Blackboard FAQ

Please see the below frequently asked Blackboard Original questions. This FAQ will be updated for Blackboard Ultra starting Spring 2026. 

At what point are my students normally enrolled into my Blackboard course?

Students are normally enrolled in your Blackboard course within 24 hours, or on the following business day after you receive notification that your Blackboard course for the current semester has been created. After that point and throughout the semester, students who officially enroll into the applicable class section(s) that you specified when you requested your Blackboard course (i.e. late adds) will be enrolled into your Blackboard course on the following business day after their official enrollment is processed. Note that only students who are officially enrolled in the course and class sections that you specified when you requested your Blackboard course will be enrolled in that course. If you after the fact that you have inadvertently omitted a class section in your Blackboard course request, or if a section has been added to your workload, you may request that those students be added to one of your existing Blackboard courses, or that another Blackboard course be created for those students by submitting an IT ticket, if you're familiar with the process, or connecting with your School Chair directly.

How am I able to see which users have been enrolled into my Blackboard course?

From the main Content tab, look to the right for the main Details & Actions tab; click View everyone in your course, under the Roster heading. This will show all users in your course, including other instructors and students. You can filter the results using the drop-down option near the top-right of this window. 

Am I able to "manually" add students into my Blackboard course?

There should be VERY few if any instances where you would have reason to manually add a student into your Blackboard course. This is because the process of enrolling students into your Blackboard course is done automatically each business day based on their official enrollments within PeopleSoft...this includes students who enroll late as well (late adds). In the event that you do need to manually add a student though because of timing issues, because a student was removed from your Blackboard course (inadvertently or otherwise), etc., you do have the ability to do so.

From the Roster area (see above for how to navigate to Roster), there is an Add button at the top-right that looks like a plus symbol encapsulated by a circle; click on it. This will bring up the Enroll People pannel. You can search for all users by using their first name and/or last name. Searching directly by email is the most effective way of finding the right user. Once you find the right user, click on their name and select from the drop-down option as to their role (Student, Instructor, etc.). Then, click Save.

How do I remove a student's access to my Blackboard course?

If a student drops your class section or if a class section is dropped from your course load, then you will need to either disable their access to your Blackboard course or remove them from your Blackboard course completely. Either one of these is a manual process that you would normally consider after the drop/add period has passed for the current semester. Note that removing a student from your Blackboard course also permanently removes any assignments, assessments, grades, etc. that they have submitted, so you would need to be careful about possibly removing the wrong student. Disabling a student's access to your course is safer, but it also leaves them as being listed within your course, which often is not convenient when managing or maintaining various areas of your course such as your grade centre, etc. If you are concerned about possibly removing any students in error, you may wish to consider disabling their access for a short time period such as two weeks, then removing them once you are sure it is safe to do so.

Disabling students' access to your Blackboard course:

From the Roster area (see above for how to navigate to Roster), click on the three dots that appear next to the student, the click on Member Information. Un-check the box that says "Allow access to course." Doing so will remove access for the student but will still allow you to see the user in the course, just with a crossed out image over their picture or initials. Click Save to complete.

Removing students from your Blackboard course:

From the roster area (see above for how to navigate to Roster), click on the three dots that appear next to the student, the click on Member Information. Next to their name and email address, click the Trash icon to Remove Member; click on the confirmation pop-up to completely remove the person from the course.

How do I copy course contents from one of my previous Blackboard courses into my new empty course?

Copying course contents from one of your previous Blackboard courses into a new course shell is relatively simple, but you need to be careful not to copy the student enrollments from the previous course as well. Please click here for more information on copying course contents.

How do I make my Blackboard course available to my students?

New course sites are marked as being unavailable to your students by default. When your course is ready for your students to access, click on Course Settings at the top with the small gear icon. If your course is Closed for student view, it will also display that status here. From the Course Settings menu, look for the options under "Course Status" and select Open. Please note that it will take at least a few minutes for the status of Open to appear across all Blackboard menus for your users.

How do I export my course materials from Blackboard for future use?

Blackboard course materials can be exported for storage for future access to course materials. Please click here for more information on exporting course materials.

How do I remove old courses from my course list?

If you find that your older courses listed gets to be cumbersome you may remove them from your list by hiding them. On the main Home page, click on the three dots next to the course name. You can select "Hide course for me."

If you need to retrieve this course in the future, you can simply locate it again by filtering for courses "Hidden from me" using the drop down filter option in the search bar.