When are course shells created in Blackboard?

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A Bb course shell will exist for all courses (except those designated as RES, THE, or IND) in the Schedule of Classes (SOC) with an instructor of record listed. Courses are initially created in Blackboard about 4 weeks before the semester starts:

Term	Approximate Creation Date
Fall	Late July
Winter	Late November
Spring	Late November
Summer	Late April

After the courses are created for a given semester, new course shells will be created once daily (at approximately 4 AM). For example, if a new course or course section is added to the SOC at 9 AM, the Bb shell will be created later that night.

NOTE: The automated course creation process does not have the functionality to allow exceptions to request or create RES, THE, and IND shells in Blackboard by default. Instructors must request a new Bb course shell every semester.

WHY IS MY COURSE MERGED?

By default, if an instructor is teaching two or more sections of the same course, or if courses are combined/cross-listed in the SOC, those sections will be automatically combined into one Bb course shell. Special topics courses, when taught by the same instructor, may also be merged, even if the topics for each section are different.

Instructors can request to split these sections into separate shells after the initial creation of courses. Instructors can also request via RT ticket to merge their courses.

If you do not see your course or need to request a new course shell in Blackboard, please check with your department scheduling coordinator and review these FAQs:

Are you missing a course?

Before you open a ticket about a missing course shell, PLEASE confirm that your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator has correctly entered your name in the schedule of classes. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically within 24 hours.

If you still don't see it, proceed to the next step: How do I request a Blackboard course or organization shell?