®

Summer  2014  

Upgrade  Informa4on  

The  New  Release  Model  

•  Blackboard  Learn  is  moving  to  a  twice-­‐yearly  release  model  including  maintenance  fixes,  enhancements  and/or  new  features.  

–  We  may  also  release  standalone  Building  Blocks  at  4mes  to  address  system  needs  but  all  new  features  would  be  included  in  the  two  releases.    

   In  order  to…  

Deliver  Higher  Quality   Provide  more  4me  for  PD  &  QA.  

Provide  BeOer  Support   By  reducing  the  complexity  and  overhead  associated  with  many  versions.  

Respond  to  Your  Feedback  &  Understand  Your  Process  

Many  of  you  have  asked  for  a  slower  schedule  since  they  usually  only  have  one  upgrade  window  a  year.    

   So  what’s  the  new  model?  

 

Release   Type   Client  &  Partner  Beta  Program   Planned  Generally  Available  Release  

1H  2014   Maintenance  &  Features   March  2014   April  2014*  

2H  2014   Maintenance  &  Features   September  2014   October  2014*  

•  The  following  is  the  planned  release  schedule  for  Blackboard  Learn  in  2014:  –  The  two  releases  will  consist  of  maintenance  fixes,  enhancements  and/or  new  

features  

   Addressing  Maintenance  

 •  Combina4on  of  maintenance  releases  and  Cumula4ve  Patches.  •  We  will  ac4vely  maintain  the  current  and  two  prior  releases  as  part  of  our  Full  

Support  defini4on.  •  In  the  new  release  schedule,  we  will  be  suppor4ng  a  version  longer  than  in  the  

previous  release  schedule  

Release/GA   Support  

April  2015  Release  

October  2014  Release  

April  2014  Release  

SP14-­‐  GA  October  2013   No  longer  supported  a]er  18  months  

SP13-­‐  GA  June  2013  

SP12-­‐  GA  April  2013  

SP11-­‐  GA  December  2012   No  longer  supported  a]er  9  months  

Support  Classifica4ons  (SP12  to  April  14  Release)  

Client  Support  Services  Guide  

•  Best  source  of  informa4on  when  upgrading  

•  Can  be  found  from  hOp://help.blackboard.com  or  from  BtBb    Or    •  Take  note  of  the  following  URL:  

hKp://Mnyurl.com/nqzdeco    

   

Patch  Iden4fiers  

Upgrade  Support  Bb  

The  following  is  a  recommenda4on  from  Blackboard  Support  for  moving  through  an  upgrade  process:    1.  Fill  out  the  following  upgrade  document  prior  to  pucng  in  a  

support  request:  hKp://Mnyurl.com/ol9ly6g  (this  can  also  be  found  via  BtBb)  

 

2.  Log  a  case  with  Blackboard  (BtBb)  on  the  morning  of  the  upgrade.  If  this  is  scheduled  over  a  weekend,  then  push  this  through  on  the  Friday  Blackboard  will  escalate  this  to  4er  2  and  inform  the  US  and  Sydney  team  for  monitoring  purposes  should  this  be  required  

IMPORTANT  UPGRADE  INFORMATION  APRIL  14  RELEASE  

If  you  are  planning  on  moving  to  the  latest  release  version  of  Blackboard  Learn  (April  14),  then  by  far  the  biggest  change  is  the  removal  of  a  web  server  front  end.    This  is  the  largest  change  from  a  server  architecture  stand  point,  and  it  must  be  fully  understood  before  upgrading.    Its  important  to  read  the  following:    

hOp://help.blackboard.com/en-­‐us/Learn/9.1_2014_04/Administrator/040_Install_and_Upgrade/030_Upgrade_Learn    

hOps://jusherdemo.blackboard.com/webapps/cmsmain/webui/_xy-­‐4904_1-­‐t_28clNNj6      

Blackboard  Upgrade  Planning  Document  2014  

The  following  link  below  will  give  you  access  to  a  Blackboard  Upgrade  planning  document  that  you  will  find  useful  when  you  are  looking  to  upgrade  your  produc4on  environments  this  forthcoming  summer.  

®

Learn™  Product  Roadmap  SCOTBUG  Roadmap  20th  June  2014  

Forward-­‐Looking  Statements  

Statements  regarding  our  product  development  ini4a4ves,  

including  new  products  and  future  product  upgrades,  updates  or  

enhancements  represent  our  current  inten4ons,  but  may  be  

modified,  delayed  or  abandoned  without  prior  no4ce  and  there  

is  no  assurance  that  such  offering,  upgrades,  updates  or  

func4onality  will  become  available  unless  and  un4l  they  have  

been  made  generally  available  to  our  customers.  

