Course Availability and Blackboard Fall 2009 Courses

As you wrap up your Fall 2009 courses, don't forget to make these course areas on Blackboard unavailable to students.

There is only one way to do this, and those instructions have been included below. If you are hiding courses from your view on the SVCC and/or Teach tab, by clicking on the "pencil" icon (picture) and making selections to no longer display course names on your list...this is NOT making the course(s) unavailable. This only hides the course from your view. You need to make the course unavailable to students so they no longer have access to it on Blackboard.

If you have a 1 or 2 students who will need to continue to have access to your course through the Spring semester due to incompletes, I can make the course unavailable to all students but those 1 or 2 who need continued access. Just submit a ticket to Issuetrak stating what you need and make sure that you identify the course or courses (ex. ENG 241 A6) and the full names of the students who need to maintain access. https://southside.issuetrak.com/login.asp

Just remember that when those students are finished, you then need to make the course area unavailable.

Changing Course Availability
1. Go to https://my.vccs.edu/
2. Log-in
3. Click on "Blackboard" under the "My Tools" list.
4. Click on the course (listed on either your "Teach" tab or "SVCC" tab)
5. Click on the "Control Panel" option (from within the course)
6. Click "Settings" in the "Course Options" box
7. Click on "Course Availability"
8. Click "No" to make it unavailable to all students enrolled; Click "Yes" to make it available to all students enrolled
9. Click on "Submit"

Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope that you have a great holiday!!
(kelly.goscinski@southside.edu)

Fall 2008 Courses to Be Removed From Blackboard

All FAll 2008 (and prior) courses will be removed from Blackboard. The criteria for removal at this stage is:

1. Course ID's ending in "FA08"


2. Or course areas created before August 1, 2008

Courses marked for deletion, have had the statement "Will delete December 15, 2009" added to their title within Blackboard. Check your courses!!! On December 15, 2009, all of these flagged courses will be removed from the Blackboard production area.

I highly recommend that you create your own archive of your course(s) that will contain all of your content and student data. Although the VCCS does archive copies of the courses, it is a good rule of thumb to keep your own copy. The VCCS will only keep the Fall 2008 archived course files until Fall of 2010.

To create and save an archive (zipped file) of your course,

1. Go to the "Control Panel" of your course area on Blackboard


2. Click on "Archive Course" in the "Course Options" box. (Exporting will allow you to create a back-up file of only your content without student grades, etc. To do this, you would select "Export Course" instead of archive. The procedure is very similar to archiving.)


3. Click on "Archive".


4. Make sure that "Include Grade Center History" to maintain an archived file that includes student grades.


5. Click "Submit".

It will take time for this archived file to be created. You will receive an email when it is available. You will need to repeat steps 1 and 2 above to find the file to then save to your computer, flash drive, or alternate storage device.

If you have any questions or need any assistance, please contact me at kelly.goscinski@southside.edu.