Step-by-Step guide for migrating courses from the Blackboard standard version to moodle version > 1.9.
Black Board Categorisation :
For the purpose of course migration to Moodle, Blackboard can be categorised into 3 different systems, each with a different migration procedure.
- CE 4.0/CE 4.1 (rebranded WebCT) [ can use the webctimport tool with the “IMS Content Migration Utility”]
- Standard Blackboard (5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9.1) [ Follow the mentioned Process in this article]
- Vista3/Vista4/Vista8 and CE 6/CE 8 (rebranded WebCT) [ backup files are encrypted so can not import that ]
“The following process tested on a standard blackboard 9.1 Q4 course export file and importing that into moodle 2.7 LTS after following below steps”
Objective :
Migrating courses from blackboard Standard 9.1 Q4 version to Moodle 2.7, via exporting from Blackboard and importing that into Moodle.
** The reason to say moodle version > 1.9 is , all the versions utilise the moodle2 process to import and before moodle 2.0 (i.e moodle 1.9 and before) the process was different. However “ > moodle 2.0” was supplied with an inbuilt converter, which supports but upto a limit and without any assurity.
Solution :
To achieve the target , you need to follow the below steps:
1 . Setup the Conversion Tool #step-1
2. Convert the exported BB (blackboard file) to Moodle 1.9 zip file via conversion tool #step-2
3 . Make some mentioned changes in moodle code and DB for moodle version > 1.9 #step-3
Or
You can import it in moodle 1.9 and then upgrade moodle to 2.0 and export it to moodle 2 compatible import
4 . Import the Converted file into Moodle version > 1.9 #step-4
Step-1 : –
Conversion Tool can be download from here or https://github.com/adamzap/reteach
or update version is available at : https://github.com/developerck/bb2moodle
Assuming that you are using linux environment.
- Pre-requisite : python2 and pip is installed
If not , then install python 2 and pip first, steps are –
Check for python
>>> python --version
If python not found : https://www.python.org/downloads/
Install pip and setup tools
>>> sudo apt-get install python-setuptools
For PIP
>>> curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
>>> python get-pip.py
Now you have installed Python and pip and I assume that you have downloaded the conversion tool zip file. Let’s say you are under the directory /var/www/html and conversion tool is present at /var/www/html/retach.zip
- Unzip that file , the directory reteach should be created.
- Go inside that directory , location /var/www/html/retach
- Setup.py file will be there
- Run following command
>>> pip install . - Package has been installed, you can cross check via typing reteach
>>> reteach - If reteach is not found than please try python reteach and try after running following command
export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
Step-2 :
You just need to run this command
>>> reteach bb-sample.zip -o moodle-file.zip
bb-sample.zip is then name of bb course zip file name . I assume that you are currently present under the directory where bb-sample.zip is present
moodle-file.zip will be converted zip file that will be used to import in moodle.
Step-3 : –
If you are utilising moodle > 1.9, Update the following code
Line number 1257 File: backup/converter/moodle1/handlerlib.php
// replay the upgrade step 2011060301 – Rename field defaultgrade on table question to defaultmark
$data[‘defaultmark’] = $data[‘defaultgrade’];
// code to add for for blackboard course
$data['generalfeedbackformat'] = '1';
$data['createdby'] = '2'; // can be change
$data['modifiedby'] = '2'; // can be change
// ENDAnd run the query: ALTER TABLE `mdl_qtype_match_subquestions` CHANGE `answertext` `answertext` TEXT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NULL DEFAULT NULL;
Step -4 :
Import that moodle-file.zip into Moodle setup , and you are done.
Ref : https://docs.moodle.org/38/en/Blackboard_migration
Files To download : https://github.com/developerck/bb2moodle
If you need sample file, feel free to ask . I will share one.
