import – Blackboard Help

Export from Blackboard, Import to Blackboard

Note: January 2013: Course Copy is temporarily (we hope) not working – use the Export/Import – Export from your old class, then Import to your new class.

To move a class from one server to another you need to Export the course from the old server then import to the new server. This lesson describes how to Export from Blacboard and Import to another Blackboard. This involves saving a zipped file to your computer from the old server then importing that same zipped file to the new server.

Go to your old Blackboard Course

Go to your old Blackboard course
Go to the Control Panel and Click on Packages and Utilities
Choose Export/Archive Course
When that panel opens, click on the Export link

Export Everything

The safest way to export is to check everything! It doesn’t hurt to check things you don’t use and it can cause big problems to export content areas that contain tests, discussion board or anything linked to the gradebook without also exporting the grade center – it is easier to delete things you don’t need later than to try and repair things from a partial export.

If you are sure you know what you want to export you don’t have to check everything – just be sure that if you export the grade center you export all content areas or discussions that have quizzes, graded discussions, assignments, etc linked to the grade center, and visa versa.

Scroll down and click Submit after checking everything.

Your export has been queued

You’ll get a message that your export has been queued and you’ll get an email when its done. The amount of time this takes can vary.
Note – you don’t have to stay on this page – you can go to other courses and set up the export for them as well.

After you get your email notification, save the zipped file to your computer

After you get your email notification return to the old Blackboard course, click on the link shown and save the zip file to your computer.

Be sure and save the zip file in a timely manner – the link will disappear after a while.
It does’t matter if you rename the file as long as you keep the zip extension.

Go to new course

Go to your new Blackboard course

Go to Control Panel, Packages and Utilities
Go to Import Package/View Logs
When the panel loads, click on Import Package

Import the zipped file you previously saved

Browse and find the zipped file that you previously saved.
Click Select All to import all parts of the package (safest choice)
Scroll down and click Submit

Again it will take a while for the process to complete. You’ll get an email when it is finished. DO NOT EDIT YOUR COURSE WHILE THE PROCESS IS UNDERWAY.

A link to a log file will appear in the Import/View logs panel. The log file will may have some errors and warnings. The best thing is to view your imported content and contact the helpdesk with information about which course/semester you are working with. Problems can arise if you have a) Publishers content which is copyright – in that case you may need to contact the publisher to get a new course package or b) unusual characters in tests or other issues.

Cleaning up your course site

The content areas from your old course will be imported into your new course – you’ll need to re-order them and control their availability.

Discussion posts may also be imported with your course. These will be relabeled as Anonymous. You will need to go into the Discussion forum, Select All of the posts and delete them to empty your discussion forums.
When re-ordering things on the course menu "grab" the up/down arrow to the left of the menu item name labeled (1) above (not the name itself)
If you delete things from your course menu you’ll need to "refresh" (labeled (2) above) in order to see what is deleted.
If you used the campus pack blog/wiki you may need to export that seperately (from within the wiki or blog) and import (by creating a new campus pack blog/wiki and then choosing Import.

Export from UAF Blackboard, Import to UAS Blackboard

To move a class from one server to another you need to Export the course from the old server then import to the new server. This lesson describes how to Export from UAF Blacboard and Import to UAS Blackboard. This involves saving a zipped file to your computer from the old server then importing that same zipped file to the new server.

Note: Exports from a newer version of Blackboard to an older version do not work well. You should EXPORT from UAF Blackboard before the end of the Fall 2012 semester and SAVE the resulting zipped file to your computer. Then you’ll WAIT until the UAS Blackboard is upgraded (between semesters) and IMPORT that zipped file into you Spring 2013 course.

Now is a good time to save exports from all your UAF courses even if you are not yet teaching them in the spring.

Go to your old UAF Blackboard Course

Go to your UAF Blackboard course
Go to the My Courses list (NOT the My UA Courses List)
Go to the Control Panel and Click on Packages and Utilities
Choose Export/Archive Course
When that panel opens, click on the Export link

Export Everything

Scroll down and click Submit after checking everything.

Your export has been queued

After you get your email notification, save the zipped file to your computer

After you get your email notification return to the UAF Blackboard course, click on the link shown and save the zip file to your computer.

Be sure and save the zip file in a timely manner – the link will disappear after a while.
It does’t matter if you rename the file as long as you keep the zip extension.

