As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our clients informed about important updates related to the security of the Blackboard Learn™ platform, I’d like to update all of you in our client community with a quick snapshot of some meaningful security enhancements recently released and coming in early Q1.

I encourage clients not already on Service Pack 8 or higher to make plans to upgrade so you can take advantage of strengthened security safeguards and patches. Our Managed Hosting team implements Security Best Practices as part of the standard procedures. If you are a Self Hosted client and have any questions about Security Best Practices for your Blackboard Learn system, please feel free to contact Client Support for assistance.

Update: We will be hosting Webinars during the week of October 3rd to give clients an opportunity to learn more about our overall security practices, to confirm the security best practices we recommend for self-hosted clients, and confirm the best practices within the Managed Hosting environment. To ensure we address the specific needs of clients, Webinars are scheduled for both our self-hosted clients and Managed Hosting clients and each is offered three times to allow clients in all time zones to participate. Beyond the current issues we’re reporting, the Webinars represent a great opportunity to learn about how we’re working with clients to ensure greater levels of security in our product. Dates and times for the Webinars are: Blackboard Learn Security Best Practices (Managed Hosting clients): Oct 4th 2:00pm ET, Oct 4th 8:00pm ET, Oct 6th 9:30am ET Blackboard Learn Security Best Practices (self-hosted clients): Oct 3rd 8:00pm ET, Oct 5th 9:30am ET, 6th 2:00pm ET Register here

At BbWorld this year, we have over 40 focus group sessions and usability labs on the schedule. The focus group topics are broad and include product capabilities such as SIS integration, WebDAV, and Aggregate and Longitudinal Reporting as well as support and upgrade related topics including the opportunity to discuss change management and how we’re doing in Client Support. Our three usability labs will test basic behaviors, innovative new features in development, improvements to grading workflows, and get insight into ANGEL users’ reactions to the NG interface.

You can get involved! A sign-up survey will be sent to all registered BbWorld attendees next week and will include an opportunity for you to express interest in one or more sessions. In the meantime, search the catalog to see which sessions pique your interest -> select “Focus Group” and/or “Usability Lab” from the “Select Special Topic” menu.