{"id":5448,"date":"2020-05-01T14:29:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T14:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=5448"},"modified":"2020-05-01T14:29:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T14:29:15","slug":"moving-to-blackboard-saas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/2020\/05\/01\/moving-to-blackboard-saas\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving to Blackboard SaaS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We are pleased to announce that t<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">his summer we will be moving our Blackboard system to a new hosting platform: Blackboard SaaS.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">SaaS stands for \u2018Software as a Service\u2019, and the switch means that our Blackboard system will be hosted in the Cloud. Many other UK universities have moved to SaaS over the last few years, and it is now a tried and trusted platform.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Advantages of Blackboard SaaS\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Monthly Blackboard updates \u2013 bug fixes and enhancements are delivered quickly (currently we only upgrade once or twice a year so might have to wait months to implement improvements).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Some new Blackboard features<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0\u2013 for instance\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">a bank of\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">reusable comments for Blackboard assignments<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">are<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">only available to institutions using the SaaS version.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">No more downtime for upgrades.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Greater system reliability.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">A first step towards adopting Blackboard\u2019s new interface,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.blackboard.com\/Learn\/Instructor\/Getting_Started\/What_Is_Ultra\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Blackboard Ultra<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0\u2013 a more intuitive, responsive, user-friendly product which we would hope to move to within the next 2 years.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Moving to SaaS<\/span><\/b><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0&#8211; timescale<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The migration to SaaS will take place over the first weekend of August, and Blackboard will be unavailable while this takes place.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We will be able to provide more details about exactly how long the VLE will be\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">unavailable<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0in a few weeks\u2019 time, once Blackboard have carried out a test migration of our system.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">But you can expect the system to be taken offline the evening of Friday 31<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">st<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0July, and to be unavailable for the whole of 1<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">st<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0and 2<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">nd<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0August. We should then have completed the migration, and all post-migration checks, at some point on Monday 3<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">rd<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0August.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What will the move mean for me?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Obviously speedier access to enhancements, and a more reliable system, will benefit everyone. But in many ways, you won\u2019t notice any difference: your courses will look exactly the same after the migration.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">We\u2019re not sure yet whether we will move to\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.blackboard.com\/Learn\/Administrator\/SaaS\/User_Interface_Options\/Ultra_Experience\/Base_Navigation\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u2018Ultra Base Navigation\u2019<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0this coming summer. That provides a better navigation around the system as a\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">whole, and<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0would replace the existing \u2018My Blackboard\u2019 and School-based tabs. We\u2019ll be exploring that in more detail once we have access to a test system. But again, even if we do switch to the new navigation style, your courses will remain completely unchanged.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Look out for further updates here, and via the bb-users staff email list, over the coming months.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are pleased to announce that this summer we will be moving our Blackboard system to a new hosting platform: Blackboard SaaS.\u00a0 SaaS stands for \u2018Software as a Service\u2019, and the switch means that our Blackboard system will be hosted in the Cloud. Many other UK universities have moved to SaaS over the last few [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Moving to Blackboard SaaS - Technology Enhanced Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/2020\/05\/01\/moving-to-blackboard-saas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moving to Blackboard SaaS - Technology Enhanced Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are pleased to announce that this summer we will be moving our Blackboard system to a new hosting platform: Blackboard SaaS.\u00a0 SaaS stands for \u2018Software as a Service\u2019, and the switch means that our Blackboard system will be hosted in the Cloud. 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