Category Archives: Staff FAQs

Submit your teaching software requests for Teaching Block 2 (TB2) to IT Services by Tomorrow (Friday 24th November)

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The final opportunity to submit your teaching software requests to IT Services for TB2 is this Friday, 24 November. If you have already been using specific software in Teaching Block 1 and wish to continue using it in Teaching Block 2, there is no need to resubmit a request for those software applications.  

See more information and access the app on the IT Services Teaching and Student Software SharePoint page. Please also complete the feedback form to help IT Services improve the Teaching Software Request App for the 2024/25 academic year. Any additional inquiries should be directed toward IT Services.

Re/Play guidance for the 2022/23 academic year

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During the summer of 2022, there have been significant improvements made to the Re/Play service as part of the DEO summer work and service improvements.

Move to a new LTI connection with Blackboard is complete

As with many of our tools, Re/Play has moved to a new, more modern, method of connecting to Blackboard (called an LTI) which will improve the stability and reliability of the system. This work has been completed successfully. For the main use of the Re/Play system, this connection will not be noticeable to users – lecture capture will work in the same way as before, and the recommended Re/Play course menu links will provide students with all of a unit’s collection of videos in the same way.

However, there are some minor changes to the way that content is manually added into Blackboard using tools like ‘Build Content’. If you add Re/Play videos to Blackboard, please refer to the information below on how to add Re/Play videos to your Blackboard course.

New guidance for using Re/Play

We have revamped and updated our Re/Play guidance to make it easier to find the help you need, when you need it. Please refer to the new Re/Play pages.

Additionally, the Central Teaching Spaces pages now lists whether rooms are Re/Play equipped (ie are set up to record lectures via the Re/Play recording boxes), or are hybrid equipped (ie have the AV equipment required to enable two-way communication for students both online and in person).

How to add Re/Play videos to your Blackboard course

Automatically recorded lectures are made available to students via the course collection, which is usually accessed from the ‘Re/Play’ link in the Blackboard left-hand menu. However, if you want to add Re/Play recordings (either lecture capture or uploaded) to specific sections of a course, there are several ways to do so. Some of these methods look a little different to last year, due to the LTI connection.

Our updated guidance ‘Re/Play videos: upload, enhance, share’ walks you through the recommended methods.

Note that these methods are recommended as they get the most from the connection between Blackboard and Re/Play, and should ensure the best student experience. This includes making sure students have the right permissions to access the videos. If you would like to use an alternative method, please contact the Digital Education Office for advice, to ensure that your students will be able to access the videos in the way that you would like them to.

How to share a direct link to a video in Re/Play

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With recent issues in Re/Play, we have had questions about sharing Re/Play videos using a direct link, and so thought it would be useful to run through the steps you need to take in order to do this.

  1. Log in to Blackboard and select My Re/Play
  2. Click on the title of the presentation you wish to share 
  3. Make sure the Who Can View setting is set to My Organisation. 
  4. Click the “Share Presentation” button 
  5. Copy the Quick Link URL 
  6. Share this link by pasting it in an email, announcement, Padlet, or wherever best for your students.

When students follow this link, they will need to select the ‘authenticate’ option when prompted. After authenticating, they should be able to view the video in a new browser window. This link will work for anyone authenticated via the University of Bristol’s Single Sign On. 

If you are experiencing problems accessing your recordings via My Re/Play and need to share them urgently, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk so that we can assist further.

Useful links for preparing online teaching

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  1. Build and maintain relationships online – 10 ideas (Word)
  2. Tips for effective and engaging breakout groups (Word)
  3. Make sure all videos are uploaded to Re/Play
  4. Pre-recording lectures
  5. Synchronous online sessions
  6. Organise Blackboard sites clearly – course design tips and guidance
  7. Make your Blackboard course available to students
  8. Tools and software available
  9. Online assessment – planning and running tests, online submissions and other types of online assessment
  10. Training and support – what’s available from the Digital Education Office, including upcoming training webinars and drop-ins

For queries, email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk

Reminder re: Reassessments video tutorials and a new FAQ

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School / faculty administrators or Student Administration Managers (SAMs) are busy setting up reassessments. This is a reminder that videos covering the process are available from BEAM:

https://uob.sharepoint.com/sites/beam/SitePages/reassessment-training.aspx

User Guides and Reference Guides:

https://uob.sharepoint.com/sites/beam/SitePages/manage-reassessment.aspx

We have a new FAQ:

How do I make my reassessment available on a specific date?

Go to the submission point, select Edit and then add the dates and times in the in the ‘Availability’ section under ‘Display After’ and ‘Display Until’ .

Please ensure you have also watched Video 6 on how to allocate reassessment groups and make your assessment visible to students.

Coronavirus – information and support for staff on moving teaching online

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The following information is for staff. Guidance for students is being developed.

  1. Self-help materials – moving teaching online. Please look at these first.
  2. Online drop-ins and training webinars.
  3. Share questions and ideas with peers through the digital education Yammer group.
  4. Queries? Email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk. Please be patient. We will respond as soon as we can, but expect to be very busy over the coming weeks.

Make Blackboard courses available to students

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As an Instructor, if under “My Courses” on your Blackboard home page  you see “not currently available” or “unavailable” after the course name, this means the course is unavailable to students. Instructors can still access and edit the course.

There are two ways to make your courses available to students

  • You can use the Quick Tools on your Blackboard Home page. Click Course Availability and turn the On/Off button next to the course to the required state.

OR

  • Click on the course
  • Under Control Panel, click on Customisation
  • Click on Properties
  • In section 3, Set availability, select Yes
  • Click Submit

If you have any problems or queries please contact Digital-Education@bristol.ac.uk

Box View Error – Unable to Load New Box View Due to Disabled Third-Party Cookies

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Blackboard have informed us of a known issue when using the new Box View service.

If you are attempting to view a document using a browser which has blocked third-party cookies, you will see a blank page, and the new Box View service and submitted document will never fully load.

The suggested solution for this is to enable third-party cookies in your browser by following these steps:

  1. Browser Settings or Preferences > Privacy
  2. Select “Always allow” (or similar)
  3. Refresh the page with the viewer on it
  4. Return to Browser Settings or Preferences and revert to the default of “Allow from websites I visit” (or similar).

There are more specific instructions for each browser here.

If third-party cookies must be disabled, some browsers allow for domain exceptions to be added. Please Allow [*.]box.com (Chrome) or https://box.com (Firefox).