Check Edge and Chrome are up-to-date if using Turnitin
Previously we reported that staff were unable to create or edit some Turnitin assignments and that students were sometimes unable to resubmit assignments.
We are pleased to say that Google have resolved this issue in their latest update for Chrome and Edge. The error never affected non-Chromium browsers such as Firefox and Safari.
We have asked that students who are submitting work to Turnitin ensure their Edge or Chrome browsers are up-to-date, or use a non-Chromium browser such as Firefox or Safari. If they don’t, they may find their ‘resubmit’ button doesn’t work.
For staff, the same advice applies to creating or editing Turnitin assignments with Post-Dates more than two weeks after the Due Date.
We apologise for the disruption caused. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk
Issue affecting some videos in Blackboard
We have been made aware of an issue whereby some videos embedded in Blackboard will not play. This issue only affects a particular type of video – those embedded directly into Blackboard using an older, deprecated method – and doesn’t affect videos that are hosted in Re/Play. We are updating the broken videos we know of with a working link, and are also working with Blackboard on addressing the root cause of the issue.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.
Blackboard deep link generators – old links may need updating
Our Deep Link Generator and External User Deep Link Generator allow you to create direct links to Blackboard Course and Organisation pages, which will send people to the correct page even if they are not already logged in to Blackboard. These are primarily used for emailing links to specific pages in Blackboard to students and staff.
We have had to update these tools, following a recent change to the authentication method used by the University. Please note that you may need to refresh your browser cache to see the updated version of the tool.
Any links created prior to the August 3rd using these tools will need to be updated. You can do this by recreating the links using the updated tools: Deep Link Generator, External User Deep Link Generator
If you are not sure whether a link needs updating, you can test it by clicking on the link (broken links will always result in an error). If you don’t have the original link, you can find it by following the simple steps in this video:
If you have a large number of links that need updating, or have any questions, please contact us via digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.
Blackboard migration and upgrade complete
We are pleased to announce that the planned migration and upgrade of Blackboard has been completed ahead of schedule, and Blackboard is now available again to all staff and students. The migration means that, from now on, no downtime will be needed for Blackboard upgrades and patches.
If you have any questions, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.
Questionmark Scheduled Maintenance: 21 August 2021 09:00-21:00
Dear colleagues,
Questionmark Scheduled Maintenance: 21 August 2021 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
Update on Turnitin issue affecting assignment creation, resubmission and download in Chrome/Edge
Previously we reported that users were unable to create or edit some Turnitin assignments. Following further reports of disruption to other Turnitin features, Turnitin have now added this issue to their Known Issues page.
An update to how Google Chrome (and other browsers based on ‘Chromium’ eg Edge) handles popups has caused problems with some of the Turnitin functionality. The affected features are:
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- You are unable to create or edit assignments to have post-dates more than the default amount of 2 weeks after the due date.
- The resubmit button is sometimes unresponsive and unable to be used.
- Submissions are unable to be bulk-downloaded from the assignment inbox. They can still be downloaded individually.
We have been assured that Turnitin are working on resolving this as a priority.
Workaround: The error does not affect non-Chromium browsers such as Firefox and Safari. It also does not affect previous versions of Chrome or Edge. If you have access to any of these, please use them to carry out the above actions.
We apologise for the disruption caused. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk
Re/Play Mosaic recording tool
The Digital Education Office is pleased to confirm that the new Re/Play recording tool is now available in the Microsoft App Store and the Apple App Store. This replaces the Desktop Recorder, which will be out of support later in the year. To install the new tool:
- Type “Microsoft store” in the search bar at the bottom left of the screen (Mac users can install from the Apple App Store and jump to step 5)
- When this appears, click to open it
- Select the ‘University of Bristol’ from the top tabs
- Select ‘Mediasite Mosaic’ and click ‘Install’
- Click this Mosaic registration link and authenticate with your University login
- Click the ‘Register’ button.
Now, when you run Mosaic, you should see your user code at the top right of the window. Consult the Mosaic user guide to learn how to use it.
If you have any questions, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.
Problems with your installation?
Sometimes a newly installed Mosaic will have all the menus in far-East characters (Japanese). This can be fixed by installing the US Language Pack in Windows:
From Windows Settings->Time & Language->Language, add the English (United States) language pack and set it as the second language in the list of installed languages.
Instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/language-packs-for-windows-a5094319-a92d-18de-5b53-1cfc697cfca8
Summer work on Blackboard, Re/Play and Teams for Education – new features and scheduled downtime
Over the summer we will be working to improve our systems and introduce new features. Blackboard, Re/Play and Teams for Education will all see improvements and new features. Please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk if you have any questions.
Blackboard
- Migration onto cloud servers – this will scale the capacity of the system to meet demand, enable us to receive bug fixes and upgrades more quickly, and eliminate the need for any downtime for future upgrades and fixes.
- Improved text editor – key features include: better copy-and-paste, improved editing from mobile devices, improved accessibility, display computer code snippets, easy text wrapping around images.
- Reusable comments bank – a new feature will allow individual markers to maintain a bank of reusable comments
As previously announced, Blackboard will be unavailable from 9pm on Friday 30 July to 9am on Tuesday 3 August while the migration to the cloud server takes place. For further information see our Blackboard developments summer 2021 project page.
Re/Play
- New manual recording app – in our equipped rooms you will now be able to make full use of in-room camera equipment
- Live streaming – a new service for live streaming from our equipped rooms
- New Desktop Recorder – we will be introducing a new desktop app called Mosaic
We have also fixed a security problem relating to embedded content – embedded videos added before 19 July 2021 have been replaced with direct links, and all new embedded content should use the mashup tool.
For further information see our Re/Play summer improvements page.
Teams for Education
Microsoft Teams offers tools for collaboration, discussion, teamwork and community building. These are intended to complement Blackboard.
- Optional Teams space for each taught unit – Teams spaces will be created automatically, with students and teaching staff, but will be hidden from students buy default
- Simple integration between Blackboard and Teams – for active Teams, direct links will be added between Teams and the appropriate Blackboard courses
For further information see our Microsoft Teams for teaching project page.
Unable to create or edit some Turnitin assignments
We have received several reports of the Submit button not working when creating or editing Turnitin assignments. Through testing, we have determined that this error occurs when the post-date is more than two weeks after the due date. We have contacted Turnitin and have asked them to look into this as a matter of urgency.
The error does not appear to affect certain non-Chromium browsers such as Firefox and Safari. If you have access to these, please use them to set up your Turnitin assignments.
If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk