Instructor & Course Builder's FAQ

To request a Blackboard course, submit a “Blackboard Request Form”. 

Some schools or departments require authorization before the IT Help Desk can create a Blackboard Course.  

Contact the IT Help Desk for more information.  

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One of the new features of Blackboard 9.1 is “Edit Mode”  When Edit Mode is on, instructors and course builders can build and modify the course or the  content on the screen. 

If you want to view the course as a student would see it, turn Edit Mode off.  

The Edit Mode button is located in the upper-right corner of the screen.  

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A: Some Content Areas are available in a course by default.  You can add new Content Areas to your course. 
Here are instructions on how to add a Content Area:

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area , click on the link for your course.
3. Set Edit Mode to ON.
4. Hover over the Add button on the Course Menu.
5. Select Create Content Area.
6. Enter a Name for the new Content Area.
    
   NOTE: If this area should be available to the users (students) in the course, click the Available to Users check box.
   An icon of a square with a line through it will appear next to this Content Area if it is not available to users. 
    
7. Click Submit. 

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Here are instructions on how to Rename or delete a Content Area:

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area on the right, click on the link for your course.
3. Set Edit Mode to ON.
4. Click on the ‘double chevron’ button to the right of the Content Area you want to modify.
5. Select the desired option from the menu that appears

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Here are instructions on how to add items to a Content Area:

1. Log into Blackboard with your UM and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area, click on the link for your course.
3. Set Edit Mode to ON.
4. Click on the name of the Content Area in the Course Menu on the left.
5. Use the menus in the middle of the page to add items to the Content Area

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Here are instructions on how to find a list of the users in your course. 

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area, click on the link for your course.
3. Scroll down to the “Course Management” area on the left side of the screen.
4. Open the “Control Panel” menu.
5. Click on the “Users and Groups” option.
6. Click on the “Users” option.

A list of the users in your course should be displayed.  

If no users appear, check the ‘Search’ area and ensure that the search query is set to “Username” and “Not blank”.  Leave the query field blank and click on the “Go” button to perform the search. 

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In ‘for credit’ courses, most student should be added automatically to your Blackboard Course after they have registered for the course. 
If your course is not set up for automatic enrollment or you need to manually add a user to your course, here are instructions on how to add a user to your course.

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area, click on the link for your course.
3. Scroll down to the “Course Management” area on the left side of the screen.
4. Open the “Control Panel” menu.
5. Click on the “Users and Groups” option.
6. Click on the “Users” option.
7. Click on the “Find Users to Enroll” button.
8. Enter the user’s Blackboard ID or use the following instructions to find a user’s Blackboard account.
   1. Under the “Enroll Users” area, click on the ‘Browse” button to open a search screen to find Blackboard accounts. 
      NOTE: In the search screen, leave the ‘Options’ selection as “User Information”.
       
   2. Click on the check box next to the account you want to enroll in your course
      If you find more than 1 account for a user, click here for more information on which account to enroll.  
       
   3. Click on the “Submit” button to add that user to the list of users to enroll. 
       
      Repeat steps a-c to find and select the users you want to enroll.
       
9. Once you have entered all the users you want to enroll, use the drop down menu to select the user’s role in the course.
10. Leave the Enrollment Availability as “yes”. 
11. Click on the “Submit” button to enroll the users.

NOTE: If you cannot enroll a user, or you cannot find a user’s account, that user may already be enrolled in your course.  

Also, if your course is set up for automatic enrollment and you enroll a student who is not enrolled for the course, the Blackboard system may disable that student’s access the next time the automatic enrollment process runs.

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When you search for users to add to your course, you may see multiple Blackboard accounts for the same individual.  

When enrolling users, do not select an account that is comprised of all numbers.   

In order to access course files, the Blackboard user account should include both letters and numbers.  

If you need to verify a user’s Blackboard account, contact the IT Help Desk.  

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An instructor can make a course unavailable or available to students at any time.  If a course is set as “Unavailable”, only users with the following course roles can see and access the course. 

• Instructors
• Course Builders
• Teaching Assistant
• Graders 

Here are instructions on how to make a course available to students. 

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area, click on the link for your course.
3. Turn Edit Mode ON.
4. Scroll down to the “Course Management” area on the left side of the screen.
5. Open the “Control Panel” menu.
6. Open the "Customization" menu.
7. Select Properties.
8. Scroll down to Section 3 “Set Availability” and select the option “Yes”
9. In Section 4 “Set Course Duration” select the option “Continuous” or ensure that the “Start Date” and “End Date” are valid. 
10. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Submit” button.  

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Here are instructions on how to add an item or column to the Grade Center manually.

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area on the right, click on the link for your course.
3. Open the Control Panel and click on the “Grade Center” option
4. Select the “Full Grade Center” option.
5. Click on the “Create Column” button.
6. The following fields are required. 
   

   Column Name	This field is required.  It is the name for the column.
   Points Possible	Total Points possible for the grade item.

    
   Other options are available.  For more information, click on the "More Help" link on the top-right side of the page. 
   
7. Click Submit.

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There are multiple ways to enter a grade manually in Blackboard 9.1.  Here are instructions on how to manually enter a grade from the Grade Center Page. 

1. Log into Blackboard with your UMID and UM Password. 
2. In the “My Courses” area on the right, click on the link for your course.
3. Open the Control Panel and click on the “Grade Center” option
4. Select the “Full Grade Center” option.
5. Ensure that the “Screen Reader” mode is off by clicking on the button to the right of the ‘Full Grade Center’ title.
6. Click on the cell where you want to enter a grade.
7. Enter the grade value. 
8. Press Enter. 
    
   NOTE: Once you start entering grades, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the grade book. 
    
   Be sure to press 'Enter' before moving to another cell.  If Enter is not pressed, and you try to exit the entry cell or Grade Center, a dialog box will appear to ask if you want to save the grade entry. Select OK to save the grade.

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Check to see if the course is available to students.  If the course is not available, students will not be able to view or access your course.  

Click here for instructions on how to make your course available to students.  

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How do I change to a ‘Student View’ of my course?

If you want to see what your course looks to a user with a student role, turn “Edit Mode” off.  

Click here for more information about “Edit Mode”.  

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While in “Edit Mode” you can hide the Course Menu by clicking on the “Hide Course Menu“button.

The “Hide Course Menu” button is located to the right of the Course Menu.  

If you hide the Course Menu while in the Instructor view, the Course Menu is also hidden from students.  

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