Blackboard February 2022 Updates
The latest Blackboard update will appear on Westminster’s live Blackboard system in February. Here is a short video on the February update.
New Assessment Settings - Prohibit late submissions and new attempts after due date
There are two new settings for Tests and Assignments:
Prohibit late submissions – This will prevent students from submitting after the deadline. Any work that has been saved as a draft will be automatically submitted at the due date and the student will receive an email receipt confirming their submission.
Prohibit new attempts after due – This will prevent students from beginning a new attempt after the due date. If a student has already started an attempt before the due date, they will be able to submit after the due date but will be marked as late.
To access the new assessment settings, click on the cog icon in the assignment settings.
Enabling Prohibit late submissions will automatically enable prohibit new attempts after due date – the checkbox will be ‘greyed out’. An instructor can just enable prohibit new attempts after due date.
There are some limitations when using the new settings. When prohibit late submissions is enabled the following can’t be used:
Offline Submissions
Peer Review
Group Submissions
If prohibit new attempts after due date is enabled, the following can’t be used:
Offline Submissions
Peer Review
Any students with a time limit accommodation will be given the extra time allocated to them to complete their work.
Name pronunciation
Instructors and students can add text guidance and an audio recording of their name to their user profile. Users can use the text guidance to describe the pronunciation of their names for other users. Users can record the pronunciation of their name. There is a 20 second limit for audio recordings.
To access this feature, click on your profile and under ‘Basic Information’ there will be an option to add pronunciation.
Once enabled, the text guidance and audio recording will appear in the class register, discussion boards, course groups and in the gradebook.
Pointer Tool in Collaborate
The pointer has been added back to Collaborate. The pointer will be available to moderators and presenters and can be used when you’re sharing your files or using the whiteboard.
HTML support in Ultra documents
Instructors can create, edit, and delete HTML code blocks in Ultra course documents. When creating a document, there is now the option to select Add HTML. This will allow you to fully customise the appearance of your documents. Use the three dots to edit or delete HTML and use the plus symbol to add a new block.
Students will see what the instructors created or edited, but they will not be able to create, edit, or delete any of the HTML.
