Blackboard 8.0 Upgrade Complete

SHSU is now running Blackboard 8.0.260.7. We have successfully upgraded from version 7.3.159. Blackboard 8 provides us with a completely new assessment area called the Grade Center as well as new critical thinking tools and the long-awaited return of an old friend, the Bb Search tool. Use the following links to get an in-depth description of what you get with the new Grade Center and an overview of the new critical thinking tools.

• Grade Center
• New Critical Thinking Tools

Our current hardware set up is listed below:

• Three application servers (the machines that run the Blackboard software)
• One collaboration server (a machine dedicated to the virtual classroom)
• Two database servers
• One file server
• One SAN (Storage Area Network) where all the data is stored
• Two load balancers (these machines spread the load of users accessing blackboard between the three application servers)