Completed projects are listed in date order.
| Project | Details | Scale | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transition to new Turnitin LTI integration in Blackboard | Turnitin have informed us that they will no longer support our current method of integration with Blackboard (called the "Blackboard basic building block") after August 2022, and will be retiring it. The University will be switching to a new Turnitin integration with Blackboard, called Turnitin LTI, from September 2022. | University-wide | Autumn 2022 |
| Digitally Ready: Reflect and Reboot | Developing digital skills and confidence with returning students: learning more about key tools, discussing online etiquette, finding help and support. | University-wide | June 2022 |
| Numbas | Onboarding of the open source Numbas service integration with Blackboard. Numbas enables the creation of online tests for mathematical subjects and other numerate disciplines, which can be delivered through Blackboard. | University-wide | March 2022 |
| Dynamic Lab Manuals | We worked with the School of Chemistry to develop and update interactive learning materials used in their Dynamic Lab Manuals. | School based | 2022 |
| H5P | We are implementing the H5P authoring tool into Blackboard, including creating staff guidance and support. | University-wide | Autumn 2021 |
| Re/Play summer upgrade | We are working with Mediasite this summer (starting in June) to upgrade to the latest version of the software. As part of this we need to make a number of changes to the service: update the in-room recorder app to a new version which will allow for live streaming from equipped rooms, replace the Desktop Recorder with their new Mosaic application and update the catalogs in Blackboard to a new layout. | University-wide | September 2021 |
| Summer updates and improvements 2021 | There have been major updates and improvements to many of our services over the summer, including new features in Re/Play, Blackboard and Xerte and new tools (Mentimeter, H5P and Teams for Teaching). | University-wide | September 2021 |
| Mentimeter | We will be adding Mentimeter to our Student Response System toolset, alongside TurningPoint. Mentimeter will have SSO access and will be supported by the DEO. You can create a free account prior to a licence being applied to try it out, but the email you use for the account must match your UoB email. | University-wide | Summer 2021 |
| Blackboard course rollover 2021 | After August 1, new Blackboard courses will be created for the 2021-22 taught units. These will be a copy of the previous year’s course, where that exists, including any template. Assessments and Grade Centres will be cleared ready for the coming year’s assessments. The content will need refreshing and resetting for the new academic year. Staff should make sure to remove any of the exam “packages” that were added for the summer assessment period. | University- wide | August 2021 |
| Blackboard developments summer 2021 | Blackboard, supported by IT Services and the Digital Education Office, will be completing essential service maintenance and development to Blackboard between 9 pm on Friday 30 July and 9 am on Tuesday 3 August. Blackboard will therefore be unavailable at this time. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause. This essential work will upgrade the core Blackboard software and move it to a new, more robust system that will automatically scale to meet future demands and eliminate the need for any future scheduled downtime. |
University-wide | August 2021 |
| Pilot of Blackboard test templates for exams | The DEO is working with the Faculty of Engineering and the Exams Office to create a series of Blackboard test templates for summer exams. These will standardise the test settings, enabling consistency and parity of student experience, and provide personalised views of assessment timings. | Faculty of Engineering | July 2021 |
| Blackboard packages for summer exams | Following a review of feedback from schools on the January assessment period, the DEO worked with the Exams Office to implement a standard package for exams in which students are required to submit files in Blackboard, to provide greater consistency and clarity for students. | University- wide | July 2021 |
| Student Support 2021 | We enhanced our student support by working with Student Digital Champions, improving where students can find help, creating guidance for learning and assessment online, digital induction and skills courses, and a brand new student blog. | University-wide | 2021 |
| Using Microsoft Teams in Education | We are consulted staff to find out how Microsoft Teams (introduced in April 2020) can complement our current set of online learning tools. | University-wide | 2021 |
| Digitally Ready 2020/21 | A student introduction to the Bristol virtual learning experience to equip them with the tools and competencies needed to confidently start their online studies at Bristol. | University-wide | January 2021 |
