Frequently Asked Questions

Blackboard courses are unavailable by default to allow the instructor the ability to prepare their course materials prior to students entering the course. Instructors will need to make their courses available at the start of the semester to allow students access to the course materials. Instructors may change a course back to unavailable at any time.

To change the availability status of your course:

1. Click Customization in the course Control Panel located on the left side of the screen to expand that section.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click the appropriate radio button (yes or no) for Make Course Available in the Set Availability section.
4. Click Submit at the top or bottom right.

If a single student does not see your course in their Blackboard course list, they may be experiencing registration problems. Ask the student to contact the Registration and Records Office in JH133 to ensure they are officially enrolled in the course.

If multiple students are unable to see your course, the course may be set to "Unavailable." To make the course Available:

1. Click Customization in the course Control Panel located on the left side of the screen to expand that section.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click the appropriate radio button (yes) for Make Course Available in the Set Availability section.
4. Click Submit at the top or bottom right.

Students:
If you are a student and are unable to see a course, it is likely that the course is marked as Unavailable. Contact your Instructor so they can change the course status in Blackboard to Available.

Faculty:
If you are faculty and a course that you are instructing is not in your Blackboard course list, you may not be listed as the official instructor of record with Registration and Records. Contact the Registration and Records Office to ensure that you are the instructor of record. Once you are the official instructor, your Blackboard course will be created via an automated process by the following morning.

• I am a new faculty or staff member, why can't I log into Blackboard?

Blackboard accounts are automatically created once the employee is officially a member of the Butler community and has been named an instructor of record for a course (for a faculty member). Your Butler username and password are required to login to the Blackboard portal.

If you are a new faculty or staff member to Butler and are unable to log in, you may check with Human Resources to confirm that you have been entered into the system and with Registration and Records to ensure that you have been enrolled or named instructor of record in at least one course.

• I am a current student, why can't I log into Blackboard?

Blackboard accounts are automatically created once the student is registered for at least one course. Your Butler username and password are required to login to the Blackboard portal.

Although infrequent, the situation may be a password problem. Try resetting your password at http://password.butler.edu. If you still have difficulty, contact the Help Desk at (317) 940-4357.

• I am having trouble logging into Placement Exams.

If you are experiencing difficulty with a Placement Exam, call Placement Exam Assistance* at (317) 940-8298.

*Please note that the Placement Exam Assistance phone line is only answered during regular business hours (Monday - Friday), 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Messages will be returned the following business day.  

1. In the left navigation menu of your Blackboard course, click the name of the content area in which you wish to add a document.
2. Verify that Edit Mode at the top right of the page (below the BUmail logo) is set to ON.
3. From the menu bar at the top of the screen, hover over the Build Content button to display the full menu, then select the type content you wish to create.
4. Type a Name for the item in Section 1. Content Information.
5. Depending on the type of content you are entering, you may have the option of entering text that you would like to have displayed with your document. You may also choose a color for the display of the Name of the item.
6. Browse to find and select the file you wish to upload in Section 2. Attachments.
   Note, the actual file name must not have any special characters (e.g.*&.,()#@!/?)
7. You may type a different name for the Link Title in Section 2. Content by entering alternate text in the Link Title next to your document. The default is to use the file name as the Link Title.
   Note, here you may use special characters.
8. In the Section 3. Options section, you may choose the appropriate options for the display of your document to your students. Permit Users to View this Content must be marked Yes for students to be able to view your document.
9. Click Submit at the top or bottom right of the page.

Yes.

1. Group the files to upload into a single folder.
2. Create a zip file of all the files in the folder.
   • Windows
     1. Create a folder and place all the files into it (files must follow Blackboard naming rules)
     2. Right-click the file and select Send-To and then select Compressed-Zip file
   • Mac
     1. Create a folder and place all the files into it (files must follow Blackboard naming rules)
     2. Control-click on the file and select Archive
3. Upload the zip file into Blackboard using the procedure described above for uploading documents.

Yes.

Combining multiple sections of a course into a single course creates a course umbrella. Instructions to request a course umbrella are on the Course Umbrellas page.

