The look of the Blackboard submissions page is changing

The interface for Blackboard submissions such as essays, some timed assessments and some exams is changing on June 2, 2023. There is no change to functionality.

After June 2, if students need to upload a submission, this option will be contained within a ‘concertina menu’. This makes the interface less confusing, allowing them to select the options they need without having to navigate the options they don’t.

Below are three images: one showing the current interface and two showing the new interface.

Old submission point: this is the old submission point for Blackboard which has all upload options on display.

The old interface has all the ‘Attach Files’, ‘Write Submission’ and ‘Add Comments’ functions on display.

New submission point (unexpanded): the new submission points have three clickable options: one called "Create Submission", one called "Upload Files", and one called "Add Comments"

The new interface places the same features behind concertina menus.

New submission point (expanded): once the "Upload Files" option is clicked, three buttons are revealed; one for "Browse Local Files", one for "Browse Content Collection", and one for "Browse Cloud Service". 

Once expanded with a click, the same options are available.

Reminder: Blackboard downtime tonight – 10.30 pm 4 January to 10.30 am 5 January 2018

This is a reminder that the Blackboard service will be unavailable from 10.30 pm tonight (Thursday 4 January 2018) up to 10.30 am tomorrow (Friday 5 January 2018) for essential maintenance work. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. This update will include a change to Blackboard’s feedback annotation tool (Crocodoc). Please see separate post for information.

How to switch on course tools

If as an Instructor you cannot see a particular tool in the Course tools menu in the Control Panel, you may need to switch it on. An example might be the Self and peer assessment tool.

This can be done as follows:

  • In the Control Panel click on Customization
  • Click on Tool availability
  • Ensure that the relevant tool is ticked as both Available and Available in Content area (if an option), then click Submit

Course statistics and tracking disabled

We have currently disabled course statistics while we continue to investigate the problems with this functionality. Disabling tracking and statistics within courses will impact on instructor’s ability to generate course and item statistics and tracking data for individual or groups of users. We apologise for any disruption this may cause.

At present Blackboard course instructors still have the ability to enable tracking on individual items within a course but please be aware that the reports generated may not contain any data, or the data may not be accurate.

new academic

Please note: students are automatically enrolled on SITS courses (units/programmes) based on data in SITS.  They should be removed from the relevant unit in SITS to unenrol them from the corresponding course in Blackboard.

If you wish to unenrol users (e.g. from a non-SITS course) then:

1.  Expand the  Control panel menu

2.  Click Users and groups

3.  Click Users

4.  Tick the box next to the user you wish to remove

5.  Click Remove Users from Course

6.  Click OK in the warning pop up box