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Blackboard - Course ID Legend
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Blackboard - Course ID Legend - Prior to Fall 2007
The Blackboard Course ID Defined

The following defines codes related to the course ID's assigned to Blackboard empty course shells created automatically each semester, which correspond to courses on the registration system (with the exception of merged courses - for more info on course merging choose one of the following links:  Students; Instructors).

The Blackboard Course ID - What is it and why is it so long?

  • The ID is made up of "Year Term Location College Dept Course Number Section Call Number".  This provides not only a course ID that will always be unique, but also provides searchable components that are helpful when using various search tools in Blackboard (i.e. Guest access previews, administrative searches, etc.).  This ID also provides a way to identify a specific section of a course within a specified term, which is helpful when you are teaching the same course in multiple terms and sections.
  • Editing the "My Courses" Module - Go to this page to learn how to display Blackboard Course ID's or hide courses from your course listing.

Examples of a Blackboard Course ID -  What does it look like?

  • Though the order of the components and the number of characters is the same, some ID's may look a little different because an underscore character "_" must be used in some ID's to fill a space left for components with varying lengths.
  • Example 1 - "2005MYJSARSEH_101_050011", which is EH 101, Section 05, Call Number 0011 in the May 2005 term ("MY" indicates the May term, "JS" is the location code used for regular terms taught at JSU, "ARS" is an abbreviation for the College of Arts and Sciences).
  • Example 2 - "2005A_MACBAMGT504_029114", which is MGT 504, Section 02, Call Number 9114 in the Marathon A term ("A" indicates the Marathon A term, "MA" is the location code used for marathon terms taught at JSU, "CBA" indicates the College of Commerce and Business Administration).
  • Note:  JSU conducts five regularly scheduled terms each academic year (Fall, Spring, May, Summer I, Summer II). A variable number of additional terms are conducted each year that do not conform to the schedules of the regular terms. These terms are referred to as "Marathon" terms and may start and stop at any time during the year.

The Breakdown of the ID - What does it all mean?

  • Each component identifies a group the course belongs to, but together, the entire ID represents a specific course in the registration system.
  • For a complete breakdown of the components of the ID and what each means, see "The Course ID Legend" below.
The Course ID Legend
  • Year - The year the course is being offered (i.e. 2005, 2006, etc.).
  • Term - The term or semester the course is being offered.
    • FA - Fall
    • SP - Spring
    • MY - May
    • SF - Summer I
    • SS - Summer II
    • A through X - Marathons A through X.  You may see an underscore character "_" after this code as a space filler.
  • Location - Special code used in the registration system for special identification purposes.
    • JS - Currently used for Fall, Spring, Summer I and Summer II terms.
    • MA - Currently used for all Marathon terms.
  • College - The JSU college through which the course is offered.
    • ARS - Arts and Sciences
    • CBA - Commerce and Business Administration
    • CNU - Nursing and Health Sciences
    • EDP - Education and Professional Studies
    • VPA - College of Additional Curricula
  • Dept - First part of what most people think of as the traditional course ID listed in the master schedule, printed schedule booklet or catalogue.  The specific department or curriculum the course is offered through (i.e. EH for English, PSY for Psychology, MGT for Management, EAD for Educational Administration, etc.).  You may see an underscore character "_" after this code as a space filler for codes that are only two characters in length rather than three.
  • Course Number - Second part of what most people think of as the traditional course ID listed in the master schedule, printed schedule booklet or catalogue.  The number assigned within a department or curriculum to a series of courses (i.e. 098, 101, 350, 540, etc.).  Some course numbers are followed by a special designator, such as "M" (for new courses not yet completely certified), "G" (for graduate level courses using a course number below 500 that are cross-listed with undergraduate courses with the same course number, or "L" (for lab courses).
  • Section - The unique two digit number that identifies a course within a 
    specific course type (i.e. MS 102 section 01, MS 102 section 02). Same 
    course taught at a different time and place.
  • Call Number - The unique four digit number that further identifies a course within a specific semester (i.e. 0045, 2378, 9032, 2100, etc.).
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Blackboard - Course ID Legend - Fall 2007 Forward
The Blackboard Course ID Defined

The following defines codes related to the course ID's assigned to Blackboard empty course shells created automatically each semester, which correspond to courses on the registration system (with the exception of merged courses - for more info on course merging choose one of the following links:  Students; Instructors).

The Blackboard Course ID - What is it and why is it so long?

  • The ID is made up of "Year Term Location College Dept Course Number Section Call Number".  This provides not only a course ID that will always be unique, but also provides searchable components that are helpful when using various search tools in Blackboard (i.e. Guest access previews, administrative searches, etc.).  This ID also provides a way to identify a specific section of a course within a specified term, which is helpful when you are teaching the same course in multiple terms and sections.
  • Editing the "My Courses" Module - Go to this page to learn how to display Blackboard Course ID's or hide courses from your course listing.

Examples of a Blackboard Course ID -  What does it look like?

  • Though the order of the components is the same, some ID's may look a little different because of the varying number of characters used in some components, resulting in Blackboard Course ID's of varying overall lengths.
  • Example 1 - "2007FAJSUEPFCS1220011", which is FCS 122, Section 001, Call Number 1 in the Fall 2007 term ("FA" indicates the Fall term, "JSU" is the location code used for regular terms taught at JSU, "EP" is an abbreviation for the College of Education & Professional Studies).
  • Example 2 - "2007FAJSUASPSC5450011570", which is PSC 545, Section 001, Call Number 1570 in the Fall 2007 term ("FA" indicates the Fall term, "JSU" is the location code used for regular terms taught at JSU, "AS" indicates the College of Arts and Sciences).
  • Note:  JSU conducts five regularly scheduled terms each academic year (Fall, Spring, May, Summer I, Summer II). A variable number of additional terms are conducted each year that do not conform to the schedules of the regular terms. These terms are referred to as "Marathon" terms and may start and stop at any time during the year.

The Breakdown of the ID - What does it all mean?

  • Each component identifies a group the course belongs to, but together, the entire ID represents a specific course in the registration system.
  • For a complete breakdown of the components of the ID and what each means, see "The Course ID Legend" below.
The Course ID Legend
  • Year - The year the course is being offered (i.e. 2007, 2008, etc.).
  • Term - The term or semester the course is being offered.
    • FA - Fall
    • SP - Spring
    • MY - May
    • SF - Summer I
    • SS - Summer II
    • MAA through MAX - Marathons A through X.
  • Location - Special code used in the registration system for special identification purposes.
    • Most will be JSU
  • College - The JSU college through which the course is offered.
    • AS - Arts and Sciences
    • CB - Commerce and Business Administration
    • NU - Nursing and Health Sciences
    • EP - Education and Professional Studies
    • VP - College of Additional Curricula
  • Dept - First part of what most people think of as the traditional course ID listed in the master schedule, printed schedule booklet or catalogue.  The specific department or curriculum the course is offered through (i.e. EH for English, PSY for Psychology, MGT for Management, EAD for Educational Administration, etc.).
  • Course Number - Second part of what most people think of as the traditional course ID listed in the master schedule, printed schedule booklet or catalogue.  The number assigned within a department or curriculum to a series of courses (i.e. 098, 101, 350, 540, etc.).
  • Section - The unique three digit number that identifies a course within a 
    specific course type (i.e. MS 102 section 001, MS 102 section 002). Same 
    course taught at a different time and place.
  • Call Number - The unique one to five digit number that further identifies a course within a specific semester (i.e. 2, 23, 357, 0045, 10142, etc.).  Note:  From Spring 2008 forward, this will always be a five digit number.
 
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