Blackboard: Course Setup- Content, Merging, and Availability

Empty Blackboard course shells have been created for all undergraduate courses.

Faculty may submit a request for a template or content copy at the Blackboard Course Management website to begin course development. 

Content

Steps to add a template, merge, or copy previous courses to your empty Blackboard course(s):

1. Go to the Blackboard Course Management website and login with your UMass Lowell credentials.
2. Select Make Request (on left menu).
3. Merge your courses or Copy Content or Template.
4. Select the current term then, continue.
5. Step-by-step instructions for each option are below.

Content will populate in your course(s) or merge in about 1 hour.

Merge

For instructors teaching multiple sections: Select "Class Merge" to combine multiple sections into one Master Course; this step is optional. This option will no longer be available to faculty once classes start for the semester. To merge after the start of classes you will need to email bbhelp@uml.edu. If you decide to do this after the semester starts, it is best to do it before there is student work in the course. Merging is not available for fully online courses.

Merging courses allows instructors to manage one master section; students registered in all child sections will see the same content, but they will not see that their course has been merged. Students will see any content that's in the parent course. Merged courses warning: If by merging, students become enrolled in more than one course within a merged set, such as 101 with 201, the SiS grade center import function may fail. Grades for students with overlapping enrollments may not sync from Blackboard to SiS. This process does not transfer content.

In this example, courses 2 and 3 are merged into course 1. Now course 1 is the Master (Parent) course and has the combined rosters of all three. Courses 2 and 3 now exist as (child) courses of course 1 and the instructor will only need to access course 1.

Once you select to make a merge request select which term the request is for and click continue.

After you select the term, you can select the course/section you want to be the master/parent course and click continue.

Then select the course or courses that you want to merge into the master/parent course you selected on the previous screen. When finished, click continue. These are called the "child" classes.

Review your selection and be sure of your choices before hitting the submit button.

Once you submit your request you will receive an email confirmation that your request has been successfully submitted.

Please allow up to an hour for merging requests to be reflected in Blackboard.

If there's anything else you need for your course setup, click the “Make another request” button.

Availability

The availability request allows faculty to show or hide a Blackboard course shell from students in Blackboard. We strongly suggest that faculty avoid hiding traditional Blackboard shells; however, this practice is preferred if the shell is empty. Using Blackboard is strongly recommended to promote student success and provide a consistent learning environment. Empty Blackboard shells have been created for all courses; faculty can copy content, request a template, or start from scratch. For non-traditional courses such as capstones, projects, seminars, etc, a course shell has been created but you will need to make it available if you plan to use it. Please communicate with students regarding how you plan to use Blackboard.

If a course is set to be available  (there will be a green eye icon), it will follow the normal availability pattern; it will only become available to students three days before the class (undergrads) or on the first day of class (all other courses) and will become hidden to students after the term ends. If a course is set to be unavailable (there will be a red eye icon that is crossed out), it is not visible to students or faculty in Blackboard. You can change the availability of a course at any point before or during a semester.

Once you select to make an availability request select which term the request is for and click continue. 

Most courses are set as available by default. To hide a course(s) from students uncheck the box next to the course(s) you wish to hide and click next.

Note: Child courses availability cannot be changed because they follow the availability of their master/parent course.

Before hitting the submit button, make sure that the choices are correct.

Once you submit your request you will receive an email confirmation that your request has been successfully submitted. Please allow up to an hour for availability requests to be reflected in Blackboard.

To continue with your course setup click the “Make another request” button.

Standard Course Template

The standard template has three course content folders that can be edited or deleted. The course menu has the Home Page, Announcements, Blackboard Collaborate, My Grades and other hidden communication tools that are optional (shown at the top of this page).

Starting from Scratch

If you are more experienced with Blackboard, don't want a template, and just want to start from scratch, you will need to add a home page to your course before you will be able to build.

In the top left corner of your left-hand navigation bar, click on the circle with the plus sign in it.

Click Content Area. Then, in the popup, name what you want your Home Page title to be (i.e. Home Page, Start Here, etc.) then check Available to Users, and hit submit.