Blackboard is to be taken offline early tomorrow morning for ‘an upgrade which will enhance the system’s capability’, it has been announced.
The maintenance, scheduled to take place at 5am, is expected to last an hour, with the site being back online by 6:30am ‘at the latest’.
It comes after Blackboard became accessible last week, and entered a ‘test phase’.
In his latest email, Deputy Vice Chancellor Julian Free said students should ‘attempt to use the system as normal’ after the update, ‘on the understanding that it remains in a test phase’.
“At this point ICT will begin a series of tests of the stability of the system,” he said. “Part of this will include the reintroduction of the elements of Blackboard which had been turned off so it is running all of its component parts.”
“This testing will continue through to tomorrow evening so users may experience some instability with the system but we ask you to keep using it to help us with this test.”
Students are also being encouraged to check their emails regularly, as ‘local measures’ for sharing of learning materials and assignment submissions are set to continue.