Notes on Blackboard Upgrade Conference Call - 11/28/2007

Red - Greater interest to Faculty
Blue - My additional comments

Attended:

Blue Ridge, Central, Dabney, Danville, Germanna, John Tyler, Lord Fairfax, Northern, Piedmont, Rappahannock, Southside, System Office - Kathy,Thomas Nelson, Virginia Western, Wytheville

Question: Getting intermittent ‘Page not displayed’ error. Errors occur in IE, not Firefox.
Answer: Could be caused by the random, luck of the draw, choosing of a malfunctioning App Server. Please report when error occurs and we’ll check each App Server.

Question: Will migrating selected organizations, cause problems during mass migration?
Answer: Please give us a list of organizations previously migrated, and we’ll remove them from the mass migration.

Question: Problem with faculty, courses not going to default page.
Answer: This sounds like it might be specific to a course. Please post a ticket. However, generally speaking default pages are cached and users may need to log out, close their browser and then log in again before seeing changes.


If you have this problem you must email me (Ruth) your course id (TN293.XXX.XXX.XXX.SP08) you can see this code at the top of the page in the Control Panel. Please also include your Bb login in the email.

Question: Scripts not working as they did in Bb6. i.e. Course info. Colleges are particularly interested in tracking course size.
Answer: These are not currently working in Bb7, and the course size is no longer part of the properties screen. You could get an idea of the course size by looking at the archives, once they are turned on. We will investigate generating a report for colleges.

Question: Course ID script also not working in Bb7.
Answer: Right. This could be resolved either with a report or fixing the script. We will investigate both options.

Question: When will we be copying over the content system?
Answer: At Go live. Were we to do it before, then we would risk versions becoming out of sync.


December 20, 2007

Question: Will there be a link to Bb7 on my.vccs?
Answer: This has been discussed, but no decision has been made.

Question: We have a problem with the columns not being the proper width for the college tab.
Answer: Could be caused by content in a particular module, e.g. current weather conditions.

Question: Any update on Issue Trak #90344. When I try to modify items in Bb 7 that I previously created using Wimba in Bb 6, I receive the following error message:
500
We are sorry, but the system is experiencing technical difficulties : 437-1176726126143 does not start with prefix=_cvvs_
I am also unable to create a new podcast. When I try to setup a podcast, I receive the following error:
Please check your URL
/pvcc/pc not found
Answer: We’ll look into this. Update: Podcasting is fixed.

Question: When will we know which building blocks we’ll have access to?
Answer: There will be no more until 2008.

Question: We are having trouble un-enrolling a faculty member. Need to change role to student and then delete.
Answer: This can be accomplished through the course properties button at the system admin panel level.

Question: Will we have access to the Plagiarism tool?
Answer: This has not been evaluated yet.

Question: Will we have access to the Scholar building block?
Answer: This has not been evaluated yet.

Question: When will we begin archiving Bb7 courses?
Answer: Can’t yet say. At least by Dec. 20 go live.


Please Archive/Export things you are working on in Bb 7 (http://bb7.vccs.edu ) on a regular basis until Bb7 goes into production for students and the system office begins archiving again. They are still archiving Bb6 and we are grabbing them on a regular basis.

Question: How long will Bb admins have access to Bb6? This is helpful for comparing between instances.
Answer: We’ll look into this.

Question: Which modules will be placed on college tabs?
Answer: Colleges should not be adding modules to shared tabs.

Question: How will we move modules after go live?
Answer: They will need to be developed in test or another non-prod instance and then be moved.

Question: We are having trouble creating a training course.
Answer: Course creation can take a long time. Need to be patient.

Question: Will the Course tab stay or go away?
Answer: It will probably go away, based on input from DDLC.

Question: When ICA files are created, it grabs both primary and secondary instructors as primary.
Answer: Bb doesn’t recognize instructors as secondary. You need to edit the file before uploading.

Question: While training on Test Manager, notice that the save button opens up a popup window. This can be confusing to students.
Answer: Good catch. This is a training issue.


Jan will be addressing this in training - watch for her sessions on Testing or contact her if you have questions.

Question: Could there be a problem while creating a test and uploading a file from the content system, but the student doesn’t have access to the content system?
Answer: This is an interface problem. We will investigate to see if there is a solution.

Bb 7 Upgrade Conference Call - 11/13/2007

Red - Greater interest to Faculty
Blue - My additional comments

Jan, David and I were out of town for this call.

Attended, or spoke with:

Central, John Tyler, Lord Fairfax, Northern, Southside, System Office – carol, Tidewater, Wytheville

Question: Still having trouble signing on while off campus.

Answer: Deleting cookies and cache helps. Not always. Could be App Server issue. Please report when the issue occurs to see if an App Server needs to be restarted.

Question: Will Bb7 have unlimited course size as does Bb6. Explore is limited.

Answer: Bb7 is currently set to unlimited. Will find out if this setting will remain.

Not to worry, the proposed size limit should not impact TNCC users. If they do impose size limits you would get a warning first. We (Jan, David, and I) cannot see this warning. If you were to get one, you would let me know (Ruth) ASAP so I can work to "expand" your quota.

Question: Would like to be introduced to staff supporting Blackboard.

Answer: While David is away, Applications and Client Services staff will step in and use resources to resolve issues. Will also be interviewing to fill vacant Applications staff position.

Question: We have trouble when using a template with the course creation wizard. End up with two course templates.

Answer: This may be a known issue. Will find out. Also suggested to use course copy instead of the wizard.

Question: Have there been any resolution to the tickets submitted with Blackboard?

Answer: Will find out.

Question: Categorizing courses doesn’t work when 5800 courses are set up. Could only process 200 at a time.

Answer: Will look into this.

Question: Being able to create dummy accounts, as raised in Issue #90006, is important to us.

Answer: I let it be known that this is an issue.

Notes on Blackboard Upgrade Conference Call - 11/6/2007

Red - Greater interest to Faculty
Blue - My additional comments

Attended:

Blue Ridge, Central, Danville, Germanna, J.Sargeant Reynolds, John Tyler, Lord Fairfax, Northern, Patrick Henry, Piedmont, Rappahannock, Southwest, System Office - carol

Thomas Nelson, Tidewater, Virginia Highlands, Virginia Western, Wytheville

Did not attend:

Eastern Shore. Dabney, Mountain Empire, New River, Paul D. Camp, Southside

The call began by reviewing known issues from the VCCS Discuss thread, then moved to college questions:

Question: It is taking several attempts to log in.

Answer: Noticed this too. Should now be fixed.

Question: Will the generic faculty and student accounts remain?

Answer: Yes.

TNstudent is available for you to enroll in your classes to "practice" with. If you need the password please contace me or Jan.

Question: We liked Pirate and Pig Latin. Can we have them back?

Answer: We’ll see how much of a sense of humo(u)r AS & R has.

Question: Is it safe to add a module assigned to the GCC role to the Research tab?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Color scheme on shared tabs has been changed again

Answer: Don’t do this.

Question: Can the course level Change Password link be a redirect instead of being disabled?

Answer: If it’s technically possible, yes, that is desirable.

Question: Where are the Modify Content and Modify Layout options on tabs?

Answer: Tab personalization was defaulted to Off, but colleges are welcome to turn it on on their college tab.

