Blackboard Known Issues

Posted 9/22/23 SR

In Ultra Course View, Progress Tracking allows both students and instructors to monitor student progress through content and assessments. After the September update, a bug was introduced that prevents web links (links to external web sites) from being tracked in Progress Tracking. This prevents students from seeing a link as in progress after accessing it and from marking it as complete. This also prevents instructors from seeing whether students have accessed a link from the progress reporting.

Blackboard has acknowledged this as a known issue and is working on a fix. There is no timeline for a fix at this time.

The only potential workaround would be to create a Document and add the link via the content editor. This would allow students to mark their progress on the Document and access to the Document would be visible in the progress report, but it would not guarantee that the student had clicked the link.

Posted 9/22/23 SR

In the Ultra Course View, a discussion can be assigned to a group set so that group members discuss only among themselves instead of the entire class. When a student (or the instructor in student preview mode) is not a member of one of the groups assigned to the discussion, they do not see the link to the discussion on the Content and Discussion pages.

However, there is a bug that occurs when a group discussion is the only item within a folder. If a student (or the instructor in student preview mode) expands a folder that only contains a group discussion, the folder will not open and a pop-up box will appear that reads "Oops! Something went wrong."

This issue has been reported to Blackboard; there is no timeline for a fix. In the meantime, the workaround is to either add the student/preview user to one of the groups, which will allow them to see and participate in the discussion. In the case of the preview user, the instructor will enter preview mode, exit preview mode while saving the preview user, and then add the preview user to a group, potentially to a group just for the preview user.

If you do not want the student or preview user to access the group discussion, the alternative workaround is to add any other content to the folder. Even if kept hidden, the presence of other content will allow the folder to expand and indicate that the folder is empty.

Posted 8/15/23 SR

When creating a Document or an Announcement in the Ultra Course View, any content added to the text editor will be lost if you resize the browser window past the medium tablet/iPad breakpoint before saving. When resized to that size, the overall interface changes to be optimized for the new size, whether making the window smaller or larger.

Blackboard has acknowledged this as a known issue and is working on a fix but there is no timeline available.

In the meantime, should this happen, you can recover the content by placing the cursor back in the text editor and using the Undo function on the toolbar or by using Ctrl+Z on the keyboard.

Posted 2/28/23 SR

In some browsers on Windows 11, scroll bars will only appear when in use. This makes it challenging to navigate via horizontal scroll bars in the Grade Center in Original Course View and the Gradebook Grid View in Ultra Course View. 

To display the scroll bars, you will need to enable an accessibility setting.

1. Open the Settings app (press Win + i on your keyboard as a shortcut, or use the start menu)
2. Click the Accessibility tab on the left panel
3. Click the Visual effects link
4. Click the toggle to enable the Always show scrollbars setting

You may need to close and re-open the browser to see the change. 

Posted 2/28/23 SR

In the Ultra Course View, the Test setting to prohibit late submissions will automatically submit any in progress attempts at the due date and time. You can provide an extension for individual students using the Exception feature. Ordinarily, the extended due date is honored by the setting to prevent late submissions, so that the Test is automatically submitted at the extended due date instead of the default due date. However, when you are using Respondus LockDown Browser or Monitor for the Test, students with an extended due date will not be able to take the test after the default due date. 

In these circumstances (Prohibit Late Submissions enabled, Respondus LockDown Browser or Monitor enabled), when the student with a due date exception begins the test, it will initially load but immediately submit the test, preventing the student from answering any of the questions. Essentially, Blackboard is not honoring the extended due date and is auto-submitting based on the default due date.

Blackboard is aware that this is a bug and is working on an update to resolve it. In the meantime, the best workaround is to remove the setting to prohibit late submissions. This can be done manually after the default due date, if desired.

Posted 10/10/22 SR

If you enable the Peer Review option on an Assignment in the Ultra Course View, students are unable to view the content of the assessment (i.e., text or files that you added as instructions) until after they have made a submission. This is obviously problematic, as they won't know what they are expected to submit. The content is visible when they view their own submission or while completing peer reviews.

