"My Courses" on Blackboard
When you first log in to Blackboard, you will see the "My Biola" page. One of the sections on that page is "My Courses", which shows all the courses you are associated with.
Missing Courses
Instructors and students should automatically be added to their courses. Instructors are added to the course when the course is created on Blackboard. Students are added during registration and during the first couple weeks of class (until the Last Day to Add).
If one of your courses does not appear in your list, contact the Blackboard Administrator.
Organizing Courses
You can customize what appears on that page by clicking "Modify Content", and how it appears using "Modify Layout". Your page might look something like this:
Use the little pencil icon to the right of the words "My Courses" to edit which courses appear in that list. I recommend turning off all the classes you're not regularly using, to keep the list small, which makes it easier to use. The customize screen looks like this:
Uncheck all the boxes except for the "Display Course Name" boxes next to the courses you regularly use. Instructors are the ones writing the announcements, so they probably don't need to display them in this view. Students might want to leave those boxes checked.
Making Courses "Unavailable"
Sometimes, instructors will want to make a class unavailable. This means students will have no access to the course. It doesn't delete the course, and you will still have access, but students won't. Here's how: Go to the course, click "Control Panel", then "Settings" then "Course Availability" then "No", then "Submit"
Why would you do this? To make the course invisible while you're working on it before the semester begins. To turn off past semesters' classes that are no longer in use. To turn off sections of classes not used.
While the class is "unavailable", the instructor will still be able to access it, and it's easy to turn back on.
Back to Blackboard Overview.