Tag: Blackboard

Assessment Period: Key Information for Students and Administrators

Posted on by digitaleducation

As we approach the assessment period, the Digital Education Office (DEO) would like to remind students and administrators of best practices for file preparation and assignment submission to keep in mind during the exam period. Please share this information with your students; we have also published this guidance on our DigiTalk blog if you would prefer to send them a link with the information.

Familiarise yourself with DEO’s guidance

It’s important for students to familiarise themselves, before their assignment deadline, with the guidance on preparing submissions in several formats, and with the assignment submission interface. You can do that now by looking at the three guides below:

For a list of assessment information relevant to students, please see our online submission guides for students.

How to avoid last-minute issues when submitting assignments

  • Allow as much time as possible to submit before the deadline, so that if you experience any technical difficulties, you can receive advice and resolve the issue before the submission due date and time.
  • Use a wired connection, as it tends to be more reliable than wireless connections, especially if the file to be uploaded is large.
  • Always use a laptop or PC rather than a tablet or mobile device when submitting work to Blackboard. We do not advise using the Blackboard app for assignment submissions.
  • Close any documents you are uploading before submitting them, as files being synchronised in the cloud may not save the latest changes until they are closed. It is also recommended to close any windows and programs other than Blackboard that could interfere with your submission.
  • Use Microsoft Edge as it is the recommended browser for accessing institutional resources, such as Blackboard. Google Chrome and Firefox are also supported. Please avoid using Safari, as its default privacy settings may cause access issues.
  • Always follow your school’s submission instructions. If you encounter issues, try switching browsers or clearing the cache; if problems persist, attempt resubmission or wait and try again later. For further assistance, contact your school office.

 If you have any questions about this blog post, please message us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Resolved] Some Blackboard submission receipt emails being delayed

Posted on by daniel.sinclair

We have been notified by Anthology that the issue relating to students not receiving Submission Receipts via email (reported 11/12/2025) has been resolved. Students submitting to Blackboard Assignments or Blackboard Test submission points will now receive receipts via email.

Students who did not receive submission receipts prior to the fix can view their receipt numbers by re-opening the submission within the Blackboard course. The receipt number is shown at the top right:

SUBMITTED 09/12/2025, 11:44; RECEIPT: 2BE29BA2F5234EB09794DAE0CDD693A7

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

[Resolved] Some Blackboard submission receipt emails being delayed

Posted on by Hanrahan Highland

We are aware of an issue where some email copies of receipts for work submitted in Blackboard are being significantly delayed in reaching students, who may then be concerned that their submission has not been properly completed.

Students can always access their receipt number by re-opening the submission within the Blackboard course. The receipt number is shown at the top right:

SUBMITTED 09/12/2025, 11:44; RECEIPT: 2BE29BA2F5234EB09794DAE0CDD693A7

The issue has been raised with Blackboard and we will provide updates here.

Student access to Turnitin submission points – reminders for assessment period

Posted on by digitaleducation

Ahead of the assessment period, we would like to remind you of two issues that may interfere with student access to their Turnitin submission points:

  1. The “Open in New Window” setting in Blackboard for Turnitin submission points
  2. The use of Internet browsers with strict privacy settings (eg Safari with its default factory settings).

For Administrators: Blackboard ‘web link options’ for Turnitin submission points

We recommend that instructors and administrators edit their Turnitin assignments to open in the same window as the Blackboard page, as opening in a new window may be treated as a “pop-up” window and blocked by some browsers. To do this:

  • Click on the chevron next to the Turnitin assignment and select Edit
  • Scroll down to the Web link options section and change “Open in New Window” to “No”

  • Click Submit at the bottom of the page.
  • You will see a pop-up asking if you would like to change the Turnitin submission to open in a new window; click Cancel.

  • You will exit the Edit page; click on the assignment to check that Turnitin opens in the same tab.

For Markers and Students: Internet browsers with strict privacy settings

We are aware that people are sometimes seeing the error message ‘Invalid or missing state’ when trying to access Turnitin. This issue has been reported to Turnitin and is linked to the privacy settings of the users’ internet browser.

Please make the following information available to students and staff in your school, to assist them if they encounter this error.

If using Safari, we recommend that users try accessing Turnitin via Chrome or Microsoft Edge in the first instance, as Blackboard and Turnitin submissions have been successfully tested with these University-supported browsers.

If switching browsers is not a suitable solution for you, we recommend updating your browser’s security settings to enable JavaScript and third-party cookies specifically for accessing Turnitin submission points.