| Core toolset | Alongside work to extend the functionality of the digital environment, this short project will develop guidance on the recommended tools staff should use for key activities. | University-wide | Ongoing |
| Digital Design course | We have been working in partnership with Professor Tansy Jessop, PVC Education, the BILT and CREATE teams and digital champions to develop and deliver the Digital Design Course. This ran in May, June and July and has been available as a self-study course since August 2020. | University-wide | Ongoing |
| Bristol Futures Open Courses | Taken by hundreds of Bristol students completing the Bristol PLUS award as well as members of the public around the world, the open courses are available on the FutureLearn platform. We worked with academics across the University to develop them and now manage and support the running of the courses. | University-wide | Ongoing |
| Blackboard course review | Blackboard course reviews were promoted. These were an opportunity both to check courses meet basic standards and to further improve the experience of both students and staff. | University-wide | Autumn 2020 |
| Blackboard templates | We created and deployed new school-specific Blackboard course templates, in consultation with schools. | University-wide | September 2020 |
| Student practice space | In response to the pivot to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, we created a Student Practice Space in Blackboard, where students could get familiar with the environment, and try out some key skills in an easy to access, low-risk way. This was then superseded by Digitally Ready. | University-wide | September 2020 |
| Student Lifecycle Support Programme changes 2019 | The Student Lifecycle Support (SLS) Programme implemented changes that impacted the use of Blackboard. | University-wide | September 2020 |
| Core standards | We developed a set of expectations and recommendations for the use of the digital environment for schools who are not adopting the new Blackboard templates. | University-wide | Summer 2020 |
| Augmented reporting | A project for summer 2020 and the academic year 2020/21 to extend our ability to assess activity within the digital environment and so better support students. Augmented reporting offered a series of reports which generate actionable data for key roles. | University-wide | Summer 2020 |
| Bb Annotate - new Blackboard inline marking tool | Replacement of Box View with Bb Annotate, an improved inline marking tool for providing feedback annotations. | University-wide | August 2020 |
| Blackboard upgrade | Between 5 pm on Wednesday 5th August and midday on Thursday 6th August. The upgrade brings a range of performance and feature improvements, as well as important bug fixes. The core Blackboard functionality and interface will remain the same. | University-wide | August 2020 |
| Padlet | We rolled out a UoB implementation of the online collaboration tool Padlet which makes a bulletin board type workspace for both students and staff. These Padlets can be linked to or embedded in Blackboard course content. | University-wide | July 2020 |
| Electronic management of assessment (EMA) | We will offer dedicated support to schools to review current approaches to coursework submission and marking, and support implementation of standardised workflows for electronic management of assessment (EMA). This project was phased over three years from 2017-18. | University-wide | July 2020 |
| Eesysoft pilot | We trialled a new way to support staff and students in Blackboard via contextual and targetted help. | University-wide | July 2020 |
| Digital Education Consultation | Alongside BILT we ran a series of workshops and other consulations to define the shape of the University’s aspirations in digital education (part of the Digital Strategy development). | University-wide | July 2020 |
| Questionmark upgrade | Our self-hosted Questionmark platform has been upgraded to Version 6 and migrated to the cloud-based On Demand service. | University-wide | 2019 |
| Learning analytics institutional audit | Review of our institutional capacity to engage with learning analytics, and to act on the data we collect. | University-wide | 2018 |
| Digital education developments 2018 | Over the summer, various services were upgraded. | University-wide | September 2018 |
| Lecture capture in Social Science and Law using the Panopto system |
Using an externally-hosted service to make audio, computer screen, and (occasionally) video recordings from lectures available to students in a semi-automated way. Final recordings being made in Teaching Block 2 and then moving to a read-only service August 2015. |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law only | August 2017 |
