Earlier this semester, there was a “glitch” with the Blackboard shell for my writing course. I had spent hours and hours uploading content, organizing the shell, and trying to perfect the course. And then it was gone. <\/p>\n
The Blackboard team eventually restored most, but not all, of the content. <\/p>\n
It was a tough reminder that online systems are, like all computing systems, imperfect. Systems crash. Databases get corrupted. Things go wrong and you need a contingency plan. <\/p>\n
The Blackboard bungle left my students frustrated and has cost me more than few hours. While I had copies of all materials, they were scattered about my hard drive. I didn’t want to duplicate files, which I thought would waste space. I sometimes used “links” (aliases) to original files, as a compromise. <\/p>\n
On my computer, which is backed up to three external drives and mirrored to another computer, I now have a directory system that aligns with my Blackboard shell. There are folders for each weekly unit, a folder for all assignment prompts, and a folder for additional readings. There are now duplicates, but Word documents are only a few hundred kilobytes. If I use a file for a course (not a specific section of the course), there will be a copy in the course directory tree. <\/p>\n
In an emergency, I can now upload the items to recreate a course shell. <\/p>\n
I’ve also exported the shell for the course that choked, which I will do again towards the end of the semester. Yes, the exports are huge compressed files with complete directory contents, but it is easier to re-import a shell than to upload the files. <\/p>\n
My students rely on Blackboard in a way I can’t imagine doing. They trust it to have their grades, assignment files, and other materials. When things went sideways, I was stunned that some students don’t keep copies of their work. The good news (for them) is that I do download all student files to my system — and I make backup copies. <\/p>\n
Teaching with technology means remembering that tech fails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this semester, there was a “glitch” with the Blackboard shell for my writing course. I had spent hours and hours uploading content, organizing the…<\/p>\n