Develop Your Course

Set Up Your Blackboard Site

• Best Practices for Shell Layout Interaction
• Copy content
• Create Accessible Courses

Set Up Grading

• Getting Started with Grade Center
• Blackboard Ultra Gradebook overview: video

Watch this Grade Center Instructional Module to learn more.

Manage Enrollment

The creation and enrollment of classes is handled by an automatic process for all credit based classes at UofL.

The Process

Classes and assigned instructors are sent by the departments to the registrar. The information is entered into the registration system, then passed to Blackboard. Blackboard creates a basic shell for each class based on a template and instructors are assigned rights to their assigned shell(s). During student registration and drop/add periods, enrollments are passed from the registration system to Blackboard three times a day.

Loading of New Classes Each Spring

Each spring, classes for the next academic year are added to Blackboard in stages.

Summer Classes: March 1
Fall Classes: March 10
Spring Classes: May 15

Information on Archive/Purge Cycle for Course Rotation

The archive and purge cycle happens twice a year.

Spring archive and purge generally happens in March or later after the summer and fall class loads for the previous Spring and back (i.e. in Spring 2018 the archive and purge would be for Spring 2017 and back).

Fall archive and purge generally happens in May or later after the spring class loads for the previous fall and back (i.e. in Fall 2018 the archive and purge would be for Fall 2017 and back).