Author Dr. Rachel Thompson


Final Grade Import Quirk – blank grade may prevent import

If you set up a Final column in your Blackboard Learn grade center and some or all of your grades do not import to myBama using the Import Grades from Blackboard button, make sure all students in your Blackboard grade center have an assigned grade. This grade may be entered manually if it is a…


April 2021 Zoom Updates

Zoom regularly updates its software with security enhancements and new features! In the latest release, Zoom offers enhanced screen annotation for Zoom meetings, whiteboard auto-shapes on Zoom’s mobile application, and more emoji options for meeting reactions. Another fun new feature: Immersive View. Be “together” with your class or colleagues, from a distance. Individuals can enable…


Save the Date – Blackboard SaaS

Save the Date, Aug. 5 – 13 Blackboard Learn is moving to the cloud! Blackboard Learn will be unavailable during the cloud migration. More information about the migration is available in our first announcement. Our teams are currently testing the platform, and we’re excited to release more information to you as it becomes available. Stay…


Gradescope User Summit 2021

University of Alabama has a Gradescope license available for all faculty to use and is integrated with Blackboard Learn. If you aren’t yet using Gradescope to collect and grade assessments, we invite you to try it out in your courses. Gradescope recently hosted its Gradescope User Summit. Instructors presented on a variety of topics including:…


Unavailable assignments/tests do not show in My Grades on Blackboard Mobile App

When accessing My Grades as a student in the Blackboard app, assignments, tests, discussion boards, etc will not show if they are made unavailable.The points awarded for the Test still count toward the student’s total grade. When accessing My Grades from a web browser, the student can view their grade, attempt, and written feedback from the instructor…


Instructional Tech News – March 30

Faculty Roundtable – A Year in Review  Join the CIT for a faculty roundtable to share your experiences teaching in the 2020-2021 academic year. Let’s learn from one another. What worked? What didn’t? Share strategies that you successfully implemented in the classroom – whatever that looked like for you. Join us to share it all;…


Collaborate Ultra Maintenance: 4/8 1-5 AM CDT

Blackboard will be deploying Collaborate Ultra v21.06 release to US (AWS Virginia). Collaborate Ultra customers will experience intermittent availability during the maintenance window, Thursday, April 8, 2021 1:00 AM CDT-Thursday, April 8, 2021 5:00 AM CDT. See release notes for new Collaborate Ultra features and upgrades, such as: See more students with Gallery view Whiteboard…


Important Respondus Monitor Announcement

Dear colleagues, Due to concerns with Respondus Monitor’s facial detection functions, Respondus has disabled those functions for all UA users. While instructors will continue to see the face detection options in settings, they are turned off by default and cannot be enabled. Students will still be prompted to ensure proper camera positioning before starting the…


Resolved: Delays with prescheduled messages in Blackboard due to time change

3/16 @ 11:21 AM CDT – Currently there is an issue with prescheduled messages being sent an hour later than expected due to the time change. Messages appear to be sending at the correct time in the user interface but actual delivery is delayed by one hour. The Development team is working towards a resolution.…


Resolved: Emergency Turnitin Maintenance

Turnitin is currently undergoing Emergency Maintenance. The Turnitin integration in Blackboard may be intermittent or inaccessible during this period. See more about the status of this issue: https://turnitin.statuspage.io/incidents/36xnw1xg8smx Update 1:28 PM CST 3/12: Emergency Maintenance is complete. For all customers using Turnitin Feedback Studio, we have restored the ability to submit papers and view similarity…