Step 1: Make Your Course Unavailable

Before you begin archiving, you should make your course unavailable to your students. This will prevent any changes to the data or conflicts that may occur if a student is adding/deleting content (e.g., Digital Drop Box, Discussion Board, Online Quiz) while you are archiving.

1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. Click on Settings (found under Course Options).
3. Click on Course Availability.
4. Select No and click Submit.
5. A receipt will appear confirming that your course is unavailable. Click OK.
6. Click on Control Panel link at the top of the screen to continue to the next step.

Click here to see a Flash Movie demonstration of this step.

Step 2: Export Gradebook

1. From the Control Panel click on Gradebook (found under Assessment).
2. Click on Download Grades.
3. A new screen will appear asking you to select a delimiter. Select Comma and then click Submit.
4. After a few moments of processing, a screen will appear with directions for downloading the gradebook. Below the directions click on Download.
5. A Download File Dialogue Box will appear. Click Save to continue.
6. Select a location for your gradebook.
7. Rename your file for easier recall. For example, the course id followed by the semester (i.e., CS101F03).
8. Click Save to complete the download process.
9. Click OK to continue.
10. Click on Control Panel link at the top of the screen to continue to the next step.

Click here to see a Flash Movie demonstration of this step.

Step 3: Saving Discussion Board Forums

1. From the Control Panel click on Discussion Boards (found under Course Tools).
2. Select a Forum to archive.
3. Click on the Show Options button on the right side of the screen.
4. Click on Select All.
5. Click on Collect to gather all the discussion threads into a neatly organized page.
6. Once your threads have been gathered, you have three (3) options for saving your forum:

   1. Make a Hard Copy
      • Open the File Menu.
      • Select Print to print your forum.
   2. Print to PDF
      • Open the File Menu.
      • Select Print.
      • Change your printer to Acrobat Distiller.
      • Click Print.
   3. Copy & Paste Text to Microsoft Word
      • Select all the text from your collected threads.
      • Copy the text by pressing <ctrl>+c.
      • Open a Microsoft Word Document.
      • Paste the text into the Word Document by pressing <ctrl>+v.
      • Save the Microsoft Word Document.

7. Click OK to continue.
8. Repeat #2 thru #7 for each forum in your Blackboard Course.
9. When you have saved all your discussion forums, Click on Control Panel link at the top of the screen to continue to the next step.

Click here to see a Flash Movie demonstration of this step.

Step 4: Archiving Your Course

1. From the Control Panel click on Archive Course (found under Course Options).
2. A screen will appear displaying the Course ID of the course you wish to archive. Click on Submit.
3. After a few moments of processing, you will be presented with a receipt and an opportunity to download your archived course. Click on Click here to download the generated package file.
4. A Download File Dialogue Box will appear. Click Save to continue.
5. Select a location for your archived course.
6. The suggested file name includes the Course ID. Simply add the the semester at the end for easier recall.
7. Click Save to complete the download process.
8. Click on Control Panel link at the top of the screen.

Click here to see a Flash Movie demonstration of this step.

If you will be teaching this course in the future, you can have the archive you created imported into the new semester's course shell. You can then run the Course Recycler to clean out any old material to make room for new material.

Click here for a tutorial on using the Course Recycler.