The ‘Invalid or missing state’ message comes up when launching a Turnitin assignment in a new browser window with third-party cookies and/or JavaScript blocked. This issue can be resolved by adjusting the browser’s Privacy & Security preferences by adding “api.turnitin.com” and “api.turnitinuk.com” to the sites that are allowed to use JavaScript / third-party cookies. This change will ensure that Turnitin’s required background scripts are not blocked.

Once you have completed reviewing your browser’s Privacy & Security preferences, please close your active browser and re-open a new browsing session so that any changes can take effect.

If you experience any problems, please contact the DEO via digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Student access to Turnitin submission points – reminders for assessment period

Posted on by digitaleducation

Ahead of the assessment period, we would like to remind you of two issues that may interfere with student access to their Turnitin submission points:

  1. The “Open in New Window” setting in Blackboard for Turnitin submission points
  2. The use of Internet browsers with strict privacy settings (eg Safari with its default factory settings).

For Administrators: Blackboard ‘web link options’ for Turnitin submission points

We recommend that instructors and administrators edit their Turnitin assignments to open in the same window as the Blackboard page, as opening in a new window may be treated as a “pop-up” window and blocked by some browsers. To do this:

  • Click on the chevron next to the Turnitin assignment and select Edit
  • Scroll down to the Web link options section and change “Open in New Window” to “No”

  • Click Submit at the bottom of the page.
  • You will see a pop-up asking if you would like to change the Turnitin submission to open in a new window; click Cancel.

  • You will exit the Edit page; click on the assignment to check that Turnitin opens in the same tab.

For Markers and Students: Internet browsers with strict privacy settings

We are aware that people are sometimes seeing the error message ‘Invalid or missing state’ when trying to access Turnitin. This issue has been reported to Turnitin and is linked to the privacy settings of the users’ internet browser.

Please make the following information available to students and staff in your school, to assist them if they encounter this error.

If using Safari, we recommend that users try accessing Turnitin via Chrome or Microsoft Edge in the first instance, as Blackboard and Turnitin submissions have been successfully tested with these University-supported browsers.

If switching browsers is not a suitable solution for you, we suggest updating the browser’s security settings to enable JavaScript and third-party cookies. The ‘Invalid or missing state’ message comes up when launching a Turnitin assignment in a new browser window with third-party cookies and/or JavaScript blocked. This can be resolved by editing the browser’s Privacy & Security preferences so that it will not block any background scripts that Turnitin is trying to load.

Please follow the steps below for your preferred browser:

  • In Safari, select Safari > Preferences > Security > Web content > Enable JavaScript
  • In Firefox, select File > Preferences > Privacy & Security; if Strict is enabled, please change this to Standard
  • In Microsoft Edge, select Microsoft Edge > Preferences > Cookies and Site permissions > JavaScript > Allowed (recommended)
  • In Google Chrome, select Settings (you can open the Settings page by clicking the icon with three stacked horizontal lines in your browser’s menu bar) > Privacy & Security > Site Settings > Content > JavaScript > Ensure that the option ‘Sites can use JavaScript (recommended)’ is enabled.

If you would rather not enable JavaScript and/or third-party cookies in general, please instead add “api.turnitin.com” and “api.turnitinuk.com” to the sites that are allowed to use JavaScript / third-party cookies.

Once you have completed reviewing your browser’s Privacy & Security preferences, please close your active browser and re-open a new browsing session so that any changes can take effect.

If you experience any problems, please contact the DEO via digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Access to PGR theses and new PGR organisations

Posted on by digitaleducation

This information is relevant if your school uses Turnitin to run similarity checks on PGR theses (practice, submission and re-submission).   

PGR students who submitted work to a Turnitin submission point in Blackboard before September 2023 will not be able to access their theses in Blackboard after August 2023. This is due to the supplier ending support for the older Turnitin integration with Blackboard. 

As we have communicated to schools directly, the DEO has been working with AQPO and representatives of administrative and academic staff to update the Blackboard Organisations for PGR Turnitin Submissions. 

Please take the following actions by 31 August 2023: 

  • Encourage students who may be affected to download their submissions before 31 August 2023.  
  • If you are one of the School Administrators who have received a form to complete for setting up new organisations, please complete the form by July 28. 
  • PGR student administrators should start using the newly created Turnitin Upload organisations which has been set up with the Turnitin LTI and the Academic Progress Monitoring form page. 

Please also note that, from 1 September 2023, staff who need access to the older theses will need to contact the DEO.