Blackboard Upgrade
Blackboard Upgrade

Moving from version 6.2 through 6.3, 7.1 to 7.2
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Major upgrade requiring migration of all content on
same infrastructure

Blackboard will be unavailable
from 27 December to 31 December.

When it comes up on 1 January 2008, it will be:
 plain vanilla Blackboard 7.2
 all content should be unchanged
 new functionality should be available
 have less bugs.
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Major New Blackboard Functionality
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Adaptive release of material
Performance dashboard
Early Warning systems
Messaging system
Improvement to existing functions
 New discussion forum
 Gradable, searchable, rateable
 Online Assessment
 10 new question types, complete test result
download, randomised answers
 Grade book
 Null option
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Adaptive Release of Material

Allows instructors to set up criteria or rules to allow
access to course content by students.

Instructors can display content to certain users for
limited period of time, or only after users meet
predetermined requirements.
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Performance Dashboard

Allows instructors to see information for enrolled
students as a whole and then drill down to see detailed
information per user

Displays last time users logged in, their course role,
content availability by user based on Adaptive Release
criteria, Review Status for content items, a direct link to
Gradebook.
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Early Warning System

Identify students who are outside specific performance
criteria.

Based on graded performance, late or missing course
work, or attendance within the online course.
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Messages

Email system internal to a course.

A function similar to email, but within a course. It cannot
be sent outside the course.
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Discussion Forums

Search across forums

Students can rate forums

Staff can grade forums (linked to grade book)
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Online assessment
Assessments test student knowledge and progress.
 Tests can have point values assigned to each question.
The results are recorded
in the Grade book.
All test question types &
responses can
be downloaded.
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Deployment of
new Learning Hub at
RMIT University
Current Learning Hub
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Learning Hub
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New Learning Hub
The aims of the new Learning Hub and its administration
systems are to:

devolve and streamline some administration

better align the Learning Hub with PeopleSoft and the
way RMIT programs are delivered (programs, courses,
course offerings, classes)

implement the creation of new versions of courses for
each study period across all tools

provide better management information

provide a basis for on-going development, including
integration with the new RMIT Student Portal.
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New Learning Hub
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What does it mean for
student and teaching staff?

Students
- A new simpler interface that will give access to
Learning Hub offerings from the last study
period as well as their current Learning Hub
offerings.

Teaching Staff
- A new interface with access to previous one
year of offerings and more accurate class lists.
- The ability to set up Learning Hub offerings
on the basis of programs, course offerings
and PeopleSoft classes.
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What does it mean for administrators?

Course Coordinators
will be able to assign course offering coordinators and
register staff and students into Learning Hub offerings.

School Administrators
will be able to assign course coordinators, initiate a
range of reporting, configure Learning Hub offerings,
and assign tools to courses, for their school.

Portfolio Administrators
will be able to do all of the tasks of the School
Administrator for any course in their portfolio.
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Change over to the
New Learning Hub
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The new Learning Hub will be deployed over the period:
from 7am Tuesday 22 January 2008
to 9am Friday 25 January 2008.

The Learning Hub will be shutdown and there be no access to
the Learning Hub or its tools (Blackboard, WebBoard,
WebLearn & eJournal) during this period.

If you are running courses that use the Learning Hub over this
period, contact your portfolio eLearning Support or the ITS
helpdesk (see last slide) to make alternative arrangements.
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Migrating tool content to the
New Learning Hub
When access resumes on 25 January 2008, all existing courses
should be present on the Learning Hub with their current tools.
The content of tool shells will be different.

Blackboard all static content (staff, lecture and assignment
information) will be copied to a new shell, but none of the
previous students or any of the information associated with
them (their dropped-off assignments, grade book entries,
discussion board threads) will be copied.

WebLearn no content will be copied and new WebLearns shells
will be empty as they are currently.

WebBoard none of the students or any of their discussion
thread contributions will be copied to the new WebBoard shell.

eJournal new eJournal shells will be empty of all content.
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Preparing for deployment of the
New Learning Hub
Much of your new student-based content will not be
readily available.
Can you please finalise your access to your Blackboard
(or other tool shells) by 7am on Tuesday, 22 January.
If you cannot do this, you should download or export tool
content. To do this consult with your e-learning support
staff, access the Learning Hub support web-site, or
contact the ITS Help Desk
No material will be lost during the changeover. All old tool
shells will be archived, however, they will not be readily
accessible by staff, and will require ITS to restore the
material. (This may take time and will require a request to
the ITS help desk.)
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After the deployment of the
New Learning Hub
Staff are asked to check, as soon as they can after 9am
on Friday 25 January 2008, that their Learning Hub
entries are correct, that they have the correct tools and
that their tool content is copied as specified.
Staff can begin to access their content for the next study
period (semester 1, for most staff), and the students will
be automatically populated into these tools 2 weeks
before the start of the study period, as they are now.
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After the deployment of the
New Learning Hub
After the end of the next study period (semester 1 for
most) and all subsequent study periods a process similar
to the changeover described above will be carried out
with the following differences:
• There will be no shutdown period, the process will be
carried out overnight without impinging on Learning
Hub availability.
• The tool shells from the previous semester will be
available to staff and students.
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Roadmap for Blackboard in 2008
•
New Blackboard can accommodate building blocks
more readily, including Campus LX Pack (teams,
journals, blogging & wikis) from 4 February 2008.
•
Include staff roles in PeopleSoft and align with
Blackboard.
•
Automate Gradbook-PeopleSoft uploads
•
Integrate TurnItIn during Semester 1 - 2008.
•
Retire Enacted in favour of adaptive release and
WebLearn from 25 January 2008, eJournal in favour of
Campus LX Pack from 1 July 2008 & WebBoard in
favour of Blackboard Discussion Forums from 1
December 2009
•
Review further Blackboard upgrades (7.3. & 8)
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Assistance

For more information about the new Learning Hub and about
the effect of migration refer to the Learning Hub web site.
www.rmit.edu.au/ONLINE

For assistance in dealing with any aspect of this change, please
contact your portfolio e-learning coordinator or
contact the IT Helpdesk www.rmit.edu.au/its/ithelp
 Portfolio e-learning coordinators
 Business - Lyn Atkinson
email lyn.atkinson@rmit.edu.au or phone 9925 5402
 Design and Social Context - Thembi Mason
email thembi.mason@rmit.edu.au or phone 9925 1952
 Science, Engineering & Technology - Warren Nageswaran
email warren.nageswaran@rmit.edu.au or phone 9925 3057
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Questions & Comments
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