecked.
9. Check the box next to Course Cartridge Materials under Section 5: Course Cartridge Materials if you have cartridge materials you wish to be copied.
10. Click Submit.
11. You should see the following message at the top of the window in a green box: "Success: Course copy action queued. An email will be sent when the process is complete."
12. You should receive an email when the course copy process is complete. This may take several minutes to an hour depending on how much material is being copied. Note: You may receive the email before everything has copied. If you go into the course and notice everything did not copy over then wait 30-60 minutes and check again.

Note: You must be enrolled as an instructor in any course you wish to copy to and from.
Instructors can copy students from a semester section into a master section.

Follow the steps below to copy individual course content materials from one course into another:

1. Go into the course that contains the individual item(s) you want to copy.
2. Navigate in the course to the place that has the item(s) you want to copy.
3. Click on the button with double arrows to the right of the item you wish to copy. Note: Make sure you are in edit mode.
4. Select Copy from the contextual drop-down menu.
5. Use the Drop-down menu to select the Destination Course.
6. Click the Browse button next to Destination Folder.
7. A pop-up window will appear with a folder structure of the course you selected. Select the location in the course in which you want to the item(s) to copy to. The pop-up window will automatically close and the path will be placed in the text box next to Destination Folder.
8. Click Submit.
9. You should see the following message at the top of the window in a green box: "Success: Item copied"

 

 

MWCC Home Page   Copyright 2010  CTL All Rights Reserved. CTL Home Page
444 Green Street • Room 344 • Gardner, MA 01440
CTL Direct: 978.630.9487 • MWCC Main Number: 978.632.6600