Access Problems with access to Blackboard via the Mobile Learn App has been resolved.
If you still encounter problems we would advise logging out of the app and then signing in again.
Blackboard Mobile Learn currently unavailable.
Connection to Blackboard via the Mobile Learn App is currently unavailable. We are working with our colleagues in Information Services to rectify this as soon as possible.
This service is run directly by Blackboard and the UoB web version is not affected, please log in via www.ole.bris.ac.uk.
If you have any questions please email TEL-Help@bristol.ac.uk
Issue when editing Turnitin assignment post date
We are currently investigating an issue with the Turnitin integration with the Blackboard Grade Centre.
If an instructor edits the Turnitin post date while the associated column in the Blackboard Grade Centre is hidden to students, it causes the relevant column to become visible to students allowing them to see their marks and feedback.
While we test a fix to this problem, when adding a Turnitin point please set the post date to a suitable future date and do not edit this until you are happy for marks and feedback to be released. If you do need to make any changes to the post date please ensure that you check the corresponding Grade Centre column to ensure your settings have been maintained.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Critical Dates for TEL Systems
If you know the dates of your Critical Activity on Blackboard or QMP until the end of August 2015, please forward them to TEL-Help@bristol.ac.uk
Please provide the following information:
* Course ID or name
* Date and time of activity
* Type of activity e.g. Submission, Exam
(For online assessment activity could you please include the following code – M for mock, A for assessment and E for final exam)
* Number of students sitting the exam/Submitting
* Room name or number where the activity will take place, along with a contact number (if applicable)
* Contact Name and phone number
This information is vital for the TEL Team to plan system maintenance and upgrade.
TEL workshops for staff
Places are now available on TEL workshops for staff in the New Year. These include:
- Introduction to Blackboard for administrative and support staff
- Introduction to Blackboard for academic staff (including research staff)
- TEL essentials
For further information and booking please see the “Training and events” section of the TEL website.
Blackboard unavailable – 12th November Noon – 17:00
To ensure that we are providing the best possible service to our users, our colleagues in IT Services need to undertake some maintenance work on Blackboard.
Blackboard will not be available to users between noon and 17.00 on the 12th November, to allow this work to be completed.
If you have any questions, or critical activity (eg submission deadlines or tests requiring Blackboard) during this time, please email tel-help@bristol.ac.uk.
To help us schedule this type of work, we use the “critical dates” information provided by our users. If you have not done so already, please forward to the email address above the following information about critical activities you are running using Blackboard or QMP:
- date of activity
- time of activity
- type of activity
- course ID
- number of students undertaking the activity
- contact name and phone number.
Issues with voice feedback and PDF file display fixed by Turnitin
The recent issues in Turnitin Grademark with voice feedback not playing and PDF files not displaying correctly have been fixed by Turnitin.
Issues with feedback in Turnitin Grademark
Some staff and/or students may have noticed issues with feedback provided in Turnitin Grademark over the past day or so. We have reported these to Turnitin and they have today responded as follows:
“Some users have reported a display issue with the downloaded PDF format of their Originality and GradeMark reports. The text may be misaligned, and some highlights or GradeMark comments may be missing, also within GradeMark reports the voice comments are inaccessible possibly due to a save error. Our engineering team is currently investigating the issue, and any updates will be provided as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Until we hear back from Turnitin that the issues are fixed we suggest that:
1. Staff use only text feedback (not audio)
2. Students view their feedback online rather than on printout
Blackboard Responding Slowly – 17th October 2014
The Blackboard service is currently running slowly. We have reported this to our colleagues in Information Services who are looking in to this.
We will update this blog post as soon as we have further information.
TEL Team
New tool available for online marking
A new tool for online marking is now available in Blackboard. The “inline grading” tool allows markers to annotate work directly in Blackboard, without having to download and upload files.
Blackboard’s 3 minute video tutorial shows how to use the tool.
If you would like to find out more about online marking or online submission please visit the TEL website or email us at tel-help@bristol.ac.uk.