LearnUCS - Issue with accessing modules for some lecturers

The Elevate team have become aware of an issue for staff who are enrolled on more than 99 module/course areas.

The "My Modules" box can not display all areas and offers access via the Course Catalogue, unfortunately there is a software bug that prevents the Course Catalogue giving access to the remaining areas.

Below is the message we have received from Blackboard:

Our Product Development organization has verified this issue as a software defect. The next step in our process is to determine the target release for fixing this bug. Depending on the severity of this issue, it could take up to 30 days for us to make a determination. We will follow up with another email to let you know our plans for including the fix in an upcoming service pack.

Basically, the "My Courses" module no longer shows more than 99 courses and refers users to the course catalog to search for the courses.

Tier 3 are working on this problem at this moment. I have linked this case to the BUG report so you can receive updates about it as soon as they are available.

If you are enrolled over 99 modules and experience this problem, the Elevate team are able to run an internal work-around by removing any unwanted modules.  Too many modules become unmanageable and a number of staff will have hidden these modules and may have forgotten they have access.

The Elevate team will be looking at batch disabling the 2010/11 modules this week, which will hopefully help alleviate the issue.

We apologise for this inconvenience and will update once we hear from Blackboard.

Issue with long file names and uploading assignments in LearnUCS.

A recent issue has been raised when a student uploads a file into an assignment area with a file which has a very long file name on LearnUCS.

In uploading a file with a large file name a large red error will occur. The file does end up submitting, however lecturers can't view or do anything with the file. If this has happened to you, please contact your course admin team.

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Here is a bad example for a file name to upload:

This is my assignment for - the research i did for a certain topic including works by other authors and contributors - this is some more example text to show the length of the filename.doc

Here is a good example for a file name to upload:

Short Assignment Name.doc

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This is also affecting students retrieving feedback, but only for those who have uploaded previously long file names before the LearnUCS upgrade. If you are having issues viewing your feedback please contact your course admin team.

This has been raised with BlackBoard and we will be working with them for a solution.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Complete

The LearnUCS upgrade is complete and login is now active again.

To see some of the new features please visit the Elevate Team blog http://ucselevate.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/LearnUCS

As will all upgrades we have tested the site as much as possible and believe the system is working as expected.  If you do find any issues please contact the Elevate Team at elevate@ucs.ac.uk

LearnUCS Upgrade - 8.00pm Update

Tier II are continuing to work on the problem. 

We will update again at 10.00pm. 

LearnUCS Upgrade - 6.00pm Update

Tier II support are still working on the issue, we will update again at 8.00pm. 

LearnUCS Upgrade - 3.00pm Update

The support team have identified the issue and have passed this up to Tier II support, we have taken the decision to give Tier II more time before we release the system.

We will update at 6.00pm this evening.

LearnUCS Upgrade - 12noon Update

Phase 3 testing is complete and we have just the 1 issue mentioned previously, we are currently waiting on the support team whilst they investigate the issue.

Please check back at 3.00pm, if the support team has not been able to rectify the issue, we will release the software with that feature disabled.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Phase 3 Continued

We are progressing well with the final phase of testing.  This testing has raised one issue that we have reported to the upgrade team.

We hope to have this issue fixed today allowing us to open the system this afternoon.  If we are unable to fix the issue today, we will disable that functionality and allow access back to the system.

Check back here at 12noon for further details.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Phase 3

Phase 2 has been completed after the issue we had experienced was corrected, the system is now working as expected.

The team have moved on to phase 3, new feature testing.  This phase may take longer than phase 2, we will report here with progress.

Thank you.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Testing Phase

We are pleased to be able to announce that phase 1 of the upgrade has completed an hour before schedule.

This now means we can move to phase 2, the testing phase.  The Elevate team are currently testing the upgrade to make sure the system is responding as expected.  

Early stages of phase 2 has picked up one issue, that has been reported to the support team.

Phase 3 will be testing the new features, ready for allowing users back on to the system.

Check back later this afternoon for further updates.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Underway

The LearnUCS upgrade has started, login access has been removed, both directly into LearnUCS and from MyUCS.

We will be updating this bog has the upgrade progresses, please check back Saturday afternoon for more updates.

LearnUCS Upgrade - Student Common Tasks

With the LearnUCS Summer Upgrade taking place this weekend, we have compiled a list of common tasks and new features for students accompanied that with a video guide of how to complete the task in the new LearnUCS release. 

Please be aware that fully ratified results are available via the MyUCS system which will not be affected by the upgrade to LearnUCS.

First access of Upgraded LearnUCS: The first time you access the upgraded system you will be greeted by an overlay showing the new Global Navigation system and allowing you to create your new profile.  You are able to pull in a photograph/avatar and profile information from either Facebook or Twitter, if you are currently using those system.  This is a one way pull of information and there is no way for any information to be passed back to Facebook or Twitter.

Changes to Assignment Submissions: When submitting your assignment using a Microsoft Office file you will now be shown your submitted document in the browser window.  This new feature now allows you to view your document to confirm you have submitted the correct document.  If you haven't submitted the correct document you will need to contact your Course Administrator.  Along with now being able to view your document in the browser, your lecturer can also view and annotate your document with comments/feedback directly in the browser.

Viewing Comments and Feedback: Now lecturers can annotate documents directly in their browser, you can receive that feedback in the same browser format.  Using the new Global Navigation and Notification system you will be notified and able to directly access that feedback.

