Faculty Settings

Course Availability

The Course Availability tool lets you make your course available to students. Students cannot see an unavailable course, but instructors, teaching assistants, and course builders can. You can make courses unavailable to your students while you add content and get the course ready to use. When the course is completed, you can make it available to your students.

Setting a Course’s Availability

From the Control Panel:

1. Click on the Settings link in the Course Options section.
2. Click on the Course Availability link.
3. Click on the Yes radio button to make the course available or click on the No radio button to make the course unavailable.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

More Information

Q: When do I need to use this tool?
A: Some courses have a default setting of unavailable. If your course is unavailable, you will see the word “Unavailable” next to the course name. When you are ready for students to access the course, you must make it available.

Q: Why can’t my students see my course, even though I can?
A: Your course is probably set to unavailable. Make your course available by using the procedure above.

Q: Why can my teaching assistants access my unavailable course, but my graders cannot?
A: Graders cannot access unavailable courses, but teaching assistants and course builders can.

Q: May I allow guest access to an unavailable course?
A: No, the Blackboard course catalog does not display a course until you make the course available.