Question: We have some courses from Summer 2007 that will need archiving/restoring.

Answer: Please send us a list.

Question: When can we put in spring 08 courses?

Answer: Now.

Use the request form: http://community.tncc.edu/cgi-bin/rws3.pl?FORM=bb_new_request

Question: What about the current pilots – classtop, studymate, respondus – these are mentioned in the Faculty Instructional Software module.

Answer: Good point. We will review and adjust the module as appropriate. The latter two should continue to work with Blackboard 7, but Classtop is still in pilot on Explore. We don’t have the Respondus Lockdown Browser, but that is not mentioned on Bb7.

Question: How do we link to Spring 2008 courses for guest access?

Answer: Please get with us. However, assuming you know the internal ID for each course, the format of a course link is:

http://bb7.vccs.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_%3cINTERNAL_ID_NUMBER_GOES_HERE%3e_1%26url%3D

Our custom linker on My VCCS:

https://my.vccs.edu/bbcourse?id=%3cPUBLIC_ID_GOES_HERE%3e&action=launch

Will not link to Blackboard 7 until Go Live.

Question: Please get Quick Enroll ASAP

Answer: It’s a high priority.

Welcome to Blackboard 7

Go Live Plans

· November 1 – available to college networks

· November 5 – available universally to Faculty and Staff

· December 20 – switchover for learn.vccs.edu

It’s here!

Blackboard 7.3 is the latest version of the Blackboard Academic Suite. Faculty and Staff should now be able to access our new Blackboard from their campus networks. It is available at http://bb7.vccs.edu/ , the temporary URL until the December 20 switchover when it will become learn.vccs.edu.

What to do first…

Check the Courses that were migrated

Spring 2007 and Summer 2007 courses were brought over from Blackboard 6. They should all be unavailable. There are no student enrollments in these courses. There are no grades or work. Please review imported courses for any issues. There are some known problems with migrated Wimba content. Links you had to the Content System will not work.

What’s Left to Do?

• The TNCC tab has a bare set of minimal modules placed on them. David and I are working to configure the modules, as blackboard administrators did not have advanced access to bb7.vccs.edu you will see changes in the tabs as we move forward.


• Organizations will not be brought over until Go Live (December 20, 2007).


• Create SU08 course shells


• Re-create sandboxes


• Load students into course shells


• Import data from the Bb 6 content system

The Future

• Building blocks – The system office (AS & R ) is working on piloting and testing building blocks for Blackboard 7 including: Learning Objects, Classtop and SafeAssign. These will not be available at Go Live, but we intend to deploy after testing in the first quarter of 2008.


• TNCC tab has a bare set of minimal modules placed on them. David and I are working to configure the modules, as blackboard administrators did not have advanced access to bb7.vccs.edu


• Organizations will not be brought over until Go Live (December 20, 2007).

FAQs

• When can I request Spring 2008 course shells?
  I am currently working on uploading Distance and Hybrid course shells first. If you are teaching DL or Hybrid you will not need to use the request form. For Distributed shells (supplement to F2F) please wait until I email you that I am ready to create these shells. I need to clear out the request database. If you request too soon you will have to do it again.
  
  


• Where is my Sandbox?
  Everyone will need a new sandbox. If you had a sandbox in explore.vccs.edu (the training Bb 7 instance) you will see a new blank sandbox in bb7.vccs.edu shortly. I will be re-creating them after I do DL and Hybrid shells. If you did not have a sandbox in explore.vccs.edu you will need to request one when I open up the request form for Distributed shells.
  
  


• Do you move the data in my sandbox in learn.vccs.edu (Bb 6) and explore.vccs.edu (Bb 7 training)?
  No, if you want any of the data in either of those sandboxes you will need to export and import the data you wish to retain.
  
  


• What’s up with the Content System?
  The data in the content system will be the last thing the system office will move. If you are a content system user, all of your links will appear to be broken in bb7.vccs.edu. This should correct itself when the URL changes from bb7.vccs.edu to learn.vccs.edu on December 20, 2007. There may be issues with permission but if so we will address this issue in a separate mailing. If you are not currently using the content system, I recommend you WAIT and not start using it until Jan does the content system training or after Dec. 20, 2007. If you can not wait until Dec. 20, 2007 to use the content system be sure to make folders with names you did not use in Bb 6 or when the system office migrates the content system to Bb 7 your data may be over-written.
  
  


• When can I install a course cartridge
  If it is a .zip package you can use it now. If it a code – wait until December 20, 2007 when the URL changes from bb7.vccs.edu back to learn.vccs.edu.
  
  


• How do I report problems?
  Email me. The subject line should begin with Bb7: followed by the problem. I have an outlook rule, flagging Bb7: so I can respond as quickly as possible.
  
  


• How do I get help with Bb 7?

• Searchable online documentation available at:
  http://library.blackboard.com/ref/a157ea6f-5acf-46fb-92c4-0bf85f24f1ac/index.htm


• The PDF version (1.54 mb) of the manual is attached.


• Tutorials viewlets are also available from Atomic Learning:
  http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/highedLogin: TNCC
  Password: learn
  


• Jan will be doing the Bb 7 training in workshops throughout November and December. She is also available for consultations by appointments.

• I have students still making up work from Spring and/or Summer 2007; what do I need to do?
  They will continue to work in Bb 6 (learn.vccs.edu) until the end of the FA07 term, but you will have to archive your own course for record keeping. If for some reason they are not finished by Dec. 20, 2007 follow the procedures for make-ups for the FA07 term.
  
  


• What happens if I have make-ups for the FA07 term after December 20, 2007?
  I will be sending special instructions closer to the end of the term for makes-up that pass the Dec. 20, 2007 date. I am still unclear about that procedure and need to get more clarification from the system office. But, try very hard to encourage your students to complete by Dec. 20, 2007 if at all possible!
  
  


• When will my students be loaded into my Spring 2008 courses?
  At the go live date: December 20 – when we the switchover from bb7.vccs.edu to learn.vccs.edu occurs. From the student’s perspective they will never know the juggling you had to do to prepare for the Spring term.
  
  


• When will students have access to my Spring 2008 courses?
  December 20, 2007 – provided you switch your course to “available”.
  
  


• What happened to my students grades and submitted work from SP07 and SU07?
  If you “forgot” to create your own archive – David Morales grabbed the files prior to the export/import to Bb7 (bb7.vccs.edu). These are the normal “emergency” back-ups. I STRONGLY recommend you archive each of your current courses in Bb6 (learn.vccs.edu) and keep the archived zip file in a safe place in case we need to restore. Only an administrator can do a restore but David’s “grab” is a blind backup and is 99.9% reliable. I also recommend you export any modules you may want to reuse. Jan will be doing workshops in November on archive, export and import.
  
  


• What happens to "stuff" I created in explore.vccs.edu?
  Since Bb7 (explore.vccs.edu) was a training environment. You will have to export/import anything you want to bring over to bb7.vccs.edu. Again, Jan will be doing workshops in November on archive, export and import.
  
  


• Should I continue to use explore.vccs.edu?
  Only to test things (play around). See the above bullet.
  
