Converting From Blackboard to iLearn

 

How do I save my Blackboard courses?

Faculty and students will no longer have access to Blackboard as of June 30, 2007.

Even though Academic Technology will archive all Blackboard courses on the servers in Washington, DC, we strongly recommend that you archive your Blackboard courses or course materials. You may not need them right away, but you may want them later. You can save your course in three ways:

Option 1 (Course content only)

Extract Course Content with bFree (Mac OS X and Windows XP): Download bFree (http://its.unc.edu/tl/tli/bFree/) and follow the instructions to extract course content such as item descriptions, digital files (Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, Excel) and save them to your computer or any storage media (e.g. CD, flash drive, external hard drive).

Note: Tests and Forums cannot be extracted with this tool. Requires the latest Java Software. This tool creates a clear and organized file structure that is easily downloaded. You may upload these files to iLearn at a later time using various methods.

Option 2 (Selected portions of the course, without students' work)

 Export Course: Use this feature to create a zip file of selected portions of your course that you choose. This will save your files, activity settings, quiz questions, but will not include any student work. To export parts of the course, just follow these steps:

  1. From the Blackboard control panel of your course, select Export Course
  2. Choose the items you want to export.
  3. Click the "Submit" button.
  4. Click the "Click here to download the exported course site" link.
  5. Save the archive where you can find it again

Option 3 (Entire course, plus students' work)

Archive Course: Use this feature to create a zip file of your entire course, including all work submitted by students (uploaded files, discussion forum comments, quiz attempts, etc.). To archive the course, just follow these steps:

  1. From the Blackboard control panel of your course, select Archive Course.
  2. Click the "Submit" button.
  3. Click the "Click here to download the exported course site" link.
  4. Save the archive where you can find it again.

       

How do I transfer my Blackboard Content to iLearn?

Option 1 (Blackboard to Moodle Conversion Tool)

Use the Blackboard to Moodle Conversion Tool (http://welearn.sfsu.edu) to transfer course content and activities from Blackboard to iLearn directly. You may transfer:

  • Digital Files (Such as PowerPoint, Word, PDF, mp3, and video files),
  • Discussion Forums, and
  • quiz Quiz questions

The resulting file structure is complicated but your resource links will be functional.

Option 2

Use another conversion tool to access or copy content from Blackboard Archive(with student data) or Blackboard Export(Course content only – no student data). Blackboard archives are compressed backup files (i.e., ZIP files) containing course information, files and data.  Each course's content and data are not easily viewed and the file structure is complex.  A tool such as  bFree (http://its.unc.edu/tl/tli/bFree/)  is necessary to view basic content.

Option 3

If you only want to transfer your course materials and you have them on your computer, you can create a ZIP file of all the content, upload it into the iLearn Files area, and unzip it. Then you can link to each item as necessary.

 

How do I get help?

  • Contact the iLearn Support Team if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment. E-mail ilearn@sfsu.edu or call 415-405-3536, press option 5.