AFTER UAS Blackboard has been upgraded

After UAS Blackboard has been upgraded (expected to happen before Jan 2 2013) you can import the zipped package,

Go to Control Panel, Packages and Utilities
Go to Import Package/View Logs
When the panel loads, click on Import Package

Note that although UAS Blackboard is upgrading the "look" won’t change to match UAF Blackboard (at least for the Spring semester). Nonetheless, it will be a newer version.

Import the zipped file you previously saved

Browse and find the zipped file that you previously saved.
Click Select All to import all parts of the package (safest choice)
Scroll down and click Submit

Again it will take a while for the process to complete. You’ll get an email when it is finished. DO NOT EDIT YOUR COURSE WHILE THE PROCESS IS UNDERWAY.

A link to a log file will appear in the Import/View logs panel. The log file will almost certainly have some errors and warnings. The best thing is to view your imported content and contact the helpdesk with information about which course/semester you are working with. Problems can arise if you have a) Publishers content which is copyright – in that case you may need to contact the publisher to get a new course package or b) unusual characters in tests or other issues.

Cleaning up your course site

The content areas from your old course will be imported into your new course – you’ll need to re-order them and control their availability. (In UAF Blackboard course sites where limited to students. UAS Blackboard allows guest and if you want to prohibit Guest from viewing some content then you’ll need to choose "Deny Guests" next to the course menu entries for those content areas.

Discussion posts may also be imported with your course. These will be relabeled as Anonymous. You will need to go into the Discussion forum, Select All of the posts and delete them to empty your discussion forums.

Using the Export Tool from UAS Online and Importing into Blackboard

To move content, tests, and resources from UAS Online to Blackboard you will:

First go to your UAS Online Course
Use the Export tool found in Instructor Tools
Save a "package" file to your computer
Next go to your new Blackboard Course
Use an Import tool there to upload the package file

The UAS Online Export tool is described below.

Go to your old course in UAS Online

Login to UAS Online and go to your old course. You should have Instructor Tools on your menu.
Within Instructor Tools: Click on Export

Select the items you wish to export

Select the Items you wish to Export.
In the box labeled "Title" you will see the default name of the Content Area into which Blackboard will import your resources, links etc. The default is to import into the existing Content Area labeled "Course Content". If you change this name, Blackboard will create a new Content Area (new area on the Blackboard Course Menu).

Click the button labeled Generate Export Package

The package file is created

After a while (the time will depend on how much content you have to export) a package file will be created – you’ll see a link to the file near the top of the page.
Click on the link and save the package file to your computer. You can rename it but be sure and keep the extension .smscc
NOTE – if you rename the file do not include spaces or unusual characters in the file name (you can include dash or underscore, but not characters such as &, # etc.)

After you save this file to your computer, the next step will be to import it to your Blackboard course site.

Go to your new Blackboard course site

Click on Packages and Utilities to expand it
click on Import Package/View Logs

Click on the Import Package button on the left

Browse and select your package file

Click the Browse button and select the package file that you previously saved to your computer.

Select the types of items you wish to import

Select the types of items you wish to import.

"Content Areas" (1) will need to be checked to import resources (files and links) or Announcements/Assignments/Webliography/Bibliography(as static html pages).
"Tests, Surveys and Pools" (2) will need to checked to import Quizzes and Essays

Completing the Import Process

A "Success" message (1) should appear near the top of the page – you will get an email when the import process is complete.
Do not edit your course until the process is complete!
A log file (2) will appear when the import process is complete (you will need to reload the page to see it).

The log file frequently may contain warnings and non-fatal errors. If the import process appears to have worked satisfactorily you can ignore them. If it doesn’t work, the log file can be forwarded to the helpdesk along with information about what UAS Online course/semester you exported from and which Blackboard course/semester you are importing to.

Where to find your imported content

Your Resources (files and links) and html pages created from Announcements, Assignments, Webliography and Bibliography will be imported into the Course Content area (1) on your Blackboard Course menu (unless you decided to create a new Content Area by renaming it).
A new Content Area called Weblinks (2) will also be created and contain any links that were exported. These are duplicates – they will also be imported into Course Content in the appropriate locations.
Clicking on Course Content, you’ll see folders corresponding to the different types of items.
Clicking on Class Resources, you’ll see your imported Resources (sorted into folders if you used Categories) as well as Webliography, Bibliography, and links to Web Recordings.

