You can request a Dev Shell (development space) to practice or build your course outside of the live teaching environment. This is especially useful while completing the D2L Brightspace Essentials training.

1. From the D2L Brightspace homepage, hover over the Help tab in main navigation bar and choose, "Submit D2L Work Ticket - Faculty" from the dropdown menu. 

2. On the next page, you will see the Service Catalog. Choose the Shell Request form. If you are the requester of the shell, your name will auto-populate. If you are putting this request in on behalf of someone else, please type their name in the Requester box.

3. Under the Shell Type, please select "Instructor Dev"

4. Under "Would you like to clone?", click the dropdown and choose:

• "Yes" if you want to clone an existing course you’ve taught before or one shared with you
• "No" if you prefer to start with a blank shell (recommended for D2L Essentials)

5. If you selected "Yes":
In the Course Name box, type the CRN and semester code of the course you’d like to clone (e.g., 12345.202520 or CRN 12345 from Spring 2025).

If you're unsure of the course name or CRN, contact your department head.

6. In the final box, you can list any other users you’d like to add to the shell and specify their access type:

• Editing access (they can make changes)
• View-only access (they can browse but not edit)

You can skip this step if the shell is just for your own use.