Category Announcements


Internet Explorer no longer supported by Panopto

Effective June 26 Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported by Panopto. This means that Panopto will no longer fix any issues that users experience while using Panopto on IE11. Users on IE11 will see a message requiring that they upgrade to Microsoft Edge, or another modern browser, in order to continue to use…


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:…


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…


Possible Collaborate Ultra Downtime – Early AM 2/19, 2/25, 2/26, 3/5

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra will be performing scheduled infrastructure maintenance during the times listed below. February 19, 2021 1:00 AM – 5:00 AM CST February 25, 2021 1:00 AM-  5:00 AM CST **expect intermittent availability** February 26, 2021 1:00 AM – 5:00 AM CST March 5, 2021 1:00 AM – 5:00 AM CST While we anticipate…


Scheduled Maintenance 2/13: Video Feedback in Blackboard Assignment Grading

Scheduled Maintenance, February 13, 2021: Video Recording Feedback in Blackboard Learn Assignment Grading Instructors can record video feedback to students as they are grading assignments in Learn courses. This recording feature is provided by some subcomponents of Blackboard Collaborate. Those components require maintenance over a window of a maximum of 3 hours on Saturday, February…


New Box User Interface

Today, Jan. 7, OIT will be enabling the new Box user interface for all UA users. The new interface features a sleek design and provides users with the ability to better organize content. Learn more on the Box Website.