Blackboard

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Blackboard Colleague
Colleague
Blackboard
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Blackboard
Colleague
What is Blackboard?
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Blackboard
Colleague
Important Points

• Blackboard is a 3rd party Course Management
  System (CMS)
• Blackboard runs on an Oracle Database
• Columbus State is hosted by Blackboard ASP
  Services
• All staff and faculty, as well as enrolled
  students are submitted to Blackboard daily
  (Snapshot).
• All credit and non-credit courses and
  enrollments are submitted to Blackboard daily
  (Snapshot).
• Snapshot runs each morning at 615 AM.
  Blackboard picks up the Snapshot at 700 AM.
• Colleague has a Blackboard interface (not
  currently being used).

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Blackboard
Colleague
Faculty Staff Hires
Student Registration
Faculty Section Assignment
Chair Section Creation
CSCC Process
Collive Application
BB Process
Collive Database
User Process
Students
Faculty Staff
Course Sections
Blackboard Maintenance Application
Student Memberships
Staff Memberships
Course Sections
OrganizationMemberships
Organizations
Users
Blackboard FTP Pull from CSCC Server
Blackboard Content Server
Blackboard Database
Blackboard Application Server
LDAP Authentication
Admin Functions
Faculty Access Input
Student Access input
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Blackboard
Colleague
Snapshot Files
Everyday at 615 AM, six files are generated
users.txt
courses.txt
organizations.txt

• 51,000 users
• Colleague ID
• Username
• Name
• E-mail Address
• Primary Role

• 6,000 courses
• Course Key ACCT106-001-06150-WI-2005
• Course Title (Section)
• Start Dates
• End Dates

• 59 organizations
• Organization Key
• Organization Name

stumems.txt
stfmems.txt
stuorgs.txt

• 93,000 memberships
• Course Key
• Colleague ID
• Course Role (Student)

• 11,200 memberships
• Course Key
• Colleague ID
• Course Role (Instructor)Also includes Chair
  Accesses

• 16,800 memberships
• Organization Key
• Colleague ID
• Organization Role (Instructor or Student)

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Blackboard
Colleague
Snapshot Control
Snapshot is controlled through a Blackboard
Maintenance interface
Current Limitations

• Cannot specify individual courses (all or
  nothing)
• Cannot create non-CSCC usernames (for faculty
  and students who use Blackboard, but are not
  native to Columbus State)

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Blackboard
Colleague
Snapshot Errors
After 730 AM, Blackboard sends a list of errors
those entries in the Snapshot files that failed
to properly upload to Blackboard.
users.txt.invalids
courses.txt.invalids
organizations.txt.invalids

• Duplicate records
• Disabled Users (SSN vs. Colleague ID)

• Spaces in the synonym

• Organization manually created

stumems.txt.invalids
stfmems.txt.invalids
stuorgs.txt.invalids

• No Username
• User not in Person Pin
• Duplicate records
• Disabled Users
• Student is Manually Added to Course

• No Novell Account
• Not an Employee of CSCC
• Manually Added to Course
• Disabled User
• Not in Person Pin

Any combination of stumems.org and stfmems.org
error reasons.

• Most Common Problems
• Students without Usernames (password.cscc.edu)
• Person Pin problems

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Blackboard
Colleague
Blackboard Colleague Interface

• Current
• Snapshot runs 1x per day. Students wait
  until tomorrow to access courses.
• Snapshot is a delimited file.
• Blackboard not SSL- enabled
• Student interface non- intuitive (separate
  location for Blackboard link).

• With Interface
• With Envision Data Exchange (EDX),
  real-time outbound transmittal of
  enrollment information access is
  instantaneous.
• EDX and Snapshot would be XML based.
• Blackboard would be SSL- enabled.
• Student could link to Blackboard course
  through WebAdvisor.

N\Winapps\datatel\Datatel Manuals\Student\Using
the Blackboard Learning System Interface.pdf
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Any Questions?
Colleague
Blackboard