Category Archives: Blackboard

The look of the Blackboard submissions page is changing

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The interface for Blackboard submissions such as essays, some timed assessments and some exams is changing on June 2, 2023. There is no change to functionality.

After June 2, if students need to upload a submission, this option will be contained within a ‘concertina menu’. This makes the interface less confusing, allowing them to select the options they need without having to navigate the options they don’t.

Below are three images: one showing the current interface and two showing the new interface.

Old submission point: this is the old submission point for Blackboard which has all upload options on display.

The old interface has all the ‘Attach Files’, ‘Write Submission’ and ‘Add Comments’ functions on display.

New submission point (unexpanded): the new submission points have three clickable options: one called "Create Submission", one called "Upload Files", and one called "Add Comments"

The new interface places the same features behind concertina menus.

New submission point (expanded): once the "Upload Files" option is clicked, three buttons are revealed; one for "Browse Local Files", one for "Browse Content Collection", and one for "Browse Cloud Service". 

Once expanded with a click, the same options are available.

[Open] Footnotes in Blackboard submissions can be rearranged unless in PDF

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An error has been identified in Blackboard that can affect the display of submitted documents containing footnotes and formatting styles. The error rearranges the footnote order, affecting the marker’s view of the document. The Blackboard developers are aware of the error, and are working on a fix. In the meantime, we recommend that students submit documents in PDF where they contain footnotes.

This error affects the DEO’s “Blackboard Online” workflow, and we have updated the recommendations in our EMA – Blackboard Online Workflow guidance accordingly.

[Closed] Blackboard access disruption for some Internet Service Providers

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Blackboard has performed maintenance work this morning to improve the reliability and robustness of their network. For some Internet Service Providers (ISPs), this work is taking time to propagate through their networks, resulting in some people having difficulty in accessing Blackboard globally. The issue should resolve itself in time. In the meantime, if you are having difficulty accessing Blackboard, you may be able to resolve this by using a different ISP; for example, you could:

  • use a mobile phone as a hotspot
  • use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
  • move to a different location (such as on campus) to connect to a different network.

[Closed] Persistent Blackboard access disruption

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The Blackboard access issue from yesterday, which was fixed by Blackboard at source, is persisting for some users today – notably, people attempting to access Blackboard on campus. IT Services is investigating why this is the case, supported by Blackboard. In the meantime, you may be able to access Blackboard using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or by using a mobile phone as a hotspot.

If you are still encountering problems on your own device, you can attempt to resolve them by flushing your DNS, using the instructions found on the IT Services status page.

[Resolved] Intermittent Blackboard access disruption

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From around 8 am today, a global Domain Name Server issue disrupted access to Blackboard (and linked) services for some users, while others were unaffected. Whether or not you were affected was due to the route taken through the Internet from your computer to the Blackboard servers. Blackboard put a fix in place soon after the incident was observed, but due to the nature of the issue, this has taken some time to propagate to all users. Blackboard has informed us that a normal service should be restored for all users by 5 pm today.

[Resolved] Students not receiving submission receipts (and other Blackboard issues)

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Between around 12.00 and 1.15 today, a global Domain Name Server issue affected the blackboard.com domain, meaning that some services that need to access this domain were unable to. These included accessing Turnitin and Qwickly Attendance through Blackboard, and there was also a delay in submission receipts arriving (due to domain checks in mail servers). This issue has now been resolved, and all services should be working normally.

Access to the University’s Blackboard environment was unaffected.