What is the challenge?
In July 2021, Blackboard notified HVCC that we had exceeded our licensed storage limits in the Blackboard system. They sent us a significant bill for the overage. VP Donal Christian identified funds to cover the initial charges, however, Distance and Online Learning has been tasked with solving the overall Blackboard storage problem. We have addressed some of the concerns through System Administration changes, and now we are embarking on end-user training, course configurations, and organization clean-up, to resolve the remaining overages.
What does this mean for faculty and staff?
What is the plan?
- System Auto-archives: These archives were downloaded to local storage and moved out of the Blackboard environment, using a Blackboard-provided process. Completed in January.
- Move media to streaming: Media, such as video or audio, added to courses and organizations by faculty and staff, needs to be moved to streaming environments; we will identify, notify and assist.
- Clean out Organizations: Organizations, some of which have 20 years of content, are a major issue with the storage overage. The administration has suggested retaining five years of records and downloading all other content to local drives. Ultimately a new solution for Organizations will be identified and implemented, as the move to the SUNY DLE in 2023 will not necessarily provide the same functionality and storage as the Blackboard Organizations we are using now.
- Export/Archive zip files in courses: Blackboard has sent all faculty and staff users notification through our system that export and archive zip packages of courses will be removed after 30 days. All zip files currently in courses will be removed by May 16. What does that mean? When you export a course and the zip file is presented in the Export/Import area of the course, be sure to download to a local drive for storage before it is automatically removed by the system.
- File cleanup: The biggest culprit of the storage overage is excessive files stored in organizations, files replicated when moved with courses, unnecessarily large files, unused and duplicated files, and other file excesses. Join us for the Blackboard “Slim Down” workshop on Faculty Workshop Day to learn more, including how to assess your own situation.
- QUOTAS!!: Course and file quotas will be implemented this spring and if courses or organizations are already too large, and not cleaned out, it will become difficult or impossible for you to add content. Cleaning up courses and organizations now is important.
- Analytics: As we continually run the Insight Report (analytics) on the Blackboard system to identify areas needing remediation, we will be able to identify problematic courses and organizations, and will notify faculty and leaders to offer our assistance.
- Contact Us!: You don’t have to wait until we identify your course or organization as a contributing factor in our overage. Reach out to dlhelp@hvcc.edu and request a course or organization cleanup meeting. You can also join us in the Blackboard “Slim Down” workshop on Faculty Workshop Day.
Published: Wed, 16 Feb 2022 13:00:15 +0000 by e.baker