Preparing Your Blackboard Course for Migration to Brightspace

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There are several steps you can take now to prepare your Blackboard courses for the upcoming migration to Brightspace.  Taking the actions outlined on this page will help to make your migration to the new Digital Learning Environment (DLE) as smooth as possible.

Please note:  The instructions given on this site and within the attached documentation cover only the commonly identified clean up actions you can take in Blackboard.  There will be additional clean up actions required in Brightspace once your content is migrated.

We are highly recommending that you do not work in a live course when completing these steps.  We have created a form for requesting a Blackboard course shell specifically for preparing for the migration.  We are referring to these shells as “Migration Sandbox” shells as they will contain the version of your course that is ultimately pulled into Brightspace. Since part of the preparation process involves deleting files and certain types of course content, working in a copy of the course that is not being accessed by students (or contains student data) is critical.

To request a Migration Shell for your course in Blackboard, please complete the Migration Shell Request Form. (Note: You should request one sandbox for each course number (not for each semester a course is taught).  Once the shell is created, you will then copy the version/offering of the course that you’d like to migrate into the Migration Sandbox shell and complete the remaining steps outlined on this page.

Detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to copy your course/courses into your Migration Shell can be found at Blackboard - Copying a Course from Semester to Semester

Checklist for Preparing a Blackboard Course for Migration to Brightspace

Note: Be sure to complete the steps below in the Migration Shell, not in your live course!

  • If you are using a number of third-party tools in your class – links to third-party resources (like Pearson, Cengage, or WileyPLUS) and iClickers – the links will not transfer correctly. Links to these resources will need to be rebuilt.
  • Delete unneeded files and folders from the Content Collection.
  • Delete unneeded quizzes/tests from Tests, Surveys, Pools area.
  • Delete unneeded question pools.
  • Go through all of your modules and look for any references to Blackboard and/or navigation instructions that are Blackboard specific. Update the references where you can and note the areas in the course where you will need to update instructions to students based on where things will be located once the course is migrated to Brightspace.
  • Check links to external websites and remove or update any broken links.
  • If you used Ensemble to store videos that you will need in the future, be sure to download them and save them locally prior to migration. We will not have access to Ensemble once we are on Brightspace.
  • Copy any instructions or information you may need from Blackboard Groups, Wikis, Blogs, and Journals and paste them in a Word or Google document so that you can access them after migration. Wikis, Blogs, and Journals do not migrate to Brightspace.
  • Delete all Groups, Wikis, Blogs, and Journals from the course as well as links to these tools from within the Content area (after saving the instructions in a separate document).
  • Organize all content in the “Course Content” area to be within Learning Module folders. Courses migrate best if all information is contained within Learning Module folders and the Course Content area does not contain direct links to individual documents or activities not associated with a module. If you have a lot of direct links in the root of the Course Content area, you can move them to a temporary folder (ex: “Extra Stuff”) and then relocate them to a more permanent location once the course is migrated. The goal is to have only a listing of folders appear when you select the Course Content link.
  • Delete any unused Grade Center columns (including hidden columns).
  • Some question types in assessments also may not transfer correctly.
    • Note: Some question types in assessments will not transfer. These include: hotspot questions, file responses, ordering, or either/or question types. Existing random block questions which pull randomized questions from test pools will also not transfer.
  • Assignments using SafeAssign will transfer, but SafeAssign is not currently available in Brightspace, and originality checking will not be included with the assignment.  In Brightspace we use TurnitIn.