The annual course rollover took place at the weekend. A very big thank you to our colleagues in the IT TEL Support team who not only gave up their Saturday to get this done, but have also spent many hours over the previous weeks and months preparing for a successful rollover.
The following types of course copy have now taken place:
- 2016-17 RISIS courses scheduled to run again in 2017-18
- any other courses where a staff member had submitted a course copy request by 1st July
Other 2017-18 courses will have been created as a blank shell:
- RISIS modules where the Module Convenor specifically requested this via the opt-out form
- RISIS modules which were not in use in 2016-17, and no course copy request had been received
- modules which have never run before
- modules where the RISIS code has changed (unless you requested a copy from a previous course)
If you missed the 1st July deadline, but still have content you would like copied from a 2016-17 (or earlier) course, please fill out the Course Copy Request Form which you can find – along with many other Blackboard-related request forms – at http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/vle-support/
Please submit your request as early as possible, to make sure you have plenty of time to set up your course for the new academic year.
Staff enrolments
As part of the course copy process, most staff enrolments will have been rolled forward – all Instructors, Teaching Assistants and External Examiners.
In addition, staff identified in RISIS as Module Convenor for a 2017-18 module will have been enrolled on the corresponding Blackboard course.
This applies equally to courses which were copied, and to courses which have been set up as a blank shell.
If you are a Module Convenor for a module which runs both in Reading and Malaysia, you will see all 2017-18 occurrences of the module in Blackboard.
If you do not see all of the 2017-18 Blackboard courses you need
- If the course has run before:
Ask a colleague to enrol you. This could be- the Module Convenor
- another colleague who is already enrolled on the course
- the programme administrator in the Support Centre.
- If the course has never run before (or has a new RISIS code):
Ask Support Centre staff to enrol you. This could be- the Programmes Manager
- the Senior Programme Administrator
You could also fill out this form – Request enrolment on a course – but it will probably be quickest just to contact colleagues in the Support Centre.
Preparing your 2017-18 courses for the new academic year
Course menu
If your course was created as a copy of a previous course, the menu will be exactly the same on the new course.
If your course was created as a blank shell, it will have the default course menu.
In either case, please spend some time considering if the menu and underlying course structure
- meet the specific requirements of your course
- will be easily navigable by your learners
and then make any changes required.
Please see our guides on this:
The default menu for new modules/programmes, with suggestions for what each section should contain.
How to customise the course menu to include essential features & make it easy to navigate for students.
Course content
Courses which have been copied forward will include all course content except for announcements, discussion boards, and Blackboard blogs, journals and wikis.
Naturally, before you make the course available to students in the new academic year, you will need to ensure that preparation should include ensuring that all course materials, such as
- module / programme handbooks
- assignment briefs
- lecture and seminar material
are up-to-date, and in the appropriate section of the course.
Talis reading list links – whether as part of the menu, or in a course content area – will have been copied, but you need to configure them for use by students in the new academic year. Please see http://libguides.reading.ac.uk/reading-lists/staff/blackboard
Module Evaluation – this is a new content area which has been added to the Blackboard course for all 2017-18 RISIS modules. Information for both staff and students is included within the Module Evaluation course content area. There is no need to make any changes to this area until later in the academic year.
Assessment
Blackboard Tests and Surveys will have been copied, and you will find them listed under Control Panel > Course Tools > Tests, Surveys and Pools. However they will NOT yet be deployed to users (made available for students to take). You will need to deploy them with appropriate settings on the new course. Please see our guidance on Tests and Surveys.
Blackboard and Turnitin Assignments – these will not have been copied at all, and new submission points will now need to be created with appropriate settings on the new course. In most Schools, this work is done by programme administrators in the Support Centres.
Any Questions?
Please log a support ticket with IT and depending on the nature of your query, you’ll get a response from either the CQSD or IT TEL team.