[BB] Spring course sites

1. The spring course sites are created and currently available from the "All Courses" tab. Registrations should be current, with a nightly update.

 

2. I expect to add the spring course sites to the "My Current Courses" module on Thursday, December 15.  If someone needs it done before then, please contact me.  It is an all-or-none setting, but it doesn't really matter to me when they appear.

 

3. If you want us to merge your sites so that multiple course sections or multiple listings use a single course site on Blackboard, please fill out the on-line form and we will set things up to accomplish it.  You can find the form from Blackboard > "Support" tab > "Online Forms" link > "Course Merge" form.  It takes overnight during a weeknight to process a merge request.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Security change coming on Friday morning

The security on the Blackboard system will be changed on Friday morning at 3:00 AM.  All requests to Blackboard will be encrypted.  This is done by using https instead of http.  This is also known as SSL.  If you are on-line at that time, you will probably be required to login again.  There should be no noticeable down time.

 

This change is not supposed to cause any trouble.  I am letting you know so that you can notify me if you see anything that needs our attention after the switch. 

 

Friday morning 3-5 AM is our standard window for doing any work on the system.  This is one of the few times that we are using it. 

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Spring enrollments should be current

The student enrollments in the spring 2006 (062) course sites on Blackboard should be current.  We ran the snapshot update at 3:00 PM today.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Spring course sites created

The spring course sites have been created.  The sites are currently available through the "All Courses" tab.

 

The student enrollment reflects the status as of Tuesday, November 15.  I am working on obtaining the data to bring the enrollments up to date.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Spring course site load

I am trying to run the spring course load on Blackboard again tonight.  I will let you know the status tomorrow morning.  When created the courses will contain, at best, the enrollment as of a week ago.  I will bring things up to date as quickly as possible.  To those of you who need access to this information I sincerely apologize for the delays.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Spring (062) course sites - Still not ready

Blackboard users,

 

Early last week we tried to create the Spring 2006 (062) course sites on Blackboard.  We ran into a problem.  We create our sites from a template so new sites will have the settings that we want.  Instead of using the menu settings from the template, the system used something called the "Default Course Settings"  so the menus on the new sites were messed up.  For example, the Tools menu was enabled in all the new sites, and ALL the tools were enabled.  We didn't want that.

 

We sent the support people at Blackboard the list of all the courses that had been created.  They said that they would remove them all within a couple of hours.  Then we could recreate them, after making the Default Course Settings work as best we could.  Unfortunately the process of removing the old courses is failing.  Out of 7,000+ sites, it can't remove the last 700 or so.  The support people have been working on the issue.  As soon as it is resolved we will get things going so sites will be available for you.

 

I am aware that some special courses are starting in the near future and that some of you need to access the system to send notices to students and such.  I will keep you informed of the process. I apologize for the delay.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Please don't use the 062 sites yet

The 062 (spring 2006) sites were created last night, but there appear to be problems.  Please do not work on these sites yet as we may need to remove them and recreate them again.  I will work on it and give you an update later today.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Spring courses

We are scheduled to roll-in the spring courses starting this evening.  It usually takes more than 24 hours to generate all the sections for one semester.  I will send out a notification when the process is completed.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Virtual Classroom and Chat are working again

As of 6:10 PM last night the virtual classroom and chat functionality of the Blackboard system were restored.  The "collaboration server" had to be restarted.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Collaboration server problem

It appears that there is a problem with the collaboration server on the Blackboard system.  I am not able to open a Chat or Virtual Classroom connection. I have opened a ticket with Blackboard, Inc.  I will let you know when I hear something.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)