All Online and Graduate Level Courses will be Hosted on GPS Blackboard
As of Fall 2021, all online and graduate-level Blackboard course sites are now hosted on the GPS instance of Blackboard. Undergraduate in-person and undergraduate virtual course sites will continue to be hosted on the IT instance of Blackboard. This page contains important information for instructors who are teaching online or graduate in-person courses during the Spring 2022 semester. If you are teaching an undergraduate, in-person course, please visit IT's Blackboard information page to access resources and your Blackboard course sites.
ONLINE UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE TEACHERS - If you have taught either an undergraduate or graduate course online with GPS, and are continuing to do so, then nothing is changing for you. GPS will continue to host all online course(s), load your course content from a previous semester, add students to your course site, and provide support. We are planning to create Spring 2022 Blackboard course sites for all courses around during the week of December 13, 2021, and will communicate with you when they are available.
ON-CAMPUS AND VIRTUAL GRADUATE TEACHERS - GPS will provide blank Blackboard sites for all of your courses, add students to your course site(s), make available to you the same 3rd-party tools you had on IT's Blackboard (i.e., Zoom, Gradescope, etc..), and provide support and training as you transition to the GPS instance of Blackboard. As a part of this transition, GPS will also migrate your Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 courses to the GPS instance so that you can access a prior term's course materials moving forward. We are planning to create Spring 2022 Blackboard course sites for on-campus and virtual graduate courses during the week of December 13, 2021, and will communicate with you when they are available.
Getting Going with GPS Blackboard
If you are new to GPS Blackboard, then the information below will provide you with some options for self-service to get up and running for Spring 2022, but 24x7 technical support or summer drop-in sessions are also available if you'd like additional support.
We are planning to create Spring 2022 Blackboard course sites during the week of December 13th. Once you have access to your new courses, instructors who are teaching graduate-level on-campus and virtual courses will have the following options:
- Start from scratch with a blank Blackboard site
- Copy select materials from one Blackboard course into your Spring 2022 Blackboard site
- Copy an entire course into your Spring 2022 Blackboard site
Options #2 and #3 are new for GPS and only available to faculty teaching on-campus or virtual graduate-level courses. 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.
5-Step Getting Started Guide for Spring 2022 Blackboard Sites
Here are some additional set-up guides that may be useful as you start building for Spring 2022:
Blackboard Access and Support
YOUR BLACKBOARD COURSE - If you are teaching online or a graduate-level course during Spring 2022, your course site in GPS Blackboard will be available for you in mid-December. Online courses will have your content from a previous semester pre-loaded, while virtual and on campus courses will have a blank template pre-loaded. If you don't see your course site in Blackboard, or would like to request a site for a Directed Study, please email Alena_Woods@uml.edu or Carrie_PowandaCroft@uml.edu.
LOGIN PROBLEMS – You can login to GPS 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 AND TA ACCESS TO BLACKBOARD - Students are loaded into Blackboard courses a few days prior to the start of each term, and then incrementally each day thereafter 2x daily. Faculty can request TA or Grader access to their Blackboard course site by emailing Alena_Woods@uml.edu or Carrie_PowandaCroft@uml.edu.
CROSS-LISTED COURSES - We will automatically merge all cross-listed courses in Blackboard based on SIS.
CALENDAR AND IMPORTANT DATES - Spring Term 2022 Start I begins on January 18, 2022. Start II begins on March 7, 2022. Faculty should refer to the Academic Calendar and Spring Class Dates for semester start/end dates, holidays, and final exam days.
Weekly Course Dates for Spring 2022
Week 1 : Jan 18-23 (starts on Tuesday)
Week 2 : Jan 24-30
Week 3 : Jan 31-Feb 6
Week 4 : Feb 7-13
Week 5 : Feb 14-20
Week 6 : Feb 21-27
Week 7 : Feb 28-Mar 6
Spring Break: Mar 7-13 (8 week Session 1 ends)
Week 8 : Mar 14-20 (start of Session II 8-week semester)
Week 9 : Mar 21-27
Week 10 : Mar 28-Apr 3 (end of 10-week semester)
Week 11 : Apr 4-10
Week 12 : Apr 11-17
Week 13 : Apr 18-24
Week 14 : Apr 25-May 1
Week 15 : May 2-May 7 (Finals week / 8-week Session II ends)
Teaching with Blackboard
Technical Support
- Monday - Friday 8:30am-5:00pm (EST): Call 1-800-480-3190 or email Online Learning Office
- Weekends, Holidays and After Hours: Call 1-800-480-3190 or visit self-help and live chat website
- Contact the team directly for tech support or to schedule a 1:1 consultation on Blackboard:
- Carrie Powanda-Croft - carrie_powandacroft@uml.edu, 978-934-2462
- Alena Woods - alena_woods@uml.edu, 978-934-2735
- Scott Musfeldt - scott_musfeldt@uml.edu, 978-934-2717
- Patrick Connell - patrick_connell@uml.edu, 978.934.2134