Request a D2L shell

The request process will result in ONE Course Shell, containing all of the course/sections that you specify.

1. Go to my.torontomu.ca and sign in using your torontomu username and password.

2. Find the section called Self Service, and click on the link Courses and Organizations.

3. Once in the Courses and Organizations section, click Request and Manage Course Shell. This section will expand, and you will see your options.

4. Click the option to Create a Course Shell. Please note that you must fill out the form once for each Course Shell you need. This will create one D2L Course Shell, and one Google Group.

At this point, depending on the types of courses you are teaching, you might see a pop-up prompt.

If you do not see the pop-up, the "general" shell request form will load immediately for you. Please follow the step-by-step instructions below to request your D2L Brightspace course shell.

Start by clicking the Select a Term menu and choosing the term that the course is going to start in.

If the MyServiceHub (formerly RAMSS) system has assigned you a course/section, you should see your course/sections listed below.

If your course spans across two (or more) terms with the same students (and you want to keep the same course shell for the entire duration), select the Create a two-term Course Shell checkbox.

This will assume that the course (and the resulting Course Shell and Google Group) will run from the selected term through to the end of the subsequent term. Your shell code and shell name will include BOTH terms.

The courses MyServiceHub (formerly RAMSS) knows you're teaching

After selecting the term that the course runs in, the form will display any courses that MyServiceHub knows you are teaching for that term. (If it is more than 2-3 weeks before the start of the term, you may not see your course(s) listed yet.)

Check the box for each course/section that you wish to be included in this one Course Shell.

NOTE: We advise against combining different courses into a single Course Shell (although IF you are an experienced D2L Brightspace user, and conditions will be very similar for all sections, it is possible to combine sections of the same course in one Course Shell - before you try this, please see our advice for combining sections in one shell).

Don't see your course listed?

If you do not see any courses listed, don't panic. There are a number of reasons why this may happen. You can still create your D2L shell, then add your course section(s) later.

Below where you would see courses for the selected term, check the box for I need to add a course that is not listed here.

Once you have checked the box to manually add a course, click on the grey Add Another Course Code button. You will now see the field for adding your course.

Type your course code with no spaces (ie. ABC123) into the field provided.

For now, your Course Shell will not have any students in it.

Keep in mind that later, once you can see the section(s) and enrollment in MyServiceHub, you will need to associate your section(s) with the Course Shell so that your students will be loaded into the course. We recommend that you put an item for this task in your calendar for about 1-2 weeks before the start of class.

Repeat to add more courses and sections to the same Course Shell.

Click on the white space on the page, to see the next step.

You should see a preview of your Course Shell title. The Course Shell title appears on every user's My Courses page, and at the top of the Course Shell.

If you chose from a list of course sections listed by the system, you may see a title already filled in the field. You can modify the title if needed. If the field is blank, enter your course title.

If you included your section number in the request form, and would like it to appear in the title of the Course Shell, select Include section number(s) in title.

This is recommended if you are teaching a course with multiple sections and you plan on having each section in a separate shell.

NOTE: If you make a mistake in the title field, once your Course Shell is created, you will be able to edit the Course Shell title in Self Service on my.torontomu.ca, which will update in both your D2L shell and your Google group. (Previously, you could edit in D2L.)

By default, the person filling out the request form will be the owner/instructor in the Course Shell. You will receive all confirmation and communication pertaining to your Course Shell(s) at your university email address, so please be sure to check it regularly.

If you are not teaching this course, but are requesting this shell on the Instructor's behalf, check the box for I do not want to be a member of this Course Shell. Once this is checked, you need to enter the username (not the full email address) of the Instructor of the shell.

You will need to know the exact torontomu username of the user you are trying to add. Do not try to guess. You can find this by using the part before the @ in their university email address (@torontomu.ca) account OR you can ask the user before filling out the form.

Please note that if you exclude yourself from the shell, you will not have any access to the shell, and will not be able to manage membership or have any ownership rights. These will all be given to the Instructor.

Do you want to copy the contents of another D2L shell, or would you prefer to start from scratch?

Option 1: Request a blank shell

If you want to start with an empty Course Shell, select I am requesting a blank Course Shell.

Option 2: Copy your previous shell

If you would like a shell based on your own past course material, select I am requesting a course shell based on my previous course shell. If you select this option, a drop down menu will appear, listing all of your Course Shells that are up to two years old. Simply select the one you would like to copy.

Option 3: Copy someone else's course materials

Before you submit a request to copy someone else's content, please have a conversation with them so that they are aware of your intent to request their work. Their course content is their personal intellectual property. Our system will send them an automated permission request email, but they are not obligated to grant you permission.

1. Select "I am requesting a course shell based on someone else's previous course shell".
   
   
2. Start by typing in the owner's username (in the example image, it is "sgoetz" - make sure not to include the full email address, only the portion before "@torontomu.ca").
3. After typing their username or full name, click on the magnifying glass, and wait for the system to search for instructors that match what you typed in. Once you see the search results, you need to select the correct person from the results.

4. Choose your instructor from the list of search results.

If you find that you get too many search results because you have typed in a common letter combination, consider typing in the person's first and last names, and click on the magnifying glass. This should result in fewer, and more accurate results.

Once you select the instructor's name from the list, you will see their full name and username as well as their list of courses appear in the fields/dropdown below.

5. From there, you should be able to select any of their courses that are up to 2 years old.

One-Stop Course Readings

If you are utilizing the One-Stop Course Readings service for eReserve, be sure to check the appropriate box(es) under Library eReserve. Once you select that you wish to use eReserve readings, you will see an option to copy the readings from your previous Course Shell.

Subject Librarian

If you click I would like to add a subject librarian to this course shell, you will receive a confirmation email and a follow up email from your subject librarian. You can decide with your subject librarian what role you would like them to play in your Course Shell. Find out more about the benefits of adding a subject librarian to your Course Shell.

You need to identify which 'type' of course this is.

Select all the appropriate course types that apply. In some cases, you may teach a course that combines Continuing Education (CE) with non-CE courses and/or graduate and undergraduate sections.

This is a reminder that this request form will generate ONE Course Shell. You will not be able to process your shell request form until you agree.

This pertains to Copyright acknowledgement. You are obligated to attest that you will comply with Toronto Metropolitan University’s copyright rules when uploading content to your Course Shell and/or Google group. You will not be able to process your shell request form until you agree.

Review what you have selected in the request form before you click on the Request a Course Shell button at the bottom of the page.

If you try to submit and have missed any required fields, the page will reload with a warning at the top. Scroll through the page to find an error message near any missed fields.

Once you submit the form, depending on server traffic, it may take up to a few hours for your course shell to be created/copied.

If you are requesting a copy of one of your own previous shells, a blank Course Shell will be created first, and then the content will be copied into it automatically. This may take several hours.

If you requested a copy of someone else's course content, a blank Course Shell will be created first, and an automated permission request email will be sent to that instructor. Once our team receives permission from that instructor, a member of our team will copy the content into your new shell, and send you a confirmation message. If permission is denied, someone from our team will let you know. Timing may vary, depending when the other instructor responds.