Your School will provide you with information about Blackboard, and how you can access the specific information you require. Practices vary between Schools, so may not exactly match what is shown below.
- Logging on
- External Examiner’s Organisation
- Access to accessed work
- Turnitin Assignments
- Blackboard Assignments
Logging on
You should log on to Blackboard at www.bb.reading.ac.uk – see Blackboard Learn: Logging in.
Please note that logging into Blackboard and many other University systems requires Multifactor Authentication – please see the DTS Guide to Remote Services Access.
If you use Microsoft authentication at your home institution, you may need to follow one of the following options to access the University of Reading Blackboard system.
- sign out of the Microsoft account for your home institution
- or use a private browser window
- or use a different browser (e.g. use Firefox instead of Chrome)
Once logged on, you will see individual modules listed under ‘Courses’ on the left, but your first port of call is likely to be the External Examiner organisation listed under ‘Organisations’.
External Examiner Organisations
Your External Examiner organisation is designed to help you find all of the information you need. This may include
- assessment regulations and other key University information
- Programme specifications and handbooks
- Module descriptions
- Module assessment information
External Examiner organisations for the 2023/24 academic year and beyond have been set up using the new Blackboard Learn Ultra interface.
Access to assessed work
In addition to being enrolled on an Organisation you may also be enrolled on the Blackboard courses for the modules on the programme. These are accessed via Courses on the main menu (just above Organisations) or there may be links in the Organisation that jumps you to specific areas of a specific course.
The way information is presented will differ somewhat from School to School. In the example shown below, the ‘Moderation Sample’ link will take you directly to the Blackboard Gradebook for the relevant module, and show you a filtered view for the specific sample which was subject to internal moderation.
If you wish to see the marks and feedback for all the students, not just those in the moderation sample you could remove the filters pertaining to the students, in the example above this would mean removing Group 1 and Group 2 from the list of filters.
Open sample papers in Gradebook
Click on the mark in the Gradebook to reveal a contextual menu, select view this will open the submission and feedback.
For Turnitin submissions the View option will not work. You will have to go to the Markable items tab and click on the correct Turnitin submission point. This will open Turnitin, where you can find the submission in the inbox.
Turnitin assignments
In the Turnitin Assignment inbox you can use the search facility to find a specific student or the All Students filter to see the sample group.
Open a paper in the Turnitin Assignment Inbox by clicking on the paper title or Grade.
The paper will open in the Feedback Studio where you can see annotations, summary comments and rubrics, depending on how the marker has used these tools.
- QuickMarks and inline annotations
- Feedback summary
- Audio feedback
- a Rubric or Grading Form
Blackboard
In the Gradebook Marks view tab you can click on the Grade of the student who’s paper you wish to open.
In the marking screen you can view any inline annotations or summary feedback, which can include audio or video feedback, given by the marker.
- Inline annotations
- Grade given to paper
- Summary feedback to student
- Individual feedback (group assignments)
For individual Blackboard Assignments a Rubric may be used.
The Blackboard and Turnitin integration may have been enable, which would provide a similarity report which can be accessed by clicking on the xx% Match pill button.
Guide last updated on February 28, 2025