Moving Blackboard to the Cloud

LATEST UPDATES

08/26/2019 - Blackboard Learn has been functioning on the cloud servers since 9:30 a.m. Friday 08/16/2019.  OLAT has upgraded these two items "Working" status:

• Mediasite - The bug has been discovered and fixed. all Mediasite links should work as intended. 
• My Online Readiness - Now operational, students are enrolled and over 75 have successfully completed it.

ITS is still working on:

• Manage Support User Tool
• Dev Site/ Sandbox - Deletion Tool
• Incompletes Tool
• Google Analytics
• My Tri-C SMART: Not working until we get a database connection.

08/26/2019 - OLAT has worked over the weekend to upgrade several additional items to "Working" status:

• Qwickly – OLAT worked with Bb Amazon Tech Support & Qwickly Engineering to solve the issue. Faculty should now be able to email their Fall Term students from the Qwickly app
• Testout – appears to be working. (OLAT has reached out to faculty and they are helping us test it)
• My Online Readiness Experience (MORE) - Test and working.  A number of students have already completed it
• Respondus – Works for existing installations. A bug was found with the software downloader when installing on a new computer.  OLAT has updated the building block per instructions and is waiting on the Respondus web-tool to be updated

Testing continues on:

• Mediasite – we have been in contact again with Sonic Foundry & Bb Amazon Support all weekend. Network & communication log diagnostics from Bb to Sonic Foundry have been shared.  Senior engineers on both teams have been collaborating to fix the issue
• Course Site Request Tool – Still Testing - ITS is working on this issue

ITS is working on:

• Manage Support User Tool
• Dev Site/ Sandbox - Deletion Tool
• Incompletes Tool
• Google Analytics
• My Tri-C SMART: Not working until we get a database connection.

08/22/2019 - Several items have been tested and upgraded to "Working" status:

Working:

• The Exemption Tool – Working and Tested
• McGraw-Hill -- updated building block again this afternoon 08-22-2019 after confirmation with a faculty colleague that she was having an issue. Tested by OLAT working
• Cogbooks -- New LTI Add – tested – working
• Respondus -- updated the building block per instructions, and Tested – Waiting on the Respondus web-tool internally to be updated
• Barnes and Noble -- (3 Links in Blackboard Course Tools)
  
  • Course Materials
  • Tri-C Bookstore
  • Research and Adopt Course Materials
    • All open to a selection page that appears to reading real time available courses but since OLAT does not teach we need to verify that this function is working for students/faculty.

• Cengage – Appears to be working - link redirects me to Cengage products
• Norton – Tested and working
• My open math – Tested and working
• Knewton – Tested and working
• Panopen – Tested and working
• StudyMate – Tested and working
• Bb Learn - Online Chat – Tested and working
• ProctorU – Tested and working

Testing continues on:

• Mediasite – we have been in contact with Sonic Foundry & Bb all day. They are working on finding “the bug” with Mediasite on broken course links and permissions.
• Course Site Request Tool – Still Testing – A small group of faculty were having issues
• Qwickly -- OLAT is working with Qwickly engineering and their support teams to fix this issue. Bug Found - Waiting on Blackboard to update the correct building block.
• MORE – Tested internally to verify the course copy works with no errors. Waiting on a new upload to the Bb Cloud on all the course sites for all the new incoming students for the fall.
• Testout – Work in progress. (OLAT has reached out to faculty and they are helping us test it)

Next to be worked on:

• Manage Support User Tool
• Dev Site/ Sandbox - Deletion Tool
• Incompletes Tool
• Google Analytics
• My Tri-C SMART: Not working until we get a database connection.

08/21/2019 - The Blackboard Learn Cloud has been up and functioning since 9:30am on Friday 08/16/2019. Faculty who had already requested course sites for fall, along with all existing content prior to the migration, had access to everything at that time. A number of 3^rd party vendors/software/systems that touch Blackboard Learn started to be reconnected at that point as well. Work progressed over the weekend.