  


• I am getting confused; which URL should I be working in?
  http://learn.vccs.edu/ is the current Bb 6 production environment
  http://explore.vccs.edu/ is the current Bb 7 training environmenthttp://bb7.vccs.edu/ is the temporary Bb 7 environment where you will be preparing your Spring 2008 courses

On December 20, 2008 http://bb7.vccs.edu/ will disappear and “magically” become http://learn.vccs.edu/ !

• What happens to Bb6 (the current learn.vccs.edu) after December 20, 2007?
  You will no longer have any access to that environment. Be sure you’ve backup (Archive and Exported) what you think you may need, as “insurance”.

Notes on Blackboard Upgrade Conference Call - 10/30/2007

Red - Greater interest to Faculty
Blue - My additional comments

Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 4:23 pm by
David Carter-Tod
ITS
Virginia Community College System
dcartertod@vccs.edu

Attended: Blue Ridge, Danville, Germanna, John Tyler, New River, Northern, Patrick Henry, Piedmont, Rappahannock, Tidewater, Southside, Thomas Nelson, Virginia Western, Wytheville, System Office.

Did not attend: Central, Dabney, Eastern Shore, J. Sargeant Reynolds, Lord Fairfax, Mountain Empire, Paul D. Camp, Southwest, Virginia Highlands


The call started by reviewing the Welcome to Blackboard 7 document, going over dates and issues. Blackboard administrators are strongly encouraged to review this document if they have not already.

Question: After Nov 1, after getting courses created using for example, a course creation file, do categories need to be done?
Answer: Yes, but it’s really easy to do. Availability is easy to do in the interface the same way.

Question: How can Dec 20 be both Go Live and a Blackout day?
Answer: It appears that there has been some kind of miscommunication. There will be no blackout period.

Question: Whoa! That’s a whole lotta tabs!?
Answer: You’re right. We will try to reduce them. We can investigate the feasibility of combining tabs at the college level, e.g. College Connect and Teach, but we are not sure how this might be done yet. We are open to ideas and would want to work through AS & R on this issue.

Question: What is the timing of course archives and statistics for fall 2007?
Answer: All Fall 2007 courses that are brought to Blackboard 7 will also be archived on the server where Blackboard administrators can get to them. Going forward, courses active after December 20 will be archived in the Spring 2008 section, regardless of the term identifier.

**If you find you will have make-ups for the FA07 term you will need to let me (Ruth Smith) know.

Question: When will content system files get moved?
Answer: Current plan is to move content system files later at the December Go Live, so that files on learn.vccs.edu (bb6) do not get out of synch with files on bb7.vccs.edu (bb7). If a faculty member needs to create files on the content system or move them, they can simply access both systems via WebDAV and copy content from one to the other (via their desktop).

When we do move content system content, please check permissions. It is unlikely that we will be able to reproduce permissions on Blackboard 7 precisely.

Question: When will “other” courses get migrated, e.g. organizations, .devl, .wrks, .tmpl?
Answer: If any of these courses can be moved before Go Live that would be preferable. Otherwise these will take a back seat to the migration of Fall 2007 courses. Colleges should communicate to learn@vccs.edu if they would like these courses migrated earlier than Go Live.

Question: Who places modules on college tabs?
Answer: Blackboard administrators may do this themselves.

Question: What exactly are the end user requirements and recommendations, e.g. with regard to Vista, XP, IE, CPU, RAM, etc.?
Answer: We will get the official Blackboard documentation on this. On review, this is on page 24 and 25 of the “Blackboard_Academic_Suite_New_Features_for_Release_7.3.pdf” document posted on VCCS Discuss (https://discuss.vccs.edu/scripts/discus/show.cgi?19/7266.html).

Question: After Dec 20, will system administrators have access to BB6?
Answer: Good question. We think so. There are some ongoing discussions about this internally about the most appropriate kind of access to provide after Dec 20, but yes, we think so.

Question: Can there be an FAQ tab for students?
Answer: We will work with AS & R on something like this. Perhaps on the Help tab?

Question: How will batch loading of courses work?
Answer: Same as ever. Joshua Seigler at PVCC wrote a nice guide to how to do this - http://learn.vccs.edu/bbcswebdav/users/jseigler8379/Bb/BatchCourseCopy-howto.doc

Question: Can we get a copy of the Administrator Manual?
Answer: We will post it to Discuss

Question: Can we get sample (dummy accounts) students – for instructors to use to evaluate their courses?
Answer: Please file an IssueTrak ticket requesting any manual accounts you need.

**I've already taken care of this you will use the same login: TNstudent and pw: (call for pw) as we did in Bb 6.

Note: Messaging is turned off in Blackboard 7.

Question: What is the Podcasting capability in Blackboard 7
Answer: Wimba Voice Tools at Go Live. Other building blocks, e.g. iTunesU may also enable this. Other building blocks are under active consideration, e.g. Classtop and Learning Objects.

Blackboard Upgrade Conference Call - 10/2/2007

Red - Greater interest to Faculty
Blue - My additional comments

Attended: Central (could not speak), Danville, Germanna, John Tyler, Lord Fairfax, New River, Northern, Patrick Henry, Rappahannock, Southwest, Thomas Nelson, Virginia Highlands, System Office.

Did not attend: Blue Ridge, Dabney, Eastern Shore, J. Sargeant Reynolds, Mountain Empire, Paul D. Camp, Piedmont, Southside, Tidewater, Virginia Western, Wytheville


Question: Is it too late to get some Spring and Summer courses archived / restored ?
Answer: No. Please send us a list.

All of our Spring and Summer Courses are being exported. If you needed a specific course archived / restored you must call me ASAP.

Question: What about organizations?
Answer: Organizations will be archived/restored after Dec 20

Question: What is the status of explore.vccs.edu? Is it like production bb7?
Answer: It's not our official Test instance, and needs to be brought more in line with final production settings.

Question: Will students have the content system? What about messages?
Answer: Will check with AS & R on messages, but no content system for students.

Question: How will domains be configured?
Answer: One primary College Administrator will have access to data system-wide. Backups and other support functions will only have access to data within their college domain. This new College Administrator function will be restricted using privileges for access to elements that were previously restricted by documented procedures (e.g. Building Blocks management).

Question: Can colleges keep more than the current four semesters of data.
Answer: No. Old courses represent a drag on the performance of current courses.

Question: Will the various administrator utilities continue to work?
Answer: We cannot definitively answer this at this time. Joshua Siegler at PVCC rewrote some for Blackboard 6. Perhaps if you are nice to him? We urge administrators to review the Blackboard 7 interface since some things may now be possible in the GUI that were not previously possible, e.g. the GUI has a method for making multiple courses available or unavailable.

Question: What about TMPL, DEVL and WRKS courses?
Answer: Good point. We will include these in our post-Dec 20 migration.

Question: What about other kinds of courses, e.g. NVCC has some hybrid repositories which are still coded as NS99
Answer: ITS will attempt to facilitate all kinds of migrations. Typically all colleges need to do is to provide a list of course IDs. These custom migrations will take a lower priority unless there are good reasons why not.

Question: Will there be a web site for the Blackboard migration, aside from posts to VCCS Discuss? It would be useful to have something staff could be pointed to.
Answer: We will continue to post to VCCS Discuss and talk to Client Services about a web presence. Helpnet is currently in transition and we hope to create a significant Blackboard presence on a newly designed Helpnet site. We do not have a date for this however.

