Overview
It is possible to combine, or merge, multiple courses in Blackboard into one course. This is often done to streamline communications and content for multiple sections of one course.
After combining sections, Instructors and TAs will have access to the new, “parent” course, as well as the old, “child” courses. Students will only see the parent/merged course, which should now be used as the main space for all course activity, communications, and content.
Considerations
- Please request a course merge as early as possible. Any course materials, assignments (including submissions), and Zoom meetings in the “old”, child courses will not transfer to the “new”, merged/parent course.
- All course instructors must approve the course merge. If the course has multiple instructors, please cc them in your message to us so we know that all course instructors approve the request. We will look at who has been cc’d.
- Zoom meetings must be recreated. Any Zoom meetings that were scheduled in the child courses will need to be manually created in the merged course, regardless of whether the course meets at the same or at different days and times. See this help article for more information and instructions: Merged Courses and Zoom Meetings.
- Any assignment submissions or grades present in the child courses cannot be moved or copied over to the parent/merged course. This is why we recommend requesting the merge early, before any course activity begins.
- Child courses will be unavailable to students. Course activity must now take place in the parent/merged course only.
- Requesting merges for multiple instructors? If you are requesting merges for multiple instructors make sure to include those instructor’s USC net IDs along with the courses to be merged.
Instructions for Requesting Course Merges
- Send an email as early as possible to [blackboard@usc.edu] to request a course merge, and include the following information:
- IDs of the courses you want combined. Course IDs are the string of alphanumeric characters before your course name, see example in the screenshot below:
- IMPORTANT: Course are difficult to undo, so please correctly list each section, and double-check IDs before sending them to us.
- If you would like to use the content from one of the courses you are merging, please note the ID of the course, so its contents can be copied into the new, merged course.
- Please include your phone number, in case we need to reach you.
- IDs of the courses you want combined. Course IDs are the string of alphanumeric characters before your course name, see example in the screenshot below:
- The merge process can take up to three (3) business days from the time the Blackboard Support Team receives your request, and will be completed during normal USC business hours.