Skip to Main Content

Help Desk Knowledge Base

Beginning of the Term

As you prepare for a new term, there are several things you need to do. 

  1. Check Course Assignments
    Check Blackboard for courses assigned to you for the upcoming term. 
    Courses become available as instructor assignments are made by your dean/chair, generally around week 7 or 8 of the previous term.
    Contact your dean/chair for questions regarding course assignments.
     
  2. Add Course Content
    Content can be copied from another course.
    This can be a course you taught previously, a course taught by someone else, or a shell course managed by your department.
    You can also build a course from scratch by adding content manually. 

    See these resources for information on copying from another course:

        - Copying a Course
        - Copying from 2020 Template Courses
        - Exporting / Importing Blackboard Courses

    See these resources for shell courses:
        - Managing a Shell Course
        - Using a Shell Course

    If you are teaching multiple sections of a course, you can have sections combined into a single Blackboard course by contacting the Help Desk.  See Using Parent / Child Courses in Blackboard for more information.

  3. Review / Update a Course
    Work through the Week Zero Course Preparation Guide and     Course Prep Checklist before the first day of the term to ensure that the course is ready for students.
    Students will have access to courses at 12:01 AM the first day of the term. 

 

Note that an updated standard course template is being used beginning with the 2020 Summer term. 

For any questions related to a course, course content, text, or syllabus, contact your chair. 

For Blackboard or other technology questions, contact the Help Desk at HelpDesk@centralpenn.edu or 866-291-4357.