Information: Users of the Microsoft Edge browser receive an error when trying to open Word, PowerPoint and other file attachments from Blackboard. Edge attempts to open MS Office files inside the browser but they fail to open.
This is an issue with the “Open office files in the browser” feature in Microsoft Edge.

This issue has been resolved in in Edge version 100.Solution:

• Update Edge to the latest stable release.
• If this is not possible, switch off the “Open office files in the browser” setting in Microsoft Edge (see below).
• Use a different browser (e.g. Chrome or Firefox).

Steps to switch off “Open office files in the browser”:

• In Edge, copy and paste edge://settings/downloads in the browser address bar and press Enter.
• Or click on the 3 dots in the top right-hand corner of  the browser.
• Select Settings.
• Click on Downloads.
• Toggle the “Open office files in the browser” setting to Off.

For more information see this Blackboard support article.

Information: Blackboard report variations in quality between the main internet providers in China. Among the top three telecommunication carriers in China, users with China Unicom have the best performance with Collaborate, and then China Mobile. Users with China Telecom can experience problems accessing and/or reconnecting issues.
Solution: Please consider switching to a different Internet Service Provider or request your Lecturer to switch lectures to Microsoft Teams if possible.

Information: When using Mac OS “Big Sur” 11.0 or “Catalina” 10.15 and Safari 14 with Collaborate Ultra the audio a user hears is breaking up or cracking.
Affected Platforms
Mac OS “Big Sur” 11.0 and Safari 14
Mac OS “Catalina” 11.0 and Safari 14
Solution: If Safari 14 is installed on your computer, please plan on using either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox with Collaborate Ultra sessions.

Information: Purple wheel keeps spinning for longer than usual.
Solution: Please ensure “Third Party Cookies” are allowed in your browser settings and if you are using Safari please also ensure “Prevent cross-site tracking” is disabled.

Information: Blackboard Collaborate Ultra will not support versions of Google Chrome below version 79 – see Collaborate Ultra supported browsers. Chromebook devices running Chrome version 78 or earlier will be presented with an error when attempting to join a Blackboard Collaborate Ultra session.

Solution: Please update your browser to the latest Chrome version. If you are unable to update Chrome, you may be able to install an alternate browser from the Google Play Store:
Microsoft Edge
Mozilla Firefox (requires a touch-screen device)

Solution: Contact your Module Convenor, Instructor or Stream group owner. They can ensure you have access to video or contact DTS in case of any issues.

Solution: Clear your browser cache, login to Stream or Blackboard again. Try a different browser.

Solution: We are investigating this issue. If you are getting the same message, please contact dts@reading.ac.uk

Solution: Check your Firewall or Network settings.

Description: Turnitin now displays submission “Due Date” as UTC equivalent of UK time for students who are outside UK or those who have their computers configured to a Timezone other than UK time (i.e. UTC +00:00 Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London).
Recommendation: To avoid any inconvenience students are advised to ensure their computers are configured to correct Time Zone and ensure date and time on their computers is up to date.

Description: During a Blackboard Test, for short answer questions you should see a text editor where you can type your answer. For some users this text box doesn’t appear or is greyed out. This issue is either caused by Pop-ups being blocked, the browser cache, or browser extensions.
Solution: To fix the issue please:

• Go to your browser settings and allow all pop-ups (run this Browser compatibility checker to check whether pop-ups are being blocked)
• Clear your browser cache (see the DTS Help page Clearing your browser cache and cookies if you need help)
• Disable or remove browser extensions (e.g. Ad-blocker or McAfee)
• If none of these steps works, please type your answers in a Word document and email the document to your programme administration team or lecturer as soon as possible, then log a ticket through the Self Service Portal.

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Description: 
Microsoft files generated using Windows, including .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .pptx, .ppt, .ppsx, and .pps files, can occasionally fail to process when uploaded to Turnitin. Files created using other operating systems are unaffected.
Workaround:
Convert your file to a PDF before attempting to upload it to Turnitin. This ensures it is in a format we can process gracefully and without any problems. Find out more here

Files selected for Assignment submissions and Course Content become replaced with an empty file if a user of Microsoft Windows 10 and the Edge browser has opened and closed the file after selection and before submission.

Resolution/Workaround: Workaround #1:

• Do not open the source file after selecting it for upload into Blackboard Learn. Users should be advised to open files for inspection before accessing the area to which they wish to upload the file.

Workaround #2:

• Use different browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

If you used Track Changes when writing your assignment in Word, you need to accept all changes before submitting to Blackboard.

See Blackboard Learn: Assignment Submission – Accept Track Changes

You may see this error when trying to open feedback on a Turnitin assignment from ‘My Marks and Feedback’.

The error occurs when Turnitin and Blackboard have not synchronised correctly.

Workaround:

• Go directly to the Turnitin Assignment and click on View/Complete (as you did when you submitted your work). See Turnitin: View marks and feedback.
• Please also notify your Programme Administrator. They can easily resolve the 124 error, but won’t be aware of it unless you tell them.

Sometimes when you click on a link in Blackboard to a PDF, the file opens in the browser, but only the first page is visible, and the other pages appear to be blank.This is a browser issue, not specifically related to Blackboard.

Workaround: Download the file and then open it

• Right-click on the link and select Save link as (or ‘Save target as’)
• Save the file to a suitable location e.g. your Downloads folder.
• Open the file. It will probably still open in your internet browser, but should now display correctly.
• If it still does not display correctly, open Adobe Acrobat and then open the PDF from inside Acrobat.