Planning e-submission

Step 1: Check with your school admin team if there is an existing workflow

Your school may already have an online submission and marking workflow (a standard way of running assessments). Contact your school admin team to see if there is an existing workflow that meets your requirements. If that's the case, see Guidance on recommended workflows. They may also have school-specific guidance which you can use.

Step 2: Choose a workflow

If there is no existing practice that suits your requirements, you need to decide which workflow will be best in your context. Workflows are available for both University-supported online marking tools – Blackboard and Turnitin. Use the menu below to help decide. If you need a workflow for group assignments, submission of multiple documents at once, or will give feedback via an attached file (eg feedback form), then you should use a Blackboard workflow. If you are unsure or have any questions, please contact the Digital Education Office digital-education@bristol.ac.uk as early as possible.

Recommended workflows

You can use the table below, or our interactive decision tree to pick the best workflow for your requirements. Or, see Blackboard Original guidance here.

Workflow	Blackboard Offline	Blackboard Online Non Anon/Group	Blackboard Online Anon	Turnitin
Group submission possible	Yes	Yes	No	No
Multiple/Large documents	Yes	Yes	Yes	Single document, size and type limited
Student anonymity possible	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Distributed anonymous marking possible	Yes	No	No	Yes
Download vs Online marking	Download only	Online only	Online only	Online only
Anonymous moderation	Yes	Yes, but requires workaround	Yes, but requires workaround	Yes
Supports in-person assessment	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
File size	Less than 2500MB	Less than 2500MB	Less than 2500MB	Less than 100MB

The maximum file size per Blackboard submission is 2500MB.

Step 3: Setup and test the workflow

Once you have selected your workflow, use the guidance to set up and run through the workflow in a test Blackboard course with a test student. It is essential to test before using real assessments, and this will also enable you to see the student perspective. Failure to test may result in lost submissions or feedback. To request a test course, or if there are any issues with your test, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Step 4: Implement the workflow

Now you have tested your workflow you can implement it into your course. Follow the instructions in the guidance above just as you did for your test.

Health and safety

If you are marking or administering marking online, please see the Safety and Health services workplace guidance on using display screen equipment.

Printing

If printing is required (eg to read paper copies), staff can either download assignments individually or bulk download a .zip file containing all assignments from Blackboard. This .zip file can be uploaded to the Print Services “Print submission system”. Files must be in .pdf format, so if printing through Print Services will be required, students should be instructed to submit .pdfs.

If planning to print a large quantity of assignments, schools should contact Print Services as early as possible with details of approximate volume and dates when submissions will need to be printed.

Do you have any comments or suggestions?

The Digital Education Office works to advise and support staff on electronic management of assessment, as well as with suppliers such as Blackboard and Turnitin to improve our toolset.