New Online Form Available to Request Merge of Blackboard Course Shells
Improved Process Supports Instructor Course Management
DoIT is pleased to announce a new form to help faculty manage their Blackboard course shells with greater efficiency. As part of our ongoing updates to the course creation and enrollment process, announced earlier this year for Summer 2025, this new form simplifies requests to merge or remove Blackboard course shells from the instructor’s Blackboard dashboard.
The new Blackboard Course Merge or Removal form (UMBC login required) allows instructors to:
- Combine multiple courses into one shell for the current term
- Request the removal of unused course shells that you do not plan to use
Faculty who want to merge their courses must submit a request using this form at least one week before the semester starts to ensure timely processing and reduce impact on student learning.
How the form and updated process works
Image 1: The new request form prompts users to indicate whether they would like to merge or remove courses.
By automatically displaying an instructor’s list of courses for the upcoming term, the new form is designed to simplify instructor workflows and is the next step towards automating instructors’ course merge requests.
Image 2: The form displays a list of courses based on an instructor’s course assignments in the Schedule of Classes
The form will automatically open a ticket with the Instructional Technology team to process the request. Most requests are processed fairly quickly, but instructors should allow one business day if tickets are submitted overnight or on weekends.
Getting more information
To support a smooth transition, Instructional Technology will host an information session about updates to the course creation and enrollment process at the start of the fall semester. We encourage faculty to attend this session to learn more about the new course creation process or share feedback online.
The latest update to our course creation and enrollment process marks another step toward greater self-service for faculty. Additionally, the functional changes lay the necessary groundwork for future integrations required for grade export from Blackboard to PeopleSoft. Continued refinements are expected based on faculty feedback and ongoing development planned by DoIT to provide improved automation.
Connect with Instructional Technology
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
Blackboard course shells for Fall 2025 were created on July 16, 2025.
All Fall 2025 courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc, or instructor assignment, now have a Blackboard presence. RT requests are no longer needed for research, independent study, or practicum courses. As new course sections are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight.
- 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 access to the Bb course shell will be updated 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.
New Course Merge Request Process
As announced by DoIT in early April, instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will see a separate Blackboard course shell for each section or course component. Courses will not be merged by default. Instructors planning to use separate shells will no longer need to submit an RT request.
Course shells may be merged or removed upon request using the new Blackboard Course Merge or Removal form (UMBC login required), which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be merged or split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded, since it will be purged as part of the separation process.
For more information about these improvements, please see the following:
Presentation to Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC) on March 4, 2025.
Updated FAQs- How to request a merged course
Common questions about the revised Blackboard course creation & user enrollment process (Google Doc version)
In addition, faculty are invited to attend an information session on August 7th or 19th about the new course creation and merge process.
Create an Inclusive & Accessible Course Environment
Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. 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, or attend an upcoming training session.
Connect with Instructional Technology
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
Connect with Instructional Technology
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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Blackboard course shells for Fall 2025 were created on July 16, 2025. All Fall 2025 courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc, or...
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