Instructors: Two ways to request your Term-based Blackboard course sites

Campus requires instructors to request their term-based Blackboard course sites Every Semester so we can ensure that everything is set up as you would like on time. You can request your Summer 2008 Blackboard courses now. You may even request Fall 2008 courses now as well. We follow the guidelines and course setup procedures that campus OIT provided. Once you post course Syllabus to your course, Smith IT will post it to the public Course Syllabi page within a week.

There are two way to request your Blackboard course now.

With campus IT provided course setup system, instructors are welcome to use the *Campus-wide ELMS LearningOnline course request form to submit course requests. You will find the ELMS form when you log into Blackboard system and look in the “Common Tasks for Instructors” frame. It's fairly easy to use when you have a standard course request. Use your Directory ID and password to login.  All courses requested there need to be officially listed in Testudo or your UMEG account.
(*Note: Our Blackboard system is called "ELMS" (enterprise learning management system) in campus wide.)

Smith IT maintains an additional Smith School BB Course Request form to request a course. It has been used for years by our faculty/staff to request any courses, and it allows more flexibility especially in the following situations:

• If you are a new or adjunct faculty who does not have an active UM Directory account yet.

• When the course is not listed in Testudo or UMEG, or not listed under your name (please indicate in Comments field).

• When you're teaching a Cross-listed course and want to combine different course IDs into one course.

• When a Staff member requests a course for a faculty member.

• When you have special requests (i.e. you need to combine part of the course sections you are going to teach).

• All EMBA Courses are required to use this Smith School form, to ensure proper naming convention is followed.

You can find the Smith form by clicking the “Request BB Course” tab at the top of the screen.
 

  Request Non-Term-Based Courses and Organization Spaces in Blackboard

Faculty and Staff may request an Organization space in Blackboard for a Committee, Student Group, Department, Research Group, or Grant. If you want your student organization to have a space, you must request it for them. Once you do, you can assign a student as "leader" but should remain in the group to oversee activity. Organizational spaces have the same tools and functions as a regular Blackboard course. The big difference is that YOU manage the participants and leaders of the space. Everything inside the space works just the same way as it does in your term-based courses. Participants can email, use discussion forums, content collection links, announcements, Wimba sessions....

To request an Organization:

1. Login to Blackboard with your UMID. Click on “Course & Organization Requests Form” link from the Faculty Resources tab, Common Tasks for Instructors window.
   -- Another way that you can request an Organization space in Blackboard system is by filling out the Smith IT Blackboard Course Request form at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/blackboard/courserequest.html.

2. Log in with your UMID

3. Click on the “Request Organizations” link in the menu on the left.

5. Identify a type for the new organization. (Is this a committee, a student group, a department, a research group, a grant or other?))

6. Type a Blackboard name for the new organization in the Name field. Name can only contain letters, underscore_ and numbers. There can be NO Spaces or special characters. Example of Name: Fellows2008.

7. Type the Organization Title you would like. This is what Organization participants see in Blackboard. Example of Title: "Fellows Forum, 2008-09"

8. Select the radio button if you want to add yourself as the Organization Leader. (An Organization leader may add other leaders and participants.You don't need Smith IT to add/drop group members!)

9. Please include any notes that might be helpful for the approver.

10. Click on the “Submit Request” button.

After the request is approved, a confirmation email will be sent to the requestor. To access it, login to Blackboard system at http://bb.rhsmith.umd.edu, and look in the "My Organizations" module in home page.

To manage approved organizations:

Anyone designated as a Leader in an Organization will be able to manage memberships in that Organization. By default the requestor will be the leader. Membership roles may be edited by all leaders. To add or drop members or change their role in this BB Org leaders should:

1. Gather the Directory IDs of your members you wish to add.

2. Go to the Course & Organization Requests Form as you did when you requested the org.

3. Click on the “Manage Organizations” link from the menu on the left.

4. Choose "Add New Members" or "Delete Members" as appropriate.

5. Add university members by typing their Directory ID in the University Members frame. You can add a long list at one time if you have their Directory IDs ready, just type one name on each line.

6. If you want to add members to your Org who do not have UMIDs, you may request elms-accounts for them from this form.
   - Type the username you want them to have (no spaces and fewer than 8 characters) in the Non University Members box. Their username will be whatever you typed with "elms-college-"in front of it, for instance: "elms-bmgt-jdoe"
   - You can assign passwords to these accounts when you create them or use the randomly generated passwords it assigns.
   - You have to add their email address when the account is created so the system can email them their account information.
   - They will use this username and password to log into Blackboard at http://bb.rhsmith.umd.edu where they will have access to this organization.

You may notice right away that the default left panel menu items in Organizations are a little different than the default menus in term-based courses, but remember, everything works the same as it does in your other course spaces. Modify this menu the same way you modify one for your courses: Go to course Control Panel --> Manage Organization Menu.