A shell is a course you use for development purposes. The idea is that you
can develop a course in a shell and then when you are ready to deliver the
course to students, the shell can be copied to a new course each quarter.
The advantage to using a shell is that you can start each
quarter with a pristine Blackboard course.
The disadvantage to using a shell is that you need to have
the entire course ready to go before the start of a quarter. Also, if you
decide you want to change an aspect of your course in the middle of the quarter,
you will have to go back and make that change in the shell as well.
Request a shell if:
- you have enough time before the start of the quarter to develop the full
course on Blackboard
- you don't anticipate making many changes to the course between offerings
Do not request a shell if you will be adding or changing
content throughout the quarter.