Blackboard course shells for FA2020 were created on July 27, 2020.

NOTE: In recognition of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing social distancing practices, UMBC’s fall session will mostly be online with some exceptions. Please review the Fall 2020 Course Information and these resources to prepare:

About FA2020 Course Shells

Course development shells were created for faculty to prepare earlier this summer. Content can be copied from those development shells into the production sites where student enrollments are populated.

The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in FA2020 courses to allow faculty adoption with anupdated support schedule of Ultra (see prior announcement). The Ultra Course Preview tool allows faculty to convert an existing Original course and see what it looks like in Ultra. 

Ally, an accessibility tool, is also enabled in all course shells as of last summer. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content and alternative formats.

• If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically. 
• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
• If you need a Bb shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will find those enrollments merged into one Bb course shell. These sections may be split upon request by an RT ticket, which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard.

Student enrollment in Bb mirrors the official registration in SA and updates hourly. However, courses are not accessible to students by default until the instructor of record makes them available.

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:

• Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources
• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Sign up for a webinar & other training 
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff