Author Archives: Jenny Thistlethwaite

DEO drop-ins and webinars for staff

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To support you in teaching and assessment online, the DEO is continuing to run daily drop-ins as well as subject-specific webinars for colleagues who teach or support teaching.  These can be found by logging into Develop and using the topic “Learning and Teaching” or by entering “Digital Education Office”  in the search box.  Alternatively, if you are interested in a specific course simply enter the name in the search box.

Upcoming sessions include:

  • Blackboard basics
  • Re/Play: managing video content
  • Turnitin for administrators

We also run a number of self-paced courses.  These include:

  • Digitally Ready for administrative staff
  • Mentimeter – learn how to engage your audience and create exciting presentations
  • Multiple Choice Questions: principles and practice
  • Multiple Choice Tests in Blackboard: uses, ideas and hands-on practice

You can find details on how to access drop-ins on our Events page.

If you have any queries, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Change in Blackboard pop-up support

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The tool we use to provide pop-up support and guidance within Blackboard is changing on Thursday 1 August. This means that the pop-up messages you sometimes see in Blackboard may look a little different, but can still be easily removed by clicking on the ‘x’ in the top right-hand corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please note that this also means you will no longer see ‘Eesysoft course reports’ within Blackboard. If you require additional data that was previously available within the course reports, please contact the Digital Education Office on digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Additionally, you will no longer see an option for “UoB support” within Blackboard. This previously appeared in the bottom right-hand corner of Blackboard when you clicked on the question mark in a speech bubble, which is shown below. You will still see the question mark and can access Blackboard’s help pages by selecting ‘Blackboard support’ and going into ‘Blackboard Help’.

Question mark in Blackboard leading to Blackboard support

 

 

 

 

Please refer to our online guides or contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk if you have any queries.

Updates to Padlet Moderation and Roles

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Padlet has recently made some changes which may impact on your usage.

Safety Net moderation
Padlet has introduced a moderation feature called ‘Safety Net’ to block inappropriate comments. This will not alter any existing Padlets, but will impact on new Padlets. By default, all new Padlets are now given the moderation setting ‘Auto’, which applies the feature.  If a post is considered to be inappropriate, the Padlet owner will be emailed for approval before the Padlet is made publicly available. If working in a live environment, the post will be flagged directly on the Padlet for the owner to approve.  If you find that Padlet is blocking comments you wish to include, the moderation settings can be altered in the ‘Content’ section of your Padlet’s settings.

Learn more about this in Padlet’s blog or read our guidance in order to learn how to change your moderation settings.

Change to roles in Padlet
Padlet has introduced a new role called “Commenter”, which will only allow visitors to comment on posts and not to edit or add new posts. Alongside this, anyone with the “Reader” permission will no longer be able to to comment.

Xerte upgrade 4th June – MCG feedback issue identified.

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An issue has been identified with Xerte, in which it fails to show feedback for multiple-choice questions in limited circumstances. To resolve this issue we are planning an upgrade to the latest version on 4th June between 8am and 1pm.

During this time, Xerte resources will be unavailable to staff and students. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

Eesysoft/Impact course reports updated

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We are pleased to announce that the Eesysoft/Impact course reports have now been updated and are available to use.

You can access course reports for a Blackboard course by going to the ‘Course Tools’ menu within the course and selecting ‘Impact course reports 1.3’.

 

 

 

Further details on course reports can be found in our guide to ‘Checking and improving student engagement‘.

Upcoming Eesysoft/Impact update

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On Monday 27 November there will be an update coming to the way that we access ‘EesySoft course reports’.  This is due to changes made by the supplier that have temporarily caused loss of the function.

Once the update occurs, you will be able to access course reports for a Blackboard course by going to the ‘Course Tools’ menu within the course and selecting ‘Impact course reports 1.3’.

 

 

 

Further details on course reports can be found in our guide to ‘Checking and improving student engagement‘.

We apologise for any inconvenience that you are currently experiencing.