Blackboard for All

Blackboard Course Creation

• Each semester, a Blackboard course site will be created for each course section offered at UIS.
  • Courses are named for the year and semester in which they are taught. A chemistry course taught in Fall 2008 might be named: 083CHE10154321
  • 08 - Last two digits of year
  • CHE - Three digit department abbreviation
  • 101 - Course number
  • 54321 - Course reference number from Banner
• Instructors who are listed in the course schedule will have access to their empty Blackboard course sites at http://bb.uis.edu. 
• Students cannot access a fall course until it is either opened by the instructor or automatically opened on the first day of classes.
• Each semester, all courses will open to students on the first of classes.
• Instructors who are not teaching an online class can choose whether or not to use the Blackboard course. If you will not use the site, you can make the site unavailable to your students.
• Each course contains an announcement stating the Blackboard course site may or may not be used at the instructor's discretion.

Gold Blackboard Course Sites

In addition to the course sites created for teaching students each semester, instructors may request gold Blackboard course sites for development and copy purposes. You may request a gold course for each course and format you teach (8-week, 16-week, online, blended, on ground). Gold courses are never taught from and never deleted. Gold courses are also backed up daily. The gold course prefix is 999. Contact OTEL to request your gold course.

Copying Course Content

Though Blackboard course sites will be created with an empty template, you can copy materials from your other Blackboard course sites. Watch a demonstration of how to copy your course materials (requires Flash Player).

Special Situations

• Enrolling two or more course sections in one Blackboard site
• Teaching a tutorial or graduate project
• Not listed as the instructor in the course schedule
• Requesting Blackboard course sites for other uses
• Copying content from another instructor's course site

Closing Blackboard Courses

• Your Blackboard course sites will close automatically during the week prior to the start of the next semester. For example, Summer 2008 courses will close during the third week of August, the week before Fall 2008 classes begin.
• If you have students with incompletes who need access to courses, the course can be made available to that student. Please contact OTEL for assistance.

These changes are part of the Campus Senate Academic Technology Committee's Blackboard For All initiative. If you have questions about this process or need assistance, please contact the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning at 217-206-7317 or otel@uis.edu.