We know that some staff use handwritten documents in lectures – these may be for working through calculations, or to demonstrate a process, or to draw a graph. When you upload these to Blackboard, they tend to have a low Ally score as they aren’t accessible for some users. Here are some ways that you can make these types of documents more accessible.
When you are writing in lectures make sure to use clear and consistent handwriting – try not to use cursive (joined up) text, and make sure you write at a good size. Using a felt tip pen such as a Sharpie will also help with contrast. If you can provide a typed version, add this to Blackboard along with the handwritten version. If this isn’t possible you may want to signpost students to another source for the equivalent material (for example a textbook, Panopto recording with captions, YouTube video etc).
When you do scan materials, you can use the university printers, as they all have an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) setting. This means that the text and images on your scan can be selected by a student. This helps with screen readers, as well as Blackboard Ally – Ally won’t create an MP3 file from a non-OCR document (although it will try and create an OCR version, but this doesn’t always work well). Make sure that you scan the correct orientation. Once you have done a scan, have a go at copying and pasting your text into Word so you can see what students might see or hear.
The PDF24 tool (available in the AU Company Portal) can also convert a non-OCR document into an OCR version. How successful this is will very much depend on the contents of your original document.
Students can make use of Google Lens to read documents in Blackboard and lens does seem to do a good job at reading out handwritten text. Have a look at guidance from Guide Dogs for more information. There are also more ideas for students on the Perkins website. If you do, make use of Google Lens:
Don’t use it to look at things that contain personal information about individuals
Have a look at the Google Privacy policy for more information about how your data is used
Have you ever pressed stop on a Panopto recording rather than pause? Or realised there was something you forget to say in your recording?
Did you know you can resume any finished Panopto recording, and add more to it? You can do this from any computer that has the Panopto recorder on it – it doesn’t have to be the machine you used to create the original recording.
Click on the three dots (More Actions) on the recording preview
Select Resume > Resume in Panopto for Windows
If you want to do this from your office, you will need to install the Panopto recorder on your work computer. Alternatively, you can resume a recording from any teaching machine.
We will be creating the new blank Blackboard courses for 2025-26 on Monday 2nd June 2025.
Once courses have been created, we will run a weekly feed between the Module Management System and Blackboard to reflect any updates or changes. Students won’t come onto courses until registration has been completed in September.
If you want to know more about why we create blank courses at the start of each academic year, do take a look at our blog post on Course Creation from 2024.
Over the next few months, we are making the following changes to the course roles in Blackboard.
Additional Lecturer and Additional Tutor will no longer be available
(from June 2025).
Teaching staff should be added using the most appropriate role via Module Management (which will feed directly to Blackboard within an hour). Anyone with Additional Lecturer or Additional Tutor in previous years’ courses will keep their access but the roles won’t be available for new enrolments.
Departmental Administrators and External Examiners will be added to courses with the role of Facilitator
(from June 2025).
This will give the same access as before but will help us to make sure that students don’t see these colleagues as teaching members of staff. This should cut down on the possibility of students incorrectly contacting administrators and External Examiners. Note that both External Examiners and Department Administrators will be listed as Facilitators in the Course Register. You will be able to tell which is which because External Examiners don’t have an AU email address (@aber.ac.uk).
Some surplus roles have been removed
(from March 2025).
These were mainly roles created for system test purposes. However, if anyone was added with one of the deleted roles, they have been changed to Student. Any queries about enrolments should be sent to elearning@aber.ac.uk.
Staff with any role must be added to a course via Module Management
Any staff added manually will be removed from the course on the following Monday night. Student enrolments must be managed via the Student Record. New course enrolments are added within an hour of the change, and students are removed from old course enrolments on the following Monday night.
You shouldn’t notice too many differences, but it will improve some technical aspects of staff and student access to Blackboard courses.
These changes to course roles are designed to remove all course roles that have been created in-house at AU. This is because they don’t update as part of the Blackboard monthly updates. This means that course roles may not have the permission to use new tools or an up-to-date Welsh interface. Changing to using just the in-built Blackboard roles should improve access and bilingualism, as well as be more efficient. The only exception to this is the AU-created Course Viewer role which will remain. We have voted for the Blackboard Ideas Exchange entry for a built-in Course Viewer role, and we will make use of it if it is introduced.
Following our retention schedule, the removed roles will be finally deleted in 2030 when the last of the courses using them are removed from Blackboard.
Since September 2024, Information Services (IS) have been running a pilot of Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign to evaluate the use of SafeAssign. This is part of our commitment to making sure that we are using the best tools available. The purpose of this blogpost is to summarise the outcomes of our pilot.
18 staff volunteered to use Blackboard Assignment for submission and marking, and SafeAssign for text-matching. These staff were based in seven different departments and taught a range of UG and PG modules. All staff were offered training and provided with written guidance on using both Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. The training sessions provided an opportunity for staff to discuss different assessment scenarios with E-learning staff and to ascertain the suitability for Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. We also sent out surveys to staff on their use of e-marking and feedback tools.
