When do my Blackboard courses appear and disappear?

At least four weeks before classes begin, upcoming semester courses are pulled into the system from the student/faculty portal course listings. Faculty are assigned to classes as listed in the schedule of classes.

• 1.  At least four weeks before classes begin, classes for the upcoming semester are made available for faculty. New classes are added as they are added to the online course listing.
• 2.  At least one week before class begins, current class rolls (including new students) are uploaded to the system and assigned to classes.
• 3.  Students are uploaded and enrolled in classes up to the last day to add a class.
• 4.  One weeks after a semester is completed (finals are done and grades are submitted), the previous semester's classes are made unavailable for students.
• 5.  Classes from previous semesters may be deleted from the system; however, multiple notifications will be sent by email prior to deletion.

Export and Archive your Course at end of the Semester

The Blacboard administration does not keep archived copies of any classes on the system. Faculty are strongly encouraged to export and archive their courses through the Control Panel at the end of each semester. In addition, we strongly urge faculty to export and back up the grade book of each class throughout and at the end of each semester.

Faculty are responsible for making and retaining course exports and archives. The Blackboard system administration will NOT archive or export any courses for back up. Classes from previous semesters may be deleted from the system; however, multiple notifications will be sent by email prior to deletion.

Exporting a course allows the instructor to select the parts of the course to keep for future use. It is recommended that when you import course content into a new course, you use the exported course (not the archived course).

Archiving a course allows the instructor to save the entire course including all content and user information. This is useful for keeping a record of class interactions, grades, and enrollment. When importing previous course content into a new course, do not import an archived course; instead, use the exported course. If you import an archived course, it will import unnecessary information into your new course such as previous semester student information.

More information about exporting and archiving your course can be located at:

http://www.uvawise.edu/oit/BlackBoard/Faculty/import_export_copy

What do I do About Incompletes?

Instructors must request continuation of a course past the current semester to maintain student access to classes. If faculty keep a course available for one student, the course will be available for all students enrolled. Faculty may also choose to enroll students with incompletes into their current courses.

What are the Size Restrictions for Blackboard?

Instructors will be warned when their course size exceeds 1 GB. The maximum course size is 1.2 GB.
The maximum size of a single file upload is 400 MB.

If you are close to exceeding your size restriction, contact the helpdesk or send a notification to blackboard@uvawise.edu. You may also put your course information on your personal web site.

Security and Student Information

The security of the systems is of paramount importance in maintaining a reliable and trusted resource for online instructional materials and tools. As with other college records, faculty are cautioned to take care that student information (including, but not limited to, grades, test scores, user names, or ID numbers) is guarded closely. Grades should be posted so that students may see only their scores (for example, do not post a spreadsheet with all course grades into the class). UVAIDs can be viewed for users who have access to the following features: enroll, list or modify users, remove users, the grade book and the assessments area. The group function displays UVAIDs as a part of the file sharing function. The system is patched regularly and has the latest virus protection installed at all times.

Course Cartridges

Course cartridges enable instructors to gain access to complete sets of teaching tools provided by academic publishers. Instructors who choose to use course cartridges must get the appropriate download key from the publisher and load the course cartridge him/herself. Before adopting books or course cartridges, please consult with the Blackboard Administrator about the lead time and system resources necessary for loading course cartridges. Exported or archived classes are not course cartridges.

Before deciding to use a course cartridge, please check with the UVa-Wise blackboard system administrator to ensure that our system can accommodate the cartridge under consideration. Information about the current version of Blackboard is posted on the main blackboard web page. You may need let the publisher know the system version number and license type to ensure that our system will accommodate the cartridges under consideration.

Course cartridges are course content and not part of the standard Blackboard system. They are the responsibility of the faculty member or department representative employing them.

Course cartridges can require very long download times and reduce availability of the Blackboard server. Any faculty member or department representative that needs to have course cartridges downloaded must inform the Blackboard administrator four (4) weeks before the first day of classes for the semester in which the cartridge will be used. At this time, the administrator will consult with the faculty or department regarding the best time to download the cartridge.

Default Course Menu Items

Default class menu items include Announcements, Syllabus, Assignments, and Faculty Information. Faculty can individualize each class to add more functionality or to edit the names of the default menu items. These changes should be made through the Control Panel of each course (Control Panel > Manage Course Menu). Importing course contents from a previous semester may duplicate menu buttons. Faculty are urged to remove the empty items from the menu before making the course available to students.

How can I get a blackboard account for a non UVa-Wise affiliated user?

Users that are not officially affiliated with UVa-Wise (guest discussants or mentors, for example) may be provided an account (a username and password) at the request of a UVa-Wise "sponsor" (faculty or staff member). These users accounts (referred to as "exceptions") are considered temporary. Such accounts are assigned only to individuals who are working with UVa-Wise faculty/staff on officially recognized activities on the system and are deleted at the end of each semester, project or at designated times during the year. The default setting for the system is to NOT allow guest access. To set up a temporary account, you must also provide a valid email address.