Faculty Questions re Maintenance and Thumbtacks

Hi Everyone-

We've gotten the same questions from several of you, so bear with me as I answer them in this forum for everyone.

First that irritating little thumbtack. Unfortunately that is in Blackboard development, so it won't be corrected until the next release. Think fall.

Then there is maintenance. Back in the olden days we ran the learning management system for CCCOnline only. Now we run the system for all of the colleges plus CCCOnline. Everyone has a different schedule, some colleges have intercession courses, some colleges have training that has to occur between terms, everyone is frantically duping and developing courses between terms... and really, when you look at everyone's schedules there is no "between terms" other than the long Christmas break and even that is shorter than you would think.

Given all that, the Learning Technology Council (that is the group of college representatives that provides oversight for Vista) has decided we just need to schedule some planned downtime for upgrades and maintenance during each term. The only alternative is to save everything for Christmas break - but that is a little dangerous and means we'd only have one shot a year at correcting problems like the irritating green thumbtack.

So I understand that everyone is busy and that it is a hassle to have to schedule around a planned downtime each semester. However, I think as long as the downtime is scheduled before the semester begins it is a reasonable solution. Many of us want to install fixes the first moment we can - we have to balance that with downtime schedules.

On the other hand, I can take your concerns back to LTC if you want me to.

Thanks-
Lisa