Course Availability
Course availability is determined by two factors. (1) The term/duration, set by the system administrator, determines whether the course is considered “current” in the Blackboard system. (2) The course Open/Closed status, controlled by the instructor, determines whether students can access a current course.If a course is closed to students, or the course duration dates fall outside the current term, the course will be labeled “Closed” and show a lock icon over the course image for all users. However, this indicates the course status for student users ONLY. Non-student users, including Instructors, Teaching Assistants, Course Builders, and Graders, can access and edit Blackboard courses regardless of the course duration or Open/Closed status.
Understanding Course Dates
Courses in our Blackboard system are created with a default start and end date, also called the Course Duration. When the current date falls within the course duration, the course will appear in the list of “Current Courses” for all users. Students can only access courses that are current.
The default setting for the course duration varies by semester. The start date is automatically set as the day 4 weeks before the start of main campus classes, and the end date is automatically set as the last day of the month after the end of the term. For example, Fall 2024 courses were created with a course duration of 7/29/2024 through 1/31/2025.
Instructors and teaching assistants are able to edit the course duration, but unless there is a specific reason a course should not adhere to the standard term dates, this is not recommended. Changing the course duration does not directly open/close your course to students, but can cause conflicts with course availability status and prevent students from being able to access the course when you intend.
Students cannot access Blackboard courses outside the duration dates. For example, if you set your course start date to the day of the first class meeting, students will be unable to open the Blackboard course before that date. The default term durations are designed to give instructors plenty of leeway to open/close their courses for student participation when they see fit. The default duration should only be changed in exceptional circumstances.
On instructor request, administrators are able to set a custom duration for individual students for allowing a student to finish an incomplete course or access old assignments. To extended access, an instructor should send the course number, student NetID, access date range, and reason to help@syr.edu.
Instructors interested in specifying course meeting days/times should examine the course schedule features in the Course Calendar.
Opening Your Course for Students
To manage student access to your Blackboard course, click “Course Settings” in the upper right of your browser window. The first section of the full settings menu, labeled “Course Access,” contains the following information and options:
Current student access status (OPEN or CLOSED) - this icon will update after changes are saved.
Course Duration - the course will appear under “current courses” for all enrolled users between these dates.
Course Duration is set by the university according to the semester schedule. Unless there is a specific reason that the course should not adhere to the default semester schedule, editing these dates is not recommended.
Course Status (Open or Closed) - if the course is Open AND the current date falls within the course duration, enrolled students will be able to access and participate in the course in Blackboard. If the course is set to Closed OR the current date falls outside the course duration, enrolled students will see a lock icon over the course image in their Blackboard course list and will be unable to access the course contents.
Mark Course Complete - this option allows an instructor to set a course to “read only” at the end of the semester. All users can view past content, discussions, grades, etc, but no edits or new submissions can be made.
If your course is unavailable, access is determined by an individual's course role. Blackboard administrators, instructors, course builders, teaching assistants, and graders can see and access unavailable courses from the My Courses tab and the course list, but the course is marked as unavailable. Students, however, can't access unavailable courses regardless of the course duration.
Open/Close Multiple Courses Using the Qwickly Tool
From the institution page menu, select Tools.
Find and select the Qwickly Course Tools icon.
Select Course Availability from the menu
Search by name using the search field or select the appropriate filter to see only available or unavailable courses.
Use the toggles to make courses available or unavailable to students. You may need to refresh your LMS browser and Course Tools to see updates.
Set course availability through Blackboard course
All Ultra Courses are set to Closed by default. When you are ready to make the course available to students, visit the “Course Access” section of the Course Settings (upper right hand corner of course). Here, instructors will see the course status. Select ON when you are ready to open your course and allow students to access it. You can close the course at any time by selecting the Closed option. (Learn more about Course Duration above - Understanding Course Dates.)
The current course status is also displayed in the upper right corner of the course next to the “Course Settings” buttons.
You can access the course settings two ways. If you are inside the course, you can click “Course Settings” in the upper-right corner of the course. If you are on the Courses Page, you can click the menu button on the course row or tile and choose “Course Settings.”
Marking a course Complete
You can choose to set your course to “Complete” when the course has ended; once you do so neither you nor your students can make changes to the course. This setting allows students to access the content, but they can't participate in the course any longer to, for example, reply to discussions or submit assignments. You can find the “Complete Course” option in the Course Access area of the Course Settings, just under the Close Course option.
Note If you return to the Courses page and don't see all the options/changes in a course's menu after making the change, refresh the browser page.
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