Hello All,
We need an immediate help to migrate Blackboard archive to Moodle 2.7. Please help.
We are ready to pay the best.
(Edited by Howard Miller to remove signature - original submission Friday, 1 November 2019, 1:39 PM)
Hi Pramil, Moodle 2.7 is no longer supported. I would reccommend you upgrade to a supported version.
If you are looking to pay someone to perform Moodle work for you, I'd reccommend you speak to a Moodle partner, or post on the Moodle jobs board.
Thanks Mark for response. Do you know which Moodle version is supporting BB 9.1?
I will obviously be posting on Moodle Partner and Moodle jobs for same however I need to do a POC using a sample archive file to Moodle.
I will obviously be posting on Moodle Partner and Moodle jobs for same however I need to do a POC using a sample archive file to Moodle.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Howard Miller -
Moodle doesn't support Blackboard at all.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Howard Miller -
I'm probably not going to be of much help here, but I seem to recall that there never was "official support" for moving BB courses to Moodle. However, I also seem to recall that the BB database could be exported to an SQL file which could then be edited to match with a Moodle database. With the advent of Moodle v2.1, this work became tedious and seriously error prone, so is essentially impractical. No version of Moodle or BB bear any resemblance to each other so any attempt is doomed to fail, I suggest.
What you may be able to do is to export parts of your BB database to a csv file, using Excel to edit the file, rename fields, reorder data and such is likely to be easier than an SQL file. For that you will need the ERDs of both Moodle and BB, which I doubt BB's even exists in a public arena, so again, somewhat frustratingly, denied success.
I do recommend that you use a far more recent version of Moodle, as have others, but I also suggest that if your organization's plan to change to Moodle is a result of recent decisions, then urgency is just not a good idea. Such changeovers can take months, if not a year, to be made and even then they are not always initially successful. There are so many different LMSs out there and I am sure someone will tell you theirs is good to go from BB to their product, but I suggest they are being somewhat less than truthful and people who believe that, or buy into that nonsense are being somewhat naive, or just disingenuous.
I would suggest you plan a changeover as a gradual event, one small group, or faculty at a time. That way you can train your staff, meeting their requirements for competent uses of Moodle as well as the appropriate design and development of courses. Give staff a chance to get used to a very different, and far superior, tool. This strategy also allows for the exploration of Moodle by Admins, by Users, by developers at their own pace, to a degree, giving them the opportunity to move forward at their own pace.
While all this is likely not good news for you, you need to consider things that work, to anticipate and resolve problems before they become problems. Give yourself a chance at getting it right from the start. Good luck. And there is plenty of support for you, even in DC. If you need admin help, you might want to talk to the Moodle Community, starting with this item Chis Kenniberg wrote a little while ago, but is still very relevant.
What you may be able to do is to export parts of your BB database to a csv file, using Excel to edit the file, rename fields, reorder data and such is likely to be easier than an SQL file. For that you will need the ERDs of both Moodle and BB, which I doubt BB's even exists in a public arena, so again, somewhat frustratingly, denied success.
I do recommend that you use a far more recent version of Moodle, as have others, but I also suggest that if your organization's plan to change to Moodle is a result of recent decisions, then urgency is just not a good idea. Such changeovers can take months, if not a year, to be made and even then they are not always initially successful. There are so many different LMSs out there and I am sure someone will tell you theirs is good to go from BB to their product, but I suggest they are being somewhat less than truthful and people who believe that, or buy into that nonsense are being somewhat naive, or just disingenuous.
I would suggest you plan a changeover as a gradual event, one small group, or faculty at a time. That way you can train your staff, meeting their requirements for competent uses of Moodle as well as the appropriate design and development of courses. Give staff a chance to get used to a very different, and far superior, tool. This strategy also allows for the exploration of Moodle by Admins, by Users, by developers at their own pace, to a degree, giving them the opportunity to move forward at their own pace.
While all this is likely not good news for you, you need to consider things that work, to anticipate and resolve problems before they become problems. Give yourself a chance at getting it right from the start. Good luck. And there is plenty of support for you, even in DC. If you need admin help, you might want to talk to the Moodle Community, starting with this item Chis Kenniberg wrote a little while ago, but is still very relevant.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Richard Oelmann -
One question I don't think has been asked yet - what is the scale of your transfer?
TBH if its under (quite a) few hundred courses, you may well find that it is easier to give your staff the opportunity to rebuild their courses natively in Moodle. They would be able to download, copy and paste resources from BB, but would have the chance to make fuller use of the additional features and facilities Moodle offers - or those that work in ways that are simply not compatible however hard you try to automatically convert content. You may even find it cheaper to buy in time to release the tutors to do this, than to contract someone to manipulate the export archive from BB to be able to import - as well as the benefits around reviewing/updating content.