Question: We have previously had issues with accent marks in foreign languages during migrations - can we review and make sure there are no issues in 7?
Answer: We will test, but Bb7 is explicitly designed for multiple languages so we are hopeful that there will be no issues.

Question: Will colleges need to insert instructors into exported courses.
Answer: No. ITS will take care of this.

Question: What about course cartridges and building blocks from publishers?
Answer: Building blocks will generally be deferred until after the beginning of the Spring semester. An advantage in Blackboard 7 is the ability to install building blocks but have them off by default in courses. This appears to be a good solution for publisher building blocks.

Question: How will the content system migration be done?
Answer: Best advice at this point is to wait to copy content over until after student Go Live. ITS will facilitate this. Faculty and staff can add brand new content prior to that as long as use they use folder names unique to the Blackboard 7 system (i.e. so that they don’t get overwritten in any migration process). Note that we may face similar issues with Wimba content.

Question: What about the day of the switchover?
Answer: On the day of the switchover, learn.vccs.edu will simply point to the new system, not the old one (which will still be available at bb6.vccs.edu). Fall 2007 courses will not be immediately available on the new system, but will be migrated over as quickly as possible, starting with those courses that have incompletes. A guesstimate is that the migration of courses with incompletes might take half a day. ITS will make a good faith effort to identify those courses in SIS and correlate them to courses in Blackboard, but given that there are not always a one-to-one match between the systems, colleges are encouraged to identify such courses themselves and send the information to ITS. After incompletes, Fall 2007 courses will be migrated college by college.

Question: Can Blackboard administrators get access prior to faculty and staff seeing it?
Answer: ITS has fairly widely publicized the November 1 Go Live for Faculty and Staff. This date is probably not negotiable, but Blackboard administrators have discretion at their own college in terms of how they publicize the availability of the new system.

Question: Blackboard Community/Portal system: who will move tabs and modules, and will they continue to work the same way?
Answer: General idea (barring better ones) is to reproduce the same structure and procedures as in version 6. However, tab and module administration can be delegated to some extent in the domain context. There is no ideal solution to moving modules from 6 to 7. Current plan is to leave this in the hands of college staff to do during the November/December time frame.

Question: What about portal pages that rely on the content system (e.g. for images)
Answer: Should not be a problem. Just reproduce on Blackboard 7. Copying Content System content is fairly straightforward. Simply drag and drop the webdav folder to desktop and from desktop to the new system. Then check permissions.

Question: Is the menu ordering problem when copying courses fixed?
Answer: Yes

Question: Will all the mime types be on Blackboard 7?
Answer: Yes

Question: What is the compatibility with Vista and IE7?
Answer: This is part of the reason we chose 7.3, which claims to resolve most if not all such issues.

Question: Does CD / offline content work?
Answer: This has been inherently problematic ever since browsers like IE and Firefox become more security conscious. Not entirely sure, but wouldn’t raise expectations.

Question: Manual accounts for adjuncts and students?
Answer: For adjuncts in defined training purposes, this is allowed with appropriate tracking and documentation, using e.g. LFCCTrain01 as an account name. However, such accounts should not be used long term, and the correct way to get into Blackboard is via SIS. Students should never have manual accounts and should be driven by SIS data.

Question: Does iframe content work okay?
Answer: Yes, it should. We are still planning on implementing SSL and this might impact references to external sites. Please test.

Question: Can a college administrator change their role in a course?
Answer: Because the new College Administrator role is not a System Administrator, they will not have access to the Quick Enroll feature in the standard course menu. However, the interface for accessing and enrolling users into courses on the System Admin control panel has been streamlined so that enrollment and the role assignment can be done on the same screen.

Question: Given that many people will be on the road to the October 9 training, will it still go ahead?
Answer: Yes, and we will try and record next week's call. It may well be a short call.

Migration Update

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 9:48 AM
To: learn@vccs.edu

We (TNCC) are currently training folk in Bb 7. I want to make sure I am giving out as accurate information as possible. Could you please confim or correct:

1. explore.vccs.edu is a training environment (no "real" work for SP08 should take place there unless the individual instructor exports their work themselves)
   
2. SP07 and SU07 courses are being migrated to a non-public instance of Bb 7( which will later become the production server). The migration began on Sept. 15th; if an instructor does any work or make-ups in these terms they must export/archive their changes themselves. If its an export they can import when the Bb 7 server goes into production.
   
3. The non-public instance of Bb 7 will be available for faculty (no students) on Nov. 1, 2007. (Will this then become explore.vccs.edu?)
   
4. SP08 Bb shells can not be created until after Nov. 1, 2007.
   
   
   Thank you,
   ---
   Ruth K. Smith
   Senior Instructional Designer
   Learning System Administrator

---

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 2:37 PM
From: David Carter-Tod

Ruth,

1. Correct

2. That's correct, although for Faculty bb7 will be available after Nov 1 so that's when they could bring data over themselves.

3. Correct, but no, it will not be explore.vccs.edu. The interim url for Blackboard 7 production before students get on it will be bb7.vccs.edu

4. They can't be created in bb7 until after then (unless created on explore). If they were created on Bb6, faculty or the bbadmin could export and import to bb7 if they so desired, but at this point in time, we have not undertaken to do that for colleges.

HTH
David

---

Summary:

• If you make or have made any changes in SP07 or SU07 courses after Sept. 15th (had students doing make up for example) you will have to do your own Export/Archive to have the updated content appear in Bb 7.
  
• I cannot make any SP08 course shells until after November 1, 2007.
  The pre-production URL (listed in David C-T's resoponse) is active yet.
  
• I am still trying to find out how they will be handling .DEVL shells. There is a Bb admin. meeting on Oct. 9, 2007; I hope to have more information for you after the meeting. Right now everything is "lovely, lovely".

If you have questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Archival Migration information available at:
http://nl.tncc.edu//blogs/index.php?blog=5&Itemid=93 (searchable)

Blackboard 7 Upgrade Update

Bb Migration Timeline - Additional Dates for time line:

• 11/01/07–batch upload students into Bb 7.2 for SP08 unavailable to faculty until after 12/20/07. (Faculty won’t be able to email their SP08 students until after 12/20/07.
• 11/01/07–DO NOT load course cartridges until after 11/01/07 for SP08 courses
• 12/20/07–content system won’t be linked up (all links to content system will appear to fail –but will correct itself at GoLivedate
• 12/07/07–end of incompletes for FA07 (all FA07 incompletes must be made up
• 12/20/07 –faculty and students will no longer see FA07 courses in Bb 6 (http://learn.vccs.edu/)
• 12/20/07–there will be a short blackout period (1 to 5 days) for incompletes (exclusion FA07 courses –these will already be gone) and MedLab(non-traditionally scheduled courses).
• 01/04/08–Bb 6.2 retired (no longer available to faculty, students or Bb administrators.)
  –Normal backup archives still available to Bb administrators.

