course studio

An important announcement for faculty members using the MyXU My Courses (Course Studio) course management system: the Course Studio application will be permanently retired during the MLK holiday weekend.

(Some background- currently,when a semester course section is created in the Banner system, a Course Studio online shell is automatically generated for that course.  Faculty members who prefer to use the Blackboard online system opt out of Course Studio by requesting a Blackboard course shell as a replacement.)

During the upcoming Martin Luther King holiday weekend the Luminis (MyXU) portal system will receive a version upgrade and will migrate to new server hardware. During this change window the Course Studio online classroom tool will be permanently retired. Beginning with the Spring 2010 semester, a Blackboard course shell will be automatically generated for each course section once it is created in the Banner system.

For active Course Studio users, this change will impact the way you provide online content and interaction opportunities for your students. The content you now have in your Course Studio shells cannot be copied over to the Blackboard system and will be inaccessible after the change. Your files will be preserved in a data backup format but will not be easily retrievable. Please begin downloading all important course content from your Course Studio courses as time permits. The Luminis system changes will take place between January 16th and 18th, 2010.

The Blackboard system will undergo a similar system upgrade during the upcoming holiday intersession, December 25th - 27th. We are taking advantage of these adjacent system changes to retire Course Studio and put all of the University’s online course shells into a single platform. The Course Studio tool, though easy to use, is hampered by several limitations:

1. Course content cannot be copied from one semester to the next.
2. Course shells cannot be archived and then later restored.
3. The storage limit for each course shell is restrictive.
4. User support is minimal, and we are unable to run analytics to assess and improve system performance.
5. Course content in the Luminis system, both current and historical, cannot be migrated when the system is upgraded or moved to new server hardware. Each system upgrade begins with a blank slate.

The Blackboard system does not share the limitations listed above. A Blackboard course shell can be used in the same manner as a Course Studio shell. However, Blackboard, enhanced by ongoing system improvements and new third-party building block modules, provides faculty and students with a wider set of communication, collaboration and content delivery functions.  The upcoming system and hardware upgrades will improve the stability and availability of the Blackboard system. Blackboard, like Banner, MyXU and other critical University systems, undergoes an annual disaster recovery exercise to guarantee data recoverability in case of a major disruption or calamity.

To become familiar with the Blackboard learning management system, please access the Blackboard Basics user guides on the Discovery Services web site. Several Blackboard Basics training workshops will be offered in November and early December. Consult the DS Training workshop schedule for days and times.