A few years ago I was involved in a project that went the other way (due to a merger where one institution had been using Moodle, the other - larger - using BB). Even though much of the basic content was able to be transferred by a 3rd party, this was effectively limited to the actual content on the face of each course page, activities had to be rebuilt from scratch, and in fact many of the staff preferred the option of rebuilding their content, rather than having to reorganise what was ported across anyway.
TBH if its under (quite a) few hundred courses, you may well find that it is easier to give your staff the opportunity to rebuild their courses natively in Moodle. They would be able to download, copy and paste resources from BB, but would have the chance to make fuller use of the additional features and facilities Moodle offers - or those that work in ways that are simply not compatible however hard you try to automatically convert content. You may even find it cheaper to buy in time to release the tutors to do this, than to contract someone to manipulate the export archive from BB to be able to import - as well as the benefits around reviewing/updating content.
A few years ago I was involved in a project that went the other way (due to a merger where one institution had been using Moodle, the other - larger - using BB). Even though much of the basic content was able to be transferred by a 3rd party, this was effectively limited to the actual content on the face of each course page, activities had to be rebuilt from scratch, and in fact many of the staff preferred the option of rebuilding their content, rather than having to reorganise what was ported across anyway.
In reply to Richard Oelmann
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Pramil Verma -
Hello Richard,
The data is in TB. I understand that there would be some manual exercise required but would like either somebody can write a converter to migrate it. For such large data manual copy and paste would'nt work, it will be a good time taken. Manual Review will obviously be required once migration is done.
Thanks
'but would like either somebody can write a converter to migrate it.'
It my view it's not going to happen, it would be time consuming/expensive and only a small number of people would benefit/be prepared to pay for it.
It my view it's not going to happen, it would be time consuming/expensive and only a small number of people would benefit/be prepared to pay for it.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Waau, that is good news! Could you please document your method in as much details as possible? Many people come here with the same question.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
So it is the POC advertised here https://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=54&rid=8438 ?
This is why I did not mention a converter, there hasn't been any suggestion of such thing since about v1.8 0r v1.9 I recall. The issue is that the complexity of databases has grown, particularly since the EU Data Protection laws were invoked. Impractical now.
Still suggest a timed, measured approach when making major technology shifts is the only real option these days. The hard part is always going to be getting your staff on board, that is why I suggest you seriously look at that article of Chris K's, look at Troy Patterson's blog as well. They both provide excellent frameworks for the adopting of and adapting to new technologies, even if they don't realize it. Get your bosses to look at them, or print the articles out and give them to anyone and everyone in your supervisor chains. Tell them that what they are asking for is not practical, but pretty dumb and sets everyone up for failure. (You'll have to be a little more discrete than that, of course, but I'm sure you'll think of something.) I am assuming here that you're the person who was given the job and whom everyone expects is going to work miracles making it all just magically appear.
Unfortunately, you haven't provided a lot of insight into your circumstances, so everything said here, and above could just be nonsense. Whatever the case, please understand there are no shortcuts, not anymore. It's either done properly or it collapses under the weight of poor decision making and unrealistic expectations, or the reluctance of Users to adopt new technologies. Most Users will complain about something not working, like BB, but will scream their heads off if you change it without giving them air time to complain about changing over as they are learning the new tool. Good luck.
Still suggest a timed, measured approach when making major technology shifts is the only real option these days. The hard part is always going to be getting your staff on board, that is why I suggest you seriously look at that article of Chris K's, look at Troy Patterson's blog as well. They both provide excellent frameworks for the adopting of and adapting to new technologies, even if they don't realize it. Get your bosses to look at them, or print the articles out and give them to anyone and everyone in your supervisor chains. Tell them that what they are asking for is not practical, but pretty dumb and sets everyone up for failure. (You'll have to be a little more discrete than that, of course, but I'm sure you'll think of something.) I am assuming here that you're the person who was given the job and whom everyone expects is going to work miracles making it all just magically appear.
Unfortunately, you haven't provided a lot of insight into your circumstances, so everything said here, and above could just be nonsense. Whatever the case, please understand there are no shortcuts, not anymore. It's either done properly or it collapses under the weight of poor decision making and unrealistic expectations, or the reluctance of Users to adopt new technologies. Most Users will complain about something not working, like BB, but will scream their heads off if you change it without giving them air time to complain about changing over as they are learning the new tool. Good luck.
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Terra Bytes? That is a galaxy of knowledge. I don't think all the books ever written on earth will come to that much!
If your people have accumulated that much of knowledge, that must have taken centuries. What do they need it all in another format _urgently_?
If your people have accumulated that much of knowledge, that must have taken centuries. What do they need it all in another format _urgently_?
In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by ben reynolds -
I agree with Visvanath. I think you mean the database is that large, but surely you don't want to move BB student data into Moodle? As has been said above, that's a fruitless task bound to fail for an extravagant price. One of the biggest issues trying to move BB database to a Moodle DB is that neither LMS consistently names their activities the same. Somebody would have to learn BB and Moodle nomenclature and then hope they can actually match a BB activity/resource name to a Moodle activity/resource name before they even start working on database tables.
