Blackboard - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

On the front page of Olé, before you log in, click "Faculty: New Course Request" in the Welcome to Olé module. Log in, and fill out the form on the next page. Your course will be activated within three business days.

Contact the Helpdesk at x7900 to reset your password or verify your account status.

First, check the Announcements on the login screen to verify there aren't current system issues. Next, check your Internet connection. If using wi-fi, verify that you have full signal strength. Verify by using the Browser Check button on the login screen that you are using a compatible browser. If, after performing these checks, you are still having trouble with slowness, please contact bb@sandiego.edu.

Verify that your browser and operating system are compatible with Blackboard.

Courses will be activated within three business days of request.

Email bb@sandiego.edu with your request and pertinent course information.

When filling out the course activation form, choose "yes" from the options in "What if I have a merged course?"

Email bb@sandiego.edu with the IDs of your courses and request they be merged.

Email bb@sandiego.edu with the IDs of your courses and request they be un-merged.

Please take a screenshot of the error message and email it to iteam@sandiego.edu. Also include the approximate time of the error, name of your course, and what you were trying to do when the error occurred.

Courses will take up to three business days to process. If you don't see your course in Blackboard after the third business day, please email bb@sandiego.edu with your name, course ID, and date of request.

Course titles for academic courses are automatically generated from their listings in MySanDiego. To change your course title, contact the registrar.

Blackboard automatically creates child courses when creating a merged (cross-listed) course. Child courses are not visible to students, and should not be used. How to Hide Courses from Your Blackboard Menu.

How to hide a course from your My Courses menu.

All new and returning faculty should have a sandbox in their My Courses list. If you don't, or would like another, please email iteam@sandiego.edu.

Blackboard courses can be up to 3 GB. If you are receiving over-quota messages, check on your course size by going to Packages and Utilities > Export/Archive Course in the Control Panel and choosing the Estimate Package Size tool. Use the Content Collection under the Control Panel to view sizes of and remove or modify individual files and folders.

Your course will automatically be populated with students who registered via MySanDiego. If you have any questions, please email iteam@sandiego.edu.

Please email iteam@sandiego.edu with the username (the name before @sandiego.edu) of your TA as well as the evidence that your TA has completed FERPA and Blackboard training.

Please email iteam@sandiego.edu with the Instructor's username (the name before @sandiego.edu) and the course ID into which you would like to enroll the Instructor.

From the Control Panel, go to Course Tools > Add Test Student and follow the directions.

After a student registers for your course, please allow two business days for all systems to synchronize and for the student to appear in the course. If it has been more than two days, please contact bb@sandiego.edu with the student's name and mySanDiego username.

Contact bb@sandiego.edu with the student's name and mySanDiego username.

To make a collapsed course menu reappear, drag your mouse cursor to the left hand of your screen until a green, vertical bar appears. Click on the bar, and your menu will reappear. This site a video tutorial of this.

You can use the Content Collection, Document Unpackager, and WebDav to upload files. Tool Differences.

From a course content area, go to Tools and select Blackboard Collaborate. From the next page, click Create Session, and specify the parameters of your Collaborate session. The Blackboard Collaborate site provides further information for using the Collaborate platform.

Be sure the course you'd like to copy into has been activated. Navigate to the Control Panel of the old course. Go to Packages and Utilities > Course Copy. Select the parts of the course you wish to copy and the course ID that you're copying into. If you select an area that has no content or is not used, it won't impact the course you're copying into. You'll receive an email after the course content has been copied. This video tutorial walks through the steps of course copying.

Verify that you have received the course copy confirmation email. If you have, and still don't see some or all of your content, wait at least 30 minutes after the initial copy and then recopy the course or portions of the course. Verify everything you want to copy is checked. If you are copying Assignments, be sure to copy Grade Center Columns and Settings. If your course is especially large (1 GB or more) or it is a peak time in the semester, it may take an hour for the content to copy.

If, after following these steps, you still don't see your content contact the iTeam at iteam@sandiego.edu.

The Content Collection is part of the Control Panel, which students will never see. Directions to add files visible to students in the Content Collection.

The Email tool sends emails to your students' @sandiego.edu accounts. Blackboard does not store these message in your course, but you wil get a carbon copy of any message you send.

The Messages tool is an internal messaging platform. Users must log in to Blackboard to view and send Messages. Learn more about how to use and the differences between Messages and Email.

The iTeam blog provides information on TurnItIn and SafeAssign. If you would like assistance implementing these tools, please contact iteam@sandiego.edu

Blackboard currently has integrations with McGraw-Hill, Pearson's MyLab, WileyPLUS, CourseSmart, and Cengage. This article contains resources to get started with each tool. Contact your publisher if you have technical questions about these tools.

By default, a course will become available to students within a week or two of the start of the semester, and will become unavailble shortly after a semester ends. To change availability settings, go to Control Panel > Customization > Properties > Availability. Hide Course Tutorial.

Go to Control Panel > Customization > Tool Availability. Find the tool you'd like to enable, and check the box in the "Available" column next to the tool name.

You can view your course roster by using the Roster tool, the Grade Center, or the Users area under Users and Groups in the Control Panel. Course Roster Information.

You must delete the actual assignment from the course to have the column removed from the Grade Center. Find the assignment, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the Assignment title, and choose Delete.

No. A student can see only his or her own grades.

The Blackboard system administrator is in the process of integrating this functionality into Olé -- it is not built in. MySanDiego Grade Entering Instructions.

External grades report grades to a module or external system. They are not currently used at USD, but the Blackboard system requires one External Grade in each Grade Center. How to Hide the External Grade Column.

Follow the Directions on How to Reset a Student's Test Attempt.