Training focus for faculty (recommendation):

• Discussion board
• Announcements -immediate email notification
• What’s New Module
• Adaptive Release, review status, and performance dashboard
• Early Warning system

Things faculty need to know:

• Java
  -Java 6 must be loaded prior to a student taking a test or the browser locks the 1st time
  -Java 6 can take up to 1 hour to download on a dial up modem.
• Content System
  -12/20/07 –content system won’t be linked up (all links to content system will appear to fail –but will correct itself at GoLivedate
  -Don’t use content system for NEW classes SP08 until after 12/20/07.
• E-Mail
  -Messages sent to students from instructor now include course ID in the subject line.
• Course Cartridges
  -11/01/07 –DO NOT load course cartridges until after 11/01/07 for SP08 courses

News from the System Office:

From: Inez Farrell ,Director of Instructional Technology, VCCS
Sent: Fri 8/17/2007

ITS has agreed to upgrade Blackboard to7.3 instead of 7.2 using the same timeline.

Benefits of 7.3 over 7.2

• Full Microsoft Vista support: while 7.2 is generally compatible withVista, 7.3 is Blackboard-certified for Vista. For college computers and anystudents buying computers this is a critical issue.
• Revised Discussion Board: a major client complaint about the 7.xreleases has been the rewritten discussion board. End users (faculty andstudents) have found it difficult to use. 7.3 includes a revised UI thatresolves these difficulties and is more similar to the historical discussionboard that users are used to.
• Integrated Content System archiving: For 6.2 in order to ensure theintegrity of archived courses, ITS had to write a custom archive process forlinked content system content. In 7.3 this functionality is shipped withBlackboard in such a way that respects content system meta-data.
• Performance Enhancements and fixes

There should be no negative impact on training. The discussion board changegives instructors the option of using the more historic version over thenewer version.

ITS will now plan to upgrade Explore (http://explore.vccs.edu/) so you will all be familiar with the changes.

Bb Upgrade Timeline

Blackboard Upgrade Timeline (.pdf)

DDLC Meeting Minutes - May 24, 2007

Distance and Distributed Learning ASAC Workgroup

Meeting Minutes

May 24, 2007 10am – 3pm

I. Call to order

Kim Blosser called to order the regular meeting of the DDLC at 10:00 am on May 24, 2007 in Featherstone.

II. Roll call

Kim Blosser conducted a roll call. The following persons were present:

Kim Blosser (BRCC), Charles Boling (VHCC), CJ Bracken (GCC), Joan Trabandt (NVCC), George Hoffman (LFCC), Kristen Kelly (JTCC), Leslie Smith (RCC), Ramona Coveny (VWCC), Ruth Smith (TNCC), Jaime Shetrone (WCC), Inez Farrell (VCCS - AS&R), Shelia Hobbs (PDCCC), Colleen Kehoe (JSRCC), Jeff Burleson (MECC), Linda Claussen (NRCC), Ken Fairbanks (SwVCC), Scott Case (ITS), Susan Wood (VCCS - AS&R)

Members absent: Susan Beasley (CVCC), Bill Dey (DCC), Mark Nelson (PHCC), Lori Ledford (PVCC), Reo McBride (DLCC), Richard Wilt (ESCC), John Ambrose (JSRCC)-(Colleen subs for him) John Zwick (TCC), Joan Tuck (SVCC), Joan Osborne (LFCC)

III. Approval of minutes from last meeting

Kim Blosser read the minutes from the last meeting (2/07). The minutes were approved as read.

IV. Open issues

a) Inez Farrell presented a sample of a published DL survival kit for faculty. This can be enhanced with best practices and published on the DDLC web site.

b) Inez Farrell announced that college presidents will select the DDLC representative for their college as a yearly appointment. There is a job description for the DL representatives. The description for the DDLC chairperson was also provided.

c) A tentative calendar was created for DDLC meetings in 2007-2008:
September 6, 2007 Piedmont Community College

November 8, 2007 (backup date of November 15)

February 7, 2008 (Joan Trabandt will setup Centra meeting so travel is not necessary)

May 14, 2008

d) Several attendees shared effective communication strategies with the group.

e) Inez Farrell reported that the DDLC Peer Group meeting would be October 17,19 and would include Library Services and Blackboard Administrators. Wimba training may be available at the meeting.

f) Inez Farrell reported on status of Backpack and Atomic Learning and will investigate CampusPack and SurveyTool. The system will be previewing LockDown Browser for one year. The Respondus contract includes StudyMate. SoftChalk will remain available.

g) The GIS announcement was sent to each designated college contact on May 23, 2007. DL staff may contact that person to get software if they wish.

h) The VCCS is pursuing a state-wide agreement for iTunes.edu.

i) The group was encouraged to use surveys to determine which software is being used to assist in system decision for purchasing and continuing software contracts. Impatica, Auto Desk, and SoftChalk are three such software products that will need to be reviewed this year as the contract expires.

j) Scott Case from ITS proposed that Explore.vccs.edu (Blackboard 7.1) be upgraded to Blackboard 7.2 on May 25. He explained that the technicians would need a short time frame that Explore.vccs.edu would not be available. The proposal was accepted by the group so Explore.vccs.edu was upgraded on that date.

k) Inez Farrell presented the timeline for the upgrade of Blackboard 7.2 for the entire system for the implementation and upgrade of Blackboard in Spring 2008.

l) The approval of the revised, renamed, and rewritten document of guidelines for distance and distributed learning (previously VDEN) brought a lively discussion. The result of the discussion was that a survey should be created that included a different structure than the previous survey instrument. The survey should have categories (i.e. heard of this or do you use). Each item should have some means of displaying a short description of each software item. Another item to be included could be “What do you want to be able to do that you currently cannot do?” Main category items were:
SoftTalk Impatica Respondus
Wimba StudyMate LockDown Browser
GIS AutoDesk Merlot
Other:
Web Conferencing (Breeze, Elluminate, Centra)
Flash Paper Articulate BackPack
Atomic Learning SurveySoftware Captivate/Camtasia
Podcasting

m) VDEN Work Distribution and Suggested Formats – There should be an intro page with the named target audience and purpose. An agreement between providers and receivers and responsibilities of each which will also include contact information. There should be links to current “Best Practices” from individual faculty and colleges. The three main areas are procedures, compensation and MOU.

n) Guidelines for Quality Assurance (Best Practices) would include:
1. Evaluations (faculty and courses)
Include what should be included in each course as basic structure
Suggested additions to syllabus, etc
2. Accessibility information
3. Listing of system-wide instructional software
4. Assessment strategies (include example proctored activities)
5. Key terms
6. Contact information (w/person links)
7. Student Services (tutoring, admissions, orientation modules, etc)
8. Advising (faculty modules)

o) A motion was passed that stated that each college would send a table of contents for their current faculty DL manual to Inez by the following week. All the members of the group agreed to volunteer for a section and provide tentative material for the September 6 meeting.

V. New business

p) There were no new business items.

VI. Adjournment

Kim Blosser adjourned the meeting at 2:45 pm.

Minutes submitted by: Ramona Coveny

Minutes approved by:

Distance and Distributed Learning ASAC Workgroup

Distance and Distributed Learning ASAC Workgroup
February 15, 2007, 10am – 3pm

Minutes
Meeting called to order at 10:00 am

Members present: Susan Beasley (CVCC), Kim Blosser (BRCC), Charles Boling (VHCC), Joan Trabandt (NVCC), Kristen Kelly (JTCC), Leslie Smith (RCC), Ramona Coveny (VWCC), Ruth Smith (TNCC), Stacy Harris (SWCC), Joan Tuck (SVCC), Jaime Shetrone (WCC), Bill Dey (DCC), Inez Farrell (AS&R), Shelia Hobbs (PDCCC), David Carter-Tod (ITS)

Members absent: Mark Nelson (PHCC), Lori Ledford (PVCC), George Hoffman (LFCC), Reo McBride (DLCC), Jeff Burleson (MECC), Ron Wilt (ESCC), Linda Claussen (NRCC), John Ambrose (JSRCC), John Zwick (TCC),

Action Item 1.

