We’ve been made aware of disruption to the EesySoft service which is used to report on Blackboard course activity. This has been reported the supplier who is investigating. We will provided updates when we have them. If there is any urgent report data that is needed, please get in contact with the DEO.
Blackboard access issues fixed
The issues that led to some people having difficulty accessing Blackboard, from around 12.15 today, have now been fixed. We are continuing to monitor the situation.
Please accept our apologies if you were affected by this issue.
Some users reporting Blackboard access difficulties due to external issues
<< update 15/10/20: 13.05 – this issue is now resolved>>
Some people may be having difficulty accessing Blackboard currently due to external network routing issues. The issues appear to be impacting Blackboard users worldwide. We are investigating, and will provide updates when we have them.
Minimise impact of issues in live online teaching sessions
The DEO has gathered together some tips on minimising the impact of issues in live online teaching sessions. This includes steps you can take beforehand to reduce the likelihood of issues, as well as things you can do during and after sessions, together with links to useful resources. The document has been put together partly in response to questions we have received from colleagues in the first few days of teaching. If you have any comments or suggestions please do let us know at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk
PDF files not opening correctly in Blackboard from Chrome and Edge
This issue only affects some types of PDF.
We have had reports from some users that they have experienced issues when trying to open a PDF in Blackboard. The PDF opens but only the first page appears and a log in box also appears on the page.
We have looked into the issue and there is a known issue with Chrome where the “in site” cookies do not pass to PDFs when they open. What this means is that the PDF does not know the student is logged into Blackboard.
Solutions
Enter username and password (sometimes works)
Right click and save as/download (always works)
Use Firefox (always works)
We will be looking into this issue and will provide an update if there is a better resolution.
Daily drop-ins and upcoming webinars
We are still running our daily drop-ins (3pm on working days, no need to book, ask us anything).
In addition we have webinars coming up in the next couple of weeks:
- 13 Oct, 11am – Advanced Blackboard course design
- 14 Oct, 11am – Engaging online discussions
- 14 Oct, 3.15pm – Introduction to Blackboard Annotate
- 19 Oct, 1pm – Marking online using Blackboard marks and feedback extension
- 20 Oct, 1pm – Introduction to creating and managing tests in Blackboard
- 21 Oct, 11am – Advanced Blackboard course design
- 21 Oct, 1.30pm – Blackboard basics
Details and booking on the DEO events page
Attendance groups now updating
The integration that assigns students to attendance groups in Blackboard, based on timetabling data, has not been updating since Monday. (These groups are shown in Blackboard with “{S}” at the start of their name.)
The integration between Timetabling and Blackboard has been fixed.
You should now see the up to date list of students in your {S} groups in Blackboard. Any changes to the timetabled groups in your unit this week will now be reflected on Blackboard.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.
EesySoft Course Reports now reporting correctly
EesySoft Course Reports were previously misreporting Last Access. This error has now been resolved and Course Reports are now reporting correctly.
EesySoft Course Reports misreporting
EesySoft Course Reports are misreporting Last Access. This error has been flagged to EesySoft and they are currently investigating.
Data about when students last accessed the course can be accessed in the Full Grade Centre or under Course Tools > Evaluation > Performance Dashboard. We apologise for any inconvenience.
“My Re/Play” tab restored; all services operating normally
We are pleased to announce that the “My Re/Play” tab has been restored in Blackboard. All our services (including Re/Play, Blackboard and Collaborate) are available and working normally. We are continuing to closely monitor these services, along with our suppliers. Please accept our apologies for the issues that you experienced yesterday. Further information about the nature of the issues and the steps taken to resolve them will follow shortly.