Frequently Asked Questions

Questions of a general nature about Blackboard can be found here. Information specific to certain features can be found under the individual categories.

How private is my course site?
Blackboard is set up to only allow students on your official roster access to your course. If instructors request, the System Administrator can add additional users to the course. For example, colleagues, visiting professors or students who are completing incompletes or audting a course. All users in the Bb system must be a part of the SDSU community.

How secure are the Blackboard websites?
Your blackboard course is very secure. Since SDSU began using Blackboard in Fall 1999, there have been no reported cases of security violations. Your gradebook and individual student records are accessible only by yourself, the student and any other instructor, teaching assistant or grader that you have granted access to.

Are the course sites backed up regularly?
System backups are performed nightly to prevent against catastrophic loss. However, it's not a good idea to rely on those backups to save specific details about your course. The system backups store information related to ALL Blackboard courses. Individual pieces cannot be recovered. You should make periodic backups of all important material onto your hard drive. You can export gradebook information to an Excel spreadsheet and you can copy and paste student roster information into any other program. Disaster preparedness is an important aspect of managing your course site.