Category: Blackboard

Qwickly Course Tools is now working correctly again. This tool allows users to make changes to multiple courses at once, such as:

• changing course availability
• posting announcements
• sending emails.

Qwickly Course Tools can be accessed from the home page in Blackboard.

Qwickly Course Tools is currently experiencing an issue which is preventing users from updating course availability and from posting announcements for multiple courses at once.  The issue has been reported to Qwickly and we are working on a solution.

Note that it is still possible to change course availability and to post announcements in individual courses using the standard methods within Blackboard.

Occasionally users may find equations do not display correctly in Blackboard. If this occurs you should clear your browser cache, then refresh/reload Blackboard.  Clearing the cache can also be done in advance as a preventative measure once you have logged into Blackboard eg if students are taking a test which includes equations 

Firefox is unaffected by these occasional equation display issues. 

How to clear your cache

Chrome

1. Click on the group of three dots in the top-right corner of the Chrome window to open the menu.
2. Select ‘Settings’ from the menu.
3. On the ‘Settings’ screen, select  ‘Privacy and security’
4. Click on ‘Clear browsing data’.
5. On the ‘Clear browsing data’ screen, tick the box next to ‘Cached images and files’, set the time range to ‘All time’ and click ‘Clear data’.
6. Close down the Settings tab and refresh/reload Blackboard.

Microsoft Edge

Instructions for other browsers on how to clear the cache should be available from the Help section on the browser menu, or its online support pages.

Apologies for any inconvenience. The DEO is continuing to work with Blackboard on a permanent fix.

We are aware that a small number of people are getting an error message when they try to access Blackboard, such as “This site can’t be reached”. We are investigating the issue with the assistance of IT Services and Blackboard, and will update this blog when we have further information. In the meantime, anyone who is affected by this may be able to restore access by using the University’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) or the Windows Virtual Desktop.

The issue appears to originate in BT’s nameservers, so only people using BT as their Internet Service Provider should be affected.

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.