Date Management

Both Original Course View and Ultra Course View have features that can "shift" content and tool dates in a course after performing a Course Copy, instead of adjusting them individually.

This feature is called Date Management in the Original Course View and Batch Edit in the Ultra Course View.

Date Management in Original Course View

After the faculty member specifies a start date for the new course, Blackboard will automatically adjust due dates, availability dates, and adaptive release dates, to the new semester and follow the same pattern as used in the previous course. This greatly streamlines the process of moving courses from semester to semester or year to year. After the shift, faculty can see all of the dates in one place to validate and tweak dates. Changes can be made to individual items or several dates can be changed at the same time.

Screenshot highlighting how to access the Import Course Cartridge feature

To access the Date Management tool: from the Control Panel, select Course Tools, then select Date Management.

Batch Edit Dates in Ultra Course View

Status: Available

You can use Batch Edit to update due dates and date-based Release Conditions when you reuse, copy, or import content. If you taught courses in an earlier term or calendar year, Batch Edit lets you select multiple pieces of content and adjust dates in fewer steps.

On the Course Content page, click the three dots (...) on the right, above the content list
Click Batch Edit in the menu
Select the check box next to the items you want to update
At the bottom of the window next to Edit selection, click the Edit dates button
Use the Edit Type drop down menu to choose to update dates based on the course start date, based on a number of days, or to change the dates for all of the selected items to a specific date and/or time.
- Change dates by number of days: Type a number in the Shift dates forward or Shift dates backward field. All dates for the selected content shift forward or backward based on the field and number you choose.
  
  Example: My course content was reused from another section this semester. The source had due dates on Wednesdays, but this course will have due dates on Thursdays. Use the Shift dates forward option and enter "1" to shift dates forward by one day.
- Change dates based on course start: Select the start date of the course the content came from and the start date of the current course. The tool automatically calculates the number of days between the two dates and adjusts all due dates using that number.
  
  Example: My course content was reused from a previous semester, when the course's start date was August 19, 2023. My new course's start date is January 6, 2024. Dates on the selected items are moved forward 140 days.
- Change to specific date and/or time: Select whether you are want to change the show on date/time, due date/time, or the hide after date/time and specify the appropriate dates and times.
  
  Example: I want to change all of the due date times across all assessments in my course to consistently be 8:00 PM. I select the checkboxes for all of the assessments on the Batch Edit page, then use this date option by selecting only the Due Time checkbox and entering 8:00 PM in that field. Note that this only changes dates where they previously existed; it does not add a new date at this time (this is planned for a future enhancement).
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