More Blackboard 7 News

Announcing some good news . . .

With the arrival of Blackboard version 7, all faculty and staff now automatically have Blackboard user accounts and all faculty have Blackboard shells for every course for the SP 08 semester. These Blackboard shells are generated as “unavailable” so no student can see any of those shells unless a faculty member develops them and makes them available. However, if faculty want to use them for support for a classroom course, for a hybrid course, or for a distance course, they can simply begin to develop the shell without having to request it.

Below are some reminders for those currently using Blackboard:

1. Beginning December 20 when students and faculty click My Nova, they will access Bb 7 and NOT Bb 6. If students have an incomplete and need to continue working on their FA 07 course or if they are enrolled in an ELI course that continues beyond December 20, students will either see their course in Bb 7 or be told to go to http://bb6.vccs.edu/ to find their course.
2. January 10 all students will be batch enrolled into SP 08 Blackboard courses. They will not have access to SP 08 Bb courses until that time and only if the faculty has made the course available.
3. All faculty and staff can be working on their SP 08 Blackboard courses in Bb 7 right now. Until December 20, use the following URL to access your SP 08 Blackboard course shell – http://bb7.vccs.edu/ Use the same username and password that you currently use with your Bb 6 courses.
4. To move content into your current SP 08 Blackboard course shell from previous semesters use the Export/Import feature. Follow the directions posted at http://www.nvcc.edu/home/nvsimpc/bb/exportimport.mht or view the video demo at http://tac.nvcc.edu/robert/blackboard6_7/blackboard7.html . ALL faculty must now do their own export/import because of the new VCCS method of creating Bb course shells.
5. Blackboard organizations will be migrated to Blackboard 7 beginning December 20 and for the following several weeks. The migration will be completed for all VCCS colleges during this time. Once your organization has been moved, you will find it by clicking on My Nova.