1. Blackboard to be Upgraded January 4-14, 2013
2. WT2013 and SP2013 Bb Course Shells Created on 12/1
3. Bb Courses 4-6 Years Old to be Archived During WT13 Upgrade
4. DoIT to Change Bb Check My Activity, Add New Faculty Reports
   
5. SP2013 Bb Drop-in Sessions - F2F and Virtual Options
6. Hybrid Course Redesign Workshop, January 18, 2013

• Bb Production (three years including current semester): All courses created since and including SP2010;
• Bb Archive (four to six years): All courses created between and including WT2010 and FA2006. Available upon request by RT ticket;
  
• Deleted annually (seven years or older): All courses older than FA2006 (last done on 8/24/12).
  

Bb course shells for both SP2013 and WT2013 were created on December, 1, 2012.  The course shells for SP2013 are located on the Bb production server at http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  As previously announced WT2013 courses will be run on a separate server at http://bb-winter.umbc.edu.  The Bb production server will be taken offline from January 4 - 14, 2013 while it is being upgraded.  All courses and organizations on the Bb production server will be unavailable during that time.  If you require any past Bb content for your WT2013 courses please make sure to export it prior to midnight January 3, 2013.

Enrollments for both SP2013 and WT2013 courses will continue to be updated daily. Bb shells are available for all courses (designated as lecture, lab, field or discussion) listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), provided that there is an instructor of record listed. The addition of new course sections and instructors will result in new Bb shells being automatically generated each morning. Student enrollment in Bb will continue to mirror the official registration in SA, and will update hourly.

If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your departmental scheduling coordinator to get that issue resolved. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically.

Additionally in situations where one instructor is teaching multiple sections of the same course, by default all sections will be combined into one Bb course shell. If you want to have separate shells for different sections, or if you need a shell for for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request or submit an RT ticket with your request.

DoIT is offering Blackboard Drop-in Sessions to assist and help faculty prepare for spring courses.

Virtual Sessions:

DoIT will continue offering virtual drop-in sessions using Bb Collaborate, a web-conferencing tool. Any faculty members with Bb questions may participate in these online sessions. Dates and times are listed below. For more information on accessing these online sessions please visit http://umbc.edu/go/bbdropin

Face to Face Sessions:

The following F2F sessions will be held in ENGR 025.  A DoIT staff member will be available to work one-on-one with users who show up during the designated times.  Please note that this is not a formal Blackboard training class.  Users may show up or leave at any point during these sessions. Additional dates and times may be added as demand warrants.