How to Save Blackboard Content as an Instructor

This guide is for instructor users. Looking for a guide for student users? View this article: How to Save Blackboard Content as a Student

There are several methods by which you can back up Blackboard content. The method you select will be determined by the type of content you want to save.

To preserve the course content, export the course or copy it into a course shell.
To preserve a semester’s grades, export the grade center.
To preserve work students submitted, download student work.

Request a Course Shell

A course shell is an empty Blackboard course you can use to manage content outside of a live course you teach. These are often referred to as practice, development, or non-integrated courses.

Contact CIT to request a course shell for each specific course you want to preserve. Please include the semester and section number in this request.

Copy content to empty shell

After you receive the empty course, you can use a Course Copy to copy content from an existing course. Make changes to the development course (course shell) and copy again into your live, Banner-integrated Blackboard course whenever you teach it.

Export

In Blackboard, an export creates a .ZIP file of course content that can be used to create a new course. This option does not contain any user data, and is not FERPA protected. You can select what content to export during the export process.

Export files can be imported into empty Blackboard courses or shells. They can also be stored in UA Box or OneDrive for future use or as a backup. You can share these with other instructors for them to upload into Blackboard shells as well. These files create an exact replica of the course (at the time of export) once imported into Blackboard, but without students, student work, or student grades.

How to Export Blackboard Content

Packages are .zip files. Don’t unzip an export package as it won’t import. You may have to change your system/browser preferences to avoid files unzipping automatically.

Download Files from Content Collection

Downloading your course content files from the Blackboard Content Collection is another option. This option only contains files that you have added to your course. These files do not contain any user data, and is not FERPA protected.

You can choose which files to download. The files are then compressed into a ZIP file and downloaded to your computer.

How to Download Course Files from the Content Collection

Download Grades

Course copy and Export do not preserve student data. You can download a copy of the Grade Center from Blackboard as a .CSV or .XLS file by using the Work Offline button in the Full Grade Center. Be advised that this file contains FERPA-protected information, and should be stored securely, such as in UA Box or OneDrive.

How to Download a Copy of the Grade Center from Blackboard

Download Student Work

FERPA Notice: Grade data and student work that is downloaded from Blackboard is FERPA-protected material and should be secured appropriately. Consider using Box to store this content.

Course copy and Export do not preserve student work. You can download examples of student work for future reference by downloading submissions and saving in UA Box or OneDrive.

Download Student Assignments from Blackboard Learn
Download Discussion Board Posts from Blackboard Learn
Download Turnitin Assignments