Make a Course Available to Students in Blackboard

bb Blackboard instructor make class course available availablility access navigation menu settings Building Base Ultra private UBN MyBlackboard

Access to Blackboard courses depends on course availability (closed/open) and user role (instructor, student, etc.). Students can only see courses that have been made available, but instructors can access all of their current classes regardless of availability status.

Blackboard courses automatically become available to students approximately one week before the first day of class, but instructors may allow or restrict access on whenever they are ready by adjusting the course availability manually. This feature is useful when a course is construction or if it ends before the scheduled semester/date. All instructors can access this setting from two places:

The top-level 'Courses' menu
Inside of each course, under the 'Course Management' menu

Please see the instructions below for more information about using each method to manage your courses.

Set Availability from the 'Courses' Menu

The Courses menu provides an easy way to change multiple courses' availability in one place. After logging in to Blackboard, you will see the Institution Page with the UBN (Ultra Base Navigation) menu on the left side of the page.

In the UBN menu, click Courses to open the Courses page.
On the Courses page, find the course you would like to change. A padlock icon will appear on courses that are currently set to 'Closed.' This means that the course is locked/unavailable to students; they will see the course link, but they won't be able to open it or access the course content. To make the course available, click the three dot button to the right of the desired class and select 'Course Settings.'
This will open a course configuration page. Under 'Course Access' > 'Close Course' > use the slider next to 'Course content will be unavailable to students' to toggle the course's availability off or on. Do not change the 'Complete Course' setting at this time. After you have changed the setting, you can use the 'x' in the top-left corner of the page to close this menu.

*Note: Instructors can also select 'Hide course' to (reversibly) remove a course from their personal active course list (shown above). This only affects your own view (not students') and may be helpful if your list includes many courses that you no longer need to access regularly. Activity and updates for hidden courses won't appear on the global pages about all of your courses (like Grades). Courses can always be un-hidden using the course filter at the top of the page.

Set the Course Availability from the 'Course Management' Menu

You can also change the course availability from within the course. Both the above and the below methods will produce the same result; changing the course between Private and Open settings. This tool is accessed differently in Blackboard Ultra vs. Blackboard Original courses — please see the section that matches you course for instructions.

Blackboard Ultra Courses

Open the desired course. In the top-right corner, the course status will be listed as 'OPEN' or 'CLOSED'. To change this setting, click 'Course Settings'.
This will open a course configuration page. Under 'Course Access' > 'Close Course' > use the slider next to 'Course content will be unavailable to students' to toggle the course's availability off or on. Do not change the 'Complete Course' setting at this time. After you have changed the setting, you can use the 'x' in the top-left corner of the page to close this menu.
Back on your course home page, you will see that the availability setting has changed. If the setting did not update, you may need to refresh the page manually using the circle/arrow icon near your browser's address bar — or on your keyboard, press Ctrl+R (PC) or Command+R (Mac).