1/22/14 Update
We appear to be back to normal now.
Spoke too soon. We're not seeing as many cases of export/import issues (#2 below), but we are still seeing issues creating tests & quizzes again (#1 below). We are working with Blackboard to address these issues.
Note: During today, you may find Bb slow or unavailable for short periods of time while we implement and test Bb's suggested fixes.
My apologies for this inconvenience and these back and forth updates. I will post more when we know more.
John Fritz
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I'm pleased to announce that the known issues of 1) creating Blackboard tests and 2) faculty export/import of past Bb courses into Spring 2014 course shells appear to be resolved.
Working with Blackboard, DoIT staff Jesse Beauman, Vladimir Plotkin and James Sonnichsen identified a configuration setting as the root cause, tested an alternate setting to isolate the errors, and then implemented a permanent fix. If any faculty are still experiencing problems with tests and exports/imports, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via the myUMBC help menu or directly at my.umbc.edu/help.
I know these issues have made it difficult for faculty to prepare for the Spring 2014 semester. On behalf of my DoIT colleagues, I want to say how much we appreciated the campus community's patience and understanding as we worked to resolve these issues. Hopefully, students, faculty and staff can now focus more understanding and using some new features introduced in last week's upgrade. For more information, please see the Bb Help tab inside Blackboard or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help.
Sincerely,
John Fritz
Asst. VP, Instructional Technology
UMBC Division of Information Technology
