Download the conversion tool

The Blackboard Course Conversion Tool is deployed as a .zip file and can be downloaded by administrator users with access to Behind the Blackboard. 

  1. Download the conversion tool file from Behind the Blackboard. You'll need to agree to the terms and conditions.
    An article from Behind the Blackboard in shown. The link with the course converter file is highlighted.
  2. Open your Downloads folder and unzip the downloaded file if it wasn't automatically unzipped.
    The Download folder is displayed with the course converter ZIP file. Also, a folder with the same file unzipped is shown.

Run the tool and convert a course package

  1. Rename the unzipped folder to bbcc and move it to your Desktop folder.
    A unzipped folder is renamed to "bbcc".
  2. Create two (2) new folders within the bbcc folder, named input and output.
    bbcc folder is displayed with new two folders: input and output.
  3. Open the bbcc.properties file within the config folder.
    The config folder is opened and highlighted with the bbcc.properties file displayed and selected.

    You might need to download a text editor to open the bbcc.properties file. BBEdit can be downloaded for free here. 

  4. Change the line 1 from the default path of sourceDir=D:\\ to the following path:

    sourceDir=/Users/HOME-FOLDER-NAME/Desktop/bbcc/input 

    Replace /HOME-FOLDER-NAME/ with the name of your Home folder. 
    A text editor is opened. The line 1 was changed with a new path.

    Your Home folder can be found by opening your Finder, selecting the "Go" dropdown menu, and then selecting "Home".

    Finder is opened with: 1) the "Go" dropdown menu selected, 2) the "Home" option selected and 3) the Home folder name highlighted.
  5. Save the bbcc.properties file. You can ignore the content on line 2.
    The text editor is opened with 1) the File dropdown menu highlighted and 2) the "Save" option selected.
  6. Export the course from another LMS (eCollege / D2L / Moodle / Canvas) and place the exported file in the input folder. In this example, a Canvas course package was exported.
    The exported course is displayed inside the "input" folder.
  7. Open Terminal on your computer. You can do this by selecting on the magnifying glass in the top right corner of your computer and typing in "Terminal". 
    The magnifying glass on the top right corner is highlighted and the MacOs Terminal is selected.
  8. In Terminal, type in the following command:

    Desktop/bbcc/bin/bbcc --sourceArchive=YOUR-COURSE-NAME

    Replace YOUR-COURSE-NAME with the exported file name.
    The MacOS Terminal is opened and a specified command to run the tool is displayed and highlighted.
  9. Press Enter to run the command. The Blackboard Course Conversion Tool should start running. 
    The Blackboard Course Conversion Tool is running.
  10. A confirmation message will appear once the conversion is complete.
    Successful conversion confirmation message on screen.
  11. Find the converted Blackboard-compatible course package (.zip) and the user log (.log) in the output folder. Each will have the same filename as the source course filename.  
    The output folder is opened with a .zip file a .log file.

    You'll also find the error log (.err) in the 'output' folder if there were any errors during the conversion. 

 

Learn more about how to import a course package into Blackboard Learn.

Watch a video about the Blackboard Course Conversion tool for Mac OS®

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.


Video: Blackboard Course Conversion Tool for Mac OS®  explains how to convert courses from other LMS to use them in Blackboard Learn.