05/25/2021
By Donna Mellen

Thank you for your patience: On-campus Blackboard is scheduled to complete the migration to a SaaS (software as a service) environment on May 25, 2021 by 2 p.m. (EST). Please note, GPS Blackboard is not affected.

What does this mean for you? This change will improve the user experience; provide improved uptime and fix errors/bugs that existed in our current version. The interface will look the same with a slight improvement to the content editor for faculty.

If you receive an error when logging into On-campus Blackboard you may need to clear your browser cache. The On-campus Blackboard Team will also continue to work with integrations that may not operate properly when Blackboard reopens on May 25. Please contact bbhelp@uml.edu, if you need assistance with an integration.

Fall 2021 On-campus Blackboard Course Development

  • Fall 2021 On-campus Blackboard course shells will be automatically created for Undergraduate courses (e.g., on campus, hybrid, virtual except for fully online). The following undergraduate course types will not have a Blackboard shell automatically created: competency, dissertation, independent study, internship, thesis. Faculty can request an On-campus Blackboard course shell for the course types listed above by emailing bbhelp@uml.edu and providing your fall 2021 course details.
  • On-campus Blackboard course development will open by Thursday, May 27, 2021.
  • On-campus Blackboard shells will be empty, faculty will need to add a blank template (to start from scratch) or copy content from a previous semester using the On-Campus Blackboard Course Management website. This functionality will be available by May 27.
  • Incomplete courses for Fall 20 and Spring 21 will reopen for students on May 25 at 2 p.m.
  • Faculty do not need to provide incomplete details to On-campus Blackboard if they have entered this information in SIS, we have automated this process.

Summer courses will be hosted on GPS Blackboard.

Please note:
Beginning Fall 2021, GPS will host all modalities of graduate courses (e.g., fully online, virtual, on campus, hybrid) that utilize a Blackboard course shell. In the past, in-person graduate courses were hosted in the On-campus Blackboard environment. Additionally, undergraduate courses that are combined with graduate courses in SIS (students meet at the same time, in the same location), will be hosted on GPS Blackboard. We will communicate this change to undergraduate students prior to the beginning of fall semester.

Please contact bbhelp@uml.edu or 978-934-4357 (ask for On-campus Blackboard support), if you have questions.