Using Blackboard Faculty Tools (BFT)
Defining Blackboard Faculty Tools (BFT)
Blackboard Faculty Tools (BFT) is a web-based utility integrated within Blackboard for use at NIU. Faculty can make a variety of requests using Blackboard Faculty Tools including:
- Request a New Course in which student enrollment is automatically uploaded and refreshed daily.
- Request a New Shell for course development long before a course is to be offered.
- Remove a Shell to purge unwanted development courses.
- Request/Manage a Master Course to combine enrollments from related courses into a single "master" course.
Note: All requests to the BFT go through the processing server, which runs twice daily every weekday throughout the semester. This means that changes will not appear immediately. Requests will be processed by mid-morning of the next business day. If you do not see the result of your request by noon of the following work day, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at 815-753-8100 for assistance.
Request a New Course
- Log into Blackboard using your NIU Account ID.
- Click the Services tab.
- Under Services, click Blackboard Faculty Tools.
- Click Request New Course.
- Under Select Term, select the semester for the course being requested from the dropdown menu.
- After reading the copyright notice at http://www.media.niu.edu/media/resources/legal_issues/copyright_fair_use.shtml, click the Submit button.
Note: Blackboard will find only the courses in which you are the instructor of record. The icons displayed to the left of each course are explained below:
- Click to select the course(s) you would like to request from the courses available for request.
Note: Faculty can select more than one available course at one time.
- Click the Submit button.
- Review the course selected to confirm the request.
- Click the Submit button.
- A confirmation for the course request is displayed.
Note: The course is not created instantly. Requests are processed the following business day. If you do not see the result of your request by noon of the following work day, please contact the ITS Call Center at 753-8100 for assistance.
- Click the OK button.
This process creates a teaching course populated with student enrollment. This step provides the faculty member with a course containing only the student roster.
- Return to the Main Menu to make additional requests.
After the scheduled section is created and the faculty member has copied any needed materials into the course, faculty will need to make the course available to students through the course Control Panel. Instructions for setting course availability are here.
Materials can be copied from a current course, an old course, or a shell into the new course.
Request a New Shell
- Request a shell for a course you have never taught in Blackboard but wish to begin developing ahead of time.
- Request a different shell for each course number.
- Course shells should always be Unavailable, meaning they are not accessible to students.
- No student names should be added to a course shell.
- Course shells remain intact on the Blackboard server until faculty members request their removal.
- To request a new shell:
- Log into Blackboard using your NIU Account ID.
- Click the Services tab.
- Under Services, click Blackboard Faculty Tools.
- Click Request/Remove Shells.
- Select the course department from the dropdown menu and enter the course number in the Course Number textbox, then click the Create new shell button.
- Review the requested course shell.
- Click the Submit button to finish.
- A confirmation for the course shell request is displayed.
- Click the OK button.
This image indicates that the shell has been requested.
Note: If the shell has no name, the shell name can be changed later from the course Control Panel. To change the course name please follow the following steps:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Course Options click Settings.
- Click Course Name and Description.
- Edit the course name, faculty can also edit the course description, subject area and discipline.
- Click the Submit button.
Remove a Shell
After using Blackboard for several semesters, faculty members may have duplicate shells. The remove request will not be processed immediately (see note at top of the page). This process is permanent! Be certain to remove only nonessential shells. See FAQ for hints.
To request removal of a shell:
- Log into Blackboard using your NIU Account ID.
- Click the Services tab.
- Under Services, click Blackboard Faculty Tools.
- Click Request/Remove Shells.
- Click the Remove button next to the course shell to be removed.
- Review the removed course shell.
- Click the Submit button to finish.
- A confirmation for the course shell removal is displayed.
- Click the OK button.
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This image indicates the course shell will be removed the following business day.
Request/Manage a Master Course
Faculty who teach multiple sections of the same course in a given semester have the option of consolidating these course sections in Blackboard into one master course. To request a master course and combine several sections in Blackboard, follow these steps:
- Log into Blackboard using your NIU Account ID.
- Click the Services tab.
- Under Services, click Blackboard Faculty Tools.
- Click Request/Manage a Master Course.
- Under Select Term, select the semester for the course being requested from the dropdown menu and then click the Submit button..
Note: Blackboard will find only the courses in which you are the instructor of record. The icons displayed to the left of each course are explained below:
- Select the course that you would like to designate as the master course by clicking the Make this a master course button next to the desired listed course.
- Check the box(es) corresponding to the course section(s) you would like to join to the master course and then click the Submit button.
- Review the course selected to confirm the request.
- Click the Submit button.
- A confirmation for the course request is displayed.
Note: The course is not created instantly. Requests are processed the following business day. If you do not see the result of your request by noon of the following work day, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at 815-753-8100 for assistance.
- Click the OK button.
This process creates a teaching course populated with student enrollment. This step provides the faculty member with a course containing only the student roster.
- Return to the Main Menu to make additional requests.
After the scheduled section is created and the faculty member has copied any needed materials into the course, faculty will need to make the course available to students through the course Control Panel. Instructions for setting course availability are here.
Materials can be copied from a current course, an old course, or a shell into the new course.
Click here to view a step-by-step tutorial of requesting a master course.
Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to getting started teaching with Blackboard? Review the answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff regarding getting started teaching with Blackboard. Also, consider attending an upcoming Blackboard workshop.
Last Updated: 3/18/2009
