Author Archives: Pete Herbert

Re/Play corrective work, Wednesday 8th September

Posted by

On Wednesday 8th September at 15.30, the Digital Education Office will be making a change to the Re/Play service to allow for presentations to be added via the text box editor in Blackboard. This piece of work is minor, and there should be no noticeable impact during the work, but please note that the service will be at risk between 15.30 and 16.30 while we make this update.

This will not affect recordings in rooms, but there may be a very short break in service at the start of this time.

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

Re/Play Mosaic recording tool

Posted by

The Digital Education Office is pleased to confirm that the new Re/Play recording tool is now available in the Microsoft App Store and the Apple App Store. This replaces the Desktop Recorder, which will be out of support later in the year. To install the new tool:

  1. Type “Microsoft store” in the search bar at the bottom left of the screen (Mac users can install from the Apple App Store and jump to step 5)
  2. When this appears, click to open it
  3. Select the ‘University of Bristol’ from the top tabs
  4. Select ‘Mediasite Mosaic’ and click ‘Install’
  5. Click this Mosaic registration link and authenticate with your University login
  6. Click the ‘Register’ button.

Now, when you run Mosaic, you should see your user code at the top right of the window. Consult the Mosaic user guide to learn how to use it.

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

Problems with your installation?

Sometimes a newly installed Mosaic will have all the menus in far-East characters (Japanese). This can be fixed by installing the US Language Pack in Windows:

From Windows Settings->Time & Language->Language, add the English (United States) language pack and set it as the second language in the list of installed languages.

Instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/language-packs-for-windows-a5094319-a92d-18de-5b53-1cfc697cfca8

Important changes to Re/Play videos in Blackboard

Posted by

As part of essential work to ensure the security of our systems, the authentication for Re/Play recordings is changing. This security update will break links to videos embedded using the Re/Play embed code in Blackboard courses. 

For content added before 19 July 

The DEO and IT Services are undertaking remedial action to change existing embedded Re/Play videos into links to ensure that students retain access. This work will take place on 19 July. 

For content added after 19 July 

See options for adding videos to your course. 

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

Re/Play developments summer 2021

Posted by

This summer, for security reasons, there will be an important change to the way Re/Play videos are embedded in Blackboard. If you wish to embed any new video content in Blackboard, please use the Mash-up Tool.

The DEO will also be working with IT Services over the summer to improve Re/Play for the coming academic year. The improvements will include:

– New manual recording app – we are updating the manual recording functionality in our equipped rooms (replacing the old Ad Hoc app), this will allow for full use of in- room camera equipment.
– Enabling live streaming – to support a move to hybrid teaching, we will be enabling a service for live streaming from our equipped rooms.
– Replacement of the Desktop Recorder – the current recorder is no longer supported, so we will be deploying the new recorder, ‘Mosaic’.
– An improved user interface for browsing and selecting recordings – videos will be displayed in Blackboard as screenshot tiles rather than in a list.

Further details and user guides will follow soon. If you have any questions, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Re/Play links in Blackboard

Posted by

Following on from the work completed last week to restore the Re/Play service we are currently seeing links in the left hand menu and the tools in content areas being unavailable. We will be working to restore these across all courses but this will not be completed until later today.

If you or your students need access before this these can be switched on a course by course basis –

  • Navigate to the course and open the course management menu
  • Select Customisation and tool availability
  • Scroll down until you see the Mediasite settings and tick boxes as shown in the image below
  • Submit

NB if you have a link in the left hand menu you will need to select hide link from the contextual menu and then show link for this to become visible to students.

 

Mediasite Blackboard settings

Re/Play connection issues – 20 May update

Posted by

We are now experiencing problems with staff accessing the ‘My Re/Play’ tab in Blackboard. We would like to confirm that this has not further affected student playback – students can still view content embedded into Blackboard, but not content added using Blackboard tools.

If you need to share recordings with your students urgently, it is possible to log directly in to Re/Play

If you are not logged directly in to the Re/Play (Mediasite) Service, click on the grey ‘Authenticate’ button. You will be taken to the University’s Single Sign On page where you can log on using your normal UoB credentials. Once you have located the presentation you wish to share, click the ‘title’, then ‘share presentation’ and then the green ‘copy’ button next to ‘quick link’. You can then share this via email or as a direct link in Blackboard.

We are working with Blackboard to fix this issue overnight tonight, and we will be testing to check the fix has worked before 9 am tomorrow.

Re/Play automated recordings.

Posted by

We are still automatically recording a small number of lectures because they were set up that way when originally scheduled. Students will not be able to access these recordings as we have not made the Re/Play catalogue link visible to them in Blackboard.

If you are timetabled to teach these sessions, or are the Unit Director on a co-taught unit, you will still be receiving emails confirming that these recordings have occurred. You can just ignore these emails. We will be working to remove blank recordings.

Please remember to upload any recordings you do make to Re/Play, rather than directly to Blackboard. See uploading recordings to Re/Play for more information.

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

Please upload videos to RePlay

Posted by

If you are adding videos to your Blackboard Course or Organisation, it is important that you upload these files to RePlay then link to and/or embed them.  See: Uploading, enhancing and adding videos to your course. 

Video files should not be uploaded directly to Blackboard. This is because RePlay is optimised to host and stream videos, improving the student experience. RePlay also provides captioning and detailed information on how your materials are being used by students. 

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

Media files for teaching

Posted by

With blended learning continuing in Teaching Block 2, it is important that all video files created for teaching should be uploaded into Re/Play and not directly to Blackboard.

By using Re/Play, you are storing your content on dedicated video streaming servers which have been optimised for video delivery. In addition to this, there are other benefits to using this service over Blackboard:

  1. Dedicated video delivery with worldwide coverage
  2. Full integration with Blackboard
  3. You can control whether or not students can download your videos
  4. Access to closed captions provided by an automated speech recognition service
  5. Analytics on how your recordings are being used by your students.

Our guidance on how to access and use Re/Play can be found on our website.

Please forward this information on to any of your colleagues who will be teaching in Teaching Block 2.

If you have any questions, or wish to discuss your ideas for using video, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.