Now that all running modules are on Succeed and extensions for students have ended or will shortly end, it is time to plan the closure of the WebCT service and remove the link from the Portal. The purpose of this message is to describe how this will be done and to reassure staff that all the materials currently in WebCT will be kept for restoration into Succeed or for recovery for other purposes, if required.
I plan to shut down the WebCT server in June but before shutting it down I will take a backup of all the modules in WebCT. These backups can be directly restored to Succeed. Thus any module currently in WebCT will be available in the future for upload to Succeed. Of course, the usual rules apply in that we can’t guarantee that quizzes will transfer correctly and whilst we do keep the user content (i.e. grades, discussion postings, uploaded assignments) this material isn’t uploaded into Succeed when the modules are restored.
Virtually all modules have already been transferred to Succeed but posting this blog well ahead of the time that the WebCT server will be shut down seems appropriate. A similar message to this has been sent to all Directors of Learning and Teaching.
To follow-up please contact the appropriate person in eLD: http://www.stir.ac.uk/is/staff/about/teams/aldt/#eld
WebCT will be down for about 15-20 minutes on Friday 20th July from 8.00am to update the licence file.
Simon Booth
WebCT Administrator
WebCT will be down from 8.00am – 08.30am on Tuesday 5th July to pre-empt issues with the database server.
Apologies for any inconvenience
The seventh meeting of the WebCT Users’ Group is being held on Wednesday 28th January 2009 at 12.30 in the Iris Murdoch Centre. The format is lunch at 12.30 followed at 13.00 by a presentation by Mark Toole, Director of Information Services. Mark’s presentation will be on Elgg, open-source social networking software that is being used to power a number of social networks within UK HE (and outside). Elgg offers blogs, networking, groups, news feed aggregation and file sharing features. A longer description of Elgg’s features can be found here.
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Mark came to Stirling from Brighton and Brighton University runs the largest Elgg supported social networking sites in the UK, called Community@Brighton. At Stirling we currently have a test installation running a for the STEER student mentoring project. Further information on Elgg can be found at http://www.elgg.com.
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Places are limited (and we need to know how many lunches to order!) so please book with Simon (Ex 7247 or email). Also please let Simon know of any special dietary requirements. Video conferencing facilities can be made available for staff at Highland and Western Isles campuses on request.
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Manager – Centre for eLearning Development
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WebCT will be unavailable for the upgrades to version 8.0.1 and disk storage on Saturday, 16 th August. I expect the system to be down between 10.00-14.00. The upgrade of the file storage should bring performance and stability benefits.
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WebCT 8 is not a major upgrade (there was no WebCT 7) but rather some housekeeping by Blackboard, the company that produces WebCT. Essentially Blackboard are bringing together the numbering of their two product lines (Blackboard Classic and WebCT). There are a number of bug fixes in release 8 and the service pack that takes us to version 8.0.1. Further details about WebCT 8 can be found in the May 2008 Issue.
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http://intranet.stir.ac.uk/issue/ISSUE72_May2008.pdf
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Please note that during the upgrade process there will need to be a number of WebCT restarts, making the system appear to be available for short periods (up to 15 minutes). An announcement will be placed in WebCT when the installation is complete and the system is safe to use.
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Simon Booth
WebCT Administrator