Dear Colleagues,

As most of you know, this weekend we will be doing an upgrade to the core software that underlies the University’s Portal (referred to by some as “blackboard”).

First, I want to thank everyone who has been working on planning and testing for this upgrade. There are, of course, the staff in our own group from I+TS and CTSI. But we are joined by many more of you – from every campus and from practically every division of the university.

I would mention specific names, but there are so many that I’m afraid I might forget someone.

We are very grateful for the assistance and collaboration of our colleagues – it speaks to the wonderful nature of our school that we can work together on such important projects. Thank you.

As for the upgrade itself, we are planning for success. The new version of software will allow us to really build out new services and new user experiences that will enhance teaching and learning. It really is an exciting opportunity.

But as we all know, such endeavours are not without risks, and we are reaching out to you, our colleagues, to help us identify any problems that might arise, and to help us communicate with the community.

If you see or hear of any problems or issues in the days ahead, please do not hesitate to contact us via portal.help@utoronto.ca – we are fully committed to responding and fixing things, should any issues arise.

Likewise, if you hear from any of your faculty, students or staff, please remind them that they too can reach out to us, and that we want to hear from them.

So, again, many thanks for your ongoing collaboration, and here’s to a successful upgrade.

Regards,

Avi

PS – as Jeremy posted earlier, you can read more about upgraded features at:
http://portalinfo.utoronto.ca/content/whats-new-blackboard-sp14