This page lists issues with Blackboard which were resolved before 21 January 2015.
My Blackboard Notifications – Not Found – resolved 21 January 2015
Currently accessing the My Blackboard Notifications found under your name in the top right hand corner of Blackboard is producing a ‘Not Found – The specified resource was not found or you do not have permission to access it.’ error message.
Confusing formatting of list of student email addresses in Groups – resolved 6 December 2014
When viewing the list of student names and email addresses in a particular Group, the formatting of the email addresses is compressed vertically, which makes it look as though some of the students don’t have an email address. If you count the students and the email addresses you can confirm that they are all there.
Grade Centre Scrolling in Firefox for Mac – resolved 6 December 2014
The horizontal scroll bar appears to be missing in the Grade Centre when using Firefox on a Mac. This can be rectified by:
- Open System Preferences on your Mac
- Select General
- Change the ‘Show scroll bars:’ setting to Always.
Blank SafeAssignment reports using Safari 5 on Mac OS 10.6 – resolved as Safari 5 is no longer a supported browser
If you attempt to view a SA report in Safari 5 on Mac OS 10.6, a window pops open, but the report is blank. We have opened a support ticket with Blackboard about this, but as a workaround please use Firefox or Google Chrome to view SafeAssign reports on Mac OS 10.6.
Problems accessing Library resources
We’ve been contacted by lecturers who have noticed their links to library resources (at http://otago.lconz.ac.nz) no longer work: instead of linking into the article or resource, the main search box is displayed (see screenshot below). We understand this is due to an upgrade to the Library catalogue system which means the links no longer work. If you are affected by this issue please contact your Liaison Librarian.
Grade Center Email Message Blank When Using BCC or Include List of Recipients Options – resolved 6 December 2014
If you try and send an email from the Grade Centre and add a BCC address or select the Include List of Recipients option the resulting email will be blank.
As a workaround you can still send emails to students using the Send Email function found in Course Tools.
Grade Centre: errorParsingDataMsg – resolved 6 December 2014
This message may occur when you open your grade centre – it is easily fixed. The error message will vary depending on which browser you are using:
- Internet Explorer
errorParsingDataMsg
TypeError: ‘this.scoreProvidersMap[…]’ is null or not an object - Firefox
errorParsingDataMsg
TypeError: this.scoreProvidersMap[spu.handle] is undefined - Google Chrome
errorParsingDataMsg
TypeError: Cannot set property ‘allowContentEdit’ of undefined
- Open up your Full Grade Centre
- Click the button labelled Manage
- Find the option Column Organization and right-click on it and open it in a new tab (or window)
- Once this Column Organization page has opened you will need to re-order at least one column (do this by dragging and dropping one of the rows)
- Click Submit
Can’t “Edit” a student/staff member in Blackboard using the Blackboard Paper Administration Application with Internet Explorer – resolved
If you click the “Edit” button beside a student or staff member in the Blackboard Paper Administration application (which is accessible in Blackboard – Control Panel – Paper Administration – Update Staff), the row will highlight but nothing else will happen.
We are working on this issue but in the meantime, please use an alternate browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari when using the Blackboard Paper Administration Application. As a workaround, if you wish to edit a staff member, delete them and add them back in with their new role.
Note that Blackboard, and the Blackboard Paper Administration application are completely separate, so this problem with Internet Explorer doesn’t affect Blackboard.
Accessing test attempts containing random blocks error message – resolved
Trying to view a student’s attempt on a test (containing Random Blocks questions) taken before December 7, 2012 will result in an error. You will be able to view the student’s grade but not what they answered for each question.
We have opened a support ticket with Blackboard and are currently working to identify specific papers which may be affected by the issue. Please contact the ITS Service Desk if you have any questions regarding this issue.
Extra line breaks not observed in text editor – RESOLVED 2 December 2013
When extra returns are put into the text editor to create new paragraphs (the text editor is used for things such as announcements and adding text to content item descriptions) the extra returns are not observed due to an error with the HTML code generated by the editor. We have contacted Blackboard support and they have advised us that this is fixed in a future release of Blackboard.
As a work around it is necessary to manually insert the correct HTML tags. To access the HTML editing mode, you need to select the ‘<>’ button on the text editor’s tool bar. Once the HTML editing mode has been activated you must put ‘<br><br>’ at the end of each paragraph.
View the screenshot right for more details, click for an enlarged view.
