ITS to improve Blackboard services this summer

This summer, ITS will improve its Blackboard service by changing the way the UNC-Chapel Hill Blackboard site is hosted and by upgrading to the latest version of Blackboard.

On May 9, ITS will change the way it delivers Blackboard services to campus by taking advantage of the outside hosting service Blackboard offers to its customers. This decision is based on factors such as growth in Blackboard usage, the pace of change in the product and maintaining optimal performance of the application. The service will be unavailable May 9-11 due to this change, but there should be no long-term impact on the Carolina community or in the way Blackboard is accessed or utilized.

Later this summer, ITS will upgrade to the latest stable release level of Blackboard in preparation for the start of fall semester. Further information about the new capabilities available in the new release level, along with training, will be available at http://its.unc.edu/tl/tli/bbnews/.

ITS anticipates minimal outages related to these changes, meaning that no summer or fall classes should be significantly impacted by down times. Please visit the Blackboard blog at http://its.unc.edu/tl/tli/bbnews/ if you have any questions about Blackboard at UNC-Chapel Hill.