Since April we’ve introduced a series of changes to our e-learning provision aimed at enhancing the student experience online including the upgrade to Blackboard 9. Another important change is being implemented in September, giving students access to module sites after they have completed them.

What will happen to module sites?
Module sites will no longer be archived at the end of each academic year. Students will continue to be able to access them while they are studying on that course. When all students on a site have completed their studies, then the module site will be archived.

What will happen to organisation sites?
There are no changes to end of year practices for organisation sites.

What do I need to do?
These changes will happen automatically, you do not need to do anything. However, we are not going to change the availability of your site or its content. So to ensure that students can benefit from this increased access, we recommend you leave your site and appropriate content available and remove any end display date restrictions you may have set. If there is any information you have concerns about your students seeing, then you can still set that specific content unavailable.

Will there be ways to manage the increased number of module sites?
Yes, there will be a new Blackboard Sites channel in shuspace. This channel will help users differentiate between sites for the current academic year and past sites. This new channel will be released shortly, but you can see a picture of it and read more in an older blog post now.

We have also written an FAQ about the changes to archiving practices this year, which can provide you with further information.