How to get access to your Blackboard courses

Blackboard courses are created automatically 6-weeks* before the module start date.

Staff enrolment on to Blackboard courses happens in 3-ways:

  1. Module leaders are enrolled automatically when the course is created. This is based on the Module Leader list in Unit-e. The list is maintained by the Senior Administrative Officers (SAOs).
  2. Module leaders can enrol other staff on to their Blackboard course.
  3. A number of staff have a ‘Course Manager’ role and can enrol colleagues on any course.  This varies by School:
School / College Course Managers
College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare Course Managers for CNMH (PDF)
London College of Music TBC. Please check within the College.
London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism Dean, Heads of Subject, Senior Administrative Officer or Administrative Officer.
London School of Film, Media and Design Course Leaders
School of Computing and Engineering Course Leaders and Subject Heads
School of Human and Social Sciences Course Leaders or Heads of Subject
School of Law and Criminology Philipp Elliot-Wright (LLB/LLM), Jane Stevens (LPC) and Daniele Alge (Criminology)
The Claude Littner Business School Course Leaders and Course Administrators

 

*It’s 5-weeks and 6-days to be precise, as the process runs overnight.

 

Who can see your Blackboard course?

Anyone enrolled on your Blackboard course will be able to see it as long as you have made the course available.  You can see a list of the people enrolled on your Blackboard course by going to the left hand menu and clicking on Users and Groups and then Users.

 

How to give a colleague access to a Blackboard course

If you already have access to a Blackboard course then you can give colleagues access by following the steps shown in this guide:

Adding colleagues to a Blackboard course

 

If you have the Blackboard Course Manager role then you can also add anyone to Blackboard courses: How to enrol yourself onto Blackboard courses

 

How to remove a colleague from a Blackboard course

You can remove a colleague from a Blackboard course  that you are enrolled on by following the steps shown in this guide:

 

How to make a Blackboard course available / unavailable

When a new course is created in Blackboard it is set as unavailable which means it is not visible to students.  This is quite deliberate as it ensures students don’t have access to empty courses or spaces that are under development.  It also gives teaching staff control over what students can see, and when.

To make a course or module available:

  1. In the left hand menu click on Customisation > Properties

2. Scroll down to find the Set Availability section and select Yes, then click on Submit.

How to preview your Blackboard courses to see what the students see

With student preview, you can see your course as your students do. This may be useful to check how the course has been set up, for example

  • Check which content has been made available to students
  • Take a test​
  1. To switch to the student view, in your Blackboard course click on the Student Preview icon:

2. While in student preview mode an orange banner will be displayed at the top of the screen

3. When you enter preview mode a temporary student account is created. When you exit preview you will be asked if you want to delete this temporary user. Normally you ​will accept this default. However you should choose Keep the preview user and all data​ if you submitted a blackboard assignment as a student, and now want to grade it via Grade Centre.​

 

How to create groups

Blackboard group sets are a quick and easy way to create multiple groups of students which may be useful if you plan on using group assignments or content in Blackboard. Read step by step instructions.

How to merge your Blackboard courses

If you have multiple instances of the same module, you may want to merge these into a single Blackboard course. This will copy the student enrolments from one or more ‘child’ courses into a ‘master’ course. You will only need to post materials on the master course once, rather than posting to each separate course.

Please note the following changes after merging:

  • The child course(s) will be unavailable
  • Content from the child course(s) will not copied to the master course​
  • The Grade Centre listings will be combined from the child course(s)

A request to merge your Blackboard courses can be made by emailing us. Course merges must be requested at least 3 weeks before the module start date. Please include the following information in your email:

  1. Module code and start date of the master course
  2. Module code(s) and start date(s) of the child course(s)