Where to find your imported tests

Go to the Control Panel located below the Blackboard Course Menu and click on Course Tools (1) to expand it.
Click on Tests, Surveys and Pools (2)
When that page loads, click on Tests (3)

Quizzes and Essays are both imported as Tests

All of the Quizzes and Essay tests you exported will be listed. They are not deployed (posted) to any Content Area yet. In Blackboard, both Quizzes (containing multiple choice and other types of computer graded questions) and Essay Tests (containing questions to be answered in written form) are considered "Tests" – they just contain different question types.

WARNING! – The imported content area becomes the Entry Point for your course.

When using the UAS Online to Blackboard export/import tool. The Content Area becomes the Entry Point for the course (rather than the default Annoucements).

You usually want announcements to be the entry point – so anyone entering the course won’t miss Announcements. Reset the Entry Point by doing the following:

In the Control Panel click on Customization
Click on Style
Scroll down to item number 4 and where it says "Entry Point" – change the selection to Announcements.

Archive or Export Your Blackboard Course

This tutorial explains how to archive or export your course. This will allow you to move your course from one Blackboard server to another.

When a course is archived all information is saved, including course enrollments and all files in the "Files" area.
When a course is exported, enrollments are not included. Files in the "Files" area which are not linked to also do not appear to be included – this can be a problem if you are linking to a bundled set of HTML pages (Softchalk lessons for example) since only the "index" file will be exported – not the pages and images it links to.

In the Control Panel go to Packages and Utilities

In the Control Panel, expand Packages and Utilities and then click on Export/Archive Course

Click on either the Export or Archive button

Archive Your Course

Choose Include Grade Center History only if you are archiving the course and wish to keep student records
Click Calculate Size if desired
Manage Package contents lets you remove files from the archive – you can also delete them after you re-import to another Blackboard server
Click Submit

A success message will tell you the action has been queued and you will receive an email.

Exporting a course

Exporting is very similar – you will need to check off the course materials you want to export. It is safe to click everything – if you are not using it, it doesn’t matter. BE SURE AND EXPORT THE GRADE CENTER. You MUST export the grade center if you export anything that is linked to it (such as tests). This will NOT export student records – just the columns in the grade center.

Click Submit. Again, you’ll recieve an email when the process is complete.

Come back to download the archived file

After the process is complete you will return to the Archive/Export Course page by going to the Control Panel, expanding Packages and Utilities and clicking on Export/Archive Course. There you will see a link to the file that contains the zipped package. Click on that link and save it to your computer. Be sure and give it a name that you will recognize in the future.

Importing your course

To import your course to a different server or restore from an archive, you will reverse the process by going to Control Panel > Packages and Utilities > Import Package / View Logs

Import a test

This lesson describes how to import a test using a zipped file created by a quiz import tool such as Respondus, Exam, Examview etc. It does not cover the use of the quiz programs themselves, just the import steps.

Use your quiz management software to create the exam.

After creating your exam using the software of your choice, export a zipped file to your computer. Make sure this is compatible with the Blackboard 9 system. The screenshot above shows how to instruct Respondus to create a zipped file. Respondus can also connect directly to Blackboard, but a Firewall may prevent this. Despite the wording, the zipped file can be imported to Blackboard as a test or as a pool.

Give the zipped file a meaningful name and save it to a location on your computer where you can find it again.

Go to the tests, pools and surveys manager in Blackboard

Log into your Blackboard course. Go to the control panel, expand Course Tools and click on Tests, Surveys and Pools

Go to the Test or the Pool Manager

In the center of the screen click on either Tests or Pools

Click on Import Test

Click on Import Test

Browse and find your zipped file

Click on Browse My Computer and find the zipped file you previously saved.

Click Submit

You should get a "success" message. The test is now in your Test Manager.

Add the test to a content area

Go to the Content Area in which you would like to post the test. Move your mouse cursor over Create Assessment and choose Test

Choose the test from the list

Choose the appropriate test from the list then click "Create".
Add a description or instructions as needed then click Submit.
You will see the questions that you imported, go to the bottom right and click "OK"

Make the test available

By default the test is not available. Click on the drop-down menu to the right of the test name and click "Edit Test Options"
Scroll down to "2. Test Availability" and make the test available. Set opening and closing dates, passwords and other options as needed.

More resources

More tutorials about tests can be found on this page: http://ondemand.blackboard.com/assess.htm
Scroll down to the "tests" section.