FacultyOnline

Downtime for Blackboard Upgrade:
Midnight, August 10 - Noon, August 15, 2008

Timeline

• August 10 - 15 – Upgrade, Blackboard Unavailable
• August 15 – Blackboard Content System becomes available – to gain early access visit www.towson.edu/facultyonline/contentsystem.asp
• August 15 – Blackboard Sync becomes available

Please make sure to visit this site often and keep an eye on the Daily Digest for additional updates.

Blackboard Version 8
Version 8 offers faculty a new Grading Center which allows faculty to create smart views for multiple sections and grading periods, and also progress reports. To learn more about the Grading Center go to http://www.blackboard.com/release8/video_2.html . Version 8 will also bring back some old favorites, such as marking duscussion board posts read and unread.
Additionally, please sign up for one of our "Blackboard: What's New in Version 8" workshops at the following location: http://fusion.towson.edu/www/ciat/workshops/index.cfm

Blackboard Content System
The Blackboard Content Management System will allow faculty to centralize their course materials for easy updating and deployment to students and other faculty. For further information, go to www.towson.edu/facultyonline/contentsystem.asp .

Blackboard Sync
Blackbaord Sync will allow students to receive alerts from their Blackboard courses within Facebook. For further information, go to www.towson.edu/facultyonline/sync.asp .

What you should do before August 10, 2008

The Blackboard database will be backed-up before the upgrade but as a precautionary measure you will want to complete the following steps:

If you are currently teaching a summer course:

• Create an Archive of your course site when it has ended.
• Create an Export of your course site
• Download your Gradebook if you use this feature

If you have a course site with content on the system:

• Create an Export of your course site
  

After the upgrade is complete:

What to do if you Identify a Problem:
If you identify problems with your course site or account after you log in to the new Blackboard environment after Noon Friday, Aug. 15, please send specific and detailed information regarding the problem to the following e-mail address: blackboard@towson.edu.

Requests must originate from a Towson University e-mail account ( not a Comcast, AOL or other e-mail account). Responses to e-mail support requests will only be sent to Towson University e-mail accounts. Your support requests should minimally contain the following information:

1. Your full name (i.e., Nick Charles )
2. Your TowsonU account name (i.e., NCHARLES )
3. The specific course site in question (i.e., MKGT341C )
4. As much detail as you can provide about the problem

Several OTS employees will be dedicated to problem resolution for the first few days after the transition to facilitate rapid resolution. These requests will be handled by the OTS staff in the order in which they are received.

Thank you again for your assistance and patience as we make these changes to the Blackboard system.

Blackboard Downtime Blackboard will be down for maintenance on Sunday, July 20 from 6:00am until noon. For more information see the Daily Digest article.