Updates:
- 12/20 – Bb is now up and working normally. Thanks to all that were involved in the upgrade.
- 12/19 2:26pm – FALL 09 Student Grades - If you want to check your final grades for Fall 2009 just login to Onestop . All grades were required to be entered into Onestop today, by noon. Onestop is always going to be where you want to go to check your final grade in any course
- 12/19 11:07pm – NR in Onestop. I would contact your instructor and also the registrars office about this on Monday. Click HERE to go to the Registrars Office main page. The number is at the bottom of the page.
Hello ECU Faculty, Staff and Students -
If you attempted to access Blackboard at ECU you ended up here because we are in the middle of a planned downtime to upgrade Blackboard. The downtime window is from 12/19 1pm through 12/22 1pm. If we finish the upgrade a little early my team will send an email out to all ECU faculty letting them know that Blackboard is again available to use.
New Feature Information:
Students - Nothing changes for you regarding the user interface.
Faculty - The Gradebook area is the only change for you all. This area is now named the “Gradebook Center”. CLICK HERE to review the new features and review some tutorials on the new features.
Video Explanation:
Once we complete the upgrade all Spring 2010 enrollments will be added. if you have any questions feel free to email me at longm@ecu.edu .
Matt Long
Blackboard Admin
The Bb upgrade has been completed. We will now spend the rest of today and portions of tomorrow testing all of the features to make sure the upgrade was successful. You can now to to blackboard.ecu.edu to view your course sites and gradebook information.
matt long
You can go to Banner and find your final grades. Mine are posted. I would rather they upgrade now instead of at the beginning or mid-semester.
Megan -
And all students and faculty will be able to see full gradebook detail once Bb is back up.
Grace -
Yes, I agree but with the coming holiday we needed experts (on our side and Blackboards) side to make sure everything goes as planned. Bb will be up late today or early tomorrow.
April – Thanks so much and same to you. We all need a couple of days off.
Although I understand that certain scores are important to know, all you really need to know right now is a letter grade. I’m sure you guys can go a few days without being able to check final scores so please stop acting like this is the end of the world and cut these guys a break. Go enjoy your holiday and quit worrying about school for a couple days!
Matt:
OK, so yes, we were supposed to have the grades done by noon. But if we didn’t — and we need Blackboard in order to do so — then we’re pretty much stuck for 36 hours, and so are our students, no? Next time, could you give us a bit more buffer between the official grade deadline and the Blackboard downtime?
Why must you upgrade right when I need to look at my grades? I wish you would have waited a week.
Matt,
I honestly understand the time scheduling for maintenance issues, upgrades, etc. You cannot afford to do this when students are assigned homework. I rather for it to occur now and not when I have homework or a test due. Which may cause other technical problems that lead to pleading your case with the instructor. I work at PCC and I honestly understand that complaints are easily spoken until that person has to fill those shoes.
Have a wonderful and safe holiday break when it comes for you.
Katelyn -
I understand. You will be able to do so in the next 36 hours.
Matt
Jessica -
Same to you.
Matt
Christa -
You will need to contact your instructor directly to see what the next steps should be.
Here is a link to the registrar’s office. I would call them as well to see what your next steps should be.
http://www.ecu.edu/registrar/
Shameshia -
I just emailed you about this issue.
matt
Thanks, Dwight.
Adam -
I do understand your concerns. To be 100% honest this was the only window available. We would never do an upgrade mid semester (spring break for example) and the time available after the summer terms and spring terms is simple too short.
We have always done upgrade after the Fall semester with the students in mind. It’s the longest break of the year and the downtime itself is only a couple of days. No course info is lost or modified. ECU policy states that grades had to be by 12/19 noon. So, we started the upgrade at 1pm. Now, the only info you all lose is seeing exactly what you made on your final or last project BUT all of that will show back up very soon. 36 hrs or so.
I know it’s frustrating but we really do think these decisions through with the students in mind.
matt
Scott -
No Record = NR.
Hello Stacy -
You will have full access to Bb and all Fall 09 info in the next 36 hours. So, if you need to get any info from Bb you will be able to do so very soon.
matt
Meghan -
I believe so. You will need to contact your instructor to see what is going on. This is something outside the upgrade. If we had not done the upgrade this weekend you would still have the NR listed in onestop.
Stephanie -
No, not at all. Fall 09 is only going to be unavailable for another 36 hrs or so, max. So, late tomorrow night you will be able to find or see whatever information you need in all Fall 09 course sites.
I agree. I am trying to review my final grades. This is a very bad time to do an upgrade.
Happy Holidays! Just thought you could use a break from the negative, your handling it well!
Well…I get that BB has to be updated…but 1stop doesn’t help much when you have an ‘NR’ where your grade should be…what does that even mean? ‘No record’ is all I can imagine. Unless the site needs to update at midnight or something is wrong, my teacher did NOT get my grade posted by noon. What now?
I need to email my teacher, and I can’t find his email address anywhere but here…
C’mon guys. Give ‘em a break. I realize you (we) all want to know our grades, down to the most intimate detail, but sometimes system upgrades and maintenance have to be made when there is a good likelihood no one will need it just in case something does go wrong.
