Your Course View

All of your course content appears in the main part of the page. When you open a piece of content, it slides out in a layer on top of the Course Content page. Close layers to go back to a previous spot in your course.

  1. Navigation bar: Open frequently used tools in one step. Select an icon to check the course calendar, respond to class discussions, access the course gradebook, and send a message.
  2. Details & Actions: Manage your course with these options:
    • Create and manage groups: You can create group sets to use for graded assignments, tests, and discussions. You can also create groups for activities other than graded work, such as volunteering or field trips and ask students to self-enroll.
    • Roster: View your class list. You can access basic profile cards and match faces to names. You can also send messages to anyone involved with your course.
    • Course availability:
      • Open: Open a course when you're ready for students to participate.
      • Private: Make a course private while you add or experiment with content, and then open it to students when you're ready. Students see private courses in their course lists, but they can't access them.
    • Blackboard Collaborate: Use a Blackboard Collaborate session as a convenient launch point for scheduled and impromptu meetings. The icon appears in purple to show you and other course members when people are active in the Collaborate room.
    • Attendance: Mark attendance grades and access detailed records.
    • Announcements: Create or schedule course announcements for all course members to view.
  3. Add content: Select the plus sign wherever you want to add content. If you want to copy or import content, open the menu on the right side above the content list.
  4. New activity: If you've enabled conversations on content, activity icons appear for new conversation activity. The activity icon also appears with new discussions and group conversation activity.

    More on conversations

If you see a gauge icon next to your files, your institution uses Blackboard Ally to measure the accessibility of your course content. To learn more, visit Ally help for instructors.

Watch a video about the course environment

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.


Video: Introduction to Blackboard Learn showcases Ultra's modern, comfortable, and simple interface. The streamlined navigation and workflows are designed to allow you to get in, get done, and get out.