With the revised My Institution page on Blackboard (July 2022), how instructors find/see their courses on Blackboard has changed. Follow the tips below:

• If the course has a start date that’s set in the future, it shows up under Upcoming Courses as Private (you have access as instructor, students do not). Once the start date passes, the course will open and automatically move to Current Courses. You can access Upcoming Courses by clicking either the term drop down or the Upcoming Courses link.

Note: Courses that are manually opened by instructors (no start date set) show up in Current Courses as Private.

Beginning July 2022 when you log into Blackboard, you’ll see an updated layout on the My Institution Page.

The main changes you see will include: Tabs along the left side instead of across the top; easy to use view for activities and grades; the Communities tab will be labeled as Organizations; and a more streamlined way to view your courses by term.

All of these changes contribute to higher usability and accessibility across various devices.  This update will not change the look of your courses.

Here’s a preview of the new look: My Institution Look July 2022

If you have questions about the new look, contact the IT Help Desk at 262-243-4357 or ithelpdesk@cuw.edu.

• Blackboard courses have a 1GB size limit.
• When the course size reaches 500MB, faculty will see this alert in Blackboard that the “soft limit” has been reached

• If the course size maximum of 1GB is reached, faculty will no longer be able to upload course content and will see this message when attempting to upload a file.

How to reduce Blackboard course size

• Avoid reaching the course maximum from the start. Do not upload the following file types:
  • Video files (mp4, mov, wmv, etc.)
  • PowerPoint files with voice over.
  • Learn what to do instead: https://celt.cuw.edu/how-to-avoid-running-out-of-space-in-your-blackboard-course/
• If approaching or the course has reached the maximum, reduce course size by doing this:
  • Delete large files from the Content page AND
  • Delete the file from the Content Collection. See image below for an example. After clicking on Content Collection, click on the option that includes the course 5-digit CRN.