Author Archives: Tel Team

30 April 2015 – Problem with QMP

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There is currently an issue with Questionmark Perception (QMP) which is causing instability in the system. IT Services are investigating.  Users may experience errors and/or impact on performance. Users who have provided critical examination date information have been informed. If you have any other tests or exams scheduled we advise postponing these or using your backup, such as paper, until the system is back to normal. It may be necessary to take the system down at short notice, so users are advised not to use it until IT Services confirm it is back to normal.
Sorry for any disruption or inconvenience this may cause.
Updates will be provided by IT Services on the IT Services status page.

 

Data Centre network upgrade – short break in UoB services and network access between 8-9am, 14 April

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As part of work towards the development of a new Data Centre, work is needed to upgrade the current data centre network in the Computer Centre. This work will take place on Tuesday 14 April between 8.00am-9.00am. The work will result in a short break in connections affecting almost all University systems and services eg. websites, Single Sign On and will include a break in internet and wireless access. The break should be short but services are considered at risk during this time.

IT Services apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused.

Places available on TEL workshops for staff

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Places are available on TEL workshops for staff.  These include:

  • Introduction to Blackboard for administrative and support staff
  • Introduction to Blackboard for academic staff (including research staff)
  • Effective course design

For further information and booking please see the TEL website.

If there is not a workshop scheduled that meets your needs or if you would like tailored training for your School or Department focussing on particular areas please contact tel-help@bristol.ac.uk and one of our team will be in touch.

Targeted phishing attacks involving Blackboard

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We have received a number of reports this week of staff and students receiving emails which appear to have been sent from Blackboard, or other University services such as the Library, asking them to provide their log-in details. These emails are, in some cases, bypassing the spam filter by using addresses which appear to be from bristol.ac.uk. IT Services have been made aware of this and are looking into the matter. If you receive reports of this from students, please ask them not to provide any information – we never ask for log-in details – and to delete the emails. If you are unsure about the origin of a message, please let us know and we can advise you whether it is genuine or not. If you have any questions, please email TEL-help@bristol.ac.uk

Blackboard unavailable 28th January, noon until 17:00

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To ensure that we are providing the best possible service to our users, our colleagues in IT Services need to undertake some maintenance work on Blackboard.

Blackboard will not be available to users between noon and 5 pm on Wednesday the 28th January to allow this work to be completed.

If you have any questions, or critical activity (eg submission deadlines or tests requiring Blackboard) scheduled during this time, please email tel-help@bristol.ac.uk.

To help us schedule this type of work, we use the “critical dates” information provided by our users. If you have not done so already, please forward to the email address above the following information about critical activities you are running using Blackboard or Questionmark Perception:

  • date of activity
  • time of activity
  • type of activity
  • course ID
  • number of students undertaking the activity
  • contact name and phone number.

TB2 Critical Dates for Blackboard and QMP

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We are currently collecting information on critical dates for Blackboard and QMP availability for TB2. Critical dates are those dates on which it is essential that Blackboard and QMP are available, for activities such as assignment submission.

Critical date information is very important to us. We use these dates to schedule downtime for essential maintenance to Blackboard and QMP, and other systems on which they depend with the least disruption to you and your students. The information also helps us and the IT Servicedesk to more effectively support students and staff in the event of an unexpected disruption to these systems or related services (such as MyBristol).

If you have not already done so, please could you send the following information about any critical dates for TB2 to tel-help@bristol.ac.uk

– date and time of activity (e.g. online submission deadline)
– type of activity (e.g. assignment submission, online exam)
– approximate number of students involved
– course names or IDs
– staff contact details
– system used e.g. Blackboard or Turnitin

Issue when editing Turnitin assignment post date

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We are currently investigating an issue with the Turnitin integration with the Blackboard Grade Centre.

If an instructor edits the Turnitin post date while the associated column in the Blackboard Grade Centre is hidden to students, it causes the relevant column to become visible to students allowing them to see their marks and feedback.

While we test a fix to this problem, when adding a Turnitin point please set the post date to a suitable future date and do not edit this until you are happy for marks and feedback to be released. If you do need to make any changes to the post date please ensure that you check the corresponding Grade Centre column to ensure your settings have been maintained.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.