NNU's Blackboard system deploys several types of courses:

Official, or Teaching, course shells - The Technical Response Center creates Teaching shells about 60 days before a class is to begin and also loads the student enrollments. An instructor need only log in to Blackboard, click the course and start adding content. 

Master course shells - An instructor may request a Master to develop content well before the 60-day mark when a Teaching shell is created, OR to retain content from a course that's already finished. Students are never to be enrolled in a Master. The instructor keeps a Master indefinitely, using it to Export content into a Teaching shell each time the course is taught.  

Restored course shells - A Restored course is one that has already finished which the instructor wishes restored in order to view or copy data for a short period of time, such as for a grade dispute or to gather accreditation data. Or, sometimes, a restore is necessary if students need to finish incompletes.

NNU uses a naming convention to help everyone differentiate between the types of courses. The convention is used mainly with the course ID and includes several key elements:

Semester-Year designation

• Undergraduate courses - Fall (FA), Spring (SP) or Summer (S1 or S2)
• Graduate courses - These are not on a semester system, so this designation is loosely applied. Fall (GF), Spring (GS), or Summer (SG)
• STEP or ACE courses  - Also loosely applied. Fall (AF), Spring (AS) or Summer (SA)
• Professional Studies or Continuing Education courses - Such courses use only a yearly designation (YR) which reflects the full academic year.

Department - This is the two-letter department abbreviation. For example, Business is BU.

Course number - This corresponds to the number in the Course Catalog.

Section number - This number reflects the program and/or nature of the course.

• Traditional sections (01, 02, etc.)
• Online sections (1L, 2L etc.)
• STEP sections (1X, 2X, 3X)
• STEP online sections (7X, 8X)
• ACE sections (1A, 2A, etc.)
• ACE students taking STEP courses (4X, 5X)

The course ID tells users at a glance what type of course shell is in use and is crucial for helping the Technical Response Center with creating non-Official course shells.

COURSE TYPE	COURSE NAME EXAMPLE	COURSE ID EXAMPLE	EXPLANATION
Teaching	Business Applications	SP08_BU_217_01	Semester-Year designation_Dept_Course number_Section number
Master	Master - Business Applications	MASTER_BU_217_kw	Master designation_Dept_Course number_Instructor's initials
Restore (for Brief Viewing)	Restore - Business Applications SP07	RESTORE_SP07_BU_217_kw	Restore designation_Session/Year_Department_Course number_Instructor’s initials
Restore (for Incompletes)	Business Applications	SP08_BU_217_01	Semester-Year designation_Dept_Course number_Section number

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To request a Master or Restore, please fill in the form below. Note that only instructors or program support personnel may use this request form. If students need a course Restored, they must ask the Instructor to make the request.

You may want to review this slide presentation about how to use a Master (.ppt, 1.1 MB) for more detailed information and illustrations on the topic.

Completing the form will automatically generate a service ticket with the Technical Response Center and send you a confirmation e-mail. We suggest you use your NNU e-mail address if you have one, as the confirmation e-mail will arrive faster that way.

Please submit each Master or Restore request separately.  After submitting a request, refresh the screen to submit each additional request.

The TRC (208-467-8111) is happy to answer any questions. Kindly allow five working days for your request to be fulfilled. Thank you!