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How can I work on my bCourses content without having my official CalNet ID?

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Background

Sometimes, instructors do not have access to bCourses before the start of their class because their teaching appointment has not yet started. This is common for Summer Session instructors, whose appointment dates are the same as the class start date. They do not have CalNet access until this time, so they cannot log into bCourses.

If you would like to work on your course without having CalNet access, we recommend that someone from your department sponsor you for a Guest CalNet ID, and to contact bcourseshelp@berkeley.edu to request a "sandbox" site where we would add that guest ID, so that you can work on setting up your course materials online. The sandbox site would serve as a temporary space where you could add course content and set up your course materials and activities while you are waiting for your teaching appointment and/or for your official CalNet ID to be activated. Think of the sandbox as a template or master shell for your course. You would then import the contents of the sandbox to your live course site, once you are able to create it.

See below for all the steps for this process.

Instructions

  1. A staff member from your department sponsors you for a CalNet Guest ID (instructions)

  2. You receive an email from CalNet prompting you to set up your Guest ID; you create your ID

  3. You or the department staff member contacts us (bcourseshelp@berkeley.edu) to request that a sandbox site be created for you and to add your Guest ID to it.

  4. You log in with you Guest ID to add your course materials and activities to your sandbox site. 

  5. Once both your official CalNet ID and your teaching appointment are active, you can log in with that CalNet ID and create your official course site (instructions).

  6. Log out of bCourses, and then log back in using your Guest ID.

  7. Go to the sandbox site and add your *official* CalNet ID to it. This gives your official account access to the sandbox so that you can import its contents.

  8. Log out, again, and log back in using your official CalNet ID.

  9. Import content from your sandbox site into your official course site (instructions).