Blackboard Collaborate Browser Compatibilty

Blackboard Collaborate have announced they are ending support for the current ‘native’ Microsoft Edge browser.

From the 1st July, the only Microsoft browser which will be supported will be the new Microsoft Edge Chromium browser.

Blackboard Collaborate’s full compatibility list is as follows:

Collaborate browser support
Browser (Most recent two releases only) Desktop Mobile
Google ChromeTM Windows®, macOS, Ubuntu AndroidTM
Firefox® Windows, macOS Not supported
Safari® macOS 10.13+ iOS® 12+, iPadOS
Microsoft Edge® (Chromium) Windows, macOS Android, iOS

 

Leeds Desktop users will have access to a supported version of Google Chrome, which remains fully compatible with Collaborate.

Resolved – Turnitin service disruption

Between 09:00 and 10:20 on Tuesday 19th May, some students may have encountered errors when when attempting to submit, and staff when they attempted to view files through Turnitin.

This issue has now been resolved.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Comments are welcome, however if you need help or advice please contact the IT Service Desk on tel (0113) 343 3333, or itservicedesk@leeds.ac.uk.

Minerva – data issue

Unfortunately a data feed error occurred on Wednesday 6th May. We believe this has resulted in a small proportion of student module enrolments being disabled which means these students can no longer access their Minerva modules.

Today we have identified a number of these students and have restored access where possible, we are also working with our vendor and IT to ensure the remaining students have their access restored. In the meantime, if this affects you, please forward details to the IT Service Desk (contact details below) and we will restore access as a matter of urgency.

If you need help or advice please contact the IT Service Desk on tel (0113) 343 3333, via the online contact form, or itservicedesk@leeds.ac.uk.

Submitting to Turnitin using Safari – update

We have been advised by Turnitin that students should no longer experience an issue caused by corrupt caching settings (detailed below) when submitting to Safari. 

Comments are welcome, however if you need help or advice please contact the IT Service Desk on tel (0113) 343 3333, via the online contact form, or itservicedesk@leeds.ac.uk.

 

Safari browser users occasionally have problems submitting to Turnitin.

Turnitin have issued the following guidance when submitting with Safari:

In a small number of cases, corrupt caching settings within the Safari browser has caused the session to hang and submissions to fail. If this occurs then users should take the following steps:

  1. Go to the Safari Preferences > Privacy tab > Manage Website Data.
  2. Look for and remove the three cached websites below: (All three may not be present)
    – googlesyndication.com
    – googleservices.com
    – turnitinuk.com or turnitin.com
  3. Close and reopen Safari.
  4. Try submitting again.

Ensure to give yourself extra time to submit if you are submitting using the Safari browser. Follow the steps above if your submission fails. Alternatively, you can submit using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

 

Minerva and Internet Explorer: it’s time to move on.

Minerva and some of the tools integrated into it no longer support the Internet Explorer web browser.

From Monday 4th May you will need to stop using Internet Explorer to access Minerva. On a Windows machine you should instead use Microsoft Edge or an alternative browser.

Firefox, Safari, Edge and Chrome browser icons

Minerva supports the most recent and penultimate release versions of all major desktop browsers:

  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge (and Edge ‘Chromium’)
  • Firefox Quantum
  • Safari (Mac Only)

On an IT managed Windows computer you will have access to an up-to-date version of Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge.

If you need help or advice, please contact the service desk on +44 (0)113 343 3333, fill in the  online contact form, or email itservicedesk@leeds.ac.uk.

Changes to large events in Collaborate Ultra

From today, functionality has been added to allow large sessions (250-500 participants) to be set up without the need to contact the Learning Technologies team to arrange this.

In the session settings, you should see an option to select ‘large scale session (250+)’. Simply tick this box if necessary.

Screenshot 2020-04-21 at 10.42.33

All the reductions to functionality for large sessions will remain in place, as will the upper limit of 500 participants.

Minerva – maintenance complete

Our Easter maintenance is now complete and Minerva is available again.

We do not anticipate any problems, but will continue to monitor the system closely.

Remember: Minerva supports the most recent and penultimate release versions of all major desktop browsers:

  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox Quantum
  • Safari (Mac Only)

IE11 is no longer supported.

For the best experience, make sure you clear your browser’s cache before using Minerva.

For guidance on how to clear your cache, follow this link then select the appropriate browser: http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/home/.

If you need help or advice, please contact the service desk on +44 (0)113 343 3333, fill in the online contact form, or email itservicedesk@leeds.ac.uk.

Learning Technologies Team