Why can't I see my Blackboard course as an instructor?
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There are many reasons why you might not see your course in Blackboard. Please review this list before opening a ticket.
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Course Creation
Blackboard courses are auto-created and auto-enrolled from the Student Administration (SA) system containing all official registration and enrollment data.
Please review the course creation schedule to determine when your shell will be available in Blackboard.
Tip: Check How do I access my official class roster? to confirm you have access.
As of Summer 2025, Blackboard shells are now available for all courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc or instructor assignment. RT requests are no longer needed for research, independent study, or practicum courses.
Course Assignments
In Blackboard, if you do not see your course and you are an instructor, please confirm that your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator has correctly entered your name in the schedule of classes.
If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb access to the course shell will be updated overnight.
If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
New Instructors
If you are not the instructor of record, make sure all steps have been followed in the new full- or part-time employee account creation process. While a course shell is created for each course in the schedule of classes, instructors must be listed as the instructor of record in the SOC to access the course in Blackboard.
Independent Study or Research Courses
Beginning in Summer 2025, Blackboard course shells for Independent Study and Research courses will be created automatically. It is no longer necessary to submit a request for a course shell.
Upcoming Courses
If you are certain you are assigned to a course, please log into Blackboard and use the tools on the Courses page. A course that is not in an active term will not appear on the Current Courses page – that is, it will be classified by the system as "upcoming."
Browse by term. Move between past, current, and upcoming courses using system-defined terms. At the bottom of the list, you'll find a page selector to navigate through long lists.
Change the filter. Click on down arrow next to the Current Courses title to switch to another term. If you navigate to another page, all courses show again.
Search your list. The search function finds courses on the current page that match your search term.
Related FAQ → How do I organize my list of courses by term in Blackboard?
Hidden Courses
Check for hidden courses on the Courses page in Blackboard.
Click on the down arrow next to the Current Courses title to use a filter.
Select Hidden from me.
When you find your course, point to its course card menu (...) on the far right.
Select Show course.
Related FAQ -> How do I organize my list of courses by term in Blackboard?
Missing Courses in myUMBC Dashboard
If your doesn't show up in the Blackboard "Check My Activity (CMA)" module (see image below), it doesn't mean you are not enrolled or you don't have access.
The CMA list is populated 24 hours after Blackboard is updated the previous day. For example, if it is Tuesday afternoon when you check CMA for your course, the information you see was populated from Monday night's data.
Before you open a ticket, make sure you go to the full Blackboard site, https://blackboard.umbc.edu, to view your list of courses on the All Courses tab.
TIP: How do I organize my list of courses by term in Blackboard?
Other reasons you may not see your Blackboard course
Make sure your pop-up blockers are off. Alternately, please allow security exceptions for *.umbc.edu and *.blackboard.com.
Try accessing the page directly instead of going through myUMBC. Type the following into the address bar of your browser: https://blackboard.umbc.edu
Downtime or Service Disruption
Finally, in a rare situation, you could be trying to access your course on Blackboard when it is offline for maintenance or an unexpected service interruption. Check the splash graphics below and links to associated announcements:
Blackboard is offline for maintenance | Blackboard has an unexpected service interruption |
|---|---|
Check Bb Announcements for a planned upgrade or maintenance schedule, or click here to see the schedule. If Blackboard is offline for maintenance, the splash page will look something like this:  | Check Bb Announcements or DoIT News for any unscheduled or unexpected downtime. If Blackboard is offline unexpectedly, the splash page will look something like this:  |