Info for Fall 2022

UMass Lowell has moved to a SINGLE INSTANCE of BLACKBOARD!

GPS and IT have merged their Blackboard instances into one single instance for all courses. This move will provide a more seamless experience for all Blackboard users.
blackboard logo

For GPS courses and users, not much is changing since undergraduate courses moved over to the GPS instance. The URL is the same, all of the same tools are available, and faculty and student support and services will be the same.

A few highlights, and more information below is available for most of these items:

  1. A new integration with SIS means course, user, and roster data will be updated in Blackboard every 15 minutes.
  2. Instructors can now copy their own course materials from one term to the next right from Blackboard - this only takes a few clicks and a few minutes (more info below on this process)
  3. Students will still be given access to Blackboard sites on the first day of the term, but you will be able to see your students in the Blackboard Roster well before that time.

We are planning to create Fall 2022 Blackboard course sites for all GPS courses during the week of  July 11, 2022. 

NEW PROCESS for ONLINE TEACHERS - GPS has changed the way we copy courses into your Blackboard sites. In the past for online courses, we have copied over a prior term's course so that your new shell is pre-populated with your course materials. This usually causes issues with timing because we have to wait until the current term is ended before we can copy courses. Starting Summer 2022, and continuing for Fall 2022 we will give online instructors access to Blackboard sites earlier, and give you the ability to copy your own course materials, including an entire course, into the new course site. It is a few clicks and usually takes less than 1 minute (instructions and support for this provided below). Copying past courses into the current semester's Blackboard shell is now the responsibility of the instructor. GPS will provide support and training, but if you teach online and don't take this step, then your course will be empty on the first day of the term.  

Important Exception: if you are teaching a course using existing content and the original author of the content is teaching a section of the same course, your content will be copied automatically once the original course author updates their section. Alena Woods will be in touch about this.

How to Copy Course Materials Into Your Fall Blackboard Site

We are planning to create Fall 2022 Blackboard course sites during the week of July 11th. Once you have access to your new courses, all instructors teaching GPS courses (online, graduate, and CE) will have the following options:

  1. Copy an entire course into your Fall 2022 Blackboard site (Most online instructors will want this option)
  2. Start from scratch with a blank Blackboard site

As of Summer 2022, we are giving you the ability to copy a previous term's materials, including an entire course, into your new course site. It only takes a few clicks and minutes, and if you run into issues then we can assist. Or, please attend one of our virtual Drop-In Sessions in July, August or September if you'd like assistance doing this. If you need support with this step, please contact onlinelearning@uml.edu and someone will be able to assist.

Here are some additional set-up guides that may be useful as you start building your course:

Blackboard Access and Support

YOUR BLACKBOARD COURSE - If you are teaching online or a graduate-level course during Fall 2022, your course site in GPS Blackboard will be available for you in mid-July. If you don't see your course site in Blackboard, please email onlinelearning@uml.edu and someone will reply to assist you.

LOGIN PROBLEMS – You can login to Blackboard using your UML username and password. Retrieve your UML password or set your password retrieval security questions at the UMass Lowell MyPassword website.

STUDENT ACCESS TO BLACKBOARD - Students will still be given access to Blackboard courses on the first day of the term for GPS courses. As an instructor, you will see students in your roster from the moment you have access to it, but they will be coded as unavailable until the first day of the term, and unable to access the course.

TA, GRADER, and OBSERVER ACCESS to BLACKBOARD - Faculty can request TA, Grader, or Observer access to their Blackboard course site by filling out the Registrar's form. Once requested TAs and Graders are added to the course roster in SIS, they will have access to Blackboard 15 minutes later. If you need assistance with this, please email onlinelearning@uml.edu.

MERGE COURSES - We will automatically merge all cross-listed courses in Blackboard based on what is in SIS. If you would like to manually merge sections, you can do so using the Course Management Website, or email onlinelearning@uml.edu if you need assistance.

DIRECTED STUDIES, PRACTICUMS, AND DISSERTATIONS - If a course shell is needed for this type of course, faculty can make it available using the Blackboard Course Management Website.

Weekly Course Dates for Fall 2022

Faculty should refer to the Academic Calendar and Fall Class Dates for semester start/end dates, holidays, and final exam days. 

8-week, 10-week and 15-week (Full Term) courses: 

Dates for Fall 2022* Fall semester officially ends on December 20, 2022. Faculty teaching 15-week courses for GPS can decide how to use the extra week. 

Technical Support