Category: Blackboard

Stream is changing

Posted on by digitaleducation

Microsoft is updating Stream on 10 July, moving from Stream Classic to Stream (on SharePoint). This will affect anyone using Microsoft Unit Teams to record teaching sessions.

The main changes are:

  • Recordings will now be stored directly in OneDrive or SharePoint
  • There will no longer be the ability to edit your video directly in OneDrive/SharePoint, but you can download it for editing in other tools, such as Camtasia
  • It is no longer possible to create an embed link to your recording, but you can get a link to the recording to share with people within the University.

Added features

There are some additional features to this update that may be useful to you in your teaching, including:

  • Support for chapters, to make it easier to move through a video
  • The ability to add and reply to comments alongside the video
  • Improved analytics – weekly viewership (unique & total) and viewership retention
  • Improved video thumbnails, with any point of the video able to be used as a thumbnail.

The Microsoft roadmap for Stream has more detailed information on the additional features.

Please note:

  • One-to-one or group calls and scheduled meeting recordings will be saved in the OneDrive account of the University attendee who started the recording. In order to make sure that this is not one of your students, you can set access and presenter options.
  • Unit Teams meeting recordings and files will be automatically stored in the SharePoint folder for the Unit Team.

Folder permissions:

  • All Unit Teams have been configured so that only owners can share files or recordings both externally and internally. Any attempt to share files by members of the team will send a request to the owners for approval.
  • Non-Unit Teams have been configured so that sharing files or recordings externally can only be done by an owner, but members can share files within the organisation.
  • Please also see the IT Services instructions on how to manage permissions.

Further information on the Stream changes can be found on the IT services web pages.

2022-23 Blackboard course creation

Posted on by Hanrahan Highland

After August 1, new Blackboard courses will be created for the 2022-23 taught units. These will be a copy of the previous year’s course, where that exists, including any template.

New units, or units that have had a change of unit code or teaching block, will be generated as a copy of the school’s template, or as blank Blackboard course if your school does not have a template. Please contact the DEO 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 course; 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.

Details of the summer work being carried out by the DEO can be found on our Service Improvements page.

Qwickly Attendance updated

Posted on by Jenny Thistlethwaite

Qwickly Attendance has now received an essential system update. This has improved accessibility and replaced the main navigation menu with a new left-hand menu. The settings have also been updated to make the system easier to use. All documentation has now been updated to reflect the changes.

The update we previously announced for Qwickly Course Tools has now been postponed by the supplier and further details will be announced once they are received.

No Blackboard downtime this year

Posted on by Hanrahan Highland

Unlike in previous years, there will be no summer downtime for Blackboard this year. This is because, last summer, we moved our Blackboard system onto a ‘cloud’ infrastructure. This means our system can automatically scale to meet demand, and can also receive bug fixes and upgrades more quickly, without any downtime.

Details of the summer work being carried out by the DEO can be found on our Service Improvements page.

System update for Qwickly Attendance and Course Tools, 29 June

Posted on by Hanrahan Highland

We will be receiving an essential system update for the Qwickly Attendance and Qwickly Course Tools in Blackboard on Wednesday 29 June. 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.

Campus Pack no longer available

Posted on by Jenny Thistlethwaite

The Campus Pack features in Blackboard have now been switched off, as the product is no longer supported by the supplier. This means it is no longer possible to add new Campus Pack items into courses.

If you already used Campus Pack within an existing course, you will still be able to view the content. Students will also be able to view and export existing items.

For further details on this change and instructions on exporting content, see our Service Improvements page.

Bulk uploading marks and feedback processing page not completing

Posted on by Dan Wilson

When bulk uploading marks and feedback, some users have reported that the processing page appears to never complete. Our testing has shown that, despite this, the upload itself does actually complete and can be accessed via the “Uploaded Packages” page. We therefore recommend that you leave the processing page for slightly longer than the usual upload time before clicking on the ‘Click here’ link to access the “Uploaded Packages” page.

Blackboard has been informed of this issue.

If you find you are experiencing any issues with the bulk upload tool, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Campus Pack in Blackboard frozen from 24 June

Posted on by Hanrahan Highland

The Campus Pack features in Blackboard will become unavailable from 24 June, because the tool is no longer being supported by the supplier. Once Campus Pack is unavailable it will not be possible to add new Campus Pack items into courses; Blackboard’s own blogs and wikis can still be used, of course.

If you have a Blackboard course or organisation that already contains Campus Pack features, you will still be able to access these as you can at present. Students will also be able to access them to view old posts unless you choose to make Campus Pack unavailable in your course.

From the summer of 2023, the deprecation of Blackboard building blocks will mean that Campus Pack features will not be accessible at all. If you want to download your own copies of Campus Pack items over the coming year, please follow the directions in our ‘Saving content from Campus Pack‘ guide.

Details of these changes, and the rest of the DEO summer work, can be found on our Service Improvements page.