Blackboard Tips and Reminders for the New Semester!

Blank course shells have been created for SP23 courses. All faculty are reminded of the following recommendations:

• Course Merge Request Deadline: If you have two or more classes that you want to merge into a single Blackboard shell, please use the online merge request form at least two weeks before classes begin. We will be unable to perform merges once students begin accessing your courses.
• Teaching Assistant Access: If you have TAs or others who will be assisting with your classes this semester, use the online Add TA to a Course request form to get things started. NOTE: Whenever possible, we use the TA's UHCL staff account credentials, rather than their student credentials. This better delineates work that they do in courses as a student from work done as a TA.
• Student Access for Incompletes: If you have given a student an incomplete for one of your courses, please notify the Support Center via email (supportcenter@uhcl.edu) to request that we either add the student to your current semester Blackboard course or extend the student's access to your previous semester Blackboard course. In your email, please include the following information:
• Names and ID numbers of the students who received an incomplete.
• The course rubric(s) (e.g., ACCT3331.01).
• Whether we should add the student to your current semester Blackboard course or extend their access to the class in which they received the incomplete.
• (If we are extending access to your previous semester Blackboard course) The date through which you would like the student(s) to have access.
• Take Your Course for a Student "Test Drive:" Use Blackboard's Student Preview to look at your course from the perspective of a student. Are all dates current for the new term? Can you see everything that your students need to access? Are your welcome message and getting started materials in a prominent location, so that students don't have to hunt and peck for critical information?
• Copying Course Contents: Faculty may use Blackboard's Course Copy feature to transfer contents from one of their own existing Blackboard shells into their SP23 shells. Faculty who need to borrow content from another instructor should email the Support Center and include an email from the content owner granting permission for us to copy their contents into your course.
• Course Updates: Clear or hide outdated and/or unused course materials, e.g., old discussion posts, announcements, old syllabi, etc. Update any assignments/assessments with availability and due dates with new dates for the current semester.
• Add Critical Help Resources for Students: If you will be using Zoom, Collaborate, or Echo360 this semester, please encourage your students to review the materials posted on our Student Blackboard Support page. We have a Student Checklist for Online Technology Readiness, as well as tool-specific handouts and videos.
• Schedule Changes: If you were originally scheduled to teach a course in SP23 that has been reassigned to another instructor, please email the Support Center and let us know the course information. A Blackboard shell for the new instructor will not be generated until your shell has been removed from the Blackboard system.
• Proctoring Information: Will you be requiring students to use a proctoring service when completing online tests/exams? If so, make sure that you provide students with links to resources about how to prepare for a proctored assessment. UHCL provides two recorded proctoring options for faculty: (1) ProctorU Review+ (with Proctored Launch), and (2) Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor. The Student Information tab on our team's Online Proctoring Resources page has the information that students need to get ready for a successful proctoring session.

For questions about preparing for the next semester, please reach out to our Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team by contacting the Support Center. A staff member will enter your request into the help ticketing system, where it will be routed to the next available member of our team.