Timeline

Refer to Academic Calendar

3 months before start of semester: If there is a computer program your students will need for the class that is not included in the image that is on university computers, contact staff at cua-lis@cua.edu to learn if the program can be made available to you and your students. 

10 weeks before start of semester (or 8 weeks before summer term): Submit required and recommended textbook information via the adopt link in your Faculty Center in Cardinal Students.  If you will not require or recommend any textbooks for a class, please let LIS office know, so students will see "No textbooks required for this class" when they search for classes

2-4 weeks before start of semester: Share draft syllabus with students

By start of semester: Submit syllabus on syllabus repository 

1 week before start of semester: Release Blackboard course to students

Add/drop date: Reconcile your Blackboard roster with your official Cardinal Station roster

Penultimate class session: Students will receive links to online evaluations - encourage them to complete these

See Academic Calendar: Submit Grades for graduating students via your faculty center in Cardinal Students 

See Academic Calendar: Submit Grades for continuing students via your faculty center in Cardinal Students

Syllabi

The University has guidelines for syllabi contents and structure. You must use the university's syllabus template. If you do not yet have your university credentials and hence unable to access the syllabus template, contact us at cua-lis@cua.edu, and we will send the word doc to you.

Upload your course syllabus to the syllabus repository, using your Catholic University login and password. Let us know if you need assistance locating or creating syllabi.  

Plan on providing timely appropriate feedback to your students on each assignment, as that's an essential part of students' learning.

Blackboard

Your Blackboard site for your class will be set up by Technology Services. You will be responsible for any customization of your site. Log on with your Catholic University network name (the login you use for your email and to access computers on campus).

Students expect courses to have a Blackboard site. If you do not plan to use Blackboard you must consult with the chair about alternatives. Also, it must be clearly indicated in your syllabus that Blackboard will not be used.

For guidance, see Blackboard resources.

Enrollment

All students who have registered for a course in Cardinal Station are automatically enrolled in the respective Blackboard course. This process can take up to 24 hours.  

Course Deletion

Courses are kept on the Blackboard server for two years.

Blackboard courses will be removed two years after the courses have been completed. All instructors are responsible for archiving their own courses. Instructions on archiving can be found here.

Only courses created through Cardinal Students will be deleted.

Deletion schedule is as follows:

Refer to Cardinal Students for your official class roster, as the Blackboard class roster is imported from there into Blackboard when the class site is created and once again following add/drop.

Instructors must make their classes available in Blackboard before students in the class will be able to view them: Go to the Control Panel in Blackboard and select Settings, Course Availability, change setting from No to Yes and then click Submit.

Students must not edit their profiles on Blackboard. Technology Services periodically rolls back changes, so any edits they make will be lost. Students may only use their cua.edu email accounts. If you do try to change a student’s email address from the default, it may revert back to cua.edu, resulting in a student not receiving important announcements. Students who wish to use another email address can forward their Cardinal mail to that account. Instructions on how students can forward their Catholic University mail to another account can be found here.

Be aware that Blackboard maintenance is routinely conducted every Thursday from 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM and the third Sunday of every month from 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM. During these times, Blackboard might be unavailable. Keep your students informed about these interruptions and keep them in mind when scheduling assignments.

If you have any questions about Blackboard you may contact us. If Blackboard is down, contact Technology Services (202-319-5373), or Public Safety (202-319-5111) if after hours.

Blackboard and Panopto resources:  

• Student guides for Blackboard
• Faculty guides for Blackboard
• Faculty guide to Panopto

Book Orders

A Federal mandate requires universities to publish textbook information along with course schedules before registration opens. So, faculty are advised to order textbooks as early as possible. To comply with this mandate, please submit your textbook information (title, author, and ISBN number) via your faculty center in Cardinal Students.

Class roster

It is your responsibility to check your class list in Cardinal Students after the add/drop deadline and the mid-term dates that are indicated in the Academic Calendar. If anyone is on the roster that has not attended the class by midterm, please notify the Administrative Assistant for Registrar Functions (202-319-5300). If anyone is attending the class and is not on the roster, please notify the student that they have not registered and ask them to contact the Administrative Assistant for Registrar Functions. The exceptions to this rule are students from other universities taking courses through the Consortium agreement, and alumni who are auditing the class under the Alumni Audit program.

Instructions on how to access your class roster are available in PDF here.

Commercial database access

Faculty members who want student accounts for commercial databases (such as LexisNexis, WestLaw, Springshare, etc.) for their courses should contact the vendors directly or request help from department staff (cua-lis@cua.edu) well in advance of the beginning of the course so that User IDs and Passwords for the instructor and students can be obtained. 

Course reserves

Faculty are responsible for obtaining permission from the publishers to put material on reserve. The Office of General Counsel has extensive resources on their website to help you in doing this: https://counsel.catholic.edu/faculty-and-staff-resources/ip.html. The University Libraries reserve request form has a box requiring your signature indicating you have that permission.

One of the ways Catholic University Libraries help in compliance with copyright laws is by making linked or scanned articles, book chapters, and other digital materials available as electronic reserves through Blackboard. Beginning with the Fall 2010 semester, that will be the only way that materials will be available. They will scan the photocopy (or identify a licensed online source for the material), create a link to the item for your Blackboard course, and return the photocopy to you.

To ensure that all reserve materials are available to your students when they are needed, the University Libraries establish reserve request deadlines each semester. The deadline for the Fall semester is August 6th. Future dates will be published on the Adjunct Listserv. Reserve requests are processed as quickly as possible in the order in which they are received. Requests received after the deadline may not be processed before the semester begins. For additional information, see the Libraries’ Instructions for Placing an Item on Reserve at https://libraries.catholic.edu/services/course-reserves/, or contact the  Reserves Coordinator at 202-319-5060.

Guest lecturer parking

If you have a guest lecturer who will need a parking pass, please contact the department office five working days in advance.