End-of-Course Checklist

Microsoft Word version

While our Blackboard server is backed up on a nightly basis, these backups are primarily for disaster recovery at a server level. Thus, it is very important that you take steps to keep your Blackboard documents, assessments, and grades preserved in case of grade disputes or need for re-use in the far-off future. (Please note these precautions are for your own safety and history – I am not about to delete anything from the server.)

Please perform the following functions for each of your courses after they end for the term.

Archive Your Course

  1. Go to the Control Panel of each course you need to archive and click on Archive Course.
  2. Click on the Archive option.
  3. Click the Submit button.
  4. You will see this message: “This action has been successfully queued. An email will be sent when the process is complete.” Click the OK button.
  5. You will receive an email when the archiving has been completed. It is likely you will get some error messages. The last message in the list should say “The operation archive has completed.  If it does not, contact the Bb admin. Please retain this email.
  6. Return to the Control Panel. Go to Archive Course. You should see a file name that is an active link to a zip file. Either click on it or right click on it to download it to your computer.
  7. A pop-up will appear on your screen. Make sure that Save File is selected. Then click OK.
  8. Select the location where you want to save the file. Leave the file named just as it comes from the server.Then click the Save button.

**IMPORTANT NOTE**: KEEP THE ZIP FILE ZIPPED! Do not unzip it! It is the .zip file itself, not the de-compressed file, that the Blackboard administrator would need if restoration were necessary.

Download a copy of your gradebook

  1. Go to the Control Panel. Select Gradebook.
  2. Select Download Grades.
  3. Select Delimiter Type – comma is the standard selection for use in Excel or other applications that read comma-separated value (csv) format. Then click the Submit button.
  4. Right click with your mouse on the Download button. Another menu opens up, select Save Link As
    NOTE TO MAC USERS: You may have to hold down the Control key and then click the Download button to get the option to download/save the gradebook to your computer.
  5. Select the location on your computer where you want to save the file.
  6. The default file name is gb_export. You should append a date and course designator to the default file name so that you can more easily locate each of your gradebooks and know which one is the most current download. Here’s an example: gb_export_NSG913_02-05-09.

Remove the students from the course

Control Panel -> Recycle Course. Check ONLY the Users checkbox in section 2, type "Remove", and click Submit. (You can remove other materials using this page as well.)

This will remove the course from students' course list as well as prepare it for the next set of users. Do this only AFTER archiving the course and downloading the gradebook.

Please contact the Blackboard Support Specialist at bb@utmem.edu if you have any questions or problems.

Contact Us

UTHSC Blackboard Support
407 Hyman Building
Memphis, TN 38163
Administrator: Keisha Houston
Phone: (901) 448-1927
Email: bb@utmem.edu