 

Quality  

Simplify  

InternaMonal  

Learner-­‐centred  EducaMon  

2014  –  2015  Thema4c  Priori4es  

Mobile  

   Addressing  Maintenance  

 •  Combina4on  of  maintenance  releases  and  Cumula4ve  Patches.  •  We  will  ac4vely  maintain  the  current  and  two  prior  releases  as  part  of  our  Full  

Support  defini4on.  •  In  the  new  release  schedule,  we  will  be  suppor4ng  a  version  longer  than  in  the  

previous  release  schedule  

Release/GA   Support  

April  2015  Release  

October  2014  Release  

April  2014  Release  

SP14-­‐  GA  October  2013   No  longer  supported  a]er  18  months  

SP13-­‐  GA  June  2013  

SP12-­‐  GA  April  2013  

SP11-­‐  GA  December  2012   No  longer  supported  a]er  9  months  

Simplify  

iFrame  Removal  

16  Accessibility

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

STUDENT  PREVIEW  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

STUDENT  PREVIEW  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

IMPROVEMENTS  TO  ASSIGNMENT  GRADING  WORKFLOWS  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

IMPROVED  SAFEASSIGN  INTEGRATION  Available  Now.  

IMPROVED  SAFEASSIGN  INTERFACE  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

ANONYMOUS  GRADING  Available  Now.  

ANONYMOUS  GRADING  Available  Now.  

ANONYMOUS  GRADING  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

MULTIPLE  GRADING  &  MODERATION  Available  Now.  

MULTIPLE  GRADING  &  MODERATION  Available  Now.  

Rubrics  and  Delegated  Grading  •  When  crea4ng  an  assignment,  the  user  has  the  same  op4ons  for  

selec4ng/enabling  rubrics  as  they  had  prior  to  the  April  release.  If  they  want  students  to  be  able  to  view  the  rubrics,  they  will  need  to  enable  that  secng  here  when  they  select  or  create  the  rubric.  

•  Graders  interact  with  rubrics  in  the  same  way  they  have  previously,  so  a  delegated  grader  would  s4ll  access  and  submit  an  individual  rubric  via  Inline  Grading.    

•  Once  delegated  graders  have  completed  their  grading  and  the  reconciler  is  reviewing  and  submicng  'official'  grades,  she  has  the  op4on  to  include  feedback/rubrics  submiOed  by  delegated  graders  along  with  the  official  grade  (enabled  by  default).  If  le]  enabled,  the  student  will  be  able  to  see  his  grade  for  the  assignment,  along  with  individual  feedback  and  rubrics  submiOed  by  any  delegated  graders.  

Shared  Rubric  •  The  func4onality  to  share  a  rubric  across  an  instance  of  Learn  will  be  made  

possible  in  three  ways  

•  Publish  to  EnMre  System  –  this  makes  the  rubric  available  to  all  users  who  would  access  and  aOach  a  rubric  to  a  gradable  object  

•  Publish  to  Selected  Places  –  this  makes  the  rubric  available  to  selected  course  sec4ons  (or  organiza4ons  if  the  client  licenses  Community)  within  the  instance  of  Learn  (i.e.  the  rubrics  manager  wants  to  publish  the  rubric  to  5  specific  course  sec4ons  or  organiza4ons)  

•  Publish  to  Academic  Unit  –  this  makes  the  rubric  available  course  sec4ons/organiza4ons  aligned  to  the  selected  node(s)  on  the  ins4tu4onal  hierarchy  

 Op4on  3  helps  alleviate  the  issue  of  selec4ng  mul4ple  sec4ons  within  an  instance  of  Learn—for  example,  if  a  rubric  needs  published  to  100  sec4ons  of  English  Composi4on,  you  could  select  the  English  Comp.  node  rather  than  the  individual  course  sec4ons.  

•  Community  is  not  required,  but  it  will  be  very  helpful  in  the  management  of  rubrics  across  Learn.  

LIS  2.0  SPECIFICATION  CONFORMANCE    Available  Now.  

Learner-­‐centred  Educa4on  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

MY  BLACKBOARD:  PORTFOLIOS  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

ARTIFACTS  FROM  COURSES  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

PORTFOLIO  AUTHORING  IMPROVEMENTS  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

IMPROVED  PORTFOLIO  DESIGN  Available  Now.  

PREVIEW  &  CUSTOMIZE  Available  Now.  

Conceptual mock-up subject to change without notice

PORTFOLIO  ASSIGNMENTS  Available  Now.  

 

Get  Involved  

Blackboard  Idea  Exchange  

Blackboardlearn.com/BIE