We expect students to take all reasonable steps to adhere to University submission arrangements and instructions for individual submissions. However, there could be occasions where there is a technical or user-