Change Your Course's Availability
Whether you want to close a course so you can work on it or open a course so a student can take a little longer in it, as the instructor, you have complete control over when your Blackboard course opens and closes. Keep these things in mind:
- Most Blackboard courses will open about 2 weeks before the first day of class. If you want to close your class until the first day, that is fine to do. Make sure your course opens on the first day and not later.
- Most Blackboard courses will close right after the semester ends. You can keep your course open as long as you like, but you should consider putting up an announcement saying that you are no longer accepting work and that the course is closed so that students who did not receive a grade of incomplete don't attempt to submit late work.
Here's How You Do It
- Login to your course
- Locate the "Customization" link on the left of your course. It's in the "Course Management" area
- Choose "Properties"
- Scroll down and find the "Set Course Duration" area and change the start or end date to meet your needs
- NOTE: do not change your course availability from "yes" to "no." Keep it at "yes" all the time to ensure your students can see that they are enrolled in your course in Blackboard. If you have changed the date so that it's not open, that is sufficient to keep students out of your course, and you don't need to change availability to "no."