Instructional Technology News – November 4, 2022

Hello from your colleagues in CIT! Below you’ll find resources to help with your teaching needs, as well as announcements and workshops. If you need help with instructional technology, please contact cit@ua.edu.

Introducing Dr. Karen Burns, CIT’s Assistant Director of Education and Outreach!

I am excited to serve in this new role! I have been a part of CIT since 2008, responsible for people.ua.edu, VoiceThread, Flipgrid (now Flip), and Zoom. During that time, I completed my master’s degree and doctorate degree through the College of Education with a focus on instructional leadership and technology. I am particularly passionate about all things related to gamification and game-based learning. If you are really curious, you can read more about me on my website, http://kaburns.people.ua.edu.

Anyone up for a scavenger hunt or escape room? Get in touch at cit@ua.edu!

Resources for Teaching and Learning:

Explore Blackboard Ultra

Learn about UA’s Ultra pilot and request a practice course: Ultra Course Pilot Information

Upcoming Events from CIT, OIT, UA Online and more!

It’s back! Hosted by UA Online, the Online Learning Innovation Summit returns on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, at Bryant Conference Center. Faculty, staff and graduate students will come together for a full day of sessions on inclusive online classrooms, course quality, digital accessibility, technology tools and innovative course design.

This year’s theme is Transforming the Online Classroom: Challenges, Opportunities, and Innovation. Do you have a success story, an innovative strategy or a demonstration you would like to share? The OLIS Planning Team welcomes your proposals. Visit the OLIS website to submit a proposal by November 14th and to register for the event.

RESOLVED: Pearson MyLabs & Mastering unavailable in Blackboard

Update 11/3/22 10:36 AM: Pearson reports the issue as resolved.

RESOLVED: The issue with MyLabs & Mastering customers receiving a 504 error has been resolved. Thank you for your patience


We are aware of an issue with Pearson MyLabs & Mastering in Blackboard. Pearson’s status page lists this service disruption starting at 9:44 AM on November 3, 2022.

INVESTIGATING: We are investigating an issue that is impacting your course access. Customers may experience a 504 error message when accessing courses or course content.

Users can check on the availability of MyLabs & Mastering on Pearson’s status page. CIT will continue to monitor the issue and update this post as new information becomes available.

Resolved – Blackboard files error

Update Oct 25 3:24 PM: Blackboard Support reports that the Blackboard files issue was with one of their vendors and is now resolved. If you are still seeing the error, please clear the cache in your internet browser.

If the issue persists contact the Center for Instructional Technology.

We are aware of an issue with access to files in Blackboard. Users may see a screen with a Blackboard logo, the words “Learn SaaS”, and an icon of a computer screen and a wrench.

Blackboard Learn SaaS Maintenance

We are working with Blackboard Support to resolve this issue and we will update this post with any updates.

Known Issue – Courses not Syncing to Blackboard

Update Oct 25 8:45 AM: Events continue to pass through the queue for course creation and enrollment sync. Delays are possible with a large amount of courses being created.

Update Oct 24 4:40 PM
: Events are passing through the queue for course creation and enrollment sync. If you are still having issues with this process, please let CIT know by submitting an online request.

We are aware of an issue where courses are not syncing to Blackboard. These courses are marked with an integration code of LEARN in the Blackboard Learn Section Maintenance tool, but they do not show up in Blackboard. This means that newly created courses and enrollment changes from myBama may not currently be reflected in Blackboard.

If you are experiencing this issue, please let us know by submitting an online request. We will continue to update this post as we get more information.

RESOLVED – Mediasite Unavailable

Friday October 21, 2022 @ 10:41 AM: At this time, all issues have been resolved relating to Mediasite. If you experience any further issues, please contact UA Online Technical Support.


Mediasite is currently unavailable for all users. Mediasite is the video platform used in UA Online and Early College courses.

An update to the platform began on Friday, October 14 at 11:59 PM and was scheduled to end Monday, October 17 at 8:30 AM. Mediasite technical support is aware of this issue, and we will update this post as soon as new information is available.

