This summer’s Blackboard upgrade will be undertaken in two phases. The first phase (2-4 August) is to enable an essential database update to the Blackboard servers. The second phase (30 August-1 September) is the actual Blackboard software update to provide us with additional features, bug fixes and security improvements.

For the first phase of the upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable to all users from 5pm on Friday 2nd August, unavailable Saturday 3rd and at risk on Sunday 4th.

For the second phase of the upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable to all users from 5pm on Friday 30th August, unavailable Saturday 31st and at risk on Sunday 1st September.

MyHallam information pages will remain available during both phases of the upgrade, but staff and students will not be able to log in to Blackboard nor access any Blackboard sites. Please do not schedule teaching and learning activities in Blackboard during the upgrade periods, including online submission of assessments.

We know that there are some teaching programmes which will be affected by the downtime and we apologise for the inconvenience this will cause. As always, the upgrade team will strive to minimise any downtime.

If you have student work to mark and wish to continue marking during the downtime, consider downloading any student work submitted online prior to the upgrade commencing and adding the feedback in Blackboard once the upgrade is complete.

We will post further details about new features and functionality as we progress towards the second phase of the upgrade.

If you have any support needs related to Blackboard please contact your Faculty TEL Team.