Xerte Server Upgrade Monday 11th April

IT services will be upgrading the PHP version on our Xerte server between 8am and 9am, Monday 11th April.

This update will ensure the ongoing reliability and security of the service. Xerte will be unavailable for the duration of the upgrade. This work will not make changes to Xerte itself.

We will blog again when Xerte is available for staff and students.

H5P new content types available

New content types are now available in H5P – a tool that enables you to easily create interactive resources to include in your Blackboard course. Some are still in beta and/or don’t have tutorials, examples or accessibility information yet, so explore them with some caution.

  • Structure Strip: provide students with a structured writing process
  • Cornell Notes: note-taking
  • AR Scavenger (beta): augmented reality content type that triggers 3D shapes or tasks when QR-code-like markers placed by authors in the real world are scanned with students’ devices.
  • Complex fill the blanks
  • Live engagement tools allow multiple people to participate. Look out for the green ‘multiple players’ icon.
    • Word cloud (beta): poll where users type in or select a response
    • Emoji Cloud (beta): poll where users select an emoji as a response
    • Multipoll (beta): poll for feedback or debates
    • The Chase (beta): engaging live competitions

You can find the new content types in the list that comes up when you select Add Content in H5P. See more information about how to create and insert H5P resources in your Blackboard course.

Posted in H5P

Xerte Upgrade Thursday 10th March

Following advice from the Xerte Development Team, IT Services will be upgrading Xerte to version 3.10.5 between 7pm and 9pm on Thursday 10th March. During this time Xerte and resources hosted on the service will be unavailable, e.g. some learning resources will not be accessible on Blackboard.

This upgrade contains important and essential security updates. We apologise for the late notice and timing; however, the upgrade is essential to ensure Xerte remains a safe and secure tool for staff and students.

Questionmark scheduled maintenance Saturday 19 March 2022 09:00- 15:00

Dear colleagues,

Questionmark Scheduled Maintenance: Saturday 19 March 2022 –  09:00-15:00

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

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

Re/Play Service Update February 2022

This post summarises the current status of the Re/Play service giving details of what is working, what has been fixed and any open issues.

Open issues are listed below and provide details of any workarounds that can be used and when a fix will be applied.

Background on incident which occurred on the 7th February and current status

A problem with access to Re/Play recordings was identified around midday on Monday 7th February. The issue involved students losing access to Re/Play materials accessed via the left-hand menu in Blackboard. This was resolved on the morning of Tuesday 8 February and has been working without incident since that time.

Please note the following features of Re/Play are currently working normally and being used intensively:

  • lecture capture and automated recordings of teaching
  • creation and upload of new materials
  • streaming of live lectures
  • student access to video content through channels, the Re/Play course menu item and via URL links to content.

Open issue

  • Links to materials copied from old courses not working and students being returned to Homepage after clicking a link to old content

There have been a small number of reports of issues when re-using content from previous years courses.

Work to resolve this issue is substantially complete. A final review was due to take place in the week commencing 21 February 2022 but has been put back due to industrial action. 

Workaround: A simple fix has been used by DEO and school staff to resolve this issue.

Resolved issues

  • Staff access to some TB1 2021 materials removed – From Monday 31st January staff may have been unable to access some TB1 21/22 materials housed in Re/Play. No content has been lost or deleted and student access is unaffected. This issue was resolved by the 24th March.
  • No access to Re/Play materials added via the “Build Content” menu option – resolved
  • Student access to materials embedded using iframes – resolved

Current situation and support

Despite the issues listed above our use of RePlay continues to be very strong, for example between 20 September and 22 November 2021 almost 253,000 hours of materials were watched by our students. This data underline the potential impact of issues and the criticality of the Re/Play service and we sincerely apologies for any stress and disruption to colleagues and our students.

For help and advice please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk

 

 

[Resolved] Slow loading of Re/Play content

We are pleased to announce that the issue with slow loading of Re/Play materials in Blackboard has been resolved. This means that all Re/Play material impacted is now accessible to students and search is not timing out.

Please accept our apologies for any difficulty this issue has caused you.

If you encounter any further issues, please email the Digital Education Office.

Fix for PowerPoint polling not opening in TurningPoint

Some TurningPoint users may have been aware that PowerPoint Polling has been greyed out and unavailable when opening TurningPoint. This can be resolved by setting a repair in the Microsoft applications. Please complete the following steps. You may need to restart your computer.

  1. Click the Windows Icon (the four small squares in the bottom left of your screen)
  2. Click Settings Cog
  3. Click Apps
  4. Scroll down until you reach Microsoft Office 365 Apps for Enterprise – en-us
  5. Select this with a single click
  6. Click Modify
  7. When prompted click Yes
  8. When prompted select Online Repair, and then click Repair. You may have to restart your computer after the repair process is complete.

Most staff on laptops should be able to apply this fix. Those on desktops may require admin rights in which case IT Services would need to be notified to assist in running the fix. Please quote Incident# 61639 in your ticket to IT services.

Helpful hint

A helpful hint when using PowerPoint polling in TurningPoint is to set TurningPoint to open when you open PowerPoint. Complete the following steps.

  1. Open TurningPoint.
  2. Click on the Settings, which is the cog icon in the bottom right of the screen.
  3. Select Software.
  4. Under application, ensure ‘Add-in always loaded’ is checked.
  5. Select Close.

If you have any questions, please contact the Digital Education Office: digital-education@bristol.ac.uk

[Resolved] No access to Re/Play materials added via the “Build Content” menu option

We are pleased to announce that the issue preventing Re/Play materials being uploaded to Blackboard using “Build Content” has been resolved. This means that all Re/Play material impacted by the incident on Monday 7 February is now accessible to students.

Please accept our apologies for any difficulty this issue has caused you.

If you encounter any further issues, please contact the IT Service Desk or email the Digital Education Office.