Recommendation to Educational Technology Committee of ASAC for elimination of outdated VDEN procedures.

Background: The policies and procedures developed by VCCS and college administrators for distance learning were created to ensure the quality of this course delivery method. The method most in use during the creation of this document was compressed video. Other methods of delivery are now primary. The DDLC has been charge by the Education Technology Committee of ASAC to determine the following:

1. Recommend what sections of the VDEN procedures should be considered by ASAC to be added to policy.


2. Determine what sections are already in policy and recommend for deletion.


3. Ascertain what remains in the VDEN that is valuable and should be incorporated into either:
   
   
   
   1. MOU
   
   
   2. Best Practices
   
   
   3. Other
   
   
   
   

Action Recommended: Review Section IV of VDEN and determine whether any parts that are already covered in the Policy Manual should be eliminated and if any parts should remain and be incorporated into the Policy Manual.

Rationale: Changes in distance learning delivery methods and the increased awareness that all delivery methods of content should follow the same quality criteria necessitate the updating of this procedural document.

At the meeting, much time was spent discussing what the VDEN document is and what it’s purpose should be within the VCCS. Several members indicated that it was used as a procedures guide and was still very helpful to many. Others still noted that the information was outdated and certainly needed to be updated.

During the previous DDLC meeting, small groups worked to recommend which parts of the document needed to be eliminated or revised. This information had not been captured in a format that could be sent out to the entire DDLC membership, so some time was spent re-creating those recommendations. Google docs were used to collaborate on the specific parts of the VDEN document. For the next meeting in May, the revisions that were proposed in this meeting will be distributed for further review.

The main charge for this committee was to determine whether or not any of the language in the VDEN document needed to be moved to the policy manual (recommended that it be moved) or how in fact it would best be modified to make it current and effective. The committee agreed that the document was valuable and needed to be considered a Procedures Manual. As a result, the committee agreed on the following motion:

Motion:
The Distance and Distributed Learning Committee (DDLC) recommends that the VDEN document as it stands contains no reference to policy that is not already covered in the VCCS policy manual, but is an outdated reference guide for procedures and best practices. The DDLC requests it be allowed to rework the VDEN into a current set of E-learning procedures and best practices for Virginia’s Community Colleges.

This motion will be sent to the next ASAC meeting for response by the Educational Technology subcommittee. The hope of the DDLC is that we will be asked to revise this document so that it can remain an effective procedures document for those working with distance education.

Discussion Item 1.

Develop a calendar of dates for ITS to add and delete student email account or Blackboard account to the system for each semester. (When do the courses come on and when do they come off. When does the email account get activated, when does it get deleted).

Background: ITS needs help in determining the best time to add or delete student email accounts and Blackboard accounts to the system.

Action Recommended: Formulate a system-wide calendar to present toTech Council in March.

ITS indicated that they needed firm dates for when to delete email accounts from the system, as well as a process by which students are notified that their account will be terminated. Although this was initially a discussion item, this led to discussions about coming up with dates and was therefore moved to an Action Item.

After much discussion, the motion was as follows:

Email accounts to be de-authorized:

3rd Thursday after August 16, January 2, and May 16.

Email authorization:

July 1, November 1, and April 1.

Course de-activation:

December 15, August 15, and May 1.

Dates to flag:

December 1, July 15, and April 15.

There was an email later asking that ITS ‘flag’ accounts at least 4 weeks in advance, which David indicated was not a problem. ITS was more concerned with the deactivation process than when the accounts are flagged and sent a notice.

Information Item 1.

WIMBA update

Inez updated the group regarding the feedback she’s received on the WIMBA pilot project. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. ASAC is expected to approve the inclusion of WIMBA as an add-on to Blackboard system-wide.

Information Item 2.

Backpack pilot status from Leslie Smith

Leslie Smith reported that Ruth Greene (RCC) has been piloting another Blackboard building block called Backpack. They currently have a 30-day free trial version. The add-on allows students to download all the course material, with the exception of those items that are interactive such as quizzes, discussion boards, and assignments (etc). Anything not interactive gets downloaded and students can then review documents, PowerPoint presentations, etc without having to connect to BB. For students with a dial-up connection, this is very helpful.

Leslie and Ruth are looking for funding to continue the pilot so that they can share their results. Inez encouraged them to contact the rep for Backpack to see if they would be willing to allow RCC to pilot this for possible inclusion by more VCCS schools.

Information Item 3.

Blackboard 7 Update

As of this meeting, ITS is still planning for a fall 07 go live date. Further details will be forthcoming in regards to training and specific timelines.

Old BB COURSES TO BE DELETED MAY 7, 2007!!!!!

http://community.tncc.edu/faculty/smith/blog_docs/coursesToBeDeleted-May2007.xls

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU READ THIS CAREFULLY AND UNDERSTAND IT (original VCCS message at bottom). THE COURSES ON THE ATTCHED SPREADSHEET WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DELETED ON MAY 7, 2007. THE LIST CONTAINS THE OLD SP06 COURSES BUT

IT ALSO CONTAINS ALL OF YOUR SANDBOXES!!!

You must export your sandbox content immediately and request a .devl sandbox to import your old sandbox content into.

To request a .devl sandbox email me with your sandbox id
TN293.Sandbox.??? (you can see the ID on the Control Panel) and your
Bb login do not use the request form.

As a reminder Jan Klingberg will be presenting workshops on Ending the Semester and Moving Content in Bb6

Tuesday April 24, 2007 917 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Tuesday April 24, 2007 917 02:00 pm – 03:00 pm
Wednesday April 25, 2007 917 08:30 am – 09:30 am
Thursday April 26, 2007 917 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

---

Posted on Discuss
Author: David Carter-Tod
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 11:34 am:

At the end of the Fall 2006 semester we deleted courses from Fall 2005 and before. You can read the relevant thread here:

https://discuss.vccs.edu/scripts/discus/show.cgi?19/5852.html



It is now time to remove all Spring 2006 courses and before. All Spring 2006 (and prior) courses will be removed from the production Blackboard environment on May 7, 2007.

The criteria for removal at this stage is:

1. Course ID ending in "SP06"
2. Or created before January 1, 2006


Per ASAC policy, colleges should also poll faculty to identify other courses on the production blackboard system that are eligible for removal from the production system.


Procedure:
- April 18, 2007 — Courses are identified to Blackboard Administrators (list is attached to this message as an Excel file)
- April 23, 2007 — Title of courses is changed to included "Will delete 7 May 2007" and
courses are made unavailable
- All courses are archived (this is an ongoing standard procedure)
- May 7, 2007 — all flagged courses will be removed from production
- Archived courses are available on ITS servers until May 2008 at http://chat.vccs.edu/vccs-archives/

------------------
Preserving courses
------------------
Blackboard is not designed as a permanent historical archive of course activity. It is a production system for current classes. Keeping old courses, especially those with student data such as test attempts, can have a negative effect on the performance of the system for current courses and
current students. This is why all courses are constantly archived and then eventually removed, so that if they need to be restored for current production purposes they can be, but otherwise they do not adversely impact performance.

