Using the Course Merge Tool

If you teach more than one section of the same class in a given semester, you might find it inconvenient to have your course materials duplicated and spread out in Blackboard. Using the Course Merge Tool, you can combine the rosters of multiple sections into a single Blackboard course, to which all of your students will have access. That way, you'll only have a single gradebook, and a single place for distributing content to your class.

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  Navigate to the Home tab in Blackboard. (This should be the first page you see when you log into Blackboard; click on the Home tab if necessary.) In the box titled Course Merge Tool, click the link that reads Click Here to Create and Manage Merged Courses.
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  The Manage Merged Courses screen is where you can create, modify, and unmerge your merged courses. Get started by clicking on Setup Merged Course.
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  On the Select Courses to Merge screen you'll see a list of all your courses. Check the box next to those sections that you'd like to combine. You can add or subtract sections from the merged class later, if you need to.

  Click Submit after you've made your selection.
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  The Select Existing Course screen asks you to select one of the sections you've chosen to merge to serve as the "parent" or "target" course. The target section that you choose in this step will be the Blackboard course that contains your content and merged rosters, and is where you make all future updates. The "child" or "source" courses will not contain any content, nor should they. The students in the child sections will automatically be granted access to the parent course.

  Click Submit after you've made your selection.

  Note: If you have many courses listed in Blackboard, you may find that they appear on multiple pages in this step, making it impossible to select the correct courses and click the Submit button. If you find yourself in this situation, please contact Boone Gorges at boone.gorges@qc.cuny.edu.
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  Blackboard will ask you if you're certain that you want to merge these courses. Click OK to continue. (Don't worry - if you make a mistake, you can modify these selections later at the Manage Merged Courses screen.)
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  If all has gone well, you'll see a screen that says "Success", like the one at the right. Students in all merged sections have been given access to the "parent" Blackboard course. Click OK to continue.

• Since you won't be using the Blackboard courses corresponding to the merged "child" sections, it's important to leave them unavailable to students. Be sure, on the other hand, to make the parent course available. Availability settings are located under Settings in the Control Panel of each course. For more details, here is a tutorial on course availability.

  You may also want to change the name of the parent course, so as to avoid confusion regarding the section number. This can also be done under Control Panel > Settings; select Course Name and Description.
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  If you need to change any of your merged course settings, return to the Manage Merged Courses screen (from the Home screen). You'll see a list of courses that are currently merged. Click the Modify next to a merged course to add or subtract sections from that course.