| Digital classroom event | As part of BILT launch we hosted a demonstration of the latest digital classroom technology: a fully configured active learning environment with six collaborative tables and screens, thirty-six chairs, and wireless technology that enables students at each table to share their content and co-create digital information. | - | July 2017 |
| Blackboard externally-managed hosting | We have moved Blackboard to a more robust, reliable managed hosted service. | University-wide | July 2017 |
| Eesysoft Messaging and Reports | Evaluation of the two Eesysoft products which link into Blackboard. 1) Messaging which will allow is to provide context specific support to aid the use of tools in Blackboard. 2) Reports allow us to track use of elements of Blackboard at a granular level. | University-wide | July 2017 |
| Exhibitor Pro innovation project | We have purchased 4 x 1 year licences for Exhibita Pro to support 2nd year History of Art students ‘Virtual Exhibition Curation’ project. The software is also being used by other units within the History of Art dept. | History of Art | July 2017 |
| Blackboard upgrade and interface improvements | Upgrade to newer version. Additional features will include drag and drop of files, an online classroom tool (Collaborate) and a more mobile friendly design. We will take the opportunity to improve the layout and bring the graphical feel in line with other student facing systems. | University-wide | August 2017 |
| Blackboard Improvement | Improve the branding and visual design of Blackboard, rationalise and refine the tools, tabs and top level information shown to staff and students and make recommmendations for service enhancements. | University-wide |
Improved design - September 2016 Further recommendations - February 2017 |
| Blackboard course consistency | There were three parts to this project. Firstly, provide a link in each unit course in Blackboard to information from the unit catalogue. Secondly, carry out an audit of Blackboard courses and consult with staff and student representatives to identify strengths and areas of inconsistency. Finally, set up a group to consult with relevant stakeholders, come up with options and recommendations for improvements including whether “threshold standards” should be put in place. | University-wide | September 2016 |
| E-marking trials | Trials of e-marking practices and e-submission workflows, including in large units with multiple markers. Exploring enriched and efficient feedback including through reusable comments, online rubrics and text annotations on desktops and tablets.
Schools included: Arts, Humanities, Modern Languages, and Economics, Finance and Management. |
Selected Schools | August 2016 |
| Xerte upgrade | Upgrade to Xerte 3.2. Xerte is a platform for developing online teaching materials. | University-wide | August 2016 |
| TurningPoint migration and extension | Synchronised with the roll-out of Office 2016 (part of the Digital Workspace project) in July. | University-wide | July 2016 |
| Staff development - TEL essentials online course | Development of online version of TEL Essentials course. This workshop was initially developed for the CREATE programme. Adaptation of the resources in an online version will make the workshop available to a wider audience as an individual self-paced online course. | University-wide | June 2016 |
| Curriculum review and development | Our expert input into new CRD process, reviewing use of TEL, and considering opportunities for enrichment and enhancement. | In curriculum review and development pilot areas | August 2015 |
| Questionmark Perception Upgrade 2015 | Upgrade of both the software and the server infrastructure of the dedicated online assessment software. | University-wide | August 2015 |
| TEL Case Studies | To rerun the exercise first undertaken in March 2012 which collated examples of good and innovative practice in the use of technology to enhance learning and teaching. | University-wide | March 2015 |
| PhD thesis online submission | Offer a scaleable and simple way for PhD students to submit electronic versions of their dissertations, and ensure that the theses can be checked for plagiarism using the Turnitin service. | University-wide | January 2015 |
| Blackboard Mobile Learn | Pilot of a system allowing activities, information and tools in Blackboard to be easily accessible on a range of mobile devices (iPhone and iPod touch, Android, iPad, Blackberry) via a free app. | University-wide | September 2014 |
| Blackboard Upgrade 2014 | Upgrade the core Blackboard software to add new features, enhance existing functionality and resolve issues with current version and provide a temporary replacement service. | University-wide | August 2014 |
| Questionmark Upgrade 2014 | Upgrade to add new features, enhance existing functionality and design, and fix bugs and issues with the current version. | University-wide | August 2014 |
| Embedded e-Voting Trial |