Over the last several days a number of software systems have been tested. Here is a list, as of 10:30am today, of is tested & working and what is still being worked on:

Working

• Bb Learn: OLAT members have completed the general testing worksheet. Testing items such as creating new content, announcements, Email, test/quizzes and gradebook functions are all seemingly working fine.
• Banner Update (pulls data from Banner to DLDBS): Working
• Create Courses:  Courses are being created now, but it is slower than normal.  There are still ~170 course sites in queue to be created.
• Nursing, EMS, Fire & Safety Students being loaded into Bb Learn from Banner: Working
• McGraw-Hill: Updated building block
• ALEKS Chemistry – Added new LTI
• ALEKS Math – Added new LTI
• Pearson – My Lab: Tested with the instructor last night and happy with the results.
• Elsevier – Evolve: Tested - no Changes needed so far
• Wiley PLU: Tested - no changes needed so far
• Readspeaker: Updated Building Block – It is recommended to to clear your internet cache before testing or using the functionality.
• Mobile app connection: A server registration setting change to authentication broke the APP.  A work around for students and faculty is listed below. Blackboard is working on a permanent fix.
• Lumen Learning: New LTI Add – CLE verified that existing links worked.
• Smarthinking: Easy test worked great, module and within a course sis pass-through
• Cogbooks: New LTI Add – tested - CLE New request
• Softchalk: Adding link to course with grading- verified grade center worked. Sis pass-through
• Hawkes: Faculty member contacted Shawn that they worked with Hawkes and was able to connect the course, very happy
• ALLY Tool (ADA 504/508 WCAG): Everything is believed to be working. Please let us know of any issues.
• Playposit Version 3.0: Updated to version 3.0 last Thursday afternoon. Appears to be working as planned. (Still checking on Mediasite functionality once Mediasite issues are corrected)

Testing continues on:

• Mediasite: If you clear your internet cache, and then re-sync your Mediasite content, the problems have been minimal. We are in contact with Mediasite corporate engineering and they are lending assistance.  If necessary, review this video demonstrating how to re-syng your Mediasite content:
• Course Site Request Tool: Testing continues – A small group of faculty are having isses
• Testout: Work in progress. (OLAT has reached out to faculty and they are helping us test it)
• Qwickly: All functions tested to work except e-mail. e-mailing from the Qwickly App produces an error. OLAT is working with Qwickly engineering and their support teams to fix this issue.
• Respondus: Updated the building block per instructions but has not tested yet.
• Barnes and Noble -- (3 Links in Blackboard Course Tools)
  
  • Course Materials
  • Tri-C Bookstore
  • Research and Adopt Course Materials
• All open to a selection page that appears to reading real time available courses but since OLAT does not teach we need to verify that this function is working for students/faculty.
• Cengage: Appears to be working - link redirects me to Cengage products but OLAT needs a course code to test further or find instructor that already has one.
• Norton: OLAT needs to complete testing.
• My open math: OLAT needs to complete testing.

Next to be worked on:

• The Exemption Tool
• Manage Support User Tool
• Dev Site/ Sandbox - Deletion Tool
• Incompletes Tool
• Google Analytics
• My Tri-C SMART: Not working until we get a database connection

08/20/2019 - With the move of Blackboard to cloud servers, you will need to "re-set" the Blackboard mobile app on your smartphones and tablets:

a. Open the app

b. Delete "Cuyahoga Community College" from the School field

08/20/2019 - OLAT is currently waiting on Pearson, Cengage, & Hawkes Publisher content to be updated (by the vendor) so it can be added to the new Blackboard Learn environment.

08/20/2019 - OLAT is working with Blackboard Learn Cloud staff on a resolution to reconnect Mediasite to the Blackboard Cloud. Shortly after noon today OLAT was made aware of a technology issue where the links to course content in Mediasite and the search function had stopped working. The problem has been escalated to the highest level by our Blackboard account reps and we are also in touch with the Mediasite engineering staff. Please refrain from using Mediasite for the next few hours as we work on correcting the issue.

08/19/2019 - The Blackboard Course Site Request tool is now working.  ITS is still working on the other related apps.

08/19/2019 - The integration between Blackboard, Banner and TEC has not been completed as of yet. This means that the course site request and other related apps are not functional at this time.  Hopefully it will become functional soon. Please be patient and try again later.

08/16/2019 - The move of Blackboard Learn to the cloud has been completed. OLAT, working in concert with ITS, has made the decision to re-connect Blackboard Learn to the campus earlier than the original Monday morning start time in order to allow faculty the ability to start work on their fall courses and to perform further testing. Faculty should feel safe in working on course content within Blackboard Learn itself. Most of the major 3rd party vendors & systems have been reconnected, however work is still being done in this area. Integration testing and programming are still underway prioritizing Course Site Request (Rollover), course site creation, and enrollment changes. These changes are not expected to be completed before Monday, August 19, 2019.

