Author: Robert Francis [rsf09]

Turnitin considerations to be aware of (as of October 2022).

Robert Francis [rsf09] E-submission, Turnitin Leave a comment

Student access to Turnitin Submission Points. 

We recommend that Turnitin Submission Points are not hidden from students for the following reasons: 

  • Students require access to Turnitin Submission Points to access and download their Turnitin digital receipt which is evidence of their submission. 
  • Students should ideally always retain access to their submitted assignments via Turnitin Submission Points.
  • Students should have access to their grades and feedback on the Feedback Release Date originally advertised to them for the Turnitin Submission Point. Feedback should be available to students 15 working days after submission in accordance with point 5.2 of the E-submission and Feedback Policy. 

Turnitin and non-anonymous submission and marking. 

We strongly recommend that the Blackboard Grade Centre column is hidden for any Turnitin Submission Point set up with non-anonymous marking.  

When a Turnitin assignment is set up without anonymous marking any marks entered in the Turnitin Feedback Studio will feed through to the Blackboard Grade Centre Column immediately. This makes them visible to the students before the Feedback Release Date.  

To hide a column in the Grade Centre: 

  1. Go to Full Grade Centre 
  2. Click the chevron next the relevant column 
  3. Toggle the ‘Hide from Students (On/Off)’ option until there is a red line through the chevron. 

The Blackboard Grade Centre Column should be unhidden when the feedback release date has passed. 

Though anonymous marking is the norm, there may be reasons for non-anonymous submission and marking. See point 4.7 of the E-Submission and Feedback Policy. 

This issue has been reported to Turnitin.  

Notice of deletion of old Panopto recordings on 1st February 2022

Robert Francis [rsf09] Panopto Leave a comment

On 1st February we will be deleting Panopto recordings which are over 5 years old and have not been viewed in the last 5 years. This is in accordance with the Lecture Capture Policy. See point 8.1 of the Lecture Capture Policy.

In future we will be running the same process outlined above every 1st September.

If you have any questions, including how to save old recordings, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk

Workaround for Blackboard 404 error when accessing files using the Microsoft Edge browser.

Robert Francis [rsf09] Blackboard, Technical Updates 1 Comment

The Microsoft Edge browser attempts to open Microsoft Office files directly in the browser. When accessing files in Blackboard this is causing an error with the message; “404 – File or directory not found.”

image of a 404 error message

A suggested workaround for this is to use either the Google Chrome or Firefox browsers.

Alternatively you can change the following setting in Microsoft Edge:

Open the Edge menu by clicking the three dots and click Settings

An image of the Edge menu with settings highlighted

Click Downloads

Turn off the setting Open Office files in the browser

An image of the settings under downloads

If you require further assistance please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk

2021-2022 Modules now available to Staff

Robert Francis [rsf09] Uncategorised Leave a comment

Modules for the academic year 2021/2022 are now available for staff teaching on modules. This is in order to assist staff in preparing for the new academic year. You may have noticed that a new tab has appeared on the top menu of your Blackboard screen: 

If you’re enrolled as a staff member on the module in Astra then you should be able to view your modules for next academic year. If you’re not able to see a module that you are enrolled on then contact your Departmental Administrator. Students won’t be enrolled on the module until registration is complete.  

You’ll notice that the codes for modules have changed slightly owing to the new MAF form. AB1 denotes modules running in semester 1, AB2 denotes modules running in semester 2, and AB3 denotes modules running in Semester 3 and Semester S.

We’ve got the following support available to help with Course Copy: 

Read our FAQ

If you have any queries regarding Course Copy, or need further assistance, please email elearning@aber.ac.uk. 

Course Copy 2021-2022

Robert Francis [rsf09] Blackboard, Uncategorised Leave a comment

Every year, the E-learning Group create new modules in Blackboard ready for next year’s teaching. For the academic year 2021/22 departments decided internally  whether modules would be blank or have content copied over. Modules for 2021-2022 will be available from the beginning of August. 

Staff in Geography and Earth Sciences and IBERS will have modules created blank. We have prepared these FAQs with detailed guidance on copying different elements from one module to another in Blackboard.

All other departments will have their modules copied. As part of the course copy process, the following tools and content are not copied:

  • Turnitin submissions  
  • Blackboard Assignments  
  • Announcements
  • Blogs
  • Journals  
  • Wikis
  • Panopto recordings and links
  • Teams meetings. 

We would like to assist staff with preparing their modules as much as we can. We are happy to arrange a consultation over Teams. To do so, send an email to elearning@aber.ac.uk

Flags and the Insight Panel in Turnitin Feedback Studio

Robert Francis [rsf09] E-submission, Feedback, Marking, Turnitin Leave a comment

Staff who have graded assignment submissions via Turnitin will be familiar with the Similarity Report the Feedback Studio. The Feedback Studio interface highlights matches with online sources.

Turnitin have updated the interface of the Feedback Studio to now highlight for review textual inconsistencies in submission. These highlights are termed Flags.

Flags pick up potential integrity issues such as:
•Replaced text characters which could be inserted to circumvent a similarity match.
•Hidden text such as quotation marks that could impact the percentage of quoted material and enable the passing off of such content as original.

Read More