Blackboard Integration

Before setting up the Blackboard integration, schools should ensure that their courses are properly configured to pass data to LMS systems. Navigate to the Course Type table in Table Maintenance under the Systems menu and ensure that any course types that may use Blackboard or another LMS have a 1 in the LMS field.

Additionally, each individual course section that will be available through Blackboard should have the On-Line box checked on the Course Section page. For most schools, a course must have a section type that’s LMS enabled and have the On-Line box checked or it will not be exported to Blackboard.

The Course Section edit page also includes optional Blackboard Start Date and Blackboard End Date fields. Enter a date into each of these to change the dates that students have access to Blackboard. If the fields are left blank, the course start and end dates are used in the export file instead.

To link Blackboard to SONIS and activate it, navigate to the Learning Management Systems Setup utility. Enter the institution-specific web location where the Blackboard software has been uploaded and check the Active button.

After activating Blackboard, scroll down to the For Blackboard Only section of the page. These controls allow schools to manage how their Blackboard integration will function. First, choose whether to use the Current School Year/Semester or the Registration School Year/Semester if different. Alternately, select a school year/semester that is neither of those. All school years and semesters that have been created in the SONIS system are listed in this menu.

Next, choose whether students and faculty should log in with their SONIS ID or their LDAP ID, if applicable.

If the Select Online Courses option is set to Yes, only course sections with the On-Line box checked will be included in the export to Blackboard. If No is selected, all courses with a valid course type will be exported.

Administrators can choose whether to include Continuing Education courses in Blackboard or not by selecting Yes or No.

The User Export File School Name field is used to designate a name for the Blackboard Student Services Student/Teacher Extract file. The filename will be XXXXX_upload_DDMMYY with the date appended.

Once this section has been completed, scroll down to the section labeled For Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, Canvas, and Scholar360 Only. Choose whether each course in Blackboard will Use Lead Faculty or Use Lead Faculty and Additional Instructors. Additional instructors are added on the Section: List edit page.

Click Submit at the bottom of the page to save the changes and activate Blackboard.

The Holds utility can be used to prevent students from accessing Blackboard and other Learning Management Systems. To place a hold on a student, navigate to that student's Holds page and click Add to create a new hold. Select LMS Hold from the Hold menu and check the Active box. Enter the start date and select a staff member to authorize the hold. An additional memo or notes for student viewing can be included as well but are optional. Click Submit to create the hold.

When a student has an active LMS Hold in their records, the student’s data will still be sent to Blackboard, but they’ll be marked as inactive in the Blackboard system.

SONIS course and student data can be uploaded to Blackboard through a fairly simple manual process. First, navigate to the SONIS Learning Management Systems Export utility in the Systems hub. Select the appropriate School Year and Semester for the data.

Next, select the Campus or campuses that should be included and click Submit to create the XML file.

The file will be saved in the batch folder designated under Web Options.

SONIS can also be configured to create the Blackboard XML export file at a regular interval. Navigate to the Timed Task Scheduler in the Systems hub and click Add to begin.

On the following page, select Notifier: Blackboard LMS Export from the Task Name menu.

Select how often the task should occur with the Frequency dropdown. Schools may wish to run the export more frequently during each semester's drop/add period and edit the task to run only daily once this period has ended.

The Start Date and Start Time will automatically be set to the current date and time but can be changed to suit individual preferences. The End Date and End Time are optional.

Click the Submit button to create the scheduled task.

Notification Assignment

SONIS also offers a notifier that pairs with the Timed Task to inform select staff/faculty members that the export task has been run. Navigate to the Notification Assignments page in the Systems hub and click the Add button to create a new assignment.

On the following page, select Blackboard LMS Export from the Notification Type dropdown menu and click the Submit button.

Next, create a Notification Name, a descriptor of the notifier's purpose with a 50 character limit, and a Notification Code, a shorter version of this name with a 20 character limit that the SONIS system will use internally to identify the notifier.

Select a group of staff/faculty to receive the notification from the Group Name dropdown menu. Groups can be added and edited through the Table Maintenance utility.

Enter the ID of the staff or faculty member who will be managing this notification in the Notification Owner SonisID field.

Create a Group Notification Message that will be sent to the group members when the task takes place.

The Group Notification Method dropdown menu designates whether the group and individual users will receive an in-system reminder, an email, or neither when the notification is triggered. The Reminder Type dropdown can change how the in-system reminder displays. This list can be created and edited via the Table Maintenance utility.

Click Submit to activate the notification assignment.

In addition to the standard XML export file, SONIS offers an extract for Blackboard Student Services. Navigate to Blackboard: Student/Teacher Extractin the Systems hub to create the file. Select a School Year and a Semester.

Click Submit to create the file.

The file is a simple, pipe-delineated text file that lists the first and last name of all active students and teachers for the selected school year and semester along with their SONIS ID, their Blackboard ID, their email address, their phone number, and their user type, either STU for student or STA for staff.

SONIS can also be configured to create the Blackboard Student Services Student/Teacher Extract file at a regular interval. Navigate to the Timed Task Scheduler in the Systems hub and click Add to begin.

On the following page, select Notifier: BB User Extract from the Task Name menu.

Select how often the task should occur with the Frequency dropdown. Schools may wish to run the export more frequently during each semester's drop/add period and edit the task to run only daily once this period has ended.

The Start Date and Start Time will automatically be set to the current date and time but can be changed to suit individual preferences. The End Date and End Time are optional.

Click the Submit button to create the scheduled task.

Notification Assignment

SONIS also offers a notifier that pairs with the Timed Task to inform select staff/faculty members that the extract task has been run. Navigate to the Notification Assignments page in the Systems hub and click the Add button to create a new assignment.

On the following page, select BB User Extract from the Notification Type dropdown menu and click the Submit button.

Next, create a Notification Name, a descriptor of the notifier's purpose with a 50 character limit, and a Notification Code, a shorter version of this name with a 20 character limit that the SONIS system will use internally to identify the notifier.

Select a group of staff/faculty to receive the notification from the Group Name dropdown menu. Groups can be added and edited through the Table Maintenance utility.

Enter the ID of the staff or faculty member who will be managing this notification in the Notification Owner SonisID field.

Create a Group Notification Message that will be sent to the group members when the task takes place.

The Group Notification Method dropdown menu designates whether the group and individual users will receive an in-system reminder, an email, or neither when the notification is triggered. The Reminder Type dropdown can change how the in-system reminder displays. This list can be created and edited via the Table Maintenance utility.

Click Submit to activate the notification assignment.