Known Issue: Old Turnitin assignments unsupported

In May 2022, we updated the method used for connecting Blackboard to Turnitin. This update brought some user interface changes and allows for more system updates in the future. Turnitin Support has confirmed that their support for the previous Turnitin tool ended on August 31, 2022. For more information about these changes, please visit our knowledge base article: Changes to Turnitin 2022

Instructors using the previous version of Turnitin should recreate their Turnitin assignments using the following guide: How do I create a new Turnitin assignment?

A message from Turnitin:

As part of Turnitin’s commitment to providing the best possible user experience via our integrations, we will no longer provide support for the Blackboard Basic plugin, and only access will remain to past assignments and submissions via your Blackboard Learn environment. Per previous reminders, the end-of-life date was August 31, 2022.

Along with Blackboard’s plan to end support for all building blocks, this allows us to shift focus on providing a unified LTI 1.3 integration option with access to all Turnitin Feedback Studio features, and without the requirement for institutions to regularly upgrade their experience.

New Version of Mac Respondus Lockdown Browser

LockDown Browser for Mac, version 2.0.9.02, has been released.  This release contains improvements to security and minor bug fixes.

Existing installs of LockDown Browser will NOT be auto-updated at this time. To obtain the latest version (2.0.9.02) use the “Check for Update” feature or run the full installation program.

Respondus Lockdown Browser can be downloaded from the “Download Respondus Lockdown Browser” link on the Institution page in Blackboard.

New Version of Windows Respondus Lockdown Browser

LockDown Browser for Windows, version 2.0.9.04, has been released.  This release includes accessibility improvements, a new search function, and security improvements.

Existing installs of LockDown Browser will be auto-updated shortly. To obtain the latest version (2.0.9.04) run the full installation program.

Instructional Technology News – September 29, 2022

Hello from your colleagues in CIT! We hope that your semester is going well. Below you’ll find resources to help with your midterm grading, as well as announcements and workshops. If you need help with instructional technology, please contact cit@ua.edu. For IT-related needs, email itsd@ua.edu.  

Midterm grades due Wednesday, Oct 5 at 11:59 PM  

Midterm grades are required for 100- and 200- level courses. For more information, visit Grade Reporting – Registrar’s Office. If there are discrepancies between course rosters in myBama and in Blackboard Learn, contact cit@ua.edu. 

Grade Center Assistance 

Test and Exam Assistance 

Blackboard Instructor App Support ends September 30, 2022 

Blackboard instructor and student mobile functions in a single app: Download the unified Blackboard app now.

Explore Blackboard Ultra  

Learn about UA’s Ultra pilot and request a practice course: Ultra Course Pilot Information.

CIT-sponsored Workshops 

More Tech Events across UA   

  • UA Online presents Improving the Accessibility of Your Blackboard Course, 10/6, 10:00 am – Details and registration.   
  • UA Libraries present Open Access Week events, 10/24-10/25 – Event program  
  • OIT presents Live Cybersecurity Awareness Trainings, offered throughout October – Registration through UA LMS. This session is also an alternate form for the UA compliance eLearning assignment, and it will satisfy the 2022 cybersecurity training requirement for UA faculty and staff. 

 

Known Issue – Respondus Lockdown Browser on iPad

We are aware of an issue with students using the Respondus Lockdown Browser app on an iPad. Students may receive an error message, in Blackboard, that says

“Either you are not logged in or you do not have the appropriate privileges to perform this action. You may have access to other parts of the course.”

While we are working on a resolution for this issue, there are a couple workarounds:

  • You may need to disable Private Address for eduroam on your device. Visit this guide for more information: Turn Private Address off or on for a network
  • If you are unable to take the test with Respondus Lockdown Browser using the eduroam wireless network, connect to an alternate internet connection.
  • If you are unable to take the test with Respondus Lockdown Browser using the eduroam wireless network on the UA campus, register your mobile device to use UA-WPA-PSK as an alternate wireless network. Visit this article for more information: Housing Internet – UA-WPA-PSK