Skip to navigation | Skip to main content | Skip to footer
Menu
Search the University of Manchester siteSearch Menu StaffNet

Blackboard 9 unavailable Thursday 26 March to Sunday 29 March 2015

20 Mar 2015

Annual Easter upgrade to improve functionality and add new features

Blackboard 9

Blackboard 9 will be unavailable Thursday 26 March to Sunday 29 March 2015 while it has its annual Easter upgrade to improve functionality and add new features.

Who is affected?

All staff and students.

What is happening?

As previously communicated through StaffNet and eUpdate throughout the last academic year, the Blackboard 9 annual Easter upgrade will be taking place to improve current functionality and add new features to our Blackboard system. Enhancements include:

  • A new 'Student Preview' mode to experience your course exactly as your students do (this was one of the top 3 enhancement requests from the University of Manchester)
  • Significant new features added to the Blackboard Assignment tool to support multiple markers and double-marking of submitted work; anonymous grading; and the introduction of the SafeAssign plagiarism checking service.
  • Improvements to the overall reliability and usability of the system.

In order for this work to be undertaken Blackboard (including Turnitin and Grademark) will be unavailable to staff and students for approximately three days from Thursday 26 March (16:00 GMT) until Monday 30 March (00:01BST).

More information will be provided about these new features and articles will be available on the Knowledge Base, after the downtime.

Why is it happening now?

The reliability and usability of our VLE is a high priority for the University. It is difficult to identify a time for significant upgrades, with the consequent downtime, that is convenient for the whole institution. The Easter vacation period is one of the dedicated maintenance windows identified for work on the University's eLearning applications. Your co-operation and efforts to accommodate this work are appreciated.

What does this mean for you?

You will not have access to Blackboard (including Turnitin and Grademark) from Thursday 26 March (4pm GMT) until Sunday 29 March (midnight BST).  Blackboard will be available for teaching on Monday 30 March 2015.

What do staff need to do?

Please remind your students of the downtime and ensure that any online activities you are asking students to do take into account this downtime.  Please adjust any deadlines as appropriate.

We have given students the following advice:  Plan your work to take into account the downtime and ensure you download any materials you will need during the period Blackboard is unavailable.

Follow-up

We will let you know about the status of the upgrade, and any new support documents developed to help you get the most out of the new features, via eUpdate and StaffNet.

Updates to existing documentation and documentation about new features, which you might wish to incorporate in your teaching for next year, will be available as soon as possible.

Contact for further information