Unless you have ever had to work to upgrade a system, you probably wouldn’t realize there is no “good time” to do it. Everyone has their own agenda, schedule, and reason why “they” should be immune from whatever inconvenience system downtime causes.
I saw one post above where the final was TEN DAYS ago and no grade was posted yet?? Sorry, dude, but this isn’t the IT group’s fault. Something like that should be reflected in that professor’s survey, or brought to your advisor’s attention…or both.
Considering the amount of time Blackboard (and other ECU systems) absolutely MUST operate flawlessly, I think this staff goes above and beyond to make sure it is available when you really do need it.
Dwight
Matt,
Even though this is a redundant conversation. I can’t express how off the planned downtime for blackboard was. I understand that we received emails prior to, but we had no voice in the scheduled date. I feel the problem with a lot of this university is that they don’t listen to the paying customers. I understand it’s impossible to please everyone but an issue like this I feel could have allowed input from the students.
-Adam Laws-
So…what does NR mean?
My teacher hasn’t even posted my final grade on Onestop and I have no other proof to verify my final grade for this class except for what is posted on blackboard that I cannot access for my records in order to handle this situation. Will my current information be deleted or how can I go about retreiving this information if it becomes lost so I can verify my grade with my professor?
If you have an ‘NR’ in place of a grade, does this mean the professor did not submit the grade by noon today?
I wanted to print some of the feedback that my instructor gave me. She just posted my grades this morning and I have not had any time to print that info. Is there anyway I can get that back? Will Fall 09 be lost forever?
Ed -
I understand your frustration. I have a degree from ECU and have taught both online and face to face classes here.
Like I have mentioned above the downtime will likely only go until late tomorrow. Monday at the very latest. This window (12/19-12/22) was the only one available that worked for both main campus and West Campus (School of Med). We are doing our best to accommodate students, faculty, both campuses and another downtime not related to Blackboard. We wanted to complete everything before the systems folks took family vacation etc. We are all keenly aware of who we work (the students) and serve on a daily basis.
You will be able to see your entire gradebook for all of your Fall 2009 Bb sites in the next 36 hours. If you cannot see the courses in question but CAN get into Blackboard that simply means the instructor of the course in question has made it unavailable for all students. At that point you will need to email your instructor directly for access. Please feel free to email me at longm@ecu.edu if you have any questions or just leave another comment. ECU Systems is working for you so we will be happy to answer any of your concerns.
Matt Long
ECU Blackboard Admin
Matt,
What you and the ECU staff fail to realize is that final grades are composed of individual grades. So, while yes I recieved my final grade (A, by the way) I would still like to know what I made on the final, class paper and the last quiz we took. This is just another example how big universities forget that the students are the actual customer and customer service is more than just taking money and making you jump through hoops.
Ashley -
I just sent you an email with some contact info. I hope they will be able to answer your question.
I just wanted to know if you can answer a question for me. All my grades are posted on onestop, but it has not counted all my credits yet. Why is that. I have sound that it takes a couple of days for it to count your credits, but not when they just put them in there.
Certainly understand. Hope you’re not getting snowed in somewhere. Enjoy your time off.
Thanks Matt,
I understand, its just a stressful time of year, thank you for your help and listening.
Oh ya…we have also been advertising this downtime for about 6 weeks to all faculty and staff. I believe all students got an email or two about this as well.
Sorry again for your frustration.
matt long
Kim -
If that is the case the students you mentioned would temporarily receive and incomplete until that grade was correctly entered into Onestop. I certainly understand the frustration but multiple emails are sent out ever semester informing faculty of how to enter final grades. Blackboard has nothing to do this that process. If you or a friend does not see a final grade in Onestop I would suggest emailing that instructor directly.
And, the downtime for this upgrade is likely going to be shorter than advertised. We think we will be back up late tomorrow.
Matt Long
ECU Blackboard Admin
Evidently there are some Professors that must have forgotten grades were due by noon, I have peers that are emailing each other because we have not received grades and now bb is done, WOW.
Yes, this is a horrible time to upgrade, I am waiting on a PSYC grade from a professor and the final was taken on Dec. 8th, this is ridiculous and horrible timing.
Hello Melissa -
All grades were due today at noon. All student grades are entered into onestop. So, lets say you look at your grades in blackboard you received an “A”. If you faculty member forgets to enter the “A” into Onestop you would actually receive an incomplete until this this was rectified. So, all you have to do is login to onestop to check your Fall 2009 grades. longm@ecu.edu if you have any questions. Bb will be back up again at the very latest on 12/22 but more likely late tomorrow night – Sunday night.
matt long
Bb Admin
Hello Justin -
All grades were due to be added to onestop by noon today by all ECU
faculty. In fact, if they did not added this all students would recieve
an incomplete. So, if you want to check your grade just login to
onestop. If you want to check your scores etc. you will have to wait
until the downtime is over. Does that make sense? Sorry for the
inconvience but the winter break is the only window for upgrades.
Matt Long
Blackboard Admin
I agree. It is the worst possible time to upgrade this site. We are waiting for our final grades and it’s the holdays. We should be able to know our grades and relax before it. This doesn’t surprise me, though…that’s ECU for you.
Why upgrade, now? It is the time of the year that we, student, need to look at our final grade. It is the worse time of the year to up-grade the Bb.