I just created a Blackboard site that I think I would like to use for similar courses in the future. How can I save it and apply it to future sites, instead of rebuilding it all over again?

The Export/Archive Course options will take all the information in your course and turn it into a compressed package file, that you can Import later using the Import Package feature. Open the Blackboard Manual, available to faculty in the Control Panel, whenver you are performing such a task, and it will guide you step by step.

Archiving allows you to preserve your users and all their interaction with a course. You may want to use that feature if you are thinking of submitting your course to the Blackboard Greenhouse Exemplary Course Program.

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I have two sections of the same course this term. Is there any way to get the information on one site over to the other site?

The Course Copy feature allows you to choose all or part of the information on one site and copy it to another site. Open Course Copy, click on the link to "Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course," and you will see the page where you choose the other course and the materials you want to copy. Click "Browse" then "Search" in the pop-up window to choose the receiving course.

Alternatively, you may copy an individual item on a page to another of your sites, using the "copy" option next to the item in "edit view."

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I downloaded the assignment my teacher put on Bb and filled it out, but when I try to send it back on the assignment page, I can't find the document on my computer.

You didn't really download the document. One of the convenient features of Windows is that when you click on a link to a document in your Web browser, it opens the document in the browser window, but it has not been saved to your desktop as a Word document. The better way to work on the assignment is to right-click on the link to the document and save it, then open it with Word, and when you are finished, it will be easy to find and upload.

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How flexible is the testing feature in Blackboard when you have a student who misses an exam?

There are a couple of things you can do to make an exam available for makeup without giving the rest of the class unlimited access to the test. You can set the options for the initial deployment so that the test link is unavailable after the class period (if given in the classroom) or after a set date and time (if students are permitted to take the exam from a distant location). Or you can go in and make the test link unavailable manually when you know students are finished.

To reset the test for a makeup, go to the page on your site where you located the test (e.g. Course Documents or Assignments) and go into the edit mode. You will see the test, marked as unavailable. Select the modify button, then modify the test options. Then you can make the link available, but this time, require a password that you will only give to the makeup student. This will limit further access to the test. When the makeup period is over, you can make the test available to the class again so that they may review their answers and scores.

If you are worried about initial results, you can download the grades from the initial exam at any point by clicking on the link to the test in the gradebook and choosing the download option.

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