Blackboard is aware of the issue but there is no timeline on a fix at this time. The recommended workaround is to add the content separately in an Ultra Document or by uploading a file outside of the Assignment.

Posted 10/10/22 SR

When grading a Discussion Board in the Ultra Course View, changing the value of the Items per Page option causes an error to appear. Closing the error allows you to continue grading.

Blackboard is aware of the issue. There is no workaround for discussions which have already been changed. It is recommended to avoid changing this value until the bug has been addressed.

Posted 10/10/22 SR

When modifying the Grade Schema in the Ultra Course View, you may receive an error message with a debug code. This usually occurs because there is a glitch with one of the rows of the schema.

This is a known issue. The workaround is to delete the unwanted rows and retype the values in all of the cells. If this isn't sufficient to be able to save the schema, you can also try deleting all of the rows and adding them back in.

Posted 6/2/22 SR

In the Ultra Course View, assessments which are submitted after the due date are indicated with a red icon and red text that indicates the submission was late. These visual indicators are being applied in error to assessments that have not been submitted late. Often, these also include the text (0 Late), also in red.

This is a known issue due that occurs with Assignments or Tests that allow for multiple attempts. Blackboard is treating unused attempts as potentially late, even though no late submissions have been made. Blackboard is aware of the issue and looking into better ways to handle unused submissions.

While the red icon and text is distracting, the (0 Late) text can be relied upon to demonstrate that the submission was made on time. As a workaround, if multiple attempts are not needed for a pedagogical purpose (such as allowing students multiple attempts on a quiz to check their knowledge), you could remove the option for multiple attempts and grant additional attempts as needed as an exception (for circumstances such as a student who loses connection during an exam or who uploaded the wrong file). 

Posted 5/31/22 SR

Some faculty using the Microsoft Edge browser have reported being unable to upload an image to be used as a course image and banner in the Ultra Course View. This may also affect other image uploads in the Ultra Course View. At this time, we recommend switching to a different browser, such as Chrome or Firefox, if you experience issues with adding a course banner in the Microsoft Edge browser.

Posted 5/10/22 SR

In the Original Course View, you were able to hide Grade Center columns from the instructor view. If you convert a course or copy assessments from Original to Ultra with hidden columns, the conversion process does not make the columns visible. Furthermore, in the Ultra Course View, there is not a way to change the visibility of an item in the Gradebook. The result is that you can see the assessment in your course, students can submit their work, and you can grade their submissions, but you cannot view the grades in the Gradebook nor include the grade in calculations. 

Blackboard is aware of the issue but there is no timeline for a fix. The Division of IT is able to make the assessments visible in your Gradebook from the back end, so we recommend submitting a ticket to the Service Desk at it.niu.edu.

Posted 11/16/21 SR

The most recent update to the Microsoft Edge Browser (Version 95.0.1020.44+) introduced a new feature to allow Microsoft Office files, like Word or PowerPoint, to open directly in the browser instead of requiring them to be downloaded and then opened. Unfortunately, this feature is not functioning properly. While the cause of the issue is a bug in Microsoft Edge, faculty students may be likely to experience the issue in Blackboard.

There are two potential workarounds. The first is to use a different browser, such as Chrome or Firefox. The second workaround is to disable the setting to open Office files in the browser. To do so, access the settings by clicking the ... menu in the upper right of the Edge window, click the Downloads link in the left navigation, then disable the toggle for Open Office files in the browser.

Posted 6/10/21 SR

Recent updates to MacOS and iOS are preventing the Institution Page from loading on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. This looks like a login loop where you log in to Blackboard, see the Institution Page begin to load, and then are returned to the login screen. Blackboard is aware of the issue and working on a resolution.

The current workaround for Mac, iPhone, and iPad users is to enable third-party cookies and disable security options that prevent cross-site tracking. Learn how to enable cookies and cross-site tracking.

Posted 9/10/20 SR

On the Home Page in Original Course View, the To Do module is displaying past and upcoming and due for all group discussion boards, regardless of whether the student is a member of the group or not. This may result in the same discussion being listed multiple times, if you created or copied a discussion board to additional groups. 

