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Blackboard Upgrade Scheduled August 10 – 12

On August 4, 2010

Please note that Blackboard will be unavailable August 10-12 as Information Services will perform upgrades to the system. Instructors can request and organize fall term classes now – more than 300 fall courses have already been requested.

When the system is available again on August 13, it will have a different look. Most notably, course instructors will no longer have to go to the control panel to manage their classes: all course management options will be found in the menus on the left side of every page.

The new version also comes with added features, including course blogs and wikis. Enhancements have also been made to discussion boards and the grade center. Did you know that 45% of Blackboard courses at Richmond use the grade center?

Faculty and course support personnel are welcome to attend a Blackboard workshop by registering at http://cygnet.richmond.edu/events/fall2010workshops/ . Also, faculty may wish to visit the Blackboard support page at http://is.richmond.edu/academic/blackboard.html to view the short video tutorials and other materials. Lastly, faculty can send an email to blackboard@richmond.edu, or call the UR Blackboard support number at 804-287-6860.

Planned Outage Friday, August 6

By Fred

On August 3, 2010

In Information

On Friday August 6, 2010, all servers in the UR data center will be shut down starting at noon. This includes Banner, Blackboard, e-mail, R25 calendar, and all remaining services. All services will be operational by 6:00 AM on Saturday August 7.

If you need status information, you may call 287-1234 for the latest update on the data center maintenance exercise.

Blackboard Backpack disabled 7/19

By Jon

On July 2, 2010

In Warnings

Blackboard Backpack, the application that allows you to download and view your Blackboard course content offline, will no longer be available after the upgrade to Blackboard 9. A representative from Agilix, it’s creator, said that it’s not compatible with BB9 and there will be no future releases.

Backpack will be disabled on July 19. If you have never used Backpack, you will not be affected.

Blackboard Mobile Learn is live at the University of Richmond!

By Jon

On July 1, 2010

In Information

If you’re using a Sprint-powered Blackberry or Android phone or an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch over WiFi, you’re able to take advantage of Blackboard Mobile Learn, an app that gives you access to your Blackboard courses anywhere.

You can download this app from the iPod App Store or the Sprint Android Market. After you install it, type in “University of Richmond” to select your school, and log in with your netID and password. Once you’re in, you’ll see all courses you’re currently enrolled in on your screen.

For more information on the features of Mobile Learn, check out Blackboard’s Mobile Learn demo page, which shows a video demo for each platform.

Students (and their grades) disappear from Spring ’10 Blackboard courses July 6!

By Jon

On June 18, 2010

In Information, Warnings

On July 6, your students will be disappearing from last semester’s Blackboard courses. These courses have IDs that begin with 2009_20. So if you haven’t gotten around to archiving your courses and you want to keep a record of your students’ grades and discussion board interactions, now is the time to archive or download your Grade Center as an Excel file.

Other than student interactions and grades, all materials will remain in your course until you request its removal. This will happen 60 days past the last date of each semester across the UR Schools.

To download your grades, in Grade Center go to Manage > Download and save the full Grade Center. On the next screen, be sure to hit Download instead of OK.

See “Winterizing Your Blackboard Course” for more information on how to archive, the difference between archiving and exporting, and more.