Course information files and organization information files are almost identical and, for this reason, are grouped together and described in the Course and Organization Data Feed Elements table. The data elements are, in most cases, exactly the same for courses and organizations.

The following fields are required to successfully process a course record:

  • COURSE_ID
  • EXTERNAL_COURSE_KEY
  • COURSE_NAME

Do not mix course and organization data together in the same feed file.

The following table details the course data feed elements. Where applicable, the organization-specific data element is included under the course data element.

Course and Organization Data Feed Elements
Element Description and Data Type
COURSE_ID
ORGANIZATION_ID		 Short name used by the institution to uniquely identify the course (for example, math101 _F99). The following characters may not be used in Course ID: " () & / ' + "
Not null String. Max length 50. Must be unique and cannot be changed.
EXTERNAL_COURSE_KEY
EXTERNAL_ORGANIZATION_KEY		 Short name used by the Institution to uniquely identify the course section. This is not displayed to users.
Can contain only letters, digits, dashes and periods. No spaces or other punctuation allowed. Must be unique for each Course, and is often the same as the COURSE_ID.
Not null, External key. String. Max length 64. Must be unique. Multi-byte characters accepted.
NEW_EXTERNAL_COURSE_KEY
NEW_EXTERNAL_ORGANIZATION_KEY		 This field is used only on the rare occasions when a course's EXTERNAL_COURSE_KEY changes.
String. Max length 64. Must be unique. Multi-byte characters accepted.
COURSE_NAME
ORGANIZATION_NAME		 Complete title of the course. The Course Name is used when sorting.
String. Max length 255. Multi-byte characters accepted.
Not null
ALLOW_GUESTS Allows guest access to the course.
String. Y/N
DESCRIPTION Complete description of the course.
String. Max length 4000. Multi-byte characters accepted.
END_DATE Date on which access to the course ends.
Date (yyyymmdd). (requires DURATION=Range)
START_DATE Date on which access to the course section begins.
Date (yyyymmdd). (requires DURATION=Range)
NEW_DATA_SOURCE_KEY Key used to establish a grouping of course or organization elements.
String. Multi-byte characters accepted.
ROW_STATUS Sets the value of the record to one of the following:
  • Enabled: Normal access to the record.
  • Disabled: Record is visible in some areas of the UI, but may not be changed or accessed.
  • Deleted: Record is scheduled to be removed.
Passed as a string. ("enabled", "disabled", "deleted")
AVAILABLE_IND Establishes course or organization availability to Blackboard Learn.
Char(1). Y/N
CATALOG Establishes whether the course or organization appears in catalog.
Char(1). Y/N
DESCRIPTION_PAGE Determines whether or not to display description information in the course or organization catalog.
Char(1). Y/N
LOCKOUT_IND Indicates if access to the course or organization has been restricted. If set to "Y" access to the course or organization will be restricted based on the END_DATE and START_DATE.
Char(1). Y/N
PACE Indicates if the course is Instructor-led or self-paced according to the student.
Char(1). Mapping accepted {"Self", "Instructor"}
ABSOLUTE_LIMIT Quota: absolute limit on content uploads in bytes.
Numeric. Field not currently used in Learn 9.1
SOFT_LIMIT Quota: soft limit on content uploads in bytes.
Numeric.
UPLOAD_LIMIT Quota: limit on size of a single upload in bytes.
Numeric.
ENROLL_START Date that enrollment may begin. (requires ENROLL_OPTION=Self)
Date (yyyymmdd).
ENROLL_END Date that enrollment is no longer available to students. (requires ENROLL_OPTION=Self)
Date (yyyymmdd).
ENROLL_OPTION Determines the enrollment method. One of the following strings:
  • Instructor
  • self
  • email
DAYS_OF_USE Number of days that students may access the course after enrollment. Useful for self-paced learning.
Numeric. (requires DURATION=Fixed)
DURATION Schedules enrollment window. Options are:
  • Continuous: The course is always accessible.
  • Range: The course is accessible in the days between one START_DATA and END_DATE. Either the beginning date or the end date can be left open-ended to make a course accessible from a certain date or until a certain date.
  • Fixed: The course is accessible for a set number of days (DAYS_OF_USE).
Char(1). Mapping accepted {"Continuous", "Range", "Fixed"}
INSTITUTION The name of the institution.
String. Max length 255. Multi-byte characters accepted.
CLASSIFICATION_BATCH_UID Sting-based key that establishes an association with a subject area and discipline within the Blackboard Resource Center. This is a deprecated feature in Blackboard Learn (Release 7), but the value is still provided for backward compatibility.
TEMPLATE_COURSE_KEY
TEMPLATE_ORGANIZATION_KEY		 External key of content source for copy operations.
String. Max length 64. Multi-byte characters accepted.
ADMIN_COURSE  
ALLOW_ENROLL Allows enrollment to the course.
String. Y/N
ALLOW_OBSERVERS Allows observer access to the course.
String. Y/N
ALLOW_GUEST_IND Allows guest access to the course. String. Y/N
TERM_KEY The external key for the term that this course is associated with.
USE_TERM_AVAILABILITY_IND Use the course availability and duration settings from the associated term. String. Y/N
CATALOG  
CONTENT_PACKAGE  
DESCRIPTION_ELEMENT Description of the course.
ENROLL_ACCESS_CODE Access code for enrollment to the course.
ENROLLMENT_TYPE Type of enrollment.
FEE Fee associated to the course.
GROUP_TYPE  
INTERNAL_ID The internal identification for the course.
INTERNAL_CLASSIFICATION_ID The internal classification identification for the course.
INTERNAL_BUTTONSTYLES_ID  
LMS_INTEGRATION  
LOCALE The locale for the course.
LOCALE_ENORCED_INDICATOR  
LOCKOUT_INDICATOR  
PROXY_INDICATOR  
NAV_STYLE Navigation style for the course.
RESTRICT Restrictions to the course.
SERVICE_LEVEL  
SUB_DOC_UID  
TEMPLATE_BATCH_UID The course's template identification.
TIMEFRAME  
TITLE The title of the course.
X_LMS_COPY_IMS_SOURCE  
X_LMS_COPY_IMS_ID  
X_LMS_IS_PROXY