Blackboard is aware of this issue but there is no timeline for a fix.

In the meantime, students can click the round drop down arrow next to any unneeded notifications in the To Do module and click Dismiss to remove those notifications. 

Posted 11/28/18 JR, DC

When using the Chrome or Firefox browser, scores in the Grade Center may include the word "Undefined" intertwined in each grade cell, such as "20undefined00". The actual grades are not affected; this is an issue with the display of the grade only. 

UPDATE: This occasionally occurs when Blackboard is updated. Once DoIT is notified of the issue, they can request that Blackboard perform a rolling restart of our SaaS application nodes, which resolves the issue.

Posted 4/27/20 DC

Posted 5/9/19 JMR

Currently, Blackboard is working on a solution for a bug in the code for calculated formula questions, as instead of rounding up it is truncating answers.  A resolution could take up to 30 days.  Blackboard is addressing the issue and should have a resolution in the next release.

Posted 8/28/18 CW

In the Test Options in Original Course View, if the Help icon is disabled, the selections in Test Presentation display incorrectly. The selections for One at a Time and Prohibit Backtracking appear on the same line, with the radio button for One at a Time and the checkbox for Prohibit Backtracking in front of both options. This makes it difficult to understand how the options are selected, although the options do function normally despite the incorrect display. 

Enabling the Help icon ("?") in the top right-hand corner of the page will fix the display. Otherwise, be aware that the radio button is associated with One at a Time and the checkbox is associated with Prohibit Backtracking.

Posted 7/18/18 CW

Assignment submissions with special characters (i.e., #,:,*,space, etc.) are not evaluated by SafeAssign and will not generate a report.

It is recommended that users only include numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores in their filenames. In cases where student users have already made a submission, change the assignment setting to allow multiple submissions and then ask them to resubmit the document after making the appropriate filename change.

Posted 7/9/18 DC

When creating a new session/room in Blackboard Collaborate, it is important to pay heed to titling.  It was recently discovered that the presence of special characters, such as a pound sign (#) in the title of a newly created session/room will result in an error being reported. The work around is to rename the session, excluding the pound sign or other special character. Blackboard is working to get a fix in to an upcoming release.

Posted 4/6/18 SR

Faculty and students who are using Safari 11.1 (released 3/29/18) on a Mac that has the El Capitan operating system (10.11) are not able to upload files to Blackboard. You will be able to select the file to upload, but the upload times out before completing. This only affects Safari 11.1 on El Capitan - if you are using a different version of macOS (such as the latest release, which is High Sierra), file uploads should complete as usual. 

Because this issue only occurs in Safari, the workaround is to use another browser, such as Chrome or Firefox.

Posted 3/6/18 CW

The Blackboard Student app (iOS, Android) will automatically convert tests and surveys with compatible question types (Multiple Choice, True/False, Either/Or, Short Answer, and Essay.) to a mobile-friendly version which displays in the app instead of a browser. The app conversion breaks the test presentation settings for display questions one at a time and prohibit backtracking - allowing students to see all the questions at once and to backtrack on question responses when taken through the app.

To prevent this conversion for Blackboard Student app users, add at least one non-compatible answer (e.g., fill-in-the-blank, matching) to the test or survey. This will ensure that when students access the test or survey though app that it launches in their browser instead of launching the app version with broken settings. A simple non-compatible answer to add to a test or survey could be an integrity statement, a trivia question, or an extra credit question.

Example:

FILL IN THE BLANK – CODE OF CONDUCT

By taking this quiz I _ to adhere to NIU’s Student Code of Conduct.

Please type AGREE

NOTE: assign 0 possible points for the question if you do not want the original point total to be affected.

This issue is only for tests or surveys taken through the app with these settings enabled and does not affect the browser versions. 

Posted: 6/29/16, PG.

