Cardinal Learn (Blackboard) Procedures

Course Creation

Courses are created automatically in Blackboard for each course taught at Catholic University. All courses listed in Cardinal Station have a corresponding Blackboard course.

NEW TERM COURSE CREATION

Summer mid-March

Fall mid-June

Spring early November

A course and instructor name must be listed in Cardinal Station for a course to be created in Blackboard. Synchronizations occurs within 24 hours.

Course Enrollments

Enrollments are synchronized between Cardinal Students and Blackboard. Students should NOT be manually added or removed from Blackboard courses. ALL enrollments must come from Cardinal Students. Once enrolled in Cardinal Students, synchronizations occurs within 12 hours. Students who drop their course during the Add/Drop period in Cardinal Students are dropped automatically in Blackboard within 12 hours.

Students who withdraw after the Add/Drop period will remain in the course in Blackboard, as their withdrawal is considered “of record”.

Course Retention

Courses are kept on the production system for 2 years past the end of the term.

Course deletion schedule example:

PREVIOUS TERM DELETION

Fall of 2019 Spring 2022

Spring of 2020 Summer 2022

Summer of 2020 Fall 2022

Master course shells can be created to centralize course management and will not be deleted per the retention policy.

• Retain content indefinitely

• Design and develop a course outside of a specific term

• Full course copy into term-based courses/sections or house content from which instructors can pick what materials to copy into their section

• Students should NOT be enrolled in master course shells

• Please submit a service request to request a master course shell: techsupport.cua.edu

Course Backups

Instructors should remember to backup their courses at the end of each semester if they need further access to the materials. Instructors are responsible for retaining course content using one of the methods below:

• Archiving your course: Blackboard Help: Archive a course - Archiving your course allows you to save a backup of all course materials, including all enrollments and user interactions.

• Exporting your course: Blackboard Help: Export a course - The Export function creates a package of the course content that can later be imported into Blackboard Learn and used to teach another course with the same content.

  • • NOTE: Unlike the Archive function, an Export package does not include any user interactions with the course. It only includes the content of the course and is useful when course materials will be reused at a later time to teach a new set of students or be used in a course on a different server.

    • NOTE: Any Archive or Export package files that are left in your Blackboard course after you download them will be automatically deleted from the course after 30 days.

• Saving course files: Blackboard Help: Manage course files and folders - Saving your course files on your computer can serve as a back-up for future courses, allowing you to access specific documents.