Author Archives: digitaleducation

SafeAssign Maintenance, Monday 26 August

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On Monday, 26 August, between 10:00 and 13:00, SafeAssign will undergo a maintenance update.

SafeAssign users may experience disruptions for up to two hours while the service is temporarily unavailable. Once the maintenance is complete, Blackboard submissions using SafeAssign will be processed with a delay. However, no data loss is expected.

This downtime is necessary for a backend infrastructure update as SafeAssign transitions to a new system.

If you have any questions about this update, please refer to the Blackboard status page, or email us at digital.education@bristol.ac.uk.

 

[Resolved] Turnitin AI detection interruption of service

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Earlier this month, we discovered that some AI writing detection reports in Turnitin had not been generated. Upon investigation, Turnitin confirmed that this was due to an error at their end, and that the issue occurred between 31 July and 5 August.

Today, Turnitin engineers reported that they have regenerated the AI reports for submissions made during that period.

We have spot checked some of the affected submission points and can confirm that the AI reports have now been successfully generated.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and are grateful for your patience while we were working to resolve this issue. If you have any queries, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Resolved] Turnitin service incident, 9 August

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The service has now been restored.

Between 7 August at 21:00 and 9 August at 17:15, Feedback Studio users may have experienced intermittent access to Similarity Reports, encountered issues with downloading copies of the reports and/or digital receipts, or noticed that Similarity Reports were stuck in processing. Further information is available on the Turnitin status page.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Closed] Turnitin service incident, 9 August

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Turnitin has informed us that the Feedback Studio is currently experiencing an unexpected service incident.

During this time, users may intermittently find that Similarity Reports are stuck processing or encounter issues when attempting to download a copy of a Similarity Report and/or digital receipt.

Further information is available on the Turnitin status page.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us by emailing digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Open] PowerPoint files with grouped images display incorrectly in Blackboard Annotate

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An error has been identified in Blackboard Annotate that can affect the display of submitted Microsoft Power Point (PPTX) documents containing grouped images. The error rearranges the images displayed in the Annotate interface, affecting the marker’s view of the document.

Blackboard developers are aware of the error. However, they cannot fix the issue, as it depends on third-party software beyond their control.

This error affects the DEO’s “Blackboard Online” workflow, and we have updated the recommendations in our EMA – Blackboard Online Workflow guidance to remind users that Blackboard Annotate works better when files are submitted in PDF format. While students can still submit documents in other formats, we cannot guarantee that footnotes, grouped images, and styling will be displayed correctly.

[Closed] Turnitin AI detection interruption of service

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It has come to our attention that the AI writing detection reports in Turnitin LTI were not generated for submissions made between 1 August and 5 August. We are currently investigating this issue with the supplier and will provide updates as soon as we receive further information from their support team.

In the meantime, if your course has been affected and you need to regenerate these reports, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk, providing a list of the affected courses and their respective submission points.

Timestamp column in Turnitin Feedback Studio

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Turnitin has resolved a formatting issue that was affecting the display of information in the assignment inbox. This improvement has resulted in the removal of timestamps from the ‘uploaded’ column. Submission timestamps are now visible only when hovering over the submission date or by downloading the Grade Report from the assignment inbox.

Please note that late submissions will still be highlighted in red.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

 

New Turnitin support centre

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Turnitin has released a new Turnitin Help Center. Users will be able to access past cases through the old support centre until 20 September 2024. After this date, access to the old support centre will no longer be available.

If you have any questions about this change, or would like to know more, please refer to Turnitin’s Frequently Asked Questions page, or contact us at digital.education@bristol.ac.uk.

SafeAssign Maintenance 31 July

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On Wednesday 31 July, between 09:00 – 11:00 BST, SafeAssign will undergo a maintenance update.

Learn clients will experience impacts for up to seven hours. All submissions during this time will be queued and will be processed at the end of the maintenance period.

This downtime is essential for a backend infrastructure update, as Blackboard is transitioning to a new infrastructure.

If you have any questions about this update, please refer to the Blackboard status page or email us at digital.education@bristol.ac.uk.