During Summer 2026, DoIT staff and Blackboard will archive our entire instance of Blackboard, which will save individually backed-up copies of every course and organization through SU2023. Courses offered before and including AY22-23 will be retired by the end of SU2026. 

Beginning June 1, courses offered from the following terms will be scheduled for retirement:

• Any courses older than five years
• Fall 2022
• Winter 2023
• Spring 2023
• Summer 2023

The Blackboard system's overall performance and efficiency will improve by removing files and database transactions from the content server and database. AY23-24, AY24-25, and AY25-26 will remain on the server. Fall 2026 will begin a new academic year of data retention (AY25-26).

Reminder: End of Support for Blackboard Original Course & Organization Shells

Blackboard has announced that they will end support for Original courses and organizations on December 31, 2026. At this point, all Original content in courses and organizations, including development and sandbox courses, will be placed in a read-only state, which can be viewed by those respective enrolled users, but not edited by instructors or leaders. This change applies to all Original content.

Organization leaders with active Blackboard Original course shells are encouraged to take action now to decide whether you will move to Ultra or retire the organization

• If moving to Ultra, request a new Ultra organization site by submitting a ticket.
• If retiring the organization, download content you wish to retain, especially for legacy organizations more than 7 years old, in a Blackboard export package or exported file attachments.

FAQs about Course Retirement

Is my content gone forever? No, Blackboard archived courses captured all course data, files, student submissions, discussions, grades, etc. through SU2023. These archives will reside on a secure cloud storage location.

When will I lose access to courses that are being retired? The archiving process will begin on June 1st. Faculty can place an RT ticket to have their course content restored through November 2026. 

Can I save a copy of my own courses? Yes -- and it is strongly encouraged! Instructors can export (course content) and/or archive (course content & student data) their courses. You should also download a copy of your gradebook. We recommend saving these files to UMBC's cloud storage to ensure long-term access in the event you change computer systems.

Can I restore (regain access to) only course content? Yes. Course content consists of files and course structure (menu, folders, etc.). Faculty can only import course content to an existing Blackboard course shell. Please submit a RT request for assistance importing an exported course file.

Can I restore course data? Course data consists of student submissions, discussions, and grades. We generally prefer not to restore full courses to avoid reinstating user accounts and confusing students with old content. If you must restore archived course data, please open an RT ticket with justification included.

How long will you keep the retired courses? We will keep the retired courses for approximately 2 years after Blackboard archives the courses. Faculty who may need content beyond 2 years should plan to save copies of their exported courses to UMBC Box or other cloud storage.

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection
  • What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff

Blackboard course shells for Summer 2026 were created on April 16, 2026.

All Summer 2026 courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc, or instructor assignment, now have a Blackboard presence. RT requests are no longer needed for research, independent study, or practicum courses. As new course sections are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

• If you are an instructor and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please contact your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your access to the Bb course shell will be updated automatically.

• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not have access to your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.

Course Merge Request Process

As announced by DoIT in April 2025, instructors teaching multiple sections of the same course will find a separate Blackboard course shell for each section or course component. Courses will not be merged by default. Instructors planning to use separate shells will no longer need to submit an RT request. Cross-listed and combined courses will be merged automatically. Courses with multiple components will not be merged by default.

Course shells may be merged or removed upon request using the new Blackboard Course Merge or Removal form(UMBC login required), which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be merged or split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded, since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Create an Inclusive & Accessible Course Environment

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content andalternative formats, or attend an upcoming training session.

UMBC instructors are invited to "enroll" in the self-paced, online Course Roadmap to Equity (CoRE) Foundations training, which provides practical tools to achieve the ‘Strive for 85’ digital accessibility goal -- an overall Ally course score of 85% or better by the end of 2026. 

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
  • What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• UMBC Digital Accessibility| Ally FAQs | Ally Demo | Ally Report (VPN required)
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity |Keep On Teaching |Student Technology Resources