ulearn Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty

These frequently asked questions describe the policies and procedures related to ulearn, the university's learning management system.

Who do I contact if I need help with ulearn?

A variety of resources are available to provide help with ulearn.

• For assistance with using ulearn to setup your hyrbid or on ground course, contact the Instructional Design & Technology team at idt@jwu.edu or call 401.598.2389.
• Faculty teaching an online course can contact onlinehelp@jwu.edu or call 401-598-4429 for assistance.
• For assistance with course copy related issues or course access requests, please contact ulearnhelp@jwu.edu or call 401.598.2778 (and press option 2).
• For after hours assistance, contact the IT Service Desk or call 1.866.598.4357 (HELP). If students need technical assistance, they should review the ulearn Student User Guides or contact the IT Service Desk via email ( it@jwu.edu) or phone (1-866-598-4357).

How do I access ulearn?

It is best if you log in through jwuLink because jwuLink allows you to log into many university resources (email, grading, course rosters, ulearn, etc.) with only one log in.

When I access ulearn, I see "unavailable" next to my course name. What does this mean?

On the My ulearn tab, a course that displays "unavailable" next to the name is not visible to students enrolled in the course. Only instructors have access to unavailable courses. On-campus courses are not automatically made available to students so that instructors have control over when students can access the course. You must make the course available to students when you are ready for them to see it.

Can I use ulearn from home?

You can use ulearn from home or any location with Internet access.

Can I use ulearn from phone or mobile device?

You can use ulearn on any internet-capable device such as a smartphone or tablet via a browser app or the Blackboard Learn app (available for iPhone or Android). However, there may be restrictions with posting and accessing some content on some of these devices. For the best overall experience, it is recommended you use a laptop or desktop with Firefox or Google Chrome as the recommended web browser.

How are students trained on ulearn?

Generally students do not need much training since many traditional undergraduate have used similar systems in their high schools. Still, a variety of communications and resources are available to students to inform them of ulearn, including a course that all students are automatically enrolled in called Orientation to ulearn for Students. For help with using ulearn, students may reach out to the IT Service Desk.

• Students receive email and jwuLink announcements about ulearn.
• New student orientation leaders have received basic training on ulearn so they can share that information with incoming students.
• Information sessions with demos are scheduled for early in the fall term and students will be invited to attend.
• A ulearn orientation course is available to all students so they can learn about the features of ulearn.
• A Student Help link in ulearn links to a webpage where students can view step-by-step instructions and contact ulearn support via phone or email.

Can I copy my ulearn course?

You can now easily and quickly processs your own course copies from a prior term or semester into a current section or request that the IT Academic Systems & Application Services team copy them for you. If you are teaching multiple sections of the same course in one term, you can prepare the course site for one section and copy it yourself or request that it be copied into the sites for the other sections. To request a copy copy, please submit a Course Copy Request. If you need to copy only a few content items, it is more efficient to copy them yourself using the move or copy feature.

How do I copy content to another course site?

If you want to move a single or a few items from one course site to another, you can do that yourself using the move or copy option for each item. If you want to copy an entire course site into another course site, you must either complete your own course copy or submit a Course Copy Request.

Can I change the time zone for my ulearn course site?

It is not possible to change the time zone for specific courses. The official time zone for all ulearn course sites is Eastern time (EST or EDT, as appropriate). Faculty and students at the Denver campus must make accommodations to handle the time difference. For example, if you would like an item to be due at 8:00pm MST, it must be set to 10:00pm EST.

When are course sites available to faculty?

Course sites are created 6 weeks before a term starts. After courses are created, faculty who are assigned in Banner can access them. Faculty should be sure their course will run and not be cancelled before setting up their ulearn course sites.

When do students have access to course sites?

For on-campus courses, students gain access to the ulearn course sites when the faculty member makes them available. For online courses, students gain access to course sites three (3) days before the start of the term so they can check the syllabus, determine what textbook they need, etc.

How long are courses available in ulearn after the term ends?

Beginning with Fall 2019, two years worth of courses are available to faculty. Faculty have access to the terms feature which allows the sorting of classes by term or semester. After that time, courses are removed from the server to save space and archived in a secure third-party location. You may request that we activate a prior course site by emailing ulearnhelp@jwu.edu.

Can students who are not enrolled in my course see my ulearn course site?

No, only students enrolled in the course can see your ulearn course site.

Will students show up in the Grade Center?

All students enrolled in your course automatically appear in the Grade Center.

Does the course roster and Grade Center in ulearn reflect students who add or drop?

During the add/drop period at the beginning of each term, students who add your course are visible on the ulearn roster and in the Grade Center within one hour. Students who drop the course are removed from ulearn within one hour.

Does the course roster and Grade Center in ulearn reflect students who withdraw from my course?

Students who withdraw from a course are visible in the roster and Grade Center with an icon next to their name that looks like a circle with a line through it. These students do not have access to the ulearn course site. You can hide a student's name in the grade center who is no longer available in your course.

Can students see other students' grades?

No, students can only see their own grades through the My Grades link on the course's left menu.

Do I have to enter grades in both ulearn and jwuLink?

Yes, grades must be entered in both places. In ulearn, you must record all graded items throughout the course and the final grade. In jwuLink, you only need to enter final grades. Instructors at campuses that require midterm grades to be reported are required to submit those midterm grades through normal procedures. To save time, you can also import final grades from ulearn into jwulink directly.

What do I do if I need to submit a grade change?

Grade changes are submitted to SAS via normal procedures and are not done through ulearn. Email ulearnhelp@jwu.edu if you need your course reactivated in order to re-examine a student’s work.

Can I copy the Grade Center to my other course sites?

If you are teaching multiple sections of a course, you can set up one section with all of your content and Grade Center (including grade columns and calculations) and have it copied into your other sections. Only entire course sites can be copied, not individual areas such as the Grade Center. When a course is copied, the student roster is not copied. Either complete your own course copies or submit the Course Copy Request. Keep in mind that when a course site is copied, you may still need to tweak the content (e.g. syllabus and course schedule) to be appropriate for the course site that it was copied into.

Can I link ulearn to a library LibGuide?

Within a ulearn content area, you can link to a LibGuide as an external web link. You may also add a content area to the left menu that links directly to LibGuide (selection option to Create external link).

If I send email through ulearn, where does it go?

Mail sent from ulearn goes to the JWU mailbox of the recipient. No mail is kept in ulearn. You should request a copy of the email be sent to your JWU email.

Can I add a guest to my course site?

Non-JWU guests can be added to your course if they need access in order to aid in the delivery of the course. As an example, you may invite an industry expert into your classroom and then make them available for a week afterwards to answer questions in a discussion board. Please see the Non-JWU Guest Access Request form.

Faculty and staff not assigned to teach a course may request access to a ulearn course site if such access is related to their job duties. See the JWU Administrative Access Request form.

Are ulearn courses archived?

A copy of every course site is made 21 days after the end of the term. These copies are considered archives and are kept in a secure location. The archives are considered records of all that transpired in ulearn during the term and can be used in the event of a student grade dispute. Contact IT Academic & Application Services at ulearnhelp@jwu.edu if access to an archive is needed.

I need a blank course shell to prepare a course for a future term. How can I request one?

Email ulearnhelp@jwu.edu to request a prep course be created for you. If, for example, you are preparing to teach BPA1010, in your email you would include information about teaching BPA1010 so that a prep course could be created for you for that specific course (F2FPREP_BPA1010_jsmith). You would later request a course copy into your future course.

Does ulearn ever 'go down'?

Occasionally there may be ulearn outages. Most outages are scheduled for server maintenance or upgrades. Planned outages are usually scheduled during breaks in the semester to minimize the impact to courses. IT provides at least 48 hours of advance notice for scheduled outages. Typically you will receive an email announcing a scheduled outage and a notification will also be posted on the my ulearn screen. Whenever possible, we aim to give a week or more of advance notice. Sometimes unscheduled outages occur for reasons outside of our control. In the event of an unscheduled outage, we do our best to communicate with ulearn users while we work with our vendor to resolve the issue.

Last updated July 23, 2020