The Manage Course Menu feature allows instructors to customize their Blackboard course. Instructors can create a navigation menu specifically for each course with titles and functions of their choice. This feature creates additional content areas and adds tool functions to the navigation menu. Instructors can also rename any of the navigation buttons/links.
1. Click on the Manage Course Menu link in the Course Options section.
2. Click on one of the Add icons in the gray bar at the top of the page.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
1. Click on the Add Content Area icon.
2. Choose a name from the pull-down list, or type one of your own into the Area Name field.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
1. Click on the Add Tool Area icon.
2. Choose a tool type from the pull-down list.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
1. Click on the Add Course link icon.
2. Type a name into the Area Name field.
3. Click on the Browse button.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
1. Click on the Add External Link icon.
2. Type a name into the Area Name field.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: If I change the navigation items, will it be permanent?
A: As with many of the other features of Blackboard, the instructor can modify or edit the navigation menu at any time during the course duration.
Q: What are the benefits of changing the names on the navigation or course menu?
A: Many instructors feel limited by the standard names and areas types. Instructors can customize the titles to names that make more sense for them. For example, instead of "Assignments," an instructor may want to call the section "Book reviews" for a literature class, or "Experiments" for a chemistry class.
Q: What are the benefits of adding tools or external links to the menu?
A: In some courses, students spend much of their time online looking at specific websites. Instructors can make a direct link to the site on the navigation menu. For example, a public health class could have a direct link to the National Institute of Health website right on the front page of the course.
The Staff Information page allows Instructors to post information about themselves, teaching assistants, and guest speakers. The page gives users a resource to look up names, email addresses, office hours, and photographs of course instructors.
1. Click on Staff Information in the Content Area section.
2. Click on Add Profile.
3. Select an image file by clicking on Browse "your hard drive".
Note: image should not be any larger than 150x200px in size.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Submit button.
The Manage Tools feature allows you to enable or disable the various Tools offered with the Blackboard system. Tools are the additional features that Blackboard offers for students and instructors beyond content delivery, such as email, student homepages, and a gradebook.
1. Click on the Manage Tools link in the Course Options section.
2. Choose the desired Enable boxes.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Enable Blackboard Tools - These tools are standard by Blackboard and include both instructor and student tools. The various tools are listed on the left had side of the page. Opposite each tool are three options for each tool. These are Enabled, Allow Guest and Allow Observer. Clicking the check box under the appropriate option will determine access for that tool. An "n/a" indicates that choice is not applicable for that specific tool.
Enable Content Tools - Click the box next to the appropriate content tools: Item, URL, Test, Survey, Assignment and LRN Package to enable them.
The Course Availability feature allows you to make your course available to students. By default, courses are unavailable to students when created. An unavailable course is not visible to students but is visible to instructors, teaching assistants, and course builders. This feature allows faculty to develop a course or test a course site without students having access.
1. Click the Settings link in the Course Options section.
2. Click the Course Availability link.
3. In the Set Course Availability section, click the Yes radio button.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: Do I need to use this feature?
A: Yes, courses are created with a default setting of unavailable. When you are ready for students to access the course, you must make it available.
Q: I can see my course, but my students complain that they can't find my course. Should I call Blackboard Support?
A: No. Make your course available using the procedure detailed above.
Q: My TA can access my unavailable course, but my Grader says they cannot find it.
A: Graders cannot access unavailable courses, but TA's and Course Builders can.
Q: May I allow Guest access to an unavailable course?
A: No. Until a course is made available, it does not appear in the Blackboard Course Catalog.
The Guest Access feature allows an instructor to permit Blackboard users who are not enrolled in your course to access the information. This allows colleagues and students who are interested in your courses to visit the site and view your content. Instructors can limit which areas of their course guests can access via the Manage Tools> feature.
Note: People who are not within the Blackboard system (student, faculty, or staff) will not be able to access your Blackboard course as a guest. If you have questions about this, please contact your Blackboard System Administrator.
1. Click the Settings link in the Course Options section.
2. Click the Guest Access link.
3. Select Yes to allow guest access.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: If I allow guest access, will they be able to view the course roster or send email?
A: No, the communication areas of the course are always limited to enrolled students.
The Course Duration feature allows instructors to pre-set the course duration, the time span when the course is available to students. This feature is mainly used for distance education courses that have a set time limit on completion, or are only offered for a limited amount of time.
Note: The Course Availability setting will override the Course Duration setting. If the final date of the duration has passed, but the Course Availability setting is Yes, students will be able to access the course. Even though the Course Duration Ending Date has passed, you will still need to make the Course Availability setting No.
1. Click on the Settings link in the Course Options section.
2. Click on the Course Duration link.
3. Chose Continuous, Select Dates or Days.
4. Check the box next to the Start or Ending Date.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: How is this feature different than Course Availability?
A: The Course Availability feature is a direct on or off option. The instructor manually makes the course available, or visible to students using that feature in real time. Course Duration allows you to set a time or time limit on the course.
The Course Design feature allows you to customize the look and feel of your course by uploading a course banner, choosing a navigation style (buttons or text), and selecting colors for the navigation area.
1. Click the Settings link in the Course Options section.
2. Click the Course Design link.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: Do I need to use this feature?
A: No, but you may want to personalize the look of your course. This feature allows you to create a look for your course that is different from all other Blackboard courses.
Q: What is a course banner?
A: Course banner is a graphic file (.jpg or .gif) that is usually about 450 x 90 pixels. It can contain the title of the course and may have an additional image or photograph.
Q. How do I create a course banner?
A. You can create a course banner in any graphics program, like PhotoShop or Illustrator, or you can scan a hardcopy image and save it as a .jpg. The internet has many free online banner generators that allow you to easily create banners by typing in the desired text and choosing a font style and color.
Q: Can I use a banner in more than one course?
A: A banner can be uploaded to as many courses as you want.
Course Cartridges are academic resources provided by publishers to work with specific textbooks or study guides. They contain a variety of materials that can include slides, documents, multimedia files, links to related websites, test banks, and quizzes. Cartridges are loaded directly into a course site by the System Administrator using a code that was provided to them by the publisher. Instructors may use all or some of the cartridge content and the materials can be customized once they've been downloaded to a specific course site.
Courses using cartridges require an additional code to access, which students purchase along with the textbook.
Note: You must have received an Instructor Download Key from the appropriate publisher. This feature cannot be used without this download key. You can visit the Course Cartridges Server to view descriptions of all the available cartridges.
1. Click the Import Cartridge link in the Course Options section.
2. Enter the Course Cartridge Instructor Download key in the text field
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Q: What if I do not have a download key?
A: You must get the download keys from the publisher, however you can view a list and descriptions of all available cartridges to see if there is a cartridge for your particular textbook.
Q: If I load a cartridge into my course, will students need the access key to get to my original materials?
A: Yes, once you have loaded a cartridge to your course, students will need the access key to view all posted materials, whether they are part of the cartridge or faculty created.
Q: Do students need to enter the access key each time they enter the course site?
A: No, students need to enter the access only the first time they enter a course site with a cartridge.
Q: Do I have to use everything in the cartridge?
A: No, you can use as much or as little of the cartridge material as you like. You can either remove the extra materials, or make them unavailable.
This page was last updated on 8/31/05.
Check out our guides, customized to meet your needs:
Take a look at our new Best Practices guide for securing, protecting and hardening your computer against viruses and other malware.
Protect yourself and your personal identifying information.
Safe Computing [Security]
This is also a great place to visit if you are looking for topics such as: