Your Blackboard Course
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. 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.
The courses themselves can be customised in terms of design and menu layout. A course catalogue lists all available courses, Banner courses are categorised automatically while for Arbitrary Courses this is a manual process.
Courses may be accessed through the My University of Southampton screen, which can be customised to show only relevant information.
About "Banner" Courses in Blackboard
All course units listed in the Banner student record system are created automatically in Blackboard. Find out about these courses, and how to resolve issues with them here.
Request an "Arbitrary" Blackboard Course
Use this web based form to request an arbitrary Blackboard course be set up for you.
How to Categorise your "Arbitrary" Blackboard Course
Use this guide to adjust how your "Arbitrary" Blackboard Course is listed in the Blackboard Course Catalogue
Naming Conventions for Blackboard Courses
This web page describes how Blackboard courses are named.
How to Make your Blackboard Course Available to Students
When your Blackboard course is ready to use it is important that you make the course Available to students, otherwise they won't be able to see it.
How to set the language in which your Blackboard Course appears, and how to enforce it
It is possible to set your Blackboard course to appear in one of a number of available languages. Once this is set you can also enforce your selection so that students cannot force it to be displayed in a different language.
How to Change the Design of your Blackboard Course
It's possible to change the colour and look of your course's menu. You may also add a course banner.
How to Customise your Course's Menu
You may change the names of menu items or add new ones. This guide will show you what is involved in making such changes.
Quick / Detail View of the Course Menu
It's possible to change the course menu to a more sophisticated detail view. This guide shows the two different views and describes how to change them.
How to Customise the My University of Southampton Screen
The My University of Southampton shows which courses you have access to and any announcements for those courses. You can change which courses are shown by using this guide. This can be useful for hiding courses that are no longer relevant.
How to Change Your Blackboard Course's “Entry Point”
When a user enters a Blackboard course, the first page they see is the course's “entry point”. By default this is set to be the announcements page. If you wish you may change your course's entry point to be a different menu item within your course.
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