Blackboard administrators should review the current course ID standards (in the Blackboard documentation - https://discuss.vccs.edu/scripts/discus/show.cgi?19/3922.html). In addition to the four semesters of current courses, faculty may have one .DEVL space for working on content and other experimentation, and they may, of course, have courses that have IDs for
future courses.

In that light, the necessary procedure for keeping a course is to copy it to a more current and appropriate ID. This would apply if for some reason the course still had active users. The recommended approach is:

1. Make the original unavailable
2. Do a Copy Course with Users (Exact Copy) to the new course ID format
3. Make the new course available

If the course should really be a DEVL space for a faculty member, i.e. it is being kept for the content, it will significantly benefit the overall performance of the system to copy the course content without users (to clean out assessment and other student data).

If colleges require an exception, for example for an uncopyable cartridge-based course
that students still require access to, please file an IssueTrak ticket including the course id and reason.

Thanks
David

David Carter-Todd
ITS
Virginia Community College System

Instructional Technology Notice: Upgrade to Bb7 Now Scheduled for Spring 2008

Mon 4/9/2007 5:14 PM

To VCCS Vice Presidents and Provosts,

Over the last six months, the VCCS Information Technology Services (ITS)staff has negotiated with Blackboard in an attempt to meet long-term VCCS goals of high reliability and robust, high performing technology at thelowest possible cost. This extensive effort involving IBM, Blackboard, andOracle was concluded in the last week. The goal was to enable the VCCS to incorporate Blackboard services into its new computer architecture ­ aclustered environment running on IBM's AIX operating system. A clustered computing environment allows tremendous flexibility as well as an inexpensive and relatively easy method to add processing power as required. Unfortunately, due to myriad non-technical factors, Blackboard has declined to certify the IBM environment as requested.

The VCCS must acquire additional hardware that is certified by Blackboard inorder to provide essential support for the Blackboard 7.2 environment. As a result, the upgrade to version 7.2 of Blackboard will go live in Spring 2008.

VCCS Academic Services and Research will continue to work with ITS to prepare Blackboard System Administrators for the upgrade, with training scheduled to begin June 25, 2007. Instructional Technologists will continueto train faculty in the use of enhanced Blackboard 7.2 tools, such as the discussion board. Additional information and a schedule for testing andother key milestones will be made available in the next few weeks.

Please share this notice with deans, faculty, instructional technologists, and others as appropriate at your college. Questions should be directed to Dr. Inez Farrell, Director of Instructional Technology (ifarrell@vccs.edu).

Thank you,
Inez Inez Farrell, Ph.D.
Director of Instructional Technology
Virginia's Community Colleges
101 North 14th Street
Richmond, VA 23219

Dealing with Office 2007 files

PROBLEM:
I can't open a .docx or .docm file!

BACKGROUND:
Microsoft Word 2007 is using a new file extension, *.docx, as its default for new documents. This new format, along with *.docm, are incompatible with older versions of Microsoft Word.

SOLUTION:
If You are Trying to Open a *.docm or *.docx File:

There may be times when you must view a *.docx or *.docm file. If you are using Microsoft Office 2000, 2002 or 2003, you will need to install the Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility Pack. Users of earlier versions of Microsoft Office cannot use the Compatibility Pack. If you are using an older version of Word, we recommend that you contact the author of the document and have them convert it into a different format (.doc or .pdf).

1. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en
2. Download the Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility Pack

You can read more about the Compatibility Pack at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100444731033.aspx

WHAT TO TELL THE STUDENTS WHO USE OFFICE 2007:
We recommend that you convert your *.docx and *.docm files into *.doc files. Here's how:

1. Open the file in Word 2007
2. Select File
3. Select Save As...
4. From the drop-down menu called File Type, select Word Document (*.doc)
5. Click Save

The file will be saved with an extension of doc and users of Microsoft Word 2000, 2002 and 2003 will be able to open it.

Migration Q&As from VCCS

These answers are subject to change based on input from the VCCS workgroup

FACULTY

1. What will faculty need to do to prepare for the fall 2007 upgrade?
Faculty need to prepare their courses to be copied as they would for any semester. Clean up any courses that are not current. It would be extremely helpful to un-enroll students from old courses if their data is not any longer necessary.

2. What should their timeline look like?
Faculty should have their courses ready to be exported by May 10, 2007.

3. What new Blackboard 7 enhancements need faculty training?
The discussion board is the most widely used change. The dashboard, Wimba, early warning system, and adaptive release are cool new tools but faculty can do business as usual without training in these areas.

4. Will current content be batch copied to production Bb7? If so, will this be tested beforehand so that any issues might be planned for?
Yes the content system will be automatically copied. This will be tested and there are some questions outstanding as to whether the links will still work. We think they will but must test.

5. What is the status of Blackboard 7 for the summer (will faculty be able to continue piloting or will it become a playground for training)?
19 colleges responded to the survey. Three colleges would prefer to continue the pilot. Sixteen colleges preferred to train and experiment. We will use Explore for training and experimenting beginning May 10, 2007. Students who are still in Explore with incompletes will continue their work in that environment. All other courses will no longer be active.

6. If you keep it for piloting, how are we supposed to do training?
See question 5.

7. What is going to happen with the instructors who developed courses in Bb 7.1 this SP07 semester? Are we requiring that they copy their course back to Bb 6 if teaching in the summer after using the tools in Bb 7.1?
Courses cannot be brought from Blackboard 7 to Blackboard 6. Instructors can have a course archive from the pilot that their Blackboard Admin can put on the new system.

8. I have faculty who are asking to create courses now for FA07 with course cartridges to develop over the summer. If we use Bb 7.2 as a training environment how will a course copy over with a cartridge from Bb 6 to Bb7?
Course cartridges often do not copy within a system, let alone across systems. Faculty should develop content in a separate course area from the cartridge content in case it does not copy (licensing again). In this way a new cartridge key can be applied to the course in 7.2 and the work done by the faculty member can also be applied to that course (via import or restore). It is recommended you communicate the following to faculty: If you are using a course cartridge that is copy protected (most with a key are like this) you should plan to begin working with your course after July 1, 2007. If you are using a course cartridge that is a zip file (your Blackboard system administrator will know the difference if you do not) you can create your course content and modify the cartridge as you have done in the past on Blackboard 6. These courses will be exported and imported without problems. Course cartridges that are copy protected will not import.

STUDENTS

1. What will students need to do to prepare for the fall 2007 upgrade?
Generally, nothing. Blackboard provides good tutorial videos and documentation in 7.2. Students will not need any other preparation for the upgrade.

2. What are new Blackboard 7 enhancements for which students need training?
Students may need training on the discussion board. Faculty may want to alert students to the new early warning system.

3. What happens to students that need to access the courses that were piloted for SP07 due to incompletes?
The courses will be available on Explore. And then can be migrated over to production at the instructor's and college Blackboard admin's discretion. If the student finishes the course after May 10, 2007 then the admin will need to archive and restore the course to the new production system.

