Blackboard’s Digital Dropbox  will be permanently decommissioned in Summer 2010, prior to the release of Blackboard Version 9 on our campus. The Digital Dropbox has been used most commonly by students to store data files prior to submission to the instructor’s dropbox, but will no longer be supported in Blackboard 9.

Digital Dropbox will no longer be available starting in Summer 2010.

We realize that a large number of instructors rely on digital dropbox for collecting assignments from students.  

The Assignment tool is much more effective for organizing student assignments. Assignments can be downloaded for grading in bulk, or individually, depending on an instructor’s needs. They are also tied to the Grade Center and have numerous feedback options for providing timely responses to student submissions. The Assignment tool is currently available in Blackboard 8, our current version, and will continue to be supported in Blackboard 9.

EdTech wants to help instructors who are currently using the Digital Dropbox to transition their courses to using the Assignments tool. During the rest of Fall Semester 2009 and Spring Semester 2010, we encourage instructors to engage with us on how to best make the transition.

Online resources for using the Assignments tool can be found at:

http://edtech.mst.edu/servicesupport/blackboard/addassignments.html

If you would like some assistance with restructuring your course to take advantage of Assignments, please contact EdTech (edtech@mst.edu) for a consultation. We would be glad to talk to you and provide guidance.