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Getting your Blackboard course ready for the new semester

All for-credit, academic courses are pushed from Banner to Blackboard, into the West Lafayette Academic Campus, already populated with students. These Banner-generated classes are basically empty "shells" into which you can build content as usual, or into which you can copy content from other Blackboard sections.

Shortly before the semester begins, instructors (as designated by their departmental schedule deputy) will see a new Blackboard section or sections when they log in to the "My Blackboard" page. These sections have been generated by Banner and instructors are automatically enrolled as Instructor/Designer of the class in Blackboard. The class title will have this format:

    Spring 2009 - EDCI 27000-001 (this example is for EDCI 270).

Select one of the following links to determine how to proceed with your new Blackboard course.

Never Used Blackboard before?

If you have not done any content development for the new semester and want to begin development with a new, empty class, you should do the following:

  1. On the "My Blackboard" page, click the name of the Banner-generated class.
  2. At the "Assign Course Content" screen that appears, click to select the radio button next to "Set up a blank course", then click Continue.

You may want to attend one of our short Blackboard training sessions. To view current training offerings, visit: http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/courselisting.cfm?ID=78

Online training materials are also available at: http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/materials/list.cfm?TopicID=216

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Want to combine multiple Banner courses into one Blackboard section?

Combining multiple Banner sections into one is done by "cross-listing". This allows an instructor to combine rosters and content into one parent section, avoiding the need to create duplicate content across multiple sections. To cross-list Blackboard sections, go to: Cross List Banner Sections (combine multiple sections into one).

Important: Blackboard cross listed sections need to be created prior to any student activity or content assigned in the individual sections.

When you cross-list your class, it will be assigned by default a title ending in "XLIST", as in:

Spring 2009 - EDCI 27000-001 - XLST (this example is for EDCI 270).

If you need to develop your class content before you can cross-list your class, be sure to do it in a previously-taught class or development section. Then, after you cross-list your Banner-generated classes, copy the content from your development section into the cross-listed class.

Only the designated Instructor or Course Roster Viewer (roles assigned in Banner) has the ability to create a cross-listed section. Each Banner section you want to group together in Blackboard must have the same Banner-assigned instructor.

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Want to re-use content from another Blackboard section?

If you are currently developing class materials in Blackboard in a previously-taught class or development class of your own, you will want to copy the content from that class into the Banner-generated class section before the new semester begins.

When you are ready to copy content into your Banner-generated class, do the following:

  1. On the "My Blackboard" page, click the name of the Banner-generated class.
  2. At the "Assign Course Content" screen that appears, click to select the radio button next to "Copy content from another course", then click Continue.
  3. A list of courses for which you are a Section Designer will appear. Note that if you have more than 10 courses, you will need to change the paging (in the lower right) to see them all.
  4. Click to select the radio button next to the course that you want to copy into your Banner-generated section, then click Continue.
  5. An activity bar will appear as the section content is copied. The copy process will take anywhere from a few moments to a few minutes.
  6. After you've gone through the copy process, do any further development of your semester's class content in the Banner-generated section of the class only.

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How does student enrollment work?

Instructors no longer need to request "autopopulation", i.e. request to have students added to their Blackboard section. Students are automatically enrolled into the Banner-generated class in Blackboard. This means that when you enter your Banner-generated class and open up your Blackboard grade book, you will see the list of students currently enrolled in your class.

Banner will process all drops and adds and push these to your Blackboard grade book. Students who drop a course will not be deleted from Blackboard, but rather "unenrolled". It will no longer be possible for instructors to add or remove students or auditors through the grade book; additions will only be made through Banner. However, an instructor assigned in Banner may add a Teaching Assistant or Course Designer to a Blackboard section. To add an instructor, course designer or teaching assistant to your Blackboard section, go to: Add an instructor, designer or TA.

Important: Blackboard cross listed sections need to be created prior to any student activity or content assigned in the individual sections.

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When can my students see my Blackboard course?

All courses pushed from Banner into Blackboard have a term or semester associated with them. Each term has a start and end date and this date range determines when courses are visible to students. By default, students will not see a Blackboard section until the term starts or after a term ends; however, an instructor does have the ability to change this setting if needed.

Important: Students will not be able to enter a Blackboard course until the section Designer has logged in and applied a template or other course content. Until that is done, students will see the message "Section not available."

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