Blackboard Collaborate sessions/recordings do not get copied over during a Course Copy. Clicking on copied links to Blackboard Collaborate recordings results in an error message. To fix this, the instructor must navigate to the old Blackboard course where the original recordings are located, share the recordings to the new course, and recreate links to the recordings they want to use. Step-by-step instructions for recreating Blackboard Collaborate recording links can be found on the list of frequently asked questions for the Course Copy tool.

Posted: 10/2/14, SR

The new Test Exception feature allows faculty to establish separate availability dates for individual students or groups of students. This is useful for students who may be traveling or ill during a regular exam window. Setting the availability dates should allow only the student or students included in the exception to access the test after the availability window closes. However, if a Due Date is specified and the setting for "Do not allow students to start the Test if the due date has passed" is selected, students with availability windows after the Due Date will be prevented from starting the test.

To avoid this, simply uncheck the option for "Do not allow students to start the Test if the due date has passed" and use the global availability dates for the Test to restrict students from accessing the Test. Then, the availability exception will allow the student or students to access the Test as normal and begin the Test. These submissions will be marked as Late by Blackboard, but that warning can be ignored by the faculty.

This has been submitted to Blackboard as a bug, but there is no timeline for a fix.

Posted: 5/21/2012, SR. Revised: 6/4/2021, SR

As browsers are updated frequently, it is important to keep the browser on your computer up-to-date. This ensures that it is compatible with Blackboard and other web-based software and protects you from security risks. Check the Browser Compatibility guide for information on which browsers and operating systems are supported by Blackboard.

At present, the following browsers are NOT certified or recommended for use with Blackboard and should be avoided by faculty and students when accessing Blackboard:

• Internet Explorer, which Microsoft no longer supports; Internet Explorer on mobile devices
• Edge versions 86 and lower on desktop; 86 and lower on mobile devices
• Firefox versions 77 and lower on desktop; 77 and lower Firefox versions on mobile devices
• Chrome versions 86 and lower; version 86 and lower on mobile devices
• Safari versions 12 and lower, iOS11 or lower on mobile devices

Posted 1/18/23 SR RESOLVED

When trying to download a file, such as a PDF, PowerPoint, or Word document, some students are receiving a "401 Forbidden" error message. When this occurs for a student, it occurs for all files in that course. It may not be affecting other courses that student is taking, and it may not be affecting other students in that course.

The issue has been reported to Anthology/Blackboard, who has acknowledged it as a bug and is working to address the issue. No timeline is currently available. In the meantime, we recommend sending affected students the files via email. 

Posted 10/18/22 SR; Resolved in the December 2022 update 

When a rubric is used for grading in a course using the Ultra Course View, data from the rubric can be lost whenever content is copied or imported into that course. This occurs with a full course copy or when copying individual items. Specifically, the specific criteria selected and any feedback entered in the criteria are deleted. While the overall score and feedback are retained, the rubric grade is replaced with an override grade. 

Blackboard is aware of and working on resolving this issue. In the meantime, avoid copying or importing content into a course in which you have already graded with a rubric. 

Posted 4/28/22 SR; Resolved 5/5/22

A bug was introduced for the Ultra Course View in the April release on 4/21/22 that results in an "Oops! Something went wrong." error message when changing the visibility of an Assignment or Test from the course content view. Blackboard is aware of the issue and a fix is planned for the May update which will be released on May 5, 2022. 

In the meantime, the workaround is to edit the assessment settings and click the Save button. You do not need to change the settings, just save them. Once you have done so, you will be able to change the visibility for the assessment.

Posted 5/21/20 DC; Updated 9/10/20 SR

It has been reported that both individual and recurring Blackboard Collaborate sessions created do not appear in the Blackboard calendar. It is not known when this issue will be addressed. A workaround is to have students use the default Blackboard Collaborate course room, or to copy and send the link of a created session to students.

Additionally, for a series of recurring sessions, only the first session appears in Details and Actions. Subsequent recurring sessions do not appear, even when the session is live.  It is recommended to create separate sessions for each meeting of a recurring session. 

UPDATE: This was resolved with an update in July 2020.

