Moving closer to the end of the semester also means SUNY Oswego is moving closer to Blackboard being officially decommissioned. On Dec. 9, Blackboard logins will no longer be available to all campus members.
Faculty should prepare by doing the following prior to Dec. 9:
- Export any courses in Blackboard they would like to keep that won’t be migrated to Brightspace (written exporting instructions, video exporting instructions).
- Download the grade center of courses for academic retention purposes. The file downloaded can be opened in a spreadsheet application.
- Download individual course evaluation results for surveys conducted in Blackboard.
Note that SUNY Oswego is working with an archiving service for courses currently in Blackboard. As the Digital Learning Environment (DLE) Team has more details, they will share them in future notices.
Continued assistance for faculty
Zoom office hours for faculty continue to be offered through the fall semester. The schedule is posted on the Brightspace Help and Support page. Faculty who need assistance outside these hours or who would like assistance with course design should contact the CTS Help Desk.
The DLE Support Team has created the Brightspace Help at SUNY Oswego document for faculty to easily find instructions on various topics including assessments and the gradebook. Please note that this document continues to be updated as the campus works through the migration.
Winter and spring session course migrations
Fully online courses being taught in winter and spring semesters have been migrated to Brightspace and faculty notified. They can be found in the “Conversions Semester” of the “My Courses” widget. This is a staging area where faculty can make sure migrated content looks and acts as expected. If you are teaching a new fully online class, please contact the CTS Help Desk with the name and section of the course(s) so an empty course shell can be created for you.
Faculty teaching spring semester courses in other modalities can choose from the following:
- Use the Spring 2023 Course Migration Request form to request your Blackboard course(s) be migrated to Brightspace.
- Migrate courses yourself prior to Dec. 9 when Blackboard will be decommissioned. Faculty can do this by exporting the content from Blackboard (written exporting instructions, video exporting instructions) and importing it into Brightspace (written importing instructions, video importing instructions). Note that student data does not import. There is also a 1GB limit on exporting content from Blackboard. If a course export is larger than this, faculty can either downsize the course or use the course migration request form above to have your course migrated automatically.
- Opt to start fresh in Brightspace and begin any time.
As faculty prepare for course migrations, please review these documents:
- Prepping a Brightspace Course will guide you through the areas of your course that might need updating after being migrated from Blackboard.
- Brightspace Help at SUNY Oswego will assist you in using many Brightspace features such as assessments and the gradebook.
Questions?
Questions not covered on the SUNY Oswego DLE website can be directed to the SUNY Oswego Help Desk for the DLE team to answer.
-- Submitted by the Digital Learning Environment (DLE) Team