Loaning students TurningPoint handsets to use in practical classes and lectures. The aim is to evaluate how effectively the technology can be used to:
|
480 students on the MB ChB Programme (FMVS and FMDY) | October 2013 |
| Arts Faculty eSubmission | Support for faculty-wide move to esubmission. | Faculty of Arts | August 2013 |
| Blackboard Upgrade 2013 | Upgrade the core Blackboard software to add new features, enhance existing functionality and resolve issues with current version and provide a temporary replacement service. | University-wide | August 2013 |
| Open Education review | Looking at the work already happening at Bristol around open educational resources (OERs) and related topics, and what work is likely to be needed in the future. | University-wide | July 2013 |
| Postgraduate support for effective academic writing | Postgraduate support for effective academic writing. | School of Biological Sciences | July 2013 |
| TEL Benchmarking | The need to clearly identify and document our activity arose initially out of the TEL Strategy. Undertaking a baselining exercise subsequently became essential both to support our TEL Strategy projects in an informed way, and to identify changes in our activity or practice that result from our TEL Programme activities. The report details activity trends for key technology enhanced learning practices and systems supported by our central team. | University-wide | July 2013 |
| Review of staff development | A short review of our staff support and development provision. | University-wide | June 2013 |
| PhD thesis online submission: Engineering pilot | Pilot an approach to ensure PhD students are able to submit electronic versions of their dissertations, and these can be checked for plagiarism using the Turnitin service. | Faculty of Engineering | Service launched: 2012/13 |
| Questionmark Blackboard integration | Implementation of software allowing Questionmark to share student and staff profiles and grades with Blackboard, and to schedule and run Questionmark assessments within Blackboard. | University-wide | Pilot completed during 2012/13 |
| Blackboard Upgrade 2012 | A number of workpackages, designed to add new features, enhance existing functionality and design, and fix bugs and issues with the current version. Includes a temporary Blackboard replacement service. | University-wide | September 2012 |
| e-Pens Pilot | Exploring the use of e-pens for feedback and marking, and for the production of learning materials involving diagrams and notation. | 6-10 academics across several faculties | September 2012 |
| Blackboard development project | Alongside the annual upgrade of Blackboard software, a wider Blackboard development project to support work to improve Blackboard's performance and extend the ability to pre-populate Blackboard with essential data and information to reduce staff time and improve consistency. | University-wide | August 2012 |
| Blackboard Performance Audit and Tuning | External audit and tuning of the Blackboard Learn software, to assess the stability and reliability of our current environment and to make improvements to the performance. | University-wide | August 2012 |
| Integrated e-Learning Services (IELS) | A major project upgrading Blackboard from the basic "Learning System" to the full "Blackboard Learn" suite. Main features and sub-projects:
|
University-wide | August 2012 |
| Blackboard Automated Administration | Automation of processes designed to reduce the time school and faculty staff spend on basic administrative activities like creating courses and enrolling users. | University-wide | January 2012 |
| Questionmark Perception Version 5 Upgrade | A major upgrade of both the software version and the server infrastructure of the dedicated online assessment software. | University-wide | September 2011 |
| Blackboard Upgrade 2011 | Upgrade of the core Blackboard functionality to Blackboard 9.1. | University-wide | July 2011 |
| "Student Expectations": Attitudes to Mobile Learning Survey | A survey to identify current use of mobile devices, and identify key things which our students say they need mobile access to. | University-wide | July 2011 |
| Questionmark Perception Snapshot Exercise | Survey and evaluation of the use of Questionmark Perception, used to set priorities for future development of the system. | University-wide | Covered usage between August 2009 and August 2010 |
| Maths and stats support | Building a community to share resources and ideas on maths and stats teaching across a range of subjects. | University-wide | Open-ended project |
| Staff survey | Design and run a staff survey in 2013 to assess staff engagement with technology enhanced learning (TEL), to understand what barriers stop them from engaging with technology, and to gauge staff views of what they think their needs for our provision of TEL will be in the future. | University-wide |
