11/25/2024
By Donna Mellen and Patrick Connell
Spring 2025 course development for Graduate, Online and Professional Studies (GPS) and on-campus Blackboard courses has opened. Faculty must add content to begin developing spring courses. We have provided instructions for Blackboard and Canvas as we transition the campus to our new Learning Management System (LMS).
Empty course shells are automatically created and made available for all traditional spring 2025 courses. Students receive access to undergraduate on-campus courses on Saturday, Jan. 18. Faculty are asked to include a syllabus and hide any tests or quizzes that should not be available. Graduate, online and combined graduate/undergraduate courses open on the first day of term, Jan. 21, 2025.
Blackboard Instructions (for FAHSS, KCS, and FCE faculty):
Please follow the instructions below to add content and upload a syllabus to promote student success.
Instructions for on-campus (undergraduate) course development:
• You must copy content from a previous semester or add a blank template to begin developing your course. Follow the steps to make a content request. (required)
• How to merge your courses (optional)
Instructions for GPS (graduate, online, combined grad/undergrad) course development:
• Online instructors must copy content from a previous semester to begin developing your course. Follow the steps to copy an existing course into an empty course. (required)
• Those teaching on campus can either copy an existing course into an empty course or start adding content to an empty Blackboard course.
• How to merge your courses (optional – not available for fully online courses)
Non-traditional courses: competency, dissertation, independent study, internship and thesis courses are automatically created but not made available. You can make your non-traditional course available on the Blackboard Course Management website.
Canvas Instructions (for Manning and ZCHS faculty):
Please follow the instructions below to add content and upload a syllabus to promote student success.
Instructions for course development:
• Please follow the steps to copy your migrated Blackboard content into your SP25 blank Canvas course.
• Faculty can also begin developing “from scratch” in their blank Canvas course, if desired.
• Merging in Canvas will become available in mid-December. Please develop your parent course and we will provide instructions soon.
Non-traditional courses: competency, dissertation, independent study, internship and thesis courses are automatically created but not made available. If you would like to use and develop your course, please follow the steps above and change the Course Status from Unpublished to Publish.
How can you get help?
Faculty can register now for Canvas workshops.
• On-campus (undergraduate) courses:
Phone: 978-934-4357, 24-hour assistance
Email: bbhelp@uml.edu or canhelp@uml.edu (select one, answered during business hours)
• Graduate, Online and Professional Studies (GPS) (graduate, online, combined grad/undergrad) courses:
Phone: 800-480-3190, 24-hour assistance
Email: onlinelearning@uml.edu (answered during business hours)
Please reach out to us if you have questions.