A big thanks to all the staff and students involved in the pilot and all those who completed the surveys.
Outcome
AU will continue to use our current suite of e-assessment tools:
Turnitin
Blackboard Assignment
Blackboard Tests
Assessed Blackboard Tools
The pilot allowed us to reflect on the requirements for an e-assessment solution. It was clear from this that we need a combination of different solutions for different assessment requirements.
We would recommend Blackboard Assignment be used for:
Multi-part assignments
A Welsh language interface for marking and submission
Panopto submissions
One of the main purposes of the pilot was to investigate the efficacy of SafeAssign and its functionality as a text matching solution. Over the next few months, with input from stakeholders, we will decide whether we leave SafeAssign switched on and we’ll communicate this decision after Easter.
Survey Results
As well as taking part in training, staff in the pilot were asked to complete a survey before and after using Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign. The first survey was about their use of Turnitin, and the second one was about their experiences of using Assignment and SafeAssign.
We also sent out the first survey to all staff asking for their feedback on Turnitin, and use of Turnitin tools that have no equivalent in SafeAssign. This survey was designed to help us understand whether any of the features in Turnitin are essential to the AU marking and feedback process. Overall, 71 staff took part in these first surveys.
Some of the most frequently used and important features in Turnitin are not currently available in Blackboard and SafeAssign. Two of these were ranked as regularly used:
Timed and automatic release of marks and feedback (78% of respondents)
Seeing whether students have viewed marks (60% of respondents)
Three features ranked as essential from an e-assessment solution:
Timed release of marks (66% of respondents)
Submitting on behalf of students (51% of respondents)
Revealing individual names whilst marking anonymously (51% of respondents)
The key finding from the survey was that timed release of marks is considered both important and used frequently by staff, making it an essential requirement for any AU marking and feedback system.
The second survey was sent to just the pilot group and asked them about their use of the tools in Blackboard Assignment and SafeAssign, as well as their recommendations for changing submission and marking tools. 6 staff responded to this survey. They generally found it easy to use Blackboard and SafeAssign and didn’t report many problems for either them or their students. However, they highlighted limitations in functionality, which meant that some of the pilot group didn’t end up using Blackboard and SafeAssign at all:
Issues navigating the marking interface
File size upload limit (SafeAssign will only check files less than 10Mb)
Lack of automated marks release
Anthology Ideas Exchange
Anthology Ideas Exchange allows all Blackboard institutions to request and vote on functionality enhancements to the product. As a result of training sessions and staff feedback, we made 21 suggestions via the Anthology Ideas Exchange. These were a mix of Turnitin functionality that doesn’t have an equivalent in SafeAssign, as well as changes to existing SafeAssign functionality. Some examples include:
If you have suggestions or changes for any part of Blackboard on that you would like us to add to the Ideas Exchange, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk. You may also be interested in the new section in our monthly update blog which highlights any Ideas Exchange ideas that we have added or voted for which have been added to Blackboard.
Blackboard has some options that you can use make sure students get any individual assessment arrangements they may need.
Accommodations are applied to a student on a course level and will apply to any Blackboard Assignment or Test in the course. However, it does not apply to Turnitin assignments. Accommodations are good for students who have an ongoing arrangement that does not vary between assignments on the same course.
Students can have a Due Date accommodation or Time Limit Accommodation.
With a Dute Date Accommodation, work will never be marked as late in gradebook, although you are able to see when it was submitted. A Time Limit Accommodation gives the student extra time on any assessment with a timer.
Students with accommodations have a flag which is visible only to staff in the Grade Book, Roster, and on the Assessment. If a student with an accommodation is part of a group assignment, all students in the group will have the accommodation applied for that assignment.
Exceptions are made for students at a course level for individual assignments. Again, they do not apply to Turnitin assignments. Exceptions are good for students who may have a deadline extension for an individual piece of work. Exceptions can be used for additional attempts, rescheduled due dates, or extended access. Exceptions can only be applied to non-anonymous submissions – this means that they are useful for multiple choice tests that don’t require manual marking. They are visible only to staff through the Gradebook or Test Submission page.
All the information about Accommodations and Exceptions is available on the Blackboard Support site.
If you are stuck for ideas for the alternative text on your images, the Ally AI Alt Text Assistant can give you suggestions.
You should always check the suggestion provided by the AI Assistant as it may not always provide an accurate description of the image. You can edit any the AI generated suggestions.
Have a look at the accessible learning material guidance to find out why Alt Text is important. The Poet training tool provides guidance on how and when to use Alt Text as well as online tools to practice creating useful Alt text for images (please note that the Poet web site is an external site and is not available in Welsh).
As teaching starts, you may find this information about Panopto useful. These are the answers to our most frequently asked questions about Panopto over the last few weeks.
Linking to All Panopto Recordings
You can create a link to the Panopto folder in your Blackboard course. This means that students will be able to see the recordings for the course all in one place.
Finding your Panopto folder
Panopto folders for all this year’s modules are in the 2024-25 folder.