TRAINING

1. Will there be a training committee formed that will consolidate training materials for each Bb Admin / Instructional Technologists to use at their college?
Training material is provided by Blackboard. Training specifically created for Blackboard Administrators and for Instructional Technologists to use for their faculty will be compiled and stored either in Blackboard or on the ITDE website. You vote.

INTEGATION

Full integration with PeopleSoft, which includes the automatic creation of courses and enrollment of students and instructors into those courses, will not occur this Fall. A workgroup on integration of Blackboard and PeopleSoft will be convened to discuss the design. Code will be written as soon as a design conclusion is reached. Integration is expected to begin summer 2008.

1. When will integration with PeopleSoft take place?
Plan is for summer 2008.

2. What are the plans for centralized automatic course creation in the fall of 07? Is it a go or not?
No go!

3. Will courses be created and integrated with PeopleSoft automatically?
Yes, when integration is implemented.

4. What will happen if a course is created and not assigned an instructor? (staff)
Determined with input from workgroup

5. What happens if a course is created and then the instructor is changed?
Determined with input from workgroup

6. If a course is automatically created, an instructor assigned who loads content, and then the instructor is changed, will the content be cleared?
Determined with input from workgroup

7. After integration sections can be automatically combined at a college’s request. Does ITS then do the combining? What is the turn around time needed? Can Bb admins do the combining?
Section combining will be handled by the user interface. Blackboard administrators can do this.

8. How will course templates work? Currently colleges that use templates have to request the system office create their courses with the template the college submits. Will this be the same or different?
The same until integration. After integration the templates will need to be tied to the course creation. This is a question for the workgroup to discuss.

9. Is it true: Integration of a course cannot prevent Blackboard Administrators or faculty from manually adding additional users in a non-student role to that course.
This is correct. Other users can be added to an integrated course in other roles. Work group will address use cases of when non-enrolled citizens need to be added to a course.

10. A standard course naming convention will be used that includes: Semester—Course ID—Section Number—Course Name—College
Correct. ASAC certified a naming convention. The current common course ID format will continue to be used, which typically includes College ID.Subject.Number.Section.Semester
Other valid course ID formats are for:
Personal faculty development spaces - College ID.facultyid.DEVL
Training courses - College ID.workshopInfo.WRKS
College-level template courses - College ID.optionalInfo.TMPL. Template courses are NOT subject nor faculty specific. Faculty get one personal development space for creating content to be reused in other courses.

11. Students will be disabled as a user in Blackboard when they are backed out of the PeopleSoft course for any reason. Can ITS show the reason the student is out of PeopleSoft to the admins?
A student's enrollment in the relevant course would be disabled within the parameters defined by the workgroup. ITS might be able to reveal this information, but appropriate PeopleSoft access is a decision for colleges

12. Can a Bb admin be able to turn students back on manually while issues are being resolved?
Not necessarily. ITS would have to build an interface, but this is also a question of policy. SIS is the system of record

Blackboard Administrators

1. Is Blackboard Admin training necessary? Mandatory?
Blackboard admin training is necessary.

2. When will it take place?
Training to take place during June 25th to 29th. We will train at John Tyler’s Chester Campus (Bird Hall, room B142) and at Greenfield. Training will last one day. The training from June 25 to 29th will be for the 23 Administrators and 37 Domain Administrators.

3. What will it cover?
Training will cover managing your college domain and creating course templates. User roles, modules

4. Are we going to start out using the domains feature and if so, will the colleges have input on the policies and procedures for managing domains?
Yes, we are, and yes, they will. The procedures for managing domains will be determined by a committee of seven instructional technologists representing the 23 colleges. No policy will be determined except by ASAC. Role permissions will require some input from this committee. We will use Google docs to survey the other colleges for their ideas.

The current design goal is for 23 primary admins with super user access (one per college). Backup admins will not have this level of access, but only domain-level access. Colleges will be able to have as many admins as they want within their domains.

5. What will Blackboard Admins need to do to prepare for upgrade?
ITS will automatically migrate all courses that conform to the ID standards and fall within the ASAC definition of courses to be retained in production. For portal migration, Blackboard Admins will need to update their tracking spreadsheet with portal modules and layout identifying the ones they want to migrate by May 1, 2007

It may be useful to refer to your log of manually created users to make sure that is up to date as you will have to recreate the ones that you intend to keep using

It will be useful to facilitate clean-up of courses that will be migrated (Fall 06 and forward).

Summer 07 courses will remain on the current learn server until the course end date. Those courses will be identified by the Blackboard Admin. If there is a common end date for a sufficient number of courses they will be automatically migrated to Bb7. If there are stragglers than those courses may need to be exported and imported separately into Bb7. The name for the new Bb7 will be a temporary one until all live courses are migrated from Bb6. Then Bb7 will become Learn. Bb6 will be available for a short amount of time (16 weeks) if our licensing permits.

6. Courses created in Blackboard will be unavailable to students and the availability will be left up to the discretion of the college. Does the instructor have the responsibility to make it available or the Bb admin? Is this to be determined on a college by college basis?
Courses will be brought over from Bb6 with their availability the same as in Bb6 after May 10th. As in the past, courses can be batch created when requested by the colleges and their availability will be at the request of the colleges. Courses on Explore should be exported and imported (or archived and restored) into 7.2 production by the college Domain administrator.

7. When will we (Bb Admins) be able to create fall sites for faculty?
On the new system, July 1, 2007.

8. What courses are being copied over from Bb 6 (Organizations, SU07) and how long will we have to clean up and archive courses in Bb 6?
All properly ID'ed Fall '06 and later courses will be automatically moved to Blackboard 7. ITS will provide a list of courses that will be migrated for verification. May 10th is the date the migration process will begin. Changes to courses after that date are not guaranteed to be in the new system and Blackboard administrators should be prepared to export and import (or archive and restore) those courses manually into the production server.

9. What courses are being copied over from Bb 6 (Organizations, SU07) and how long will we have to clean up and archive courses in Bb 6?
All organizations will be imported. Licensing for Bb 6 will determine it be turned off the middle of the fall 2007 semester in October. All courses will have been archived at that time if they meet the correct naming convention. Course IDs must start with the college designator.

10. What is going to happen with the content system? Will faculty still have the same 100 mb of space or more? How will content be transferred over? Will faculty have to reestablish links from the content system in courses that are copied over?
In theory faculty should not have to re-link but this has not been tested. Faculty will still have the same allocated space as they currently have. It will be transferred automatically.

11. Will we have guest access in Bb 7.2?
Guest access will be the same as Bb 6.2. Catalog will be performance tested.

12. When will we have access to Bb 7.2? Will that be upgraded now or after the SP07 term? Will we continue to use explore?
The production server will be available to you on July 1, 2007. You will continue to use Explore for training-we can upgrade to Bb7.2 if there are no spring students with incompletes.

13. Will all SU07 & FA07 courses already in Bb 6 be migrated to Bb7? If so, if there is a change in course ID format, how will they be handled?
The course ID format stays the same. All courses will be migrated on May 10th. After that time fall and spring courses will have to be migrated by the Bb admin manually. Summer 2007 courses will be migrated at the end of the summer semester.

14. Will the Portfolio feature be available in Bb. 7.1?
Portfolio feature will not be available in Bb 7.