Each year the University has an upgrade period for Blackboard, normally the second Friday of July.  This year the upgrade period will start 8 July at 17:30. During the upgrade, there will be no access to shuspace or Blackboard sites.  It is predicted that the upgrade period will end late on Friday evening, leading to a total downtime of seven or eight hours.  However, shuspace and Blackboard should be considered at risk during the weekend, in case additional time is needed to complete the upgrade.  As such, you should not scheduled required online activities during that time period, such as online submission of assessments.

Generally we do not recommend having assessment submission points after 3pm on a Friday or during a weekend anyway.  In the event that something goes wrong, students would have difficulty contacting someone about it.  This can lead to unnecessary stress and a less positive student experience.

During the spring we will provide more information about any upcoming changes to Blackboard or shuspace as a result of the upgrade.  We know that there are some summer and international teaching programmes which will be affected by the downtime and we apologise for any inconvenience this causes.  As always, the upgrade team will strive to minimise any downtime.