Two times I found myself in a situation like this, but on a smaller scale. What I did was hire a couple really "smart and trustworthy" students to copy and paste. The were done much faster than I expected, with almost no errors. In fact their only errors were a few missed items, which I tracked down and copied later.
I agree with Al. When we moved from WebCT to Moodle, copy & pasting was much quicker than we estimated. Example, a course we estimated would take 3 months to migrate took exactly 8 hours (the smart and trustworthy doer, in this case, was my son).
Yeah. okay, I can understand why you're reluctant to do a copy and paste, that much data, wow a TB. I wonder how much of that is historical and how much is current? How much is active and how much is replicated for redundency purposes? No quick fix here.
In reply to Colin Fraser
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Taking of the size of data and the information it contain, I remember the wave of the intelligent (and literally brilliant) white boards which stored the "work" of teachers, in hundreds of MB, even if they do not convey more information than what a toddler had drawn on sand. Ha, ha, ha!
In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Richard Oelmann -
Yep - I remember those!
Also, Powerpoints and Word documents with full size digital photos included, and just photos uploaded that have not been compressed in any way.
We have had assignments submitted this year that are upto 1Gb per student (raw video files for media production courses). It doesn't take much of that to hit a large data store, but 1 of those assignment submissions is 1 item to transfer, rather than trying to transfer 1Gb of html content.
Straight file size of the database/datastore on its own isn't a useful measure without knowing what it contains
Also, Powerpoints and Word documents with full size digital photos included, and just photos uploaded that have not been compressed in any way.
We have had assignments submitted this year that are upto 1Gb per student (raw video files for media production courses). It doesn't take much of that to hit a large data store, but 1 of those assignment submissions is 1 item to transfer, rather than trying to transfer 1Gb of html content.
Straight file size of the database/datastore on its own isn't a useful measure without knowing what it contains
In reply to Richard Oelmann
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by ben reynolds -
Our solution to all these large files is to put them on a media server and link to them. That way, when you migrate to another LMS, etc, you just copy over the link.
This solution, of course, didn't come to us until after we'd piled a large number of very large files (per Richard above) into Moodle 1.9, only to discover the file system changed radically when we finally went to 2.0+ We also didn't have the other server until post 2.0 migratio and a lot o' screaming from folks who had to deal with the different file system.
This solution, of course, didn't come to us until after we'd piled a large number of very large files (per Richard above) into Moodle 1.9, only to discover the file system changed radically when we finally went to 2.0+ We also didn't have the other server until post 2.0 migratio and a lot o' screaming from folks who had to deal with the different file system.
In reply to ben reynolds
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Isn't this mention to "copy & pasting" a simplification? I mean, the strength of, therefore the reason for, Moodle comes from the numerous activities it supports. So this "copy & pasting" includes identifying the corresponding activity in Moodle and creating them?
In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Richard Oelmann -
Well, I had in mind that having identified the relevant resource/activity, SOME content or files COULD be copied/downloaded, rather than built from scratch, so yes a massive simplification! But still much easier, I think, than trying to build a conversion tool
In reply to Pramil Verma
Re: Need URGENT - Migrating Blackboard 9.1 to Moodle 2.7
by Richard Oelmann -
To be honest, the size of the database or the datafolder is somewhat irrelevant unless you are saying that it is all current.
You really don't want to be spending the time and effort migrating historic content and log files etc that are not going to be used (on my Moodle, the log files are far and away the single biggest table - not sure about the structure in BB).
You also don't really need to migrate all the historic students - let your student record system serve as an external database to populate the new Moodle users.
The important factor is the number of current courses (or those that actually need migrating that are going to be used on Moodle going forward) and how much content each one has, not the total size of your existing BB data store. You are unlikely to be able to migrate all the historic individual student interactions anyway, so they are irrelevant in such an exercise.
If your requirement is to port the entirety of your BB, including history and expired content across... my only real recommendation would be to rethink - sorry, I know that's not particularly helpful, but it is likely to be the reality.
You really don't want to be spending the time and effort migrating historic content and log files etc that are not going to be used (on my Moodle, the log files are far and away the single biggest table - not sure about the structure in BB).
You also don't really need to migrate all the historic students - let your student record system serve as an external database to populate the new Moodle users.
The important factor is the number of current courses (or those that actually need migrating that are going to be used on Moodle going forward) and how much content each one has, not the total size of your existing BB data store. You are unlikely to be able to migrate all the historic individual student interactions anyway, so they are irrelevant in such an exercise.
If your requirement is to port the entirety of your BB, including history and expired content across... my only real recommendation would be to rethink - sorry, I know that's not particularly helpful, but it is likely to be the reality.