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Merge and Separate Blackboard Courses

Merge and Separate Blackboard Courses

Owned by Gina Rue
Last updated: Mar 07, 2024
4 min read

For Administrators Only: Merging 2 or more sections of an instructor's course is one of the most common service tickets that is received in the CITAL project through the JIRA ticketing system, particularly at the beginning of a semester and near the end of a semester, as this is the window that most instructors take advantage of to prepare for upcoming classes.

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Click Here for the Blackboard Instructor Help Topic Article or use this Step-by-step guide with examples and screenshots below:

Image of Blackboard logo and Merge and Separate Courses

Mergomg existing separate sections into one of the existing sections creates a parent/children relationship between the Blackboard courses. When this happens, the child courses are no longer available to the instructor and students.

In this example, the request is to merge sample_course_sections 1 & 2 into sample_course_ section 3.

Special Notes:

  • Section 3 will be referred to as the Parent course and sections 1 & 2 will be referred to as the Child courses.

  • After sections 1 & 2 (Child courses) have merged into section 3, they will no longer be available to the instructor or students.
    They will only have access to the (Parent course) section 3.

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From the Blackboard Administrator Panel, in Courses, Search for and locate the courses to merge.

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, course search for classes to merge

Hover the mouse over the right side of the COURSE ID 333333, then Click the Down-Arrow

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, courses found to merge


Click the Down-Arrow to display the Options Menu

Click Edit on the Options Menu

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, edit the course to be the parent in the merge
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Scroll down in Course Settings screen

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, parent course settings



Click the box to the right of Select Courses to Merge

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, select course merge check box
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Click the Browse Button to search for the child courses by name, then Click the Go Button

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, search for child courses to merge

Scroll Down, Click the Check Boxes to select the Child courses (Course ID 111111 & 222222) that will be merged into the
Parent courses (Course ID 333333), then Click the Submit Button

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, select child courses to merge
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Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, child courses have been added for merging with the parent course

 Scroll Down and Click the Submit Button to proceed and complete the Merge

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, click submit button to complete the merger
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Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, merged parent and child courses
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In this example, the request is to separate sample_course_sections 1 & 2 from being merged with sample_course_ section 3.

Click the Down-Arrow on a Child Course to display the Options Menu the then Select Separate

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, select separate merged courses
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On the Separate page, Select the option Remove Parent Enrollments, then Click Submit to proceed

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, merge separation options to remove the parent enrollments so that child courses will be removed from parent

Click the OK Button

Image of Click Submit to proceed with separation

Repeat this process to separate any remaining Child courses

Image of Blackboard Administrative panel, separated courses
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For additional assistance, contact the CITAL Help Desk.

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