Tip #87: End of the Semester Checklist

Tip: At the end of each semester, you should

1. Export the final course Gradebook
2. Archive your Blackboard course
3. Make the course unavailable

Make the course unavailable

1. Go to the Control Panel and click Customization.
2. Click Properties.
3. Underneath Set Availability, check the box next to No.
4. Click Submit.

Backup the final course Gradebook:

1. Access the Grade Center from the Control Panel.
2. Click Work Offline on the right side and select Download.
3. On the Download Grades page:
• Data, select Full Grade Center
• Options, select the Delimiter Type as Tab
• Save Location, select Download Location as My Computer
4. Click Submit.
5. Click link to download grade center backup.

Archive your Blackboard course:

1. Go to the Control Panel and click Packages and Utilities.
2. Click Export/Archive Course.
3. Click Archive.
4. On the Archive Course page:Select Copy Options, check Include Grade Center History
5. Click Submit.
6. An email will be sent when the archive has been completed.Note: Refresh the screen to view the zip file. The course archive may take up to 15 minutes to generate.
7. Click the Archive File of the course to save to computer.

Tip # 86: Sending Email from Grade Center

Tip: Emails can be sent to students directly from the Grade Center.
This feature imports student emails into an email form directly from the grade center.

How to send emails from Grade Center:

1. Access the Grade Center from the Control Panel.
2. Check the boxes next to the name or names to send emails to.
3. On the bottom of the grade center below student names, click the drop-down menu Email.
4. Click Email Selected Users.
5. A Send Email screen will open, importing all selected user emails and providing text boxes to insert the subject, message, and any attachments.
6. Complete information in the Subject and Message boxes and click Submit.
   Note: A copy of the email will be sent to the instructor.

Tip #85: Copy and Paste from Word

Tip: Some formatting of text can be preserved by changing the options in visual text box editor.

Pasting copied text from Word into Blackboard can sometimes cause formatting problems. Changes made to the visual text box editor can preserve spacing from Word.

How to copy and paste from Word:

1. In Blackboard, create a new item (i.e. Discussion Board, Announcement, or Course Module), or reply to a discussion board thread.
2. On the right side of the visual text box editor is a button that says Visual Editor: On. Click On to change the selection to Off.
3. When the Visual Editor button says Off, the text editing tools are removed. Instead, three options on the bottom will appear. The Smart Text option should be selected.
4. Copy and paste text.
Note: Only spacing and bullets will be kept in Blackboard, not bold, underline, or italics.
5. Click Preview (on the bottom right of the text box) to see how the post will look before submitting it.
Note: Do not turn on the text editor before submitting text, or all text will be removed.
6. Once finished, click Submit.
7. Bold, underline, and italics may be added by using the text editing toolbar after a post has been submitted. Click to Edit post. [If the visual editor is still off, click to return to on mode and text from Word will be retained.]