If there is no instructor listed in CougarNet/Banner, the course shell will be created. Students who register for this section will be put on a waitlist.  When the instructor of record is updated in CougarNet/Banner to be the actual instructor of the course, that instructor will automatically be added to the Blackboard course shell and the students on the wait list will be added.




 How to Determine the "Instructor of Record" in CougarNet / Banner

If the instructor of record is a Teaching Assistant, the user should automatically be added to the Blackboard course shell via the feed from Banner. 

If the instructor of record is listed as "TA Graduate Assistant" in CougarNet/Banner, your department is required to send the name(s) of the Teaching Assistant / Grad Assistants teaching courses to the Registrar's Office using the AB Schedule Change form. After that form is processed by the Registrar's Office, the user will be added to the Blackboard course shell via the feed from Banner. For questions, contact Academic Scheduling at academicscheduling@siue.edu 



NOTE: This is not the process to add a TA/GA to a course taught by an instructor or faculty member. If the instructor of record is listed in CougarNet/Banner and wants to add a TA/GA to the course, please "Add Users to Blackboard" Knowledge Base article. 

Click the  below to expand the menus for directions.

• How to Determine the "Instructor of Record" in CougarNet / Banner

  • 1. Access CougarNet/Banner at http://www.siue.edu/cougarnet.
       
       
    2. Click on Class Schedule.
       
       
    3. Search by Term: click on the drop-down box and select the semester and year.
       
       
       
       
    4. Click the Continue button.
       
       
    5. Subject: Select the subject or department
       
       
    6. Course Number: Enter the course number
       
       
       
       
    7. Click the Search button at the bottom of the page.
       
       
    8. Identify the section. In the "Instructors" column, listed will be the name of the instructor, "TA Graduate Assistant," and/or "TBA."
       
       
    9. 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.
       
       
       
       
    10. If a TA/Graduate assistant is listed as an instructor send the name(s) of the Teaching Assistant / Grad Assistance to the Blackboard Admin at bbhelp@siue.edu.
        
        
        
        

Instructor Added

If an instructor for a course is changed or is added in CougarNet/Banner, the new or changed instructor will automatically be added as an instructor to the Blackboard course shell. All work previously completed in the course shell will remain.

Instructor Removed

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.

Add or Remove Users in a Blackboard Course Shell

Only the Blackboard Admin can add or remove users in a Blackboard course shell. Neither faculty nor Blackboard techs can add or remove users.

To request a user be added or removed from a Blackboard course shell, the faculty member assigned to teach the course must complete the Add/Remove User form.

Add Students to a Blackboard Course Shell

Once a student enrolls in a course and is listed in CougarNet/Banner, the student will be automatically be added to the Blackboard course shell within 24 hours.

Remove Students from a Blackboard Course Shell

Once a student has dropped the course and the student is dropped from CougarNet/Banner, the student will automatically be removed from Blackboard course shell. 

If the student dropped the course in CougarNet/Banner but is still showing up in the Bb course, the student can be removed by using the Add/Remove User form. 

Educard Students

Educard students or students auditing the course can be added using the request form.

Request to Merge Course Shells

1. Fill out the Request to Merge Course Shells form.
   

• The child shells are the source for the student enrollment.
  
• You will not see the child shells in Blackboard Ultra. If you have materials in the course shell, export that before you request the merged shell. If you have already merged the course shells, contact IDLT at bbhelp@siue.edu for assistance.
• All work must be added to the parent shell and not the child shells. 

Merge Shell vs. 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 would send one email or announcement and all sections would receive it, rather than composing an email or an announcement for each section.

Merged Shell Drawbacks

• Large Grade Centers - students from all courses are listed alphabetically and not by course section. This can be resolved by creating a Smart View for each section. See the KnowledgeBase article for Smart Views 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 for 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 amounts of students for discussion boards and projects.
• Assigning specific due dates for assignments and tests based on individual course sections.

Individual Shell Drawbacks

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

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.

1. Log into Blackboard.
   
   
2. Click on Courses in the menu and locate the course.
   
   
3. A course that is unavailable will show "Private" with a lock. Click on the 3 dots to the right of the course name.
   
   
   
   
4. Select Open Course in the menu
   
   
   
   
5. A pop up box will ask to "Open Course?" Click Open to Students.
   
   
6. The lock will disappear.
7. Alternately, inside the course, you can click the padlock icon in the top right corner.