What are the Blackboard Administrative Requests that I can make through the Innovative Learning Support Centre?
Through the Innovative Learning Support Centre, there are 3 main administrative requests within Blackboard that you can make. These requests require Associate Dean (or Manager/Director) approval, so please ensure that your management is aware of these requests, as they will be asked to approve it.
- Course Merges
- The process of linking two or more course sections (referred to as child courses) into one centralized parent course (referred to as an XL site) in Blackboard. Instructors manage all content and students in the XL site, while students still see their original child courses and have access to the shared content within the XL site.
- Learn more about this below!
- Adding, Removing or Extending access to Individuals from a Course
- In Blackboard, there are a variety of defined user-types, including; the ‘Instructor’ role that has full access to the course, the ‘Course Builder’ role that can manage content (except grades/Gradebook), the ‘Student’ role for viewing content, and the ‘Student Support’ role for mirroring Student for accessibility needs.
- Requesting a Course
- In Blackboard, instructors and staff can request different types of courses, including XL (cross-listed), PMR, ADR, FAC, DEVU, and SBX, each designed for specific purposes like development of course content, discovering Blackboard features, or training, with defined storage limits and access durations.
What is a merge?
When an instructor is assigned to multiple sections of the same course, it may be convenient for the instructor to merge the sections. The graphic below illustrates the idea of merging. In this example, an instructor has three sections of the same course. By requesting to merge three courses (Child course 1, Child course 2 and Child course 3), the courses will be connected through an empty parent course. The name of the parent course starts with XL, and Innovative Learning also calls it an XL site.
Once a merge is complete, the instructor will see the XL site in Blackboard. The instructor will no longer access the individual course sections (child courses). Students will continue to see the original name of the registered course section but will have access to the content of the XL site.
Note: the XL site will be created with no content. It is the instructor’s responsibility to add content to the newly-created XL site.
What are the Pros and Cons of Merging Courses?
- PROS: No need to upload content in each section, and you will be able to manage multiple sections of students in one Parent course (XL site).
- CONS: Course enrollment from all sections/child courses are merged together into one; there is no indication in Blackboard as to which students belong to which section. (You can find this information in My Humber or Banner.)
What should I know before merging courses?
- It is strongly recommended that a merge request be completed before start-up, and it is highly advised to refrain from adding new content until a merge is complete.
- This is because merging throughout the term causes the merged courses to lose all data (all course content as well as student grades and submissions).
- You can request to add a new section to the existing XL site.
- Upon approval of Associate Dean, you may merge sections taught by different instructors as well.
How do I request a merge?
- Have the email address of your Associate Dean who approved your request ready.
- Locate CRN, course code, and section of the courses you want to merge.
- Complete the LMS Blackboard Ultra Admin Request form on the Innovative Learning Support Centre website to request a merge.
Contact the Innovative Learning Support Centre if you need support. We are here to help!