Author Dr. Rachel Thompson


Blackboard Learn Outage

UPDATE, 5:49 pm cst: Blackboard Learn is now available.Outage Details will be posted at status.blackboard.com when available. Original: Blackboard Learn is currently unavailable. The outage appears to be widespread, impacting many Blackboard Learn customers. We will provide updates as we get them from Blackboard.


Blackboard Learn Downtime – 11 p.m. October 3 – 5 a.m. October 4

Blackboard engineers will perform system maintenance on UA’s Blackboard Learn system between the hours of 11:00 p.m. Thursday Oct 3 until 5 a.m. on Friday October 4. UA’s Blackboard Learn system will be unavailable during this maintenance window.


Restored: Box and Box Services Outage

All Box services are down, including UA Box. In Blackboard, Box View (inline grading) and Cloud Upload are affected. Box is investigating the issue, find updates here. Update: Outage was slowly restored between 1-2 pm cdt.


Resolved: MyBama Blackboard Learn Channel

Users are encountering various issues accessing or viewing courses in the Blackboard Learn channel in MyBama. While this issue is being resolved, click on the “Access all of your Blackboard Learn Courses” link or go directly to Blackboard: ualearn.blackboard.com Edit: Channel now displays courses for the three most recent semesters, as intended.


Microsoft Office Update Causes Turning Point and PowerPoint Conflict

A recent Microsoft Office update causes Turning Point and PowerPoint to conflict with each other. If TurningPoint gives you the following error message “TurningPoint has detected an open version of PowerPoint. You must close out of PowerPoint before proceeding into ‘PowerPoint Polling,’” please follow these steps: Uninstall Windows Update KB4464577


Welcome to Fall 2019!

Hello and welcome to fall semester 2019! The Center for Instructional Technology (CIT), formerly the Faculty Resource Center, is here to support your use of The University of Alabama’s enterprise-wide instructional technologies. For Fall 2019, there are some notable changes to our supported technologies: Blackboard Learn You may get a Privacy User Agreement checkbox when…


Black Course Menu Text

After our August 2019 update of UA’s Blackboard Learn system, we have noticed some instances of course menus with black text, which renders it virtually unreadable. The fix for this issue is to go to the Course Management menu, then Customization > Teaching Style Scroll to check settings, the text under “Menu Style” shows it’s…


Blackboard Learn Privacy Notice

Users logging in to Blackboard Learn after recent upgrades may be asked to agree to Privacy Terms and Conditions via a click-through announcement. This announcement is part of Blackboard’s efforts to meet newly required international data privacy regulations, including the European General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. The GDPR and other data privacy regulations require…


New Drop-In Sessions for Instructors and Students

Instructors and students are invited to stop by on one of two scheduled sessions at the Center for Instructional Technology in Gordon Palmer Hall for help preparing for the Fall 2019 semester. On Tuesday, August 20th, between 9am and 2 pm, instructors can stop by A232 Gordon Palmer Hall for assistance in setting up their…


Collaborate Maintenance – July 26, 2019

Blackboard will be performing scheduled infrastructure maintenance on Friday, July 26, 2019 from 1:00 AM – 5:00 AM. Collaborate users may experience brief periods of intermittent availability during this time.