Escaped HTML Characters when Text Editor is Off – RESOLVED – 2 December 2013
If the Text editor is disabled and special characters are used in the text box (e.g.: <,>,&, etc.) then these are escaped into the HTML equivilents (i.e.: <, >, &). If HTML needs to be written in Blackboard, use the text editor in HTML mode. HTML mode can be turned on by selecting the “<>” button in the Text Editor’s toolbar.
Can’t print out all pages of a “collected” discussion using Firefox – RESOLVED 2 December 2013
If you “collect” discussion threads and then click “Print Preview” in Blackboard, Blackboard will pop open a print-friendly version of the page and a print dialogue. If you Print, only the first page of discussions will be printed.
Unfortunately there is no workaround for this issue other than to use another browser, like Safari, Internet Explorer or Google Chrome for printing discussions.
This issue is fixed in an upcoming release of Blackboard.
Graded Questions option causes HTML to be displayed in student responses – RESOLVED 2 December 2013
If essay question are graded using the Grade Questions option from within the Grade Centre, student responses are displayed with a variety of HTML code (e.g., <p> </p><p>) embedded within the text. This is a known issue with our version of Blackboard and is fixed in an upcoming release of the product.
As a workaround use the Grade Attempts option within the Grade Centre. This method of grading contains no HTML in student responses.
Double-clicking “Submit” Causes Red “Access Denied” Error Message to appear – RESOLVED 2 December 2013
In parts of Blackboard, if you double-click on the “Submit” button (especially when using the Email tool, or Creating an Announcement) you will see a red error message which says “Access Denied”. If you see this, you should check to see whether your action has been successful (for example, check to see if the Announcement was created or the Email was sent). If it was not, then re-try, taking care to only click the “Submit” button once.
If you see the “Access Denied” error in other parts of Blackboard, for example when clicking on a link to a file, please contact the Service Desk.
Can’t edit a “Matching” question after the Test has been taken by students – RESOLVED – 2 December 2013
Once a Test has been taken by students, any “Matching” questions are unable to be edited. If you attempt to edit a question and click “Submit”, Blackboard will produce an error message about the “answer” needing to be defined.
There is no workaround, apart from ensuring that you edit your questions before students have taken the test. This issue has been fixed in an upcoming release of Blackboard.
Blackboard Paper Administration page not loading in Firefox 23.0.1 – RESOLVED 18 September 2013
When staff attempt to access the Paper Administration page within Blackboard using Firefox 23.0.1 they will be presented with a message that says ” Click OK to continue on to the Paper Administration Page” and will be prevented from being able to proceed any further. This problem is caused by the 23.0.1 version of Firefox blocking content on pages which have both secure and non-secure content on them, as it the case for the Blackboard Paper Administration page. The page’s content can be displayed/unblocked by users clicking the grey shield in left hand side of the address bar and then selecting “Unblock content” from the dropdown menu. ITS will look at fixing this problem in the near future.
Resolved 18 September 2013
Can’t add a student/staff member to Blackboard using the Blackboard Paper Administration Application with Internet Explorer – RESOLVED 22 August 2013
If you attempt to add a staff member or student to Blackboard using the Blackboard Paper Administration application (which is accessible in Blackboard – Control Panel – Paper Administration – Update Staff), the application will hang after clicking the “Add Staff” button.
Resolved 22 August 2013
Uploaded Websites break after copying to another paper – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
If you try to copy or move an uploaded website (any zip package containing html/image/flash etc files which are linked together) to another paper, only the first page will be taken, and not the rest of the files. This means you must download the zip file from your paper, and upload it to the second.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Error when trying to view Test & Assignment attempts in the Grade centre – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
Some staff are receiving an error when trying to view a student’s test attempt in the Grade Centre (for example: clicking “View Grade Details” in the context menu beside a grade in the Grade Centre, then clicking “View Attempt” or “View All Attempts”; or clicking “View Attempt [date of attempt]” in the context menu beside a grade in the Grade Centre). Errors commonly received are:
- Error
Index: 0, Size: 0
For reference, the error ID is (long string of numbers and letters) - Error
An error occurred. Contact the System Administrator.
For reference, the error ID is (long string of numbers and letters)
This error is caused by a Test which has no “Category” set. To fix this, go to the Grade Centre and click on the context menu (
) to the right of the Test name, and choose “Edit Column Information”. Beside “Category”, choose “Test”, then click the Submit button in the top or bottom right corner. You should now be able to view attempts.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Internet Explorer asks for username & password when downloading Office files – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
When downloading Office files from Blackboard, Internet Explorer asks for your username and password again, even though you’re already logged in.
