Upgrading Blackboard 9 to 9.1

Just over two weeks ago we upgraded Blackboard from 9.0 to 9.1 - and not wanting to tempt fate I've delayed writing this post, but now feel in a fairly confident position to say it was the best thing we could possibly have done.

We upgraded from 7.3 to 9.0 last summer, just a few weeks before the start of term. We spent most of that term plagued by stability issues (JVM crashes) and then the rest of the year identifying bugs and applying custom patches and fixes meaning we were no longer on a standard install path and unable to install the generally released service packs.

Pleasingly, 9.1 fixes nearly all the outstanding issues from 9, and so far the only new issues we have found are relatively minor and relate to new improved functionality. The major bugs that affect us now resolved from 9.0 are:

• Announcements sent as emails will now be delivered correctly
• Feedback attached to submissions (including via TurnItIn) can now be accessed by the student
• Ability to get full list of students on your modules
• Ability to view access statistics for your areas

9.1 has also introduced some helpful new features:

• "save and next" efficiency feature in the Grade Centre
• New Learning Module tool
• New course file management library
• New Lesson Plan tool
• Improved appearance

The course file management library really is a big change for us as we don't have the content system (it's basically a cut down version of the content system). If you're interested in more detail (with screenshots!) please read this excellent handout produced by our Learning Technologies Advisors: studentcentral - all change 2010!

I know a lot of institutions on Blackboard 8 are delaying the upgrade to 9.1 for another academic year because of the bad press that 9 received, and I can't say that they definitely should - but for anyone still struggling with 9 I recommend you move to 9.1 as quickly as you can and spend the year supporting interesting new learning tools rather than bug reporting!