1. How do I combine multiple sections of a course into one Blackboard site?
2. Can I combine my course sections myself without placing a help request?
3. Can I have one course site for two cross-listed courses?
4. I need a combined course site but also a way for instructors/TAs in each section to communicate with their students. What can I do?

How do I combine multiple sections of a course into one Blackboard site?

If you are teaching all or select sections of a course and wish to combine the enrollments of each into a single Blackboard course site, please contact the UIS Help Desk or use the Blackboard Help Request Form and state that you would like a combined course site and specify which section numbers of the course you would like to be combined.

Please note that after the course sections are combined, you will still have access to the individual course section sites. Although the individual section sites cannot be removed from Blackboard, you can keep them from displaying on your course list (see "How do I remove course sites from my Blackboard course list?").

The course ID of the new combined course site will include "C1" in place of the section number (e.g., BIOL-101-C1.Fall2005). In cases where there is more than one combined site for a course (e.g., a course with different professors each requesting a combined site for their sections), the first combined course ID will contain "C1," the second "C2," and so forth.

The combined course site will contain the combined enrollments of the individual section sites, but will not contain any content (to copy content from an individual section site to the combined site follow the instructions in this FAQ). The combined course site will be unavailable to students until an instructor makes the course site available.

Student add/drop changes for combined course sites should be reflected automatically in the combined Blackboard course site by the next business day.

Can I combine my course sections myself without placing a help request?

Yes. Using the Blackboard Course Copy feature, you can combine the enrollments of multiple sections of a course into one site if you are listed as an instructor in each of the sections you wish to combine.

This solution for combining select sections involves choosing one course section to be the "main" section and then copying the student enrollments from the other sections into the main section. Please note that you should wait to do this until your class starts, since once you combine select course sites, changes in the enrollments for other sections will not show up in the main section.

Please note that this method is not the recommended one because student add/drop changes will NOT be reflected automatically in the combined site. Also, enrollment conflicts can occur when students switch from one section to another requiring intervention by a Blackboard administrator to resolve.

Instructions:

• Choose one section to be the main section, which will be available to students of all your sections.
• In Blackboard, go to the course site of a section whose users you wish to add to the main section (e.g., if section BIOL-101-03 is your main section, go to the course site for section BIOL-101-04).
• Click on the Control Panel.
• Under "Course Options," click on "Course Copy."
• Click on "Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course."
• Click on "Browse."
• A text box appears. Click "Search" and a list of the courses you teach will appear.
• Click the "Select" button next to the name of the course you wish to add.
• In order to copy users from one section to another, you must check at least one content area to copy as well. We recommend choosing an empty content area (e.g., "Glossary") unless you have actual content you wish to copy into the other section.
• Scroll down to Section 3 and put a check mark next to "Enrollments."
• Click "Submit."
• Click "OK."
• Repeat steps above for any additional sections you wish to add to the main section.

After completing the steps above, you will be sent an automatic email once the course copy process has completed. We advise instructors to make all non-main course sections "unavailable" to students and only make the "main" course site "available." This will eliminate confusion for those students who would have seen two section links if the "non-main" section was to be available (see "How do I make my course site available to my students?" for instructions).

After you combine course sections, you may wish to customize your course list on your Blackboard Desktop to display only the main (combined) section of the course. See "How do I remove course sites from my Blackboard course list?" for details.

Can I have one course site for two cross-listed courses?

Yes. If you are teaching a cross-listed course it is possible to have the different course sites combined into a single course site.

The process is the same as combining multiple course section enrollments into a single course site described in "How do I combine multiple sections of a course into one Blackboard site?"

I need a combined course site but also a way for instructors/TAs in each section to communicate with their students. What can I do?

Within any Blackboard course site it is possible to set up groups to allow students and instructors/TAs in each section to email each other, participate in discussions and virtual classroom sessions, and post/exchange files to members of the group. After the course site sections have been combined (see "How do I combine multiple sections of a course into one Blackboard site?"), you or anyone with the role of instructor or teaching assistant can create a group for each section of the course by following the instructions in "How do I create student groups?".

Alternatively, instructors and TAs can continue to use the individual course section sites for the course in addition to the combined course site.