Please note, combining sections will combine all students and instructors into a single course, a single gradebook and you will lose any course content added to the course before the umbrella (e.g. documents, quizzes, etc. will be deleted).

Yes.

As long as the course is displayed in your list of Blackboard courses, you may copy to or from it.

1. Enter the Blackboard course from which you wish to copy content.
2. In the Control Panel, click Packages and Utilities to expand that section.
3. Click on Course Copy.
4. Click Copy Course Materials in to an Existing Course.
5. Type in the course ID of the course into which you are copying content. Course ID includes the course letters, course number, section number and semester/year. (For example: ML_206_SEC01_Fall10) You may also use the Browse button to search for and select the appropriate course into which you are copying content.
6. Select the Course Materials to copy.
7. Click Submit at the top or bottom right.

If you have difficulty or the course is no longer displayed in your Blackboard list of classes, instructions to request a course copy are on the Course Copies page.

Yes.

Special enrollments are possible for co-instructors, course support individuals, and course builders. All student enrollments must be directed to the Registration and Records Office. Instructions for requesting a special enrollment are available on the Special Enrollment page.

Please note: the role of co-instructor or course support individual has full access to the course.

Yes.

To allow access to your Blackboard course by individuals other than officially enrolled students, Guest Access must be turned on.

Please note, you should use discretion in posting sensitive information when activating Guest Access for the course is now easily accessible to the world.

Guest Access must be activated in two different areas of a course:

1. Turn on Guest Access for your entire course:
   • In the course Control Panel, click Customization to expand the menu.
   • Click Guest and Observer Access.
   • Click the Yes radio button next to Allow Guests.
   • Click Submit at the top or bottom right.
2. Turn on Guest Access for a general area of your course:
   • In the course Control Panel, click Customization to expand the menu.
   • Click Tool Availability.
   • Check Allow Guest for each area you wish to make available to guests.
   • Click Submit at the top or bottom right.

After activating guest access (see FAQ#10):

1. Provide your guests with the official name of the course.
2. Instruct them to go to http://blackboard.butler.edu and have them follow the steps listed below.

• Click on the Courses tab at the top of the page.
• Type in the name (or part of the name) of the course you are searching in the Course Search box.
• A list of courses will appear at the bottom of the page.
• Click on the course you wish to enter.

The Center for Academic Technology creates courses for a new term at least three weeks before the commencement of classes.

Please note, the Registration and Records Office often makes changes to course offerings and section numbers. If an instructor builds a course and the Registration and Records office changes the course name or section number, all development done to that point would be lost.

Yes.

Instructors may request a development version of a course. A development course will allow the instructor to develop the course at any time with no specific term requirements. Once courses for the semester are available, you may copy the content from the development course into your official course populated with the students enrolled in your course. Instructions for requesting a development course are available on the Development Courses page.

No.

There is only a quota of 750 MB per file per upload. Please note, however, that attempting to upload files of that size will likely cause the server to time out during the upload process making your file corrupt.

Courses are stored on the Blackboard servers indefinitely. You may choose to archive your course at any time while the course is still available to you:

1. In the course Control Panel, click Packages and Utilities to expand the menu.
2. Select Export/Archive Course.
3. Click the Archive button on the menu bar.
4. Click Submit at the top or bottom right.
5. Click OK.
6. You will receive an email notice when the archive is complete.
7. A zip file of your archived course will be in the Export/Archive Course location (where you initiated the archive).
8. Click on the zip file name to save the archived course to another location. (e.g. computer, flash drive, BUfiles, etc.)

Courses are now stored on the Blackboard servers indefinitely. This means that your old courses will remain available to you and will be displayed in your Course List until you choose to hide them. You can hide or restore course, or change other features of your course list display, as follows:

1. Click on the Courses tab to display your Course List.
2. Select the gear shaped icon in the upper right corner of your Course List title bar.
3. Uncheck all courses that you no longer wish to have displayed in your Course List. These courses will remain available in this Personalize: Course List page for you to re-display them any time you may wish.
4. If you wish to display additional information on your Course List (for example, the Course ID which contains the semester in which the course was taught), select those items next to the appropriate courses.
5. Click Submit at the top or bottom right.