[Closed] MathType Equation rendering issue in Blackboard text editor

Posted on by digitaleducation

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.

Questionmark scheduled maintenance Saturday 17 September 2022 09:00- 21:00

Posted on by Roberta Perli

Dear colleagues,

Questionmark Scheduled Maintenance: Saturday 17 September 2022 –  09:00-21:00

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 all users may experience service disruptions. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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

Training and drop-ins from the Digital Education Office

Posted on by Souwoon Cho

DEO training now on Develop

From September 2022, training courses run by the Digital Education Office (DEO) will be listed on Develop, the University’s learning and development platform for staff.  Academic, administrative, professional services staff and PGRs who teach can now search for and enrol onto DEO training courses by logging into Develop. In the Catalogue, you can filter by Digital Education Office under Topics or the DEO under department.

DEO daily drop-ins moves to Teams 

The Digital Education Office (DEO) will continue to run daily online drop-in sessions for staff, as we regularly receive feedback from colleagues that these are useful.

From the 5 September 2022, these will run via Microsoft Teams, to align with other standard University online meetings, instead of Blackboard Collaborate. Drop-in session times will remain 3-4pm from Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays and University closure days).

A new link will be available on the DEO events pages for staff to access the drop-in sessions. 

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

System update to Qwickly Course Tools now completed

Posted on by Jenny Thistlethwaite

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:Qwickly Course Tools link

Our documentation has been updated to reflect the changes.

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

New LTI tools for adding Re/Play content in Blackboard

Posted on by Pete Herbert

As part of the ongoing work by the Digital Education Office to improve the Re/Play service, the methods you use to add Re/Play content to Blackboard are changing.

We will be decommissioning some of the methods staff may be familiar with, and have added a new method which improves usability and the search function. We have updated our guidance to show the new method. Content added in other ways and content from previous years will still work. This work will be completed by mid-September and we will post updates to this blog as the work progresses.

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

DEO supports the development of student digital capabilities 2022/23

Posted on by Naomi Beckett

The Digital Education Office (DEO) will be piloting a new tool to support the development of student digital capabilities in 22/23. The Jisc Digital discovery tool provides students with opportunities to reflect on skills, identify areas for improvement and be directed to the support and help they need for their time studying, as well as with any future life or career endeavours. As an institution, the tool will enable us to map existing support for digital capabilities and discover gaps in our provision. This project will be led by the Student Digital Learning Experience team within the DEO.

Students can keep up to date with the project by subscribing to our student-facing DigiTalk blog. The Student Digital learning Experience team are also developing resources, such as our Digitally Skilled video series, which are based on the Jisc digital capability framework, and can be found on our Student Support Learning Online page.

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

New Turnitin LTI integration in Blackboard from September 2022

Posted on by digitaleducation

As a reminder, the University will be switching to a new Turnitin integration with Blackboard, called Turnitin LTI, from the 1st September 2022.

Similarity reports and the Feedback Studio used for marks and feedback will remain the same but some other aspects will be changing. Improvements include an enhanced interface, an analytics dashboard and the ability to distribute anonymous marking using a single submission point. Other differences include a slight change to the way Instructors set up and access new LTI Turnitin assignments and downloadable onscreen digital receipts for students rather than emails.

For more information, please see the Turnitin Transition projects page.

System update to Qwickly Course Tools

Posted on by Jenny Thistlethwaite

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 temporary loss of access to Blackboard – Monday 15 August 9-11pm

Posted on by Dan Wilson

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.