Later this year, Vanderbilt’s localized version of Blackboard’s course management system, OAK, will move from on-campus Vanderbilt servers to off-campus Blackboard servers. OAK will not be available during this change, which will take place on Dec. 21 and will return to service as soon as possible sometime between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30. Starting Nov. 10, access to older courses from Fall 2013 to Summer 2014 will also be limited as part of the migration.
Moving to Blackboard-managed hosting will improve performance and reliability and make new tools available for instructors and students. These tools include a content management tool that will make it simpler to reuse materials across multiple courses and Kaltura, which is a tool for sharing and managing multimedia files, including audio and video.
Since the beginning of the semester, Vanderbilt has experienced many challenges within the OAK environment—from slow loading speeds to students facing difficulty completing tests and assignments. VUIT partnered with Blackboard to investigate and troubleshoot the issue and made many configuration and infrastructure changes to the system, including a clean-up of legacy OAK courses in early October.
Around the same time, the School of Nursing transitioned a number of courses to Blackboard-managed hosting. The move functioned as a pilot for the rest of the university’s courses and proved successful.
VUIT has since finished the contract with Blackboard for managed hosting and has begun preparations for the migration to Blackboard’s servers in December. For more on the migration, including information regarding when courses will be inaccessible by faculty and students, see the managed hosting transition schedule.