Not all mobile device functionality has been completely restored. This is being worked on.

Over the weekend, and into Monday, OLAT & ITS will work on reconnecting the additional 3rd party vendors and mobile functionality with a goal of being fully operational by late Monday afternoon.

Please use the support desk ticketing system if you discover something is not working.

08/16/2016 - OLAT team finishing Blackboard functionality. Prepping to test SIS Connection.

08/15/2019 - OLAT team is testing Blackboard functionality.

08/14/2019 - Database transfer is completed. Blackboard is running final checks before hand-off.

08/012/2019 - We had our daily check in with Blackboard today at 1:30pm. Blackboard has stated that they are running about 12-24 hours behind with their side of the migration.

08/012/2019 - The copy of databases and content to AWS has been completed and the log file is complete.

08/012/2019 - The databases have been downloaded successfully. The migration from managed hosted servers to SaaS is in progress.

08/05/2019 - An e-mail detailing the Blackboard transition schedule was sent to the College community.  This schedule covers what to expect starting today through August 19th, 2019.

07/22/2019 - Verifying general settings, modules and resource links will begin this week.

07/08/2019 - We have started testing Bb with mobile devices (tablets and phones).

07/01/2019 - Testing functionality across all web browsers on desktops, i.e. Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox.

06/24/2019 - Basic testing of functionality and navigation has begun and are now involving more testers.

06/17/2019 - We have contacted each of the building block vendors and made them aware of our plans to switch from self-hosted to cloud hosted.

06/10/2019 - Blackboard will be down Thursday June 13th from 3a.m. to 9a.m. for additional security and database upgrades in preparation for the migration to the Cloud in August. This is a two-hour extension of Blackboard's normally scheduled routine maintenance time that occurs early every Thursday morning.

06/03/2019 - Building block and LTi testing with a focus on the items that have changed from self-hosted to Saas.

05/28/2019 - Blackboard Cloud and Tri-C servers are successfully communicating and testing is underway to verify connections.

When will the changeover occur?

The tentative date for the switch is Monday, Aug. 19. This means Blackboard could be inoperable from Sunday, Aug. 11 through Sunday, Aug. 18. More details to come.

Why are we changing?

• Operational Efficiency – Blackboards speed and responsiveness will increase dramatically
• Cloud Technology can be better engineered to support Student & Faculty centric communication
• More flexibility for faculty in their own course management planned for 2020
• Always on the latest version of Blackboard, Latest Security Updates and no more downtime between semesters – (theoretically ever) after Aug 18th 2019
• Mobile technology upgrades, 3rd Party Integration, Building Blocks and LTI’s from 3rd party vendors are updated weekly

What the change means to you

This change will bring only minor modifications to the look and feel of Blackboard. However, there will be major updates to the responsiveness and functionality, and continued improvements to the mobile service. These improvements are to be performed continuously, meaning no planned future outages are expected.

During the time Blackboard is down, work in the system and on any incompletes will not be possible. With grades due on Aug. 6, students will have time to refer to Blackboard for information on their final exams or projects before Blackboard is shut down.

The custom integration programs, which enable course creation, management of course users, and incompletes, will change. Plans are underway for this transition.

What is changing?

Blackboard is currently hosted on Tri-C servers. This has served us well over the past 20 years, but due to an increasing number of courses, it is not practical to continue. In order to improve performance and decrease the cost of server maintenance, OLAT and ITS, working in partnership with Blackboard, will move to Amazon Web Services hosting before the start of the fall 2019 semester. Cloud hosting of Blackboard will enable us to adjust to demand instantly, meaning improved response time in Blackboard and a better end-user experience.

What can you do to prepare?

• Create a new sandbox course for every course you teach. In place of a CRN-based site as the source, use the new course site template and import needed content. This will reduce the size and will improve course performance. This process was outlined on the March 5 Tuesday Tidbit, "Using Sandbox as a Master Site." (Document is on K-Web)
• Eliminate old DEV course sites using the application outlined on the Feb. 19 Tuesday Tidbit, "Deleting Bb DEV Sites." (Document is on K-Web)
• Export old courses by saving the zip files on your H-drive or thumb drive. If you need additional H-drive space, follow the process outlined by ITS.
• Participate in the “Take Flight with Mediasite” training to learn how to place videos on a streaming server. Videos larger than 250 MB will not be permitted on Blackboard. Mediasite videos can be easily captioned.