Upcoming works and downtime which will impact Blackboard: Saturday, 22nd January 2022
The Blackboard Data Centre Move scheduled for today has been successful and the service is now fully restored for use by staff and students.
Blackboard, the service provider for our virtual learning environment, is closing its Amsterdam data centre and moving hosting to Frankfurt.
What does this mean?
This move will require a significant amount of downtime followed by an at-risk period.
Blackboard Learn VLE and all integrated services (Turnitin, Panopto, Blackboard Collaborate) will be unavailable from Saturday, 22nd January 2022, 12am-12pm.
How will this impact me?
You will not be able to use Blackboard Learn VLE and all integrated services (Turnitin, Panopto, Blackboard Collaborate) during the downtime.
As well, some other minor systems that you may use will also be unavailable during the downtime period, including Matlab Grader, HEAnet Media, and Talis MyReadingList. The Blackboard Data Centre Move scheduled for today has been successful and the service is now fully restored for use by staff and students. The Blackboard Data Centre Move scheduled for today has been successful and the service is now fully restored for use by staff and students.
Do I have any workaround options?
We understand this is an inconvenience and so we have made a significant effort to minimise the impact on you by scheduling this work during a predicted low usage period.Additionally, we recommend that you have the following alternative workarounds or backup options in place until services are resumed:
- Staff: The assessment date should be changed for assignments that are due for submission in Blackboard between 8pm on Friday, 21st January and 8am on 24th January
- Staff: Any staff, student, or module enrolments that you enter using an integrated service such as SITS should be finalised before close of business on Thursday, 20th January, 2022; otherwise, these changes will not appear in Blackboard until Monday, 24th January when the move is complete
- Students: Any course material that you may need to reference during the downtime period should be downloaded and available locally on your devices.
If you have any queries regarding this scheduled Blackboard work, please contact our IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@tcd.ie.