Libby Symonds

Blackboard Analytics

Blackboard, Ultra /
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As we progress through Semester 2 towards assessment time it’s important to keep an eye on how your students are engaging with your module and identify any who might be struggling – you can then provide support and guidance before the crucial assessment to ensure your students remain engaged, motivated and succeeding. 

You can easily track what your students are doing in a Learn Ultra site in a number of different ways. From gaining an overall idea of how long students are spending accessing a particular course site, to getting more targeted information on each resource or activity. This data can then be used to set up alerts for students that might be struggling, and help you provide useful interventions to keep them on track.

You can find more information and practical guidance on how to set up and use these features in our Blackboard Ultra Manual: Analytics and Alerts

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Blackboard Enrolments for Semester 2

Announcement, Blackboard, Ultra /
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Following on from our recent blog post regarding preparing your modules for Semester 2 Updating Your Blackboard Courses for Semester 2! – Technology Enhanced Learning Unit we are pleased to confirm that students are now being enrolled on to their semester 2 modules in readiness for teaching next year.

If you haven’t already, please update your modules with your teaching materials for the new semester.

Blackboard Enrolments for Semester 2 Read More »

Blackboard Ultra Implementation Feedback

Blackboard, Ultra /
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To All Blackboard users,

Phase one of the implementation of the new Blackboard Ultra VLE is now completed and the platform has been in use for learning and teaching since the beginning of this semester. The project team would like to get some feedback on how staff and students have been getting on with Ultra and have put together a very short feedback form to gather your thoughts and feelings about the new system.

The form should take no longer than five minutes to complete and any feedback you provide will be fed into the evaluation report and next phase developments. You can choose to remain anonymous.

You can access the form here.

Many thanks for taking the time to contribute.

Organisations in Ultra

Phase two of the Ultra implementation includes reviewing the use of Blackboard organisation sites. As a first step we are looking at which sites are no longer being used, and will be carrying out a housekeeping exercise to remove any organisations which have not been accessed within the past 12 months. If you have Blackboard Organisation sites you still wish to use, please contact e.symonds@worc.ac.uk and we can arrange a discussion about future provision.

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Blackboard Ultra Staff Training

Blackboard Learn Ultra /

Blackboard Learn Ultra Staff Training

Blackboard Ultra training is now underway and we are delivering sessions for departmental, course and school teams over the coming weeks and months.  Feedback from the early sessions has been very positive and colleagues seem to be leaving the sessions with more confidence and a clear plan of how to use the new system.

Additional Ultra Workshops

We recommend that colleagues attend their departmental sessions where possible, to collaborate on their modules and establish a unified approach. However, we appreciate that not everyone is able to make a particular date or time so we have arranged some extra workshops to enable academic staff, who are unable to attend their bespoke departmental training sessions, to participate and get training and support from the TEL team in additional generic workshops.

Workshops have been arranged for the 21st and 28th June, and the 30th July. You can sign up for these through the Staff Development Workshops booking system.

Further communication and information about how the project is going will follow in further updates.

Blackboard Ultra Staff Training Read More »

Turnitin Update

Turnitin /

We are pleased to inform you that your Turnitin inbox is being upgraded for better management of assignments and student submissions. These changes are designed to streamline your workflow and lay the foundation for exciting enhancements in the future.  

Turnitin Assignment Inbox Enhancements:

  • New search bar functionality
  • Dynamic flags column in the assignment inbox
  • Automated paper deletion workflow
  • Streamlined PeerMark assignment setup
  • OneDrive submissions now supported
  • Access to upcoming releases, including new Paper to Digital assignment type for handwritten assessments, and an enhanced feedback and grading experience

To ease this transition Turnitin have provided a self-guided demo designed to assist you in adjusting to the upcoming changes.

We also wanted to let you know about some upcoming maintenance taking place on 20th April, 2024 15.00 – 20.00 BST full details can be found here Turnitin Status – Scheduled Turnitin Maintenance April 20, 2024 (statuspage.io)

Turnitin Update Read More »

New Learning Technologist Andy Bright

TEL Update

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We’re delighted to announce that Andy Bright has been appointed as our new Academic Learning Technologist. Many of you will already know Andy as he’s been our TEL Advisor and first point of contact for the team for the past three years. He has done a fabulous job in keeping our service running efficiently and the promotion is well deserved. Please bear with us while we are working to recruit a replacement TEL advisor.

Libby Symonds
Head of Technology Enhanced Learning

TEL Update Read More »

Fix your Content day on May 19th

Ally Training for Fix Your Content Day

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Each year, the global accessibility community unites on the third Thursday of May for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) to highlight the need for more inclusive digital content. Blackboard seek to join the conversation by inspiring and motivating institutions across the globe to demonstrate how accessible content is better content.

As part of this initiative Blackboard are hosting a Fix Your Content Day which encourages academics to use Blackboard Ally to help make the content on their Blackboard pages more accessible.

To support this initiative we are hosting an additional Ally and Accessiblity workshop which will give your the tools and know-how you need to participate in Fix Your Content Day and contribute to an overall in improvement of accessibility.

The workshop will tale place on Wednesday, 18th May, the day before Global Accessibility Awareness Day so just in time to support you in fixing your content. You can sign up for the workshop on the staff development booking system and register for the Fix Your Content challenge with Blackboard from this link.

Ally Training for Fix Your Content Day Read More »