Before exams, coursework or timed assessments are marked, schools should please ensure that Blackboard Grade Centre columns are hidden from students until marks and feedback are ready to be released. To prevent students from seeing marks too early, you should also ensure Total and Weighted Total columns are hidden. Check a column header for a circle with a red line through it which indicates the column is hidden from students.

If it is not hidden, and you need to hide it, click the down arrow next to the column header and select Hide from students (on/off).

If this option isn’t available, or if the column has a green tick next to it, you will need to hide it in a different way:

1. Click the dropdown arrow next to the column name.
2. Click Edit Column Information.
3. Scroll to the bottom and set Show this column to students to No.
4. Click Submit.

For more information on administering Electronic Management of Assessment workflows, please see our EMA guidance page.

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

An update to Blackboard today has resolved the issue with equations not displaying properly in some browsers. If you still find that some equations are not displaying correctly for you, please clear the cache of images and downloaded files in your web browser (using, for example, these instructions).

An issue was identified at around 5 pm on Friday where, for some people, Blackboard pages were not displaying properly in their web browser. The issue was reported to Blackboard, who took steps that fixed the issue on Saturday morning. Anyone who is still experiencing this issue should clear the cache in their web browser (using, for example, these instructions), which will allow the pages to display correctly again.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this issue. If you have any questions, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

A display issue has been discovered when using the MathType equation editor within the Blackboard text editor. If you are currently using either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge as your browser, you will notice that any equation, once published, will be displayed as plain text. 

It is recommended that staff and students use Firefox when required to view any mathematical equations, as the issue is not present in this browser.

This issue will be fixed in the next Blackboard update scheduled for 6 October.

Qwickly Course Tools, in Blackboard, has now received an essential system update. This tool allows users to make changes to multiple courses, such as:

• changing course availability
• posting announcements
• sending emails.

The update has improved accessibility and replaced the main navigation with a new left-hand menu. The link to Qwickly Course Tools will appear differently on Blackboard’s home page:

Our documentation has been updated to reflect the changes.

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

The essential system update to Qwickly Course Tools in Blackboard will now be taking place on Wednesday 31 August.

The update will improve accessibility and replace the main navigation menu with a new left-hand menu to make the system easier for instructors to use. The Qwickly settings have also been reconfigured to further simplify use. Details of the changes can be found on our Service Improvements page. Qwickly will remain available to staff throughout the update.

Some students may have lost access to Blackboard between 9 pm and 11 pm on Monday evening, due to central student records incorrectly showing these students as having left the University. At 11 pm, IT Services re-enabled the student enrolments manually and have temporarily disabled updating Blackboard from central student records while the root cause of the issue is being investigated. We apologise to any students who may have been affected.

The summer Blackboard “rollover” process creates a copy of a previous year’s unit course (where one exists) for the new academic year, with all the teaching materials and files. (If your school is introducing a new or refreshed Blackboard template, though, this may not be the case.)

Preparing your new Blackboard course is a great opportunity for you to refresh it by removing duplicate or obsolete content and implementing students’ feedback, to enhance their experience and their effective use of the digital learning environment.

Read the Guidance for staff on refreshing Blackboard courses for more information, or contact the DEO at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk .

The annual “rollover” of Blackboard courses is now complete, and the 2022/23 Blackboard courses are now available to access.  

The courses are copies of the previous year’s courses, where those exist, including any template. New units, or units that have had a change of unit code, will be generated as copies of the school’s template, or as a generic template if your school does not have its own template. Please contact the Digital Education Office if you are interested in adopting a school template for the 23/24 academic year.  

Students are automatically enrolled onto the courses for the programme and units that they are registered to in SITS. Instructor enrolments are copied from the previous year’s courses; instructors will need to be manually enrolled onto any new courses. Please contact your school office if you to be added to any new Blackboard courses.  

Programme-level courses and organisations are persistent and do not roll over.  

The Assessment, Submission and Feedback areas of the new courses will be cleared of assessments, along with the Grade Centres, ready for the coming year’s assessments. Guidance on setting up assessments can be found on BEAM.

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