Full Course Migration
Upgrading to Blackboard Ultra involved a full, campus-wide migration process that impacted both students and faculty members.
Scaffold Migration
Ottawa University
Ottawa University Seamlessly Migrates Courses from Blackboard Original to Blackboard Ultra
Blackboard Migration Made Easy
With a network of campuses located throughout the U.S., Ottawa University is headquartered in Ottawa, Kansas. Comprised of over 4,000 students, Ottawa University provides both undergraduate a nd graduate-level curriculum in both an in-person and online format.
Historically, Ottawa has long depended on Blackboard as its learning management system (LMS). In order to stay up to date with Blackboard’s functionalities, Ottawa faced a platform upgrade to Blackboard Ultra.
Like many educational institutions, Ottawa was impacted by the global pandemic early in its engagement with K16 Solutions—adding another level of difficulty and shifting priorities to support its online learning environment.
Challenges
Outdated Content
After using Blackboard for an extended period of time, Ottawa had a plethora of course content that was outdated, requiring updated, student-friendly usability.
Programmatic Modernization
Based on performance trends, the majority of students were accessing their LMS via mobile phone. As a result, Ottawa needed to prioritize a simplified mobile user experience that supports its student’s needs.
“The team at K16 Solutions went the extra mile to develop a custom solution for converting our courses from Blackboard Original to Blackboard Ultra that addressed the specific nuances of our online learning context. Moving to Ultra is no mean feat and we feel fortunate to have been able to work with such a strong and responsive team.”
– Matthew P. Fillo, Academic Technology Systems Administrator
Solution
Though the global pandemic interrupted the initial timeline, K16 Solutions and Ottawa were able to collaborate on an internal timeline that allowed the school to support its students and faculty while facilitating a background migration.
Working alongside an internal team, Ottawa and K16 Solutions engaged in an iterative, consistent collaboration process to determine the best course of action. Before the migration, Ottawa had an existing library of courses that relied on an accurate migration, avoiding the need to rebuild and redesign course content. Rather than migrating all courses at once, Ottawa and K16 Solutions took a steady approach to update courses—introducing a new user experience through a measured approach.
Results
Improved Experience
Prioritizing the student and faculty experience in a new, modern platform, Ottawa and K16 Solutions have successfully migrated courses to the new LMS with ready-to-teach accuracy.
Accurate Migration
From tests and quizzes to assignments and more, Scaffold Migration continues to migrate courses and modules completely intact.
Data Success
As they migrate more courses, K16 Solutions is able to collaborate with Ottawa to QA course content and accessibility to ensure successful data transfer.