Posted 9/13/19 MS; Updated 9/10/20 SR

While using Box View for inline grading of student submissions on a Mac, the text is reformatted to display over additional pages in the Chrome and Safari web browsers. Additionally, highlighting of submissions is not functioning normally, with highlights appearing in a different spot from where they were initially placed. Using Firefox on Mac eliminates the formatting problem, but highlighting continues to be an issue.

The issue has been reported to Blackboard. As a workaround, you can download submissions, make comments and highlight the text, then return the annotated file to the student as an attachment in the Feedback panel. Alternatively, you can use a Windows computer for inline grading. 

UPDATE: The new Blackboard Annotate inline grading tool was introduced in 2020 and there have been no reported issues with formatting and highlighting.

Posted 9/12/19 MS

In Ultra Course View, when students view their results from an assessment with Matching questions, their answers appear to be changed from what was originally submitted. The score per question and overall for the test is accurate. From the instructor perspective answers are displayed, scored, and recorded in the Gradebook accurately.

Blackboard has acknowledged this as a bug that will be fixed in an upcoming release with no timeline at this time. If you are using Ultra Course View it is recommended that you rebuild Matching questions to Multiple Choice questions to avoid student confusion, until the issue is resolved.

Update: This issue has been resolved.

Posted 8/26/19 SR; Updated 9/6/19 SR

In the Ultra Course View, the instructor's profile photo should appear at the top of the course. Currently, this is displaying a blank silhouette. Blackboard is aware of the issue and a fix is expected in the September release.

Update: This was resolved with the September release on 9/6/19. The instructor's profile photo now appears at top of the course in Ultra Course View.

Posted 6/27/19 DC

It has been reported that VoiceThread is not compatible with the current Microsoft Edge browser.  This browser does not have full support for HTML5, which is the protocol VoiceThread uses. However, according to VoiceThread support, the next version of Edge will be using a completely new architecture that should support VoiceThread and other HTML5 apps as well. At that point, VoiceThread will be usable in Edge. For now, Chrome and Firefox are the best two browsers to use to experience the full VoiceThread toolset.

Update: Microsoft Edge has been updated and VoiceThread is now fully supported in Edge (full list of supported browsers).

Posted January 29, 2019

If you want to share your desktop in a Collaborate Ultra session, you are required to install a Chrome Extension. Recent versions of Google Chrome prevent you from installing the Application Share extension within a Collaborate session.

When trying to share your screen without the extension installed, clicking on the Add to Chrome button will not add the extension.

Workaround

Install the extension before joining the session via the Chrome Web Store

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Go to the Application Sharing extension on the Chrome Web Store
3. Click Add to Chrome button
   

Originally reported by Ashton University

Posted 9/6/18 DC

It has been reported that active courses do not appear when using the Blackboard Instructor app on a mobile device. A fix has been implemented, but requires an uninstall and re-install of the app.

Posted 7/2/18 CW

When sending an announcement from Blackboard a student will receive a notification, but not the full announcement, unless "Send a copy of this announcement immediately" is checked. When students click on the notification link it will go to a blank page or their browser's homepage. This does not seem to happen with Gmail or the Blackboard mobile app. There is currently no timeline on when this will be fixed.

The current workaround is to use the "Send a copy of this announcement immediately." However, it is not available when using date restrictions. In this case, instructors may want to inform the student to go directly to Blackboard and check for announcements. 

Posted 3/21/18 SR

When audio files are posted using the Audio content type, the auto-play in Chrome regardless of whether the Autostart setting is set to No. This is a known issue that occurs because the audio player is based on an NPAPI plug in, which is no longer supported in the Chrome browser in versions 42 and newer. Because the browser does not know how to handle the plugin, it autoplays the file. 

There are several possible workarounds. First, if the Audio tool is preferred, recommend students to use Mozilla Firefox or another browser when accessing the course. You could also upload the audio files using the Item or File content type, which would require students to download the files and play them locally. 

As another workaround, you can upload the audio files using MEDIAL and embed them in Blackboard. The MEDIAL player does not rely on NPAPI, so the files will not autoplay. 

