UHCL’s Blackboard system includes integration with the
following publisher-based contents:
- Cengage iLrn
- Cengage MindLinks
- McGraw-Hill Connect and Create
- Pearson MyLab & Mastering
- Pearson REVEL
- WileyPLUS
If you have any additional publisher-based Blackboard
integrations that you would like us to consider adding to the university’s
Blackboard system, please email that request to the Support Center so that it
can be routed to our team and scheduled for evaluation. Please be aware that
the procedure for integrating publisher-created tools into Blackboard is typically
neither quick nor easy, despite what publisher representatives (salespeople)
may tell you. Because each installation of Blackboard varies among
institutions, our team must exercise due diligence in thoroughly testing each
B2 in our non-production environments and we must work with the university’s
Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that the publisher has met the UH
System’s and our campus standard’s for student data security (grades,
identifying information) and financial security (since most publisher B2s
enable students to purchase access to publisher contents through the B2).
Finally, and assuming that the B2 is approved for deployment, we have to
schedule downtime for the production system in order to activate the B2 and
perform system restarts. The entire process, from when a B2 is requested until
it is implemented on production, can take 2-3 months, as we must incorporate
the process into our priority workloads (resolving student/faculty issues,
training, system maintenance, etc.) and we often experience delays getting the
necessary security assurances from the publisher. It is not our intention to be
obstructive; however, our team must be diligent in ensuring that these “add
ons” don’t negatively impact the core functionality of our system. The
publisher representatives are very quick to assure faculty that “there should
be no problems” and that “other schools use it just fine.” As stated
previously, installations of Blackboard vary significantly among institutions;
just because other schools are able to successfully use a specific building
block does not mean that we will be able to do so. Publisher B2s are not
without issues and, at the end of the day, it isn’t the publishers who will be
dealing with the fallout if UHCL’s Blackboard system fails.
