Course Readiness - UMass Boston

Getting your Course Ready for the New Semester

Blackboard course shells are automatically generated for every course listed in WISER, at least 2 months before the semester starts.
Courses open for students 3 days prior to the WISER class start date and remain open for 28 days after the end date.
An instructor must be listed as PI in WISER for their course to appear on their Blackboard account.

A list of steps to follow to get your course ready for the start of the semester:

Complete the Course Content Request Form to reuse content from a previous Blackboard course (expect at least 2 business days for completion). You are also welcome to copy existing content yourself.
Follow the UMass Boston template. Your Blackboard course comes with a course template that helps maintain consistency in navigation for students and helps you organize your learning materials and activities.
Post your updated and accessible syllabus in .pdf and .docx format to help your students get oriented right away.
Verify that all documents in the course are up to date and accessible. Hide content you are not using.
Check all web links to ensure they are active, correct, and set to open in a new window. Use the direct links (permalinks) when pointing to digital resources through UMBrella, the library repository.
Use the Date Management tool to reset all dates for the current semester at once.
Double check Grade Center calculations and delete duplicate columns.
If you use Zoom, schedule your meetings through the Zoom link integrated on the Blackboard course menu.
Consider using the Attendance tool for your classroom sessions or to automate reporting of live meetings in Collaborate Ultra.

Also note:

Please use Chrome or Firefox with Blackboard and remind your students to do the same. Blackboard works best in these browsers.
Consider using Open Educational Resources (OER) or low cost materials as a way to reduce the cost of education for our students.
Review the Resources posted on this page for more useful tips.

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