Category Archives: Service announcements

Upcoming McGraw Hill LTI upgrade

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Changes to the way you access McGraw Hill content.
Due to McGraw Hill upgrading the integration between Blackboard and their content we will be upgrading to LTI Advantage in the week commmencing 6th Nov. There will be a slight change to the way you have to set up and access the McGraw Hill content within your course.

Currently there are a couple of ways to add/enable content from McGraw Hill, but this will be changing to a single link which will be visible via the Build Content menu.

McGraw Hill LTIA link example

With the upgrading of the integration come the following:

  • Users will be able to access the tool from the Build Content menu rather than the Partner Content menu or Tools menu. Users will no longer have to create an account as this will be automatic for new users.
  • Consistent LMS integration functionality for McGraw Hill Connect®, which includes single sign-on (SSO), assignment-level linking, and gradebook sync (no more manual syncing!)
  • Easier setup for both students and faculty
  • Improved Connect grade sync functionality with re-sync at student and assignment level and automatic ‘0’ after due date
  • Meets industry-wide standards and roadmap for easier updates to stay current with the latest technology

Current users will be aided in pairing McGraw Hill content by representatives from McGraw Hill, who  will provide documentation for students accessing Connect from Blackboard.

[Open] Re/Play intermittent folder search results

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You may be experiencing intermittent issues with searching within Re/Play when adding presentations to Unit Collections, or searching for unit folders to locate presentations to add to Blackboard content areas. As these issues are intermittent, you may have success trying again at another time.

The supplier is aware of this issue and is working to bring the search back to normal functioning. We will update this blog with any further developments.

Student playback of videos is not affected by this issue.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us by emailing digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Questionmark OnDemand Scheduled Maintenance, Saturday 21 October 2023 09.00-15.00

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Questionmark will be carrying out scheduled maintenance on Saturday 21 October 2023 between 09:00 and 15:00.

The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy system updates to ensure the ongoing reliability, security and up time of the platform.

During this time users may experience service disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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

[Closed] Imported groups missing for Qwickly Attendance

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There has been a problem with importing groups from the timetabling system, Syllabus+, into Blackboard. IT Services has been investigating the problem and hopes to have a solution soon. In the meantime, staff will not be able to take attendance with Qwickly using these imported groups, although manually-created groups will be available for taking attendance as usual. There is also the option to take attendance using the ‘All Students’ option in Qwickly:

Alternatively, you can take a paper record of attendance and use the ‘Past Time’ option in Qwickly to enter the attendance at a later date.

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

Changes to bulk upload for Turnitin similarity reports

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Turnitin has just informed us of its decision to cease support for assignment submissions on behalf of non-enrolled students, effective from 19 September. Submission on behalf of non-enrolled students is an integral part of the workflow that allowed instructors to bulk upload Blackboard assignments to turnitinuk.com to generate similarity reports.

From 19 September, student administrators who wish to continue to use this workflow will have to manually associate each submission with an enrolled student, following upload. If this is not feasible – due to large cohort size, for example – we recommend switching to using Turnitin assignments for student submissions, rather than Blackboard assignments. (If the submission requires multiple files per student, you will need two submission points: one via a Turnitin assignment, to generate the similarity report, and another via a Blackboard assignment, to manage the additional files.)

For group submissions, files must be submitted via Blackboard assignments; you will then need to download one file per group using the Marks and Feedback tool. Afterwards, you will upload these files to Turnitin and manually associate each of them with one group member in order to generate a similarity report.

More detailed guides for the options suggested here will be made available shortly.

If your school will be affected by Turnitin’s decision, please contact the DEO to notify us of the number of units that will be affected, by emailing us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk

Re/Play updates and improvements

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Re/PlayAs part of the ongoing work reviewing and improving the Re/Play service, the DEO has upgraded Re/Play over the summer to the newer, more robust LTI 1.3 version. The core service of automatic lecture capture will still work in the same way and there are many improvements, but there are some changes that may affect existing videos and your future work. 

The key changes are: 

  • Streamlined and improved workflows to add Re/Play content directly within Blackboard: You should ensure you are familiar with these workflows for adding content to Blackboard. 
  • Improved integration of permissions using Blackboard roles: Provided you follow the revised workflows, this will ensure your students get the best experience as it uses their Blackboard roles to grant the correct access to Re/Play content. In addition, it enables all instructors on a course to find and edit a unit’s recordings. 
  • Improved search functionality, allowing for filtering of search results: You should familiarise yourself with these changed filters as you may need to adjust them to find what you are looking for. 
  • Older content may need review: 
    • Make sure any older content added to Blackboard is working as expected, and re-add anything that isn’t playing for you. This is relevant for rolled over content which was added prior to June 2022.  
    • If you used the now out-of-support ‘iframe embed’ workflow (adding recordings using the html editor), replace those with the new ‘embedded player’ option wherever possible. 

We have updated our Re/Play guidance – Re/Play videos: upload, enhance, share – to include more details on all of the above.

We recommend you bookmark this link to refer to as you get used to the changes. 

In addition, we have responded to the feedback and consultations we have had with staff and students in the Digital Learning Environment review focus on Re/Play and have made some further improvements to the lecture capture experience.   

  • Lectures will now be recorded by default in the higher framerate, meaning that they will capture handwriting or animations smoothly without the need to request a ‘screencast’ in advance 
  • Recordings will be made available to students after 24 rather than 48 hours 

Where to get more help and training 

You can find all of the guidance for getting the best from Re/Play via the DEO’s Re/Play webpages. Re/Play | Digital Education Office | University of Bristol  

There are also a number of Re/Play related workshops and training sessions planned for the start of term. 

DEO have new Re/Play training which you can find and book via Develop. https://develop.bristol.ac.uk/ilp/pages/description.jsf?menuId=1108#/users/@self/catalogues/1464674/coursetemplates/3160151/description  

IT Services have user guides and run sessions on the audio visual equipment in rooms. 

  

 

[Resolved] Turnitin delay in similarity report generation

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Turnitin have now informed us that the issue causing a delay in Similarity Report generation has been resolved.

Starting at 6:49 AM today, an unexpected service incident occurred in Turnitin Feedback Studio, causing a delay in the generation of similarity reports. The impact of this issue was limited and most Turnitin users were unaffected.

If you have any questions or concerns about this issue, or if you have been affected, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Closed] Turnitin delay in similarity report generation

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Turnitin Feedback Studio is currently experiencing an unexpected service incident. Students remain able to submit work but may experience a delay in receiving a Similarity Report.

Further information is available on the Turnitin status page.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us by emailing digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.