To find the Panopto folder you want to record into:
Click the dropdown button on the right-hand side of the Folder box.
Click the dropdown arrow to the left of the academic year folder to expand it.
Select the Panopto folder you want to record into.
You can also search for the Panopto folder you want to record into:
In the Folder box start typing the module code or name of the Panopto folder you want to Record into
Select the folder you want to record into.
What to do if you can’t see your Panopto folder
In a small number of courses, the Panopto folder wasn’t created over the summer. If you can’t find your Panopto folder using the steps above, you can create a folder from Blackboard:
Login to Blackboard and find your course
Click on Books and Tools > View course and institution tools
Click on Holl Fideo Panopto / All Panopto Videos
You should then be able to find the Panopto folder to make a recording.
A big thank you to all the staff who have signed up to the Blackboard Assignment with SafeAssign pilot. There’s still time to volunteer if you are interested (email elearning@aber.ac.uk).
Since the last blog post, we have made SafeAssign available for use in Blackboard Assignments. We have also held the first two training sessions. More training sessions will be organised for semester one – visit the Events and Training page to book a place.
We’ve been exploring some of the options for marking in Blackboard Assignment that staff might find useful:
Delegated marking allows staff to mark essays by group. If you divide up marking in your modules between several members of staff, then delegated marking will help you.
Parallel marking allows two staff to mark a piece of work independently without seeing each other’s comments or marks.
Anonymous comments. By default, marking comments in Blackboard Assignment contain the name of the staff member marking. If this is not appropriate for your marking, you can make them anonymous (see below).
Please note that deleted Blackboard assignments can be recovered for up to 30 days after deletion. If you need deleted assignments restored, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk as soon as possible, providing details of module and the assignment name.
Anonymous Comments
When you create a comment, click on the anonymous marking icon
You can edit existing comments to make them anonymous by clicking on the comment. Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the comment and then click on Anonymous.
To help your students use Blackboard Assignment to submit their work and find their feedback, we strongly recommend that you include the following FAQs in Assessment and Feedback Learning Module in your Blackboard course:
We are looking for volunteers to evaluate an alternative to Turnitin for text-matching and marking. This alternative is called SafeAssign. SafeAssign is part of Blackboard.
Training will be provided, and support will be available during the semester from e-learning support staff. We will ask everyone taking part in the evaluation to complete a short online survey before and after the trial. We will also invite you to a meeting at the end of the semester to share your experiences.
Please read the information below about this evaluation which will help you decide whether you would like to take part. If you want more information or would like to volunteer, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk
What is SafeAssign?
SafeAssign is a text-matching tool provided by Blackboard. It is included in our main Blackboard licence. SafeAssign is an alternative to Turnitin.
Why are we evaluating it?
AU used SafeAssign before we started using Turnitin. As part of our commitment to making sure that we are using the best tools available, we would like to evaluate whether SafeAssign would be appropriate for text-matching. This evaluation has been approved by the Academic Enhancement Committee (May 2024).
What will be different if I use SafeAssign instead of Turnitin?
Some aspects of marking and submission will be changed:
New submission, marking and text-matching tools
A different database of assignments and sources for text-matching. This database won’t include previous years’ submissions from AU.
You’ll see some new features:
Text highlighting
Welsh language interface for submission and marking
View and retrieve previous student submissions
And some features will not be available:
You will need to post marks manually rather setting a release date and time. However, this will give you a little more control over when marks are made available to students.
Submit on behalf of students
Switch off anonymous marking for individual students
Rubrics and quick marks can’t be exported from Turnitin, although similar tools are available in Blackboard.
Full details of the features of both Turnitin and SafeAssign are available.
Welsh language
All elements of this evaluation will be available in both Welsh and English. This includes help guides, training, support, and evaluation. SafeAssign itself is translated as part of Anthology’s commitment to Welsh. Welsh language text is including in the text-matching service.
What will I have to do if I volunteer?
We strongly recommend that modules included in the evaluation use SafeAssign use the tool for all e-submissions during the duration of the module. This helps both staff and students become familiar with SafeAssign rather than swapping between multiple submission and marking tools.
All staff involved in the submission, marking and moderation for the module will have to use SafeAssign (note that this includes external examiners). If you volunteer a module that has multiple staff marking on it, please make sure that they are all aware, and have all received appropriate training (see below). We will provide all external examiners with information about the evaluation.
We strongly recommend that you provide a practice submission for your students before their first assignment. This will make sure that they know how to use SafeAssign correctly. We will provide guides and FAQs for students which you can link to from the Assessment and Feedback area of your Blackboard course.
What training and support will be available?
We will publish guides and FAQs for staff and students on the LTEU website. We will also run training sessions on how to create submission points and how to mark. Full support will be available to staff and students throughout the term.
How will it impact my students?
Submission will be different for students; one advantage of using SafeAssign is that students will get an email receipt. Students will also see their feedback in a slightly different way. We will provide full support for students.
Can I talk to someone about this?
Contact elearning@aber.ac.uk for information and to discuss whether SafeAssign is appropriate for your module.
