Course Duration

The course duration setting is found inside a Blackboard course under Course Management>Customization>Properties. Course durations are set when course the course shell is created. Students cannot access a course if the duration does not include today's date, regardless of whether or not the course has been made available. 

Courses have a limited duration to assist instructors in complying with fair use guidance around teaching that copy righted materials only be made available during the period they are in use for a course. 

The start date of the course is set equal to the date that student enrollments are loaded into it from MySlice — four weeks before the start of main campus classes for the term as part of an agreement with the registrar's office. For example, the Fall 2021 semester began on 8/30/2021 and the duration start was set to 8/2/2021.

The end date of the course is set to the final day of the month following the end of the term. For example, the Fall 2021 semester ends 12/17/2021 and the duration start was set to 1/31/2022. 

The course's duration determines which term label it appears under in the courses navigation. Instructors are allowed to change the duration or set a course to be continuous. If set to continuous or the date includes the current date, the course will appear in the "Current Courses" menu rather than the term it was assigned on creation. To change the term under which a course appears, adjust course duration to dates roughly in line with the start and end of the term where you'd like it to appear.