VCU Technology Services

WARNING: User may experience a problem creating a course when using Google Chrome.

There are two ways to create a new course. To make a copy of an existing Blackboard course go to Copy a Course.

To create a new/blank course shell:

Step 1 - Under the My Faculty Tools module, click Create a Course.

Step 2 - Select a Semester and Year from the drop-down lists, if different from what is displayed.

Note: Continuous Semester (in the drop-down list) should only be used if a course is being created that is not contained in one semester. If Continuous is selected, then student names must be searched and manually added to the course. See Manually Add/Enroll Users to a Course.

Step 3 - Select a Course from the drop-down list.

Note: The course information will automatically appear below, in the "Alternatively, type in the information for your own course below" area. Do not change the Rubric, Number or Section. The Title is the only area that can be edited.

MAC Users: Browsers may not display the drop-down menu of courses in this form. This is due to a bug in the Mac browser. If any user is experiencing this problem, (s)he will need to enter the course information manually. When entering information, make sure the rubric, number, and section is correct as listed in the VCU Schedule of Classes. Go to Create a Special Course for details on entering courses manually.

Step 4 - Click Submit.

The course will not be available to the students until the instructor makes it available and the roster is updated. To make a course available, go to Make a Course "Available/Unavailable" for Student View for details.

Note: Student names do not automatically appear in the class roster when a course is created. The names are added or dropped during the roster update process (a.k.a. snapshot), which runs daily with files that are received from the Banner system. If an individual student is missing; make sure the student is on the Banner roster. Banner is the official class enrollment record. If a students is manually added to Blackboard but is not registered for the course through Banner, the student is not officially enrolled in the course. There is a definite possibility that the student will not receive credit for having completed the course.