Typically, course section shells/placeholders for the semester are made available for instructors to begin copying and editing. Section shells for a term are created based on the information entered in the Course Origination Documents (COD's) for the term.
- During the coronavirus situation, first communicate with your program chair and/or associate dean to ensure a master shell does not already exist for your course.
- If a master shell does not already exist for your course, use Online Learning’s course template and directions for how to export or import a course.
All courses, regardless of delivery type, have a Blackboard shell created. Shells are typically only accessible to the instructor of record listed in the Course Origination Documents.
Online sections labeled (IN), Hybrid (HY) and TeleWeb (TW) will automatically be made “Available” on the start date of the courses. You can make any other course that has not been enabled automatically “Available." Contact the ITS Help Desk for help. Prior semester section shells will be accessible to instructors for one year after the end of the term.
Students are automatically enrolled in their Blackboard section shells on the official start date for the course as listed in the Course Origination Document.
Copy Content into the Course Shell
For system performance reasons, you might be restricted from using the course copy feature during the first three days of classes. If the course copy feature is made unavailable, ITS will post a notice on the Blackboard login page and send an announcement. When the course copy feature is unavailable, you must contact the ITS Helpdesk to request to copy a course. Requests will be processed in the order in which they are received. Please allow up to five business days for your request to be processed.
If you need to copy course into more than 5 section shells, a batch copying service is available on the Course Administration Webtools (CAW) website. All batch copy requests are acted on in the order of fully online classes first and then earliest start dates of hybrid classes.
Combine Several Course Sections
You can combine multiple course shells using the “Combine Course Sections” functionality available on the Course Administration Webtools (CAW) website. The combined shell will appear in Blackboard within six hours.