The LearnUCS system will be unavailable from 5.00pm on Friday 19th July, and will be back available by Monday 22nd July at the latest.

LearnUCS Summer Upgrade - Common Tasks

With the LearnUCS Summer Upgrade fast approaching, we have compiled a list of common tasks and new features for lecturers and accompanied that with a video guide of how to complete the task in the new LearnUCS release.  We will be adding to this list over the next few weeks.  If you are a UCS lecturer and you would like access to the test environment to have a play with the new version, please email elevate@ucs.ac.uk

New Features

Navigation:  This release of LearnUCS uses a new Dashboard style navigation system.  All notification are made to the dashboard, allowing you to reply to blog post and discussion posts without having to go to each separate module/course areas.   The new Retention Centre also sends notifications to the dashboard as do many tools.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_myblackboard_global_nav.htm

Inline Grading Tool: Probably the biggest new feature is the Inline Grading tool.  This tool allows lecturers to view and annotate a student's online submission directly in the browser via the Gradecentre.  This means there is no need to download the document to mark it off line, which in turns removes the need to upload feedback to individual students.  Below is a link to the a video showing the new Inline Grading tool in action.

http://www.screencast.com/t/SAZJVLrY4Z7

Retention Center: The old Performance Dashboard has been replaced with a new Retention Centre that allows quick and easy access to learner analytics.  This gives the lecturer a dashboard to view set rules, notifying them of warnings including, students not logging in, missed assessment deadlines and more.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_evaluation_retention_center.htm

Content Editor: The Content Editor is a replacement for the old text box editor, this has now been completely reworked and now allows for changes to colours and fonts and more.  This now is a proper WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_tools_using_content_editor.htm

Profiles: Blackboard Profiles are a new tool allowing all users to create a profile of themselves, that also has a one way connection to Twitter and Facebook.  This one way connection allows you to pull in your avatar - photograph and profile text to LearnUCS.  Profiles are used to allow users to identify each other, so you can roll your mouse over someones name on a discussion board in your course/module, to see more information about that person, if they have chosen to use their profile.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_myblackboard_profiles.htm

Common Tasks

Discussion Boards: The discussion board tool has been completely rewritten, giving a much better experience for users.  You now get to see all messages in a thread without having to click to see each one.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_discussion_board_interacting.htm

Calendars: This tool has also been completely rewritten, all calendars can now been seen from the dashboard in a single view.  This view allows changes to be made to the calendars without having to go to each separate area.  You can also link the LearnUCS calendar to other external calendars, if you are a Google Calendar user, you can display the LearnUCS calendars in Google.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_course_tools_calendar.htm

Course Files: Using Course files allows you to upload structured zip files into LearnUCS which can then be unzipped in the same structure.  You can also use drag and drop if you setup the WebDAV feature.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_course_files_tour.htm

Adding Files from Course Files:  If you use Course Files to add materials to LearnUCS, you will need to know how to add those to your module to allow students to access them, this video shows how to do that.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_course_files_attach_course_file_to_content_item.htm

 

LearnUCS Summer Upgrade - July 20th 2013

LearnUCS is scheduled to be upgraded on Saturday 20th July to the latest stable Blackboard release (SP12). This will involve the service being unavailable on the Friday 19th from 17.00, being upgraded on the Saturday, tested by the Elevate Team on Sunday 21st, and available by 8.00 on Monday 22nd (if not earlier).

We have already worked with Blackboard to complete a successful upgrade on our test environment which has passed our Phase 1 Test Plan. This is great news, and means we are very confident to be able to deliver the upgrade on the live LearnUCS platform within the timeline above.

The latest version will provide some enhanced functionality around common task, often requested by Staff and Students. These include:

• inline marking: enhance the feedback process


• discussion board redesign: it actually works like a discussion board


• enhanced statistics


• improved notifications


• completely redesigned Text Editor


• new Calendars


• video Everywhere: direct upload from webcam

A more detailed timeline is:

May

Technical: Elevate

• 
  

  Upgrade Test Environment to SP12 [Bbd MH] (Complete)

  
  

Project Management

• 
  

  Project Documentation  [AB] (Created)

  
  

Communication

• 
  

  Setup project blog area [AB] (Complete)

  
  


• 
  

  Meet with Course Admins - 23 May (Complete)

  
  

June

Technical: Elevate

• 
  

  Test Integrations on Test Environment [AB] (Complete)

  
  


• 
  

  Offer access to upgraded Test Environment to champions [AB] (Started Rollout Offer)

  
  


• 
  

  Identify common tasks and document how to do this in the new version [AB] (Complete)

  
  


• 
  

  Building Block Management (see risk log) - first exploration for turning off LO (wiki, blog, expo), safeAssign submissions, course merge functionality [AB] (Complete)

  
  


• 
  

  Agree new course template with Academic Services [AB]

  
  

User testing

• 
  

  identify the power groups (staff & system / course admins) and the tasks they need to complete. what did they do? how did they find it? did it meet their needs? do they like it? [AB]

  
  

Staff & Student Support

• 
  

  design work packages for FAQs and Videos - what scenarios do we need to cover? [AB]

  
  

July

Technical: Elevate

• 
  

  Upgrade Production Environment to SP12 [Bbd MH]

  
  


• 
  

  course design applied to Template [AB]

  
  


• 
  

  Roll out 13/14 modules

  
  

 Once we have completed the remaining June tasks, we will update the blog.  If you wish to try out the new LearnUCS (SP12) in the test environment please email elevate@ucs.ac.uk to request access.