Blackboard Ultra (Faculty) - Creation of Course Shells in Blackboard Ultra

1. Access CougarNet/Banner.
2. Click on Class Registration under the Student header.
3. Click on Browse Classes.
4. Search by Term: Click on the drop-down box and select the semester and year.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Continue button.
6. Subject: Select the subject or department.
7. Course Number: Enter the course number.
8. Click the Search button at the bottom of the page.
   
   
   
   
9. Identify the section. In the "Instructors" column, listed will be the name of the instructor, "TA Graduate Assistant," and/or "TBA."
10. If the teaching faculty is not listed in Banner/CougarNet as the Instructor of Record, the faculty or department must contact the Registrar's Office.
    
    

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This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!

Need Additional Support?

This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!

Understanding CRN Changes in Blackboard Ultra

The CRN is an automatically generated five-digit course number in CougarNet/Banner. This number is tied to a corresponding course in Blackboard. If the CRN changes, enrollments in the corresponding Blackboard course will be affected. For example, if a course section is deleted from CougarNet/Banner, students and instructors will be removed from the Blackboard course associated with the old CRN and will be enrolled in the Blackboard course shell with the new CRN.

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This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!

Adding Users to Your Organization

You can add users to your Blackboard Ultra Organization to grant them access to course materials, communication tools, and other resources. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to Blackboard Ultra.
2. Access the desired Organization.
3. In the Details & Actions section, click the View everyone in your organization link.
   
   
   
   
4. Click the plus sign icon in the upper right corner of the roster screen. 
   
   
   
   
5. In the Enroll People box, enter the username(s) of the people you wish to enroll.
6. Click the plus sign icon next to the individual's name.
7. Select the role you want to assign to the user from the Role dropdown menu. View this KnowledgeBase article for detailed information about specific Organization roles: https://kb.siue.edu/57189
8. The most common roles include:
   • Organization Leader/Leader: Full access to the organization.
   • Participant: Standard access to course materials and activities.
9. Click Save.

Removing Users from Your Organization

If a user no longer needs access to your organization, you can remove them from the roster. Here’s how:

1. Log in to Blackboard Ultra.
2. Access the desired Organization.
3. In the Details & Actions section, click the View everyone in your organization link.
4. Locate the user you wish to remove.
5. Click the ellipses (three dots) next to the user's name.
6. Click Member Information.
   
   
   
   
7. Click the delete icon (trash can) next to the user's information:
   
   
   
   
8. A confirmation window will appear to confirm the removal of this user. Click Remove User.
9. A confirmation message will at the bottom of the screen confirming the removal of this user.

Important Considerations

• Ensure you have the appropriate permissions to add and remove users. Typically, Instructors and Organization Leaders have these capabilities.
• Double-check the user's username before adding or removing them to prevent errors.
• Removing a user will prevent them from accessing the organization and its content.

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This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!

Requesting a Blackboard Ultra Course Merge

To request a Blackboard Ultra course merge, please fill out the Request to Merge Course Shells form. Please allow up to 2 business days for your request to be processed.

Important Considerations:

• All enrollments from the courses being merged (child courses) will be combined into the parent course shell.
• You will not see the child shells in Blackboard Ultra after the merge is complete. If you have materials in the course shell, export that content before you request the merged shell. If you have already merged the course shells, contact IDLT at help@siue.edu for assistance.
• All work must be added to the parent shell and not the child shells. 

Merged Shell Versus One Shell for Each Section

When should you merge course shells, and when should you leave each section in an individual course shell?

Merged Shell Benefits

• Merged shells allow you to upload content once, and all course sections will see it. This is beneficial when you make frequent changes or additions to your course.
• One location to access all students. You send one email or announcement, and all sections receive it, rather than composing an email or an announcement for each section.

Merged Shell Drawbacks

• Large Gradebooks - students from all courses are listed alphabetically and not by course section. This can be resolved by filtering for each section. See the KnowledgeBase article for viewing grades for sections of a merged course for more information.
• Discussion boards can be complicated and overwhelming with a large amount of students participating. Setting up sections in Groups can help overcome the magnitude of the postings. See the knowledge base article about creating groups for more information.
• Organizing tests or assignment due dates can get complicated if sections meet at different times.
• You will not see the child shells in Blackboard Ultra.

Individual Shell Benefits

• Smaller numbers of students for discussion boards and projects.
• Assigning specific due dates for assignments and tests based on individual course sections is easier to manage.

Individual Shell Drawbacks

• All work must be duplicated across the section's shells. Every change or update must be repeated within each course shell.
• Instructors must access each section's shell to post announcements, messages, grades, etc. 

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Requesting a Developmental Course Shell

Faculty members may request a developmental Blackboard Ultra course shell for purposes such as:

• Building course content before the official course shell is available.
• Experimenting with Blackboard Ultra features and tools.
• Creating a template for future courses.

Request Procedure

If you need to begin work on your course earlier than when the course shells are automatically created, request a developmental course shell by completing the Administrative Course Request Form. The contents of the developmental shell can then be exported and imported into the course shell when it is created three months before the beginning of the semester. 

Accessing Your Developmental Course Shell

Once your developmental course shell is created, you can access it through Blackboard Ultra:

1. Log into Blackboard Ultra at bb.siue.edu.
2. Navigate to the "Courses" tab.
3. Your developmental course shell will be listed with a title that indicates it is for development purposes. For example: "Dev - [Your Name]".
   
   

Important Considerations

• Developmental course shells are not connected to Banner and will not automatically populate with student enrollments.
• Content from a developmental course shell can be copied into an official course shell when it becomes available. Consult the KnowledgeBase for instructions on copying course content.

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Making Your Blackboard Ultra Course Available to Students

By default, Blackboard Ultra courses are set to Private (unavailable to students) to give instructors time to build and customize their course content. Once you are ready for students to access the course, you need to make it available.

Steps to Make Your Course Available:

1. Navigate to your course in Blackboard Ultra.
2. In the upper-right corner, you will see the visibility status of your course as either "Closed" or "Open".
3. If the course is set to "Closed", click the "Closed" link.
   
   
   
   
4. A panel will open. Select the "Open" option.
   
   
   
   
5. Your course is now available to students. The visibility status will now display "Open."
   
   

Making Your Blackboard Ultra Course Unavailable to Students

You may want to make your course unavailable to students at the end of the semester or while you are making significant changes to the course content.

Steps to Make Your Course Unavailable:

1. Navigate to your course in Blackboard Ultra.
2. In the upper-right corner, you will see the visibility status of your course as either "Open" or "Closed".
3. If the course is set to "Open", click the "Open" link.
4. A panel will open. Select the "Closed" option.
5. Your course is now closed and unavailable to students. The visibility status will now display "Closed."

Need Additional Support?

This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!