Blackboard courses are usually set up automatically using information in the Banner student record system, this allows courses to automatically be populated with students and staff. Ā Arbitrary Courses can be used in situations where a course is required which is not listed in Banner, for example for a course project or an admin course for a year group.
When courses are created they are set to be unavailable to students. This means that the instructor can set the course up as they wish and then make the course available.
Request an Arbitrary Blackboard course
Request a new Arbitrary course a copy of an existing course for the next academic year.
Request a Sandbox course
A sandbox is your personal Blackboard course used for training and testing.
How to batch enrol students onto an arbitrary course in Blackboard
Arbitrary Blackboard courses do not benefit from automatic enrolments like Banner courses. Ā This simple tool which we have developed makes it easier for you to batch enrol students onto arbitrary courses.
How to change the design of your Blackboard course
Itās possible to change the colour and look of your courseās menu. You may also add a course banner.
View photographs of members of your Blackboard course
You can use theĀ class photo rosterĀ to show photographs (where available) of users who have access to your course. This includes users with any role including students, instructors, and teaching assistants. Where a photograph is not available a placeholder image is used.
Making a ‘deep link’ into your Blackboard course
A ādeep linkā is a link that takes someone further into a web site than the standard home page of that site. In Blackboard you may wish to provide students with a link to a part of a Blackboard course, or a piece of content. There are some important consideration when using deep linking, read the guide carefully.
Request a Programme course
You can request a BlackboardĀ Programme CourseĀ to holdĀ programme level information and communication.Ā Students can be auto-enrolled and the course will appear under a separate heading on the Blackboard Home page Ā
Request to merged student enrolments into a single course
If you are teaching closely related Banner modules, you can request to have the Banner module enrolments merged into a single āparentā Blackboard course.Ā Ā
How to use WebSIS to source data for use with the Batch Enrol tool
The batch enrol tool is a popular facility for adding students en masse to an arbitrary Blackboard course.Ā This guide shows how to use WebSIS to find the lists of students who meet criteria you select to decide who should be added to your arbitrary Blackboard course.
How to customise the course menu
This guide shows how to make changes to your Blackboard menu items, including adding new ones.
Make your Blackboard course available to students
When you have finished preparing your Blackboard course it is important that you make the course Available to students.
How to change the ‘entry point’ of yourĀ Blackboard course
When a user enters a Blackboard course, the first page they see is the courseās āentry pointā. By default this is set to be the announcements page. If you wish you may change your courseās entry point to be a different menu item within your course.
Understanding and controlling Blackboard search results
Blackboard search will search content from the courses a user is enrolled on.Ā This guide explains what content searched, and how to exclude content from search results.