Posted 3/21/18 SR

When the Group Submission setting is enabled on an Assignment, and Multiple Attempts are enabled, it is only possible to open the most recent attempt for grading. You will receive an error message when trying to open an earlier attempt. Blackboard acknowledges this as a known issue and it is fixed in the Q2 2017 Release (NIU is currently on Q4 2016). 

As a workaround, you can download the student-submitted files by clicking round drop down arrow in the grade column header for the group assignment and choosing Assignment File Download from the menu. Select all of the groups and to download all of the attempts, then download the packaged zip file. Once opened or extracted, you will be able to view all of the files submitted by the groups. 

This does not include any of the grade information, however, if a previous attempt was graded. You can view some of this information by viewing the Grade Details or Grade History for an individual student attempt. 

Posted 1/29/18 SR; Updated 9/10/20 SR

A recent update to Chrome is now preventing users from installing the Application Share extension from within a Blackboard Collaborate session. As a workaround, you can install the extension directly from the Chrome web store following these steps.

UPDATE: This issue has been resolved.

Posted 12/4/18 DC; Updated 9/10/20 SR

In Assignment inline grading, annotated feedback in the form of comments, highlighted text, and drawings posted by the instructor in the “Box” view cannot be downloaded as a PDF.

A ticket has been submitted to Blackboard for review and this issue will be updated when it has been resolved.

UPDATE: The new Blackboard Annotate inline grading tool was introduced in 2020 and annotations are included in the downloaded PDF.

Posted 11/30/18 SR; Updated 9/10/20 SR

When using the Microsoft Surface stylus to add annotations to Assignment Submissions, you may receive an error that says "We are sorry, the annotation cannot be created." This occurs after clicking the pen icon in the Blackboard interface, when you begin to draw. Blackboard has acknowledged this as a bug and is working on a fix, but there is no timeline at this time.

As a workaround, you can use text comments instead of drawing, or draw annotations using a mouse.

UPDATE: The new Blackboard Annotate inline grading tool was introduced in 2020 and is now compatible with a Microsoft Surface stylus.

Posted 8/27/18 DC; Updated 9/10/20 SR

Due to a Mozilla bug introduced in Firefox version 61, Collaborate Ultra session attendees using Firefox version 61 and above cannot be heard by other session attendees. The recommended fix at this time is to avoid upgrading the Firefox browser to version 61 or greater, or use an alternate browser, such as Google Chrome.

UPDATE: This issue has been resolved. Moderators and participants can use any of the currently supported browser versions to participate in Collaborate sessions.

Posted: 8/10/17, PG.

When enabling Partial Credit on Multiple Choice or Opinion Scale/Likert questions on Blackboard tests, a partial credit entry box should display under each incorrect answer. However, partial credit boxes are only displaying under some incorrect answers, allowing partial credit for fewer answers than may be desired.

Blackboard is aware of this as a known issue and is working on a fix, although there is currently no timeline. As a workaround, you can review the results for each student and adjust the scores manually as needed. It may help to download the results in Excel to more quickly identify which students have selected a given answer on a particular question.

Posted: 2/24/16, PG.

When uploading an Adobe Presenter zip file directly to the Content Collection in Blackboard, the index.html file becomes corrupted. Instead, users are encouraged to upload the zip file from within a Blackboard Course:

1. First login to Blackboard, then enter the course to which you would like to add the Adobe Presenter file
2. Navigate to the 'Control Panel'
3. Click on the Content Collection link
4. Click on the link to the Personal Content Collection (rather than the Course Content Collection)
5. Click on the Courses folder
6. Click on the Create Folder tab, and type in the course number (i.e., PHHE 435) for the 'Folder Name'. Click Submit.
7. To enter the new folder, click on the newly-created folder's name (a link)
8. From within the new course folder, create another new folder, but this time, type in the name of the Adobe Presenter zip file. Then, click on that folder's name to enter the new folder
9. From within the new folder, cursor over the 'Upload' tab and click on Upload Zip Package.
10. Click on the Browse button, locate and click the desired zip file, and then click Open
11. Finally, click the Submit button