Faculty Updates
Here we will list any important updates or alerts about UBlearns.
UBlearns Scheduled Application Upgrade - July 19th, 2009
The Blackboard on UBlearns service will be unavailable from 11PM Saturday, July 18 to 9AM Sunday, July 19 for a scheduled application upgrade. This upgrade includes security enhancements, Grade Center improvements and the addition of Internet Explorer v. 8 as a supported browser.
SafeAssign Building Block Available
This tool allows faculty to check assignments submitted to the Blackboard system against a large number of "plagiarism databases". Read more...
Internet Explorer version 8
The latest release of Internet Explorer version 8 is currently NOT a supported browser for use with UBlearns.
If you are using Windows and are presented with a "Welcome to Internet Explorer 8" screen which offers to install IE8 on your system, we strongly urge you to choose the "Don't install" option.
For a list of UBlearns support browsers click here.
Microsoft Office 2007 Release
Microsoft has released Office 2007. Files saved in the Office 2007 default format cannot be read by earlier versions of Microsoft Office.
The new file formats can be identified by the following file extensions:
- Word 2007 extensions are .docx
- Excel 2007 extensions are .xlsx
- PowerPoint 2007 extensions are .pptx
Resolution
- Download file converters directly from Microsoft that allow your current version of Office to read these file types.
- Advise students using Office 2007 to use the ‘Save As’ feature to save files in earlier Office formats (e.g. .doc, .xls, .ppt).
Additional Information
The UB Information Technology (UBIT) website has additional information regarding the use of Office 2007.
Upload Image option of student 'Homepage' does not function correctly.
Blackboard technical support has confirmed the upload image option of student 'Homepage' does not function properly. Uploaded images appear as a broken link when the 'Homepage' is accessed.
'Homepage' is an area within the Blackboard application, accessed via course tools, where enrolled students may post information about themselves.
Blackboard technical support is working to correct this issue but have not yet set a time frame for completion. Application administrators will post an update when this issue has been resolved.
