Unsupported Course Cartridge and ePack Features Removed – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past for Original Course View, there were two older methods for adding licensed publisher content. These are no longer supported:
- Course Cartridges, a server-based method to download licensed publisher content using one-time keys
- ePack licensed content importing when converting WebCT courses
While we have not supported these for years, users still see options to add Course Cartridges download keys. APIs for ePack conversion are still part of the course import process. In this release, we have removed these. Instructors and admins will no longer see options to enter a Course Cartridge download key.
Image 1. An instructor viewing the “Import Course Cartridge” page in the Original Course View Control Panel—this option will be removed in 3900.60
There are no changes for existing content. Course Cartridge materials that required ongoing license validation have not worked for years. Course Cartridge materials that became standard Learn items—students do not have to enter license keys to access them the first time—will continue to work.
This change is unrelated to other methods to import content or access licensed publisher materials. These other methods are not impacted by this change:
- Partner Cloud
- Importing or exporting a Learn course package
- Importing or exporting a Common Cartridge (an exchange format standard from 1EdTech, formerly IMS Global)
- Course auto-archive
For administrators: This change is for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed.