Hypothesis will be undergoing a scheduled maintenance on Saturday, November 30th, from 4:00-6:00 AM CT. During this time, the platform will be unavailable.
Please contact CIT if you have any questions or concerns.
Anthology (Blackboard’s parent company) will be performing scheduled maintenance. This maintenance will ensure optimal performance, security, and up-to-date technology.
Expected downtime: 6 hours
Impact: UA’s Blackboard will be unavailable to all users during this maintenance.
When: December 21, 2024 ; start time TBA.
Please contact the Center for Instructional Technology if you have questions or concerns.
There is a known issue where pressing the function key that leads to the emoji menu can cause a freeze for the keyboard (Mac users).
This issue will be resolved by Respondus within the next few weeks. Until then, students must perform a hard shut down on the device, then start LockDown Browser again.
Contact CIT with questions – cit@ua.edu or 205-348-3532.
Instructors can now adjust message settings in Ultra Course View. They can set the following limits on messages within the course:
Students can message anyone in their course
Students can only message staff and students in their groups
Students can only message staff
Students can only reply to messages
Turn all messages off, which sends all messages by email only
Navigate to our knowledge base article for more information: How do I edit course Messages settings in Ultra?
Hello from your colleagues in CIT! Below, you’ll find announcements and events to assist you with teaching and learning needs.
Save the date to join The Center for Instructional Technology to get your Fall courses polished and ready to go. CIT is hosting two days of workshops (both in-person and virtual) and one-on-one technical and pedagogical assistance to get you ready for the Fall semester. Watch for the complete schedule in the August newsletter.
Meet the new Blackboard! UA instructors can now explore and teach with Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View, and CIT and OTIDE have established a goal of having all courses designed and delivered in “Ultra” by Spring 2026.
Summer is a great time to explore the simpler, more modern Blackboard or prepare to teach with Ultra in the fall! Request a live course or request a practice course if you need a space to build or play, and follow along in our Ultra Team as we share tips, tricks, and things to try in Ultra this summer. We’ll invite you to the Team when we create your course.
A June update brings changes to the Courses tab you see from the Base Navigation menu where your name appears after logging into Blackboard Learn.
Some highlights:
For more on the Courses page, check out this CIT knowledge base article: How do I find my courses?
Instructors use the Blackboard app to create content, post announcement, grade student work, and much more (see Teaching a course with the Blackboard app to learn more!).
After the Blackboard Learn App 9.6 is released (July 2024), users will be required to update the app on their devices to ensure proper functionality. Users who do not update after the release will see a red banner informing them that their session has expired.
To ensure that The University of Alabama’s Panopto storage quota is not exceeded, a new Retention Policy has been created. Panopto recordings will be archived 2 years after their last viewed date. Recordings will be permanently deleted 2 years after they are archived. Read complete details here: Panopto Retention Policy
CIT has updated the method used to connect Blackboard and Panopto. We are currently reviewing the changes and making adjustments to folder structure. While this work is underway, the Panopto folder and embedded Panopto videos in your course may not look or function as expected. Please contact us if you need help, and we’ll share an announcement when the work is complete.
This change will also enable the ability to use Panopto content and folders with Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View. We’ll share more information after the update, but, for now, you can see a preview here: How to Use Panopto with Blackboard Ultra for Instructors
Panopto will soon release Panopto 15.0, which includes changes to the appearance and management of folders. No downtime is expected with this release.
For example, a new drop-down menu will be added to folder headers to allow highly used folder functions (Rename, Move, Share, Delete) to be accessible without having to open folder settings:
Read more about the changes to Panopto’s look and feel: What’s new: UI/UX Changes coming in Panopto 15.0 This update will also bring improvements to keyboard accessibility, screen reader support, and language support for Arabic. A full list of the features coming in 15.0 will be shared in Panopto’s release notes forum when the update is underway.
Perusall, an interactive social learning platform, is now integrated with Blackboard Learn, making it easier to create assignments, sync student groups and rosters, and sync your gradebook. Learn more.
Effective July 1, 2024, the Flip platform is no longer available in mobile app stores, and the Flip website has transitioned to view-only mode. Users will still have access to download existing Flip videos until September 30, 2024. Locate video and text-based discussion alternatives to Flip on the CIT website.
Instructors can now choose between new and classic views of the Turnitin Similarity Report. While the classic view offers familiar match types and interface, the Enhanced report has a redesigned look and feel and match groups such as “Not Cited or Quoted” or “Missing Citation,” making it easier to interpret and use as a formative learning tool to strengthen academic writing skills.
Video: Understanding text similarity for instructors: Enhanced similarity report
Read more at Turnitin Help: Using the New Similarity Report and see the new similarity report in action.
New to one of our instructional tech. tools? We would love to guide you step-by-step or provide tips and ideas for using technology in your class. Just let us know how we can help!
07.09 | People.ua.edu Workshop
07.09 | Getting Started with Panopto
07.12 | Meet the New Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View
07.25 | Doing more with Panopto
Join The Center for Instructional Technology to get your Fall courses polished and ready to go. CIT is hosting two days of workshops and one-on-one technical and pedagogical assistance to get you ready for the Fall semester. CIT will share more information about the event, including a detailed event schedule and registration links in July 2024.
Please be aware that Turnitin has scheduled down time on Saturday, April 20 for 5 hours. This is a maintenance window from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM CDT.
Turnitin and Gradescope will be unavailable to all students and faculty during this time.
Panopto has announced that it is experiencing a service disruption and that users may experience errors with all aspects of Panopto, including login, recording, playback, editing, browsing, and viewing.
Panopto will update this issue announcement by 17-Nov-2023 7PM Central.
Turnitin released a “Resync Grade” feature for instructors to use in the Assignment Inbox. If a student’s grade is not synced to the Grade Center, this should resolve that issue. Here are steps to find this feature:
You will see a message that states “Grade resynchronization successfully completed” at the bottom of the Assignment Inbox when it is complete. Please check the Blackboard Grade Center to confirm the sync.
If you have any problems with this process, please contact the Center for Instructional Technology for assistance.
Beginning Oct. 27, 2023, a copy of all new Zoom sessions recorded to the cloud will automatically be saved to Panopto, UA’s media manager and lecture capture tool. Users will experience no changes to their Zoom account and will continue to have the option to store recordings on their computer or in the cloud. Sessions recorded to Zoom Cloud prior to Oct. 27 will not be affected.
