Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill

In preparation for the Blackboard upgrade later this summer, faculty and IT support staff are asked to visit http://bbverify.unc.edu to review and confirm that their Blackboard content is correct and unchanged following a test data migration. This data verification site will be available through June 30. If upon review, changed or incorrect data is found, please report the change to 962-HELP.  Please note that the data verification site contains only pre-2009 data.  

The data verification environment is a test of the data conversion process that occurs during the upgrade. If the conversion worked properly for the older course sites that are available in the data verification environment (i.e., pre-2009 courses), it will work for 2009 courses.  Also please note that 2009 course sites are disabled on the data verification environment to prevent disruption of current course sites.

Every summer at UNC-Chapel Hill, incoming freshman and transfer students attend the two-day Carolina Testing & Orientation Program Sessions, better known as CTOPS. At CTOPS, students participate in many activities to prepare them for their time at Carolina, including touring campus, registering for classes and receiving their Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) laptop.

When students first pick up their CCI laptops at CTOPS, they receive on-site, hands-on-training from the ITS Response Center (ITRC). During the session, the ITRC covers many topics relevant to new students. Services offered by the ITRC and ResNET are highlighted, and topics such as laptop and battery care, ONYEN password security, back up and e-mail client options and the University’s copyright infringement policy are covered.

Summertime ... hot weather, cool dishes and the opportunity to visit with friends and colleagues. Join the ITS Employee Council for a summer potluck and the Unsung Hero and Star Heel award presentations on Friday, June 26 at 12 noon at ITS Franklin.

A year ago, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) conducted focus groups within the EDUCAUSE teaching and learning community to talk about "challenges" -- the big issues dominating campus conversations across the country.

Five challenges were identified and will be the topic of discussions hosted by ITS Teaching and Learning.

The first of the discussions, “Learning Environments, will take place June 18 at 3:30 p.m. in Toy Lounge, Dey Hall.

The Learning Management System (LMS) User Group will meet on Tuesday, June 16 at 2:30 p.m. in room 214, Davis Library, to provide updates on Blackboard, the Sakai Pilot, and other related campus educational technology resources. 

The meeting is open to all interested faculty and staff.

Undergraduate Admissions – Integration Testing
The ConnectCarolina integration testing team reached a significant milestone with the successful execution of iteration one integration test core scenarios.

The team successfully created prospects, entered and submitted an online application and verified that it was received in PeopleSoft. Other successes included electronic loading of test scores, checklist and communication generation and document uploading and fee payment. The next step is to execute iteration two of a total of four iterations of integration testing.

Blackboard will undergo a key upgrade this summer resulting in a major planned outage from July 28 through Aug. 6. This upgrade will optimize Blackboard’s performance, increase its stability and incorporate the addition of new features to enhance learning and instruction. To learn more about the new features coming in August and beyond, please visit http://its.unc.edu/BBNews/blackboard_upgrade/.

Celeste Copeland, manager of Identity Management, will present on Shibboleth at the next CTC Update on Thursday, June 11 at 1 p.m. in Peabody 08.