When using Turnitin, you may occasionally come across one of the few known errors. These errors are rare and you can usually tackle them yourself, but a few of them will need to be reported to the IT Service Desk (it@reading.ac.uk) or Turnitin.

Here’s a list of potential error messages and how to resolve them:

Error 124: Object missing or invalid

Error 206/207: Turnitin-Blackboard integration error

Error 414: Originality report not generated

Error 423: Unable to access Turnitin

Error 9999: Assignment not sync’d with Grade Centre

Black Exclamation Mark next to Assignment Title

Google Chrome is the preferred Internet browser for working with Blackboard and Turnitin.

If you need to check if your browser is supported by Blackboard or Turnitin, check out our Supported Internet browsers page.

Blackboard Organisations are set up specifically to support student learning that takes place outside of the formal Blackboard course structure for a single module or programme.

See Blackboard Organisations.

Organisations continue from one year to the next and are not part of the annual rollover process, unlike courses that have a new course area set up each academic year. Organisations have the same features and tools as a Course.

Enrolment in organisations is either by self-enrol, manual enrolment or custom RISIS feed and is the responsibility of the person with the role of organisation ‘Leader’. (The role of ‘Leader’ is used instead of ‘Instructor’ when it is an Organisation. People enrolled onto the organisation by the Leader are called ‘Participants’).

Courses on Blackboard remain fully accessible to staff after they have finished. They will also be available to students while they remain a student at the University and can be referred to as a learning archive.

You should always leave courses from previous academic years available to students, so they can re-visit study materials and see their online assignment feedback.

You can organise your courses by academic year by editing the Course block on the Enrolments tab and using  the ‘Group by term’ function.

Note: As part of the preparation for the next academic year, Blackboard courses that are running again in the next academic year, are copied to new courses (with new course codes) for the coming academic year. See details about the Annual Course Rollover.

See the Assessment help page with details of what tools are available for e-assessment, how to set up assignment submission points and how to build online tests in Blackboard.

Find out more about approaches to assessment at the University.

Ask students to contact the Service Desk if they are having problems logging in.

• log a ticket: Self Service Portal
• email: dts@reading.ac.uk
• telephone: 0118 378 6262.

Another common reason for students not being able to access Blackboard beyond the 2nd week of term is that they have not completed the registration process including payment of fees and online module registration. If this is the case, ask students to contact the Student Services HelpDesk (Ground Floor Carrington Building, email: studenthelp@reading.ac.uk, telephone: 0118 837 8555).

• Has your Blackboard course been made available, so that it is visible to students? See FAQ – How do I make my course available?
• Are the students enrolled on the course? Within the course, go to the Course Management Control Panel, click Users and Groups > Users. You will see a list of everyone that is enrolled on the course.
• If the student is listed and there is YES beside their name under the Available column, they should be able to see the course on Blackboard.
• If the student is listed and there is a NO beside their name under the Available column, then another member of staff with the role of ‘Instructor’ on the course has prevented the student from accessing the course. You may need to check with other Instructors on the course to see why this has been done.
• If the student is not listed on the course, you will need to contact an administrator to check their enrolment record on RISIS is correct and then wait for this to be updated in Blackboard.

Students should be automatically enrolled into your courses on Blackboard using their record in RISIS (the Reading Student Information System). A small number of courses are not linked to RISIS. You can identify these courses by looking for NR in the course code (NR = ‘non-RISIS’). Students will need to be manually enrolled onto these courses. If a student is not enrolled on a course you will need to contact an administrator to check that their enrolment record on RISIS is correct and then wait for this to be updated in Blackboard. It is important to make the change via RISIS to ensure the student obtains module credits and has an exam seat allocated etc.

Tutors and administrators can also be manually enrolled onto courses if you have the role of ‘Instructor’ on a course.

User guide: Enrolling participants on your Course 

Once a student has completed their registration in RISIS (the Reading Student Information System) for the current academic year, and has been attached to specific modules, they will be automatically enrolled on the corresponding courses in Blackboard.

Blackboard is updated in an overnight feedback taken from RISIS at approximately 17:00 BST on a week day. Student enrolments on courses will appear in Blackboard on the following morning.

To check whether students have been attached to modules in RISIS, please contact the appropriate person in your School Office or the course administrator.

Newly created or copied courses (usually at the start of the academic year) are set as ‘unavailable’ in Blackboard. This means that they are not visible to students. This allows tutors time to prepare and modify their courses before the students can see them.

To make a course available: Within the course go to the Course Management Control Panel, click Customisation > Properties, and set Availability to Yes, and click Submit.

Alternatively go to the top right-hand corner of the course and click on the red padlock icon to make the course available.

User guide: How to make a course available

NB* In Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation unavailable courses will appear as “Private“.  It is possible to “open” a private course from the courses view in the Blackboard menu.

Blackboard and Turnitin are occasionally unavailable during planned maintenance work – see Scheduled Blackboard and Turnitin maintenance.

Check if there are any current issues with Blackboard on the Blackboard Service Status page

Check the status of the University network and other university systems: UoR IT Services Status.

Turnitin is a separate system that is integrated with Blackboard. This means that Turnitin might be unavailable even if Blackboard is working.

You can see if Turnitin is working by checking the Turnitin Service Status page. Please note: Only messages referring to TurnitinUK are relevant.