Student Support with Ultra

You can access Blackboard from your MyDay page, using the Blackboard picture tile. If you have any issues with your university account access, the I.T. Service have the following help page for students:

Student Accounts, Passwords & Security – IT Service

I.T. also have FAQs for common account-based issues. If you need any further assistance you can contact them in the following ways: Help & Contacts – IT Service

If you are a new student, access to University systems is granted after your registration is completed. Access to Blackboard is granted up to 24 hours after your registration is marked as complete. Please see further details in the links below:

Welcome to the University: Before you arrive

Course Registration – Student Services – University of Worcester

How to access your Blackboard modules – Technology Enhanced Learning Unit

If you have any registration issues please contact the student records team on 01905 855333 or studentrecords@worc.ac.uk. FirstPoint can also provide further support and advice for students: firstpoint – University of Worcester.

Once registration is completed your modules will appear in Blackboard automatically but on occasion you may find that you are unable to see them.

• Firstly, check that your registration process is complete and that you have ticked the relevant modules in SOLE. Once this is done it can take up to 24 hours for the modules to appear on Blackboard. For existing students, new module selections also take up to 24 hours to come through to Blackboard from SOLE.
• Please be aware that shortly before semester 2 commences, your S2 and S3 modules will appear in Blackboard – as long as your modules are listed within SOLE.
• If your modules are still not visible, check your search filter settings to ensure they are not hidden on your Blackboard dashboard.
• Finally, if you are still having problems contact tel@worc.ac.uk as we can check your Blackboard account for you. 
• However, if you do not have access to your UW student account (which gives you access to all University systems) we recommend contacting the IT Service for further support. You can reach them in the following ways: Help & Contacts – IT Service

As your tutor sets up the content on your module, they can advise you as to where you can find any resources or information you need. Furthermore, it may be that they need to release the content to students.

You can view Class / Collaborate’s guidance for students using Blackboard Ultra here, under the heading ‘Ultra: Access Class for Web (formerly Collaborate) from your course’

We also have further tips and advice for students below: 

Firstly, ensure that you are using Chrome or Firefox as Collaborate may not work with other browsers.

It may be that your device has a plug in that is blocking access to Collaborate. Most commonly, you will need to alter your permission settings for your browser which will allow access. Enabling ‘Third-party cookies’ for the Blackboard webpage / Collaborate will remedy this issue.

Chrome users will be able to tell whether any cookies are active on a webpage, by looking for the ‘eye icon’ within the address bar, in the top right of the Chrome browser. If third-party cookies have been blocked, there will be a line through the eye.  You can click on the eye icon, to alter your settings

Firstly, the browsers we recommend when using Blackboard, are Chrome or Mozilla FireFox. Within Blackboard there are several integrated tools which require third-party cookies to be enabled for the webpage. These include Panopto, Turnitin, Collaborate and PebblePad. If you experience any issues with the Blackboard VLE, such as pages not loading correctly, even after a refresh – you may need to alter your third-party cookie settings in your browser. The Blackboard browser checker will also help to confirm that your settings are correct.

In addition, you can also check your internet connectivity or try clearing the cache on your browser. Please do not hesitate to contact TEL tel@worc.ac.uk, or the IT Service if you require any further support.

Help with accessing grades can be found here.

Panopto is the main video application used by the University. We recommend using Chrome for Panopto assignments and to allow yourself plenty of time ahead of the submission date to prepare your assignment.

Please see a link here to our Student Panopto manual.

https://lttu.uk/support/Panopto/students/

We also have a Panopto Student FAQs page which includes further help and guidance: Panopto Student FAQs

When making a Panopto video assignment submission you will need to find your assignment submission point and then use the ‘Panopto Submission Tool’ in order to access Panopto. (N.B. You will not be able to use the app.)

• If you need to firstly create your video using ‘Panopto Capture’, please see further directions here.
• If you need to create a PowerPoint Presentation video our manual has these instructions.
• If you need to upload a video which you have recorded elsewhere, our student guide has these steps for how to make a submission.

If you encounter any problems, we recommend contacting your module leader in the first instance and we will also be happy to assist you with any technical issues at TEL: tel@worc.ac.uk

Our Student Panopto Guide also has further troubleshooting guidance and recommendations about where to get help for video assignments.

We have a PebblePad Student Support page, with guidance and FAQs: https://uwtel.co.uk/pebblepad-student-faqs/

Your tutor should be your first point of contact, however, you can also access support via Firstpoint’s dedicated assessment support page here. Once you have contacted your module leader, if you need any further technical assistance, please do not hesitate to contact tel@worc.ac.uk. We also have some common assignment FAQs below for students.

Turnitin submission points will allow a single late submission. If you have uploaded any files prior to the deadline date then that will become your submission when the deadline date is passed. No further files will be accepted.

If you need to make a submission for a ‘Reassessment, Resit or Mitigating Circumstances’ your module leader will need to create a new submission point for you.

If you have been granted mitigating circumstances, your tutor will need to create a new submission point for you.

As long as you are submitting before the deadline, you can simply resubmit and your new submission will replace the incorrect version. If you are after the deadline, you will not be able to resubmit. In this instance you can speak to your tutor who will be able to advise.

First of all ensure that these modules are no longer appearing on your SOLE record. Then you can contact TEL tel@worc.ac.uk, who will be able to remove your modules from your account. It is important that your modules are no longer showing on SOLE before contacting TEL as any modules which still exist on SOLE will be automatically re-added to Blackboard. (However, please note, that if you have any assignments within your older modules, we will not be able to remove these.)

You should be able to upload as many resubmissions as you wish up until the due date is reached. You should contact your module leader in the first instance if you find you are unable to resubmit before the due date, as they may need to change the assignment settings. You can also access our TEL Turnitin student support page for additional technical support or contact tel@worc.ac.uk, providing us with the module code and assignment title.

Your tutors have ownership of assignment submission points, so you will need to contact them if you are unable to do this. Your module leader will need to create a new submission point for reassessments. They will be able to confirm the location or create a new submission point for you.

When using Blackboard we recommend Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers. Safari and Internet Explorer are NOT supported. You should try to resubmit your assessment, using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. You can also check your browser’s compatibility using the Blackboard browser checker. You should ensure your browser’s security permission settings allow the full functionality of the Blackboard webpage.

Providing that you are submitting an improved/amended assignment to the same Turnitin submission point, or within the same module, Turnitin will not match this as self plagiarism. However, you cannot submit the same file for a different assessment, that would be classed as ‘self plagiarism’ and Turnitin would return a high similarity report score.

There is no specific threshold for similarity scores. As some assignments use a template document, these may produce higher scores. If you are concerned about your similarity score please contact your tutor.