At the beginning of each semester you will need to make sure your courses are ready and available to students. Below you will find steps to ensure your course is ready for student access.

1. If your course is completely online and offered statewide through KYVC: Go to www.kyvc.org and look up your course in the Programs and Courses area to ensure your courses are listed correctly. This allows prospective students to search for online courses offered through KCTCS. If you need to update course information and are unsure how, contact KYVC toll free at 1-877-740-4357.
2. KCTCS courses will be listed on your Blackboard portal. To access the portal go to http://elearning.kctcs.edu. You will login with your normal active directory (webmail/Peoplesoft) login. If you've logged in to the Portal and you don't see your course:
   
   1. Check with your department/campus Peoplesoft administrator and make sure your course is listed with the correct Web mode.
   2. Check with your department/campus Peoplesoft administrator to ensure you are listed as the instructor.
   3. If both of these are done and you still don't have a link to your course shell, email us with course number and section.
      
3. If you see a course with an 8888 code, this is either a training course or a development course. The 8888 code is for virtual. We set it up this way, so access would not be turned off. Training shells will be deleted after 90 days. Development shells will only be deleted if inactive for 6 months. If you no longer need the Practice, development or training shell, send us the course code and we will have it removed.
   
4. If you are not using Blackboard to deliver your online course, you must go into the Blackboard shell and add a link to the site where your course will be hosted.
   
5. If this is the first time you've taught the course, you may begin developing your course at any time. If your shell isn't created yet, you can use request a development shell from your Distance Learning Coordinator.
   
6. If you are teaching a bi-term course, put a message in your courses letting students know when it begins. This helps on calls received by students wondering why the course isn't available or complete.
   
7. In Blackboard you may have created content in the Course shell, Practice Shell or Development Shell. The two most prominent ways to move the content to the actual shell is through the COURSE COPY TOOL and the Export/Import Tool. Below you'll find directions on each of these.

Copy Course -

This method can be used as long as the course with the content is in your Blackboard Portal.

1. Login to Blackboard at http://elearning.kctcs.edu and go to the course shell that has the content to be copied.
2. Click on the Control Panel
3. Click on Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course (the first option - DO NOT USE the copy exact course)
4. Under step 1, Course Selection, click the Browse button for the Destination Course.
5. In the window that opens, click the search button to pull up all of your courses.
6. Click select next to the correct course that you want to copy the content into
7. Under step 2, Select Course Materials, click the checkbox next to each item you want to copy (select all if you aren't sure)
8. If you are copying a course that used a Publisher course cartridge, make sure to select the Course Cartridge Materials check box in Step 4.
9. Click submit. You'll be told you will be sent an email when the process is completed.
10. When you receive the completed email, the content has been copied into the new shell and you may begin editing as needed.

Blackboard Export/Import (you may have already performed steps 1-8 if you backed up the course previously.)

Export from a Blackboard shell

1. Go into the course that needs to be exported
2. Go to the control panel
3. Under "Course Options" click on Export Course.
4. Click Export in the menu bar.
5. In Step 3 of the Export choose the areas you want to include in the export. If you aren't sure, just check all the boxes to make sure you get everything.
6. Click Submit. You are told an email will be sent when the process is complete. Click OK.
7. After you've received the email letting you know it has completed, return to the Export area. The export file is now listed; it is a .zip file.
8. Click the export file. An open or save as dialog box will appear. Click Save.
9. Navigate to where you want to save this file on your hard drive and save the file.

Import to a Blackboard shell

1. Go into the course where the new content is to be imported.
2. Click on the Control Panel.
3. Under Course Options, click on Import Package.
4. Step 1 has the course code filled out for you.
5. In step 2, Select a Package, click the browse button to locate the zip you downloaded from the Export process.
6. In step 3, click the checkboxes for the pieces you want to upload into the new shell.
7. Click submit. This can take some time depending on the file size. You will be sent an email confirmation when completed.

Your course content has now been copied into the new shell. FYI, this will add to content already in the Blackboard shell. It will not delete anything already added to the course. Once the import has completed, you may edit as needed.

1. Student Access

   Course shells area created in an unavailable state. This means they are unavailable to students, not the instructor. In order for students to access your course you must make the course available.

   How to:

   1. Go to the Control Panel
   2. Click on Settings under Course Options
   3. Click on Course Availability
   4. Set this to Yes

If you do not want students to access the course at this time, leave the availability set to no. This will leave the course on the student's portal, so they know they are in the class. But it will let them know it is currently unavailable. You'll need to remember to make it available when you are ready for them to access the course.