This issue is fixed in an upcoming release of Blackboard. In the meantime, you should either click “Cancel” on the username & password request box, or use Firefox.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Java security warning/message – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
The Java security certificate used in Blackboard’s Java applets (Chat, Equation Editor, Text Editor, and other areas) have expired. We are working with Blackboard to update these certifications, but it will require an outage to Blackboard in the future.
You may be prompted with security warnings when you try to load some areas of Blackboard – you will see a pop-up box stating ‘The application’s digital signature cannon be verified. Do you want to run the application?’. In this instance it is ok to ‘Run’ the content – please check with the ITS ServiceDesk if you receive similar security warnings with other systems.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Builders can’t access “Unavailable” Papers – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
If a course builder tries to access a paper which is “Unavailable”, they will get a red error message, and not be able to access the paper at all. Papers are only generally “Unavailable” after the end of the teaching period, before the paper is rolled over. Once the paper is rolled over, the paper is “Available”. Changing the role of the staff member to a Grader, TA or Instructor will give them access to an unavailable paper.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Error message when uploading a “File” which causes your paper to exceed its quota – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
All papers have a quota of 1GB. If you try to upload a “File” (by selecting “File” from the “Build Content” menu) and that file causes your paper to exceed its quota, you will receive a red “Error” message which does not indicate that the quota is the reason why the upload failed.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Virtual Chat and Classroom
Virtual Chat and Virtual Classroom fail to load, a workaround for this is to change your paper’s language pack to UK English.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Pop-up Calendar displays incorrectly in IE8 & IE9 – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
The highlighted day on the pop-up calendar is incorrect – it highlights yesterdays day, rather than todays. However, down the bottom of the pop-up calendar, it indicates the correct date.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Announcement Bar Disappears and Control Panel is Unresponsive – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
If you delete all the announcements that appear below your announcement bar (movable grey bar with the text ‘New announcements appear below this line’) in Blackboard your announcement bar will disappear and you will no longer be able to open parts of your Control Panel from the Announcements page.
In order to get your announcement bar back you will need to recreate the number of announcements you deleted, for example if you two announcements below the bar and you deleted both, you would need to create two new announcements.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Problems Uploading Large Gradebooks – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
Some staff are experiencing issues when uploading gradebooks containing large numbers of students.
Resolved 10 December 2012.
Can’t copy content which already exists in the target paper – RESOLVED 10 December 2012
If you try to copy or move content between two papers, and any of the content you are trying to move/copy already exists in that paper, you will see a red error message:
“Error: Failed to grant read permission to the attached file for target course”
Resolved 10 December 2012.
In-Progress grades block completed grades in Grade Centre download – RESOLVED 22 February 2012
If your test allows multiple attempts and a student successfully completes the test receiving a grade, if they then commence a new attempt without finishing it you’ll see an in-progress symbol next to the first grade in the grade centre. If you then try to make an offline copy of the grade centre the student’s grade will be recorded as ‘In-progress‘ rather than their first attempt’s grade.
Resolved 22 February 2012
Pop-up Calendar displays incorrectly in IE7 and IE8 (compatibility mode) – RESOLVED 18 November 2011
Some staff noticed that the pop-up calendar used to add display dates to content items is formatted incorrectly in IE7 and 8.
Resolved 18 November 2011.
Grade Center displays some items in Spanish – RESOLVED 29 June 2011
Some staff experienced issues in their grade centers where some columns display a mix of Spanish and English functions.
Resolved 29 June 2011.
Can’t view students who don’t have access to resources in the Grade Centre – RESOLVED 12 May 2011
Students who do not have “access to resources” were not able to be seen in the Blackboard Grade Centre or User list.
Resolved 12 May 2011.
Problems Submitting In Progress test attempts – RESOLVED 16 May 2011
Some staff are experiencing issues when trying to submit in progress test attempts for students – this is done when students fail to submit a test before its end date.
Resolved16 May 2011.
Problems Displaying Dates in My Calendar – RESOLVED 16 May 2011
Currently events in the My Calendar module display the time of an event instead of date.
Resolved 16 May 2011
Announcement emails contain duplicate “footer” information – RESOLVED 16 May 2011
Emails sent out to students and staff when a new announcement is posted include duplicate “footer” information at the bottom of each email.
Resolved 16 May 2011
Problems when viewing attempts in the Grade centre – RESOLVED 16 May 2011
Instructors receive an error “IndexOutOfBoundsException” or always receive the result page for the first student in the Grade Center when attempting to view student attempts.
Resolved 16 May 2011
