Course Support from e-Learning (elc-help@nau.edu)

Copying content forward from a previous semester or from another course
Combining two or more sections or courses into one Bb Learn section
Adding another Instructor, Teaching Assistant, or Course Designer
Course Start Dates
Template or Empty Shell?

1. Copying content forward from a previous semester or from another course

The entire content of another course may be copied into your current course by the e-Learning Center. If you wish to have this done, please do not add any content to the current (empty) course.

If you intend to combine two or more sections into one, please work with your class scheduler to do that before you request the course copy; once they are combined in Bb Learn, request your course copy from the e-Learning Center. See the section on Combining Courses for more information.

To request course copies, please email elc-help@nau.edu with all of this information:

Semester, Course and Class Number to copy from
Semester, Course and Class Number to copy to

EXAMPLE:
Copy from: Spring 2013 ACC-666 SEC801 (1131-1234)
Copy to: Fall 2013 ACC-666 SEC802 (1137-5678) Please request course content copies at least 2 weeks before your course begins! However, if you intend to make more changes to your current course and you want those changes to be incorporated into your new course, please wait until changes are complete before requesting the course copies.

2. Combining two or more sections or courses into one Bb Learn section

Your department may be able to combine the Bb Learn course shells of more than one section or course so that content only needs to be added and maintained in one section instead of several. Classes sharing a Bb Learn shell must be "rolled up" prior to the start date of the classes and prior to content being copied into the combined section. Rolling up classes after the official Start Date can result in lost content. Please contact your department's class scheduler to arrange for the combination of sections and courses in Bb Learn. There are three ways for your department scheduler to create combined sections:

Primary Instructional Section (2 or more sections of a course with the same topic taught by the same instructor during the same term and session)

Cross-Listing (same course taught with different departmental prefixes)

Co-Convening (graduate and undergraduate courses of the same topic offered by the same instructor at the same time and place)

Schedulers may contact Extended Campuses or the Curriculum and Academic Systems Administration (CASA) as appropriate if they have questions about this process. Please allow at least four weeks before the start date to combine your Bb Learn course shells to allow for changes to the Schedule of Classes, departmental approval, etc.

3. Adding another Instructor, Teaching Assistant, or Course Designer

As the Primary Instructor, you can do everything inside your course and the Students can only take the class. There are several other intermediate roles available in Bb Learn; below is a brief explanation of each role, as well as instructions on how to have people added in each role:

Secondary Instructor

A secondary instructor has "Teach" access in the course: the secondary instructor may access the grade center, interact with students in the discussion forums, grade quizzes and assignments, etc.

Your deparment must add your secondary instructor in the Schedule of Classes (LOUIE); this will give the secondary instructor access to the Bb Learn course as an instructor

Teaching Assistant

A teaching assistant has "Teach" access in the course: the teaching assistant may access the grade center, interact with students in the discussion forums, grade quizzes and assignments, etc.

Your deparment must add your teaching assistant in the Schedule of Classes (LOUIE); this will give the teaching assistant access to the Bb Learn course as a teaching assistant

Designer (Course Builder)

A designer, or course builder, may add, delete and change course content. A designer does not have access to the grade center, and cannot grade student work; the designer role is only intended to add and update course content.

If your Designer will have no other role in the course (is not, and will not be either a Secondary Instructor or a Teaching Assistant), you may use the Manage Users tool (available under Course Tools) to add your own Designer.

If your Designer is already a Teaching Assistant or Secondary Instructor in your course, do not use the Manage Users tool to add him or her as a Designer. Instead, simply contact the e-Learning Center (elc-help@nau.edu) with the specific course information and the person's name and UserID, and ELC will add Designer access.

4. Course Start Dates

By default, a Bb Learn course shell will be available to students enrolled in the course on the course's official start date, as published in the Schedule of Classes (LOUIE). For many courses this is the first day of the term. Instructors may request that a Bb Learn course shell be available to students up to a week before the published start date simply by requesting it (to elc-help@nau.edu). Any requests for access more than one week before the start date should be made by the academic Chair, Dean or Director. Instructors should inform their students if a course is set to be available before its start date (see "Contacting Your Students" below). Regardless, instructors should never require coursework before the official start date of the course; rather, early availability should be optional for students.

5. Template or Empty Shell?

When e-Learning Support (elc-help@nau.edu) creates a new course for you, we recommend you begin with our template, which gives you a standard NAU course structure, links to NAU Instructor Resources, and which contains the most commonly used course tools. You can quickly add to or delete from this template, but it's a good starting point that will help to give all NAU courses a consistent look for students. It's also sometimes easier for new instructors to plug things into a pre-built structure rather than start from a blank slate.

However, if you request that we copy content forward from an existing class, we have to create a completely empty course shell for your course content. Otherwise, you would end up with template content mixed in with your course content and it might make a mess. If you'd like our assistance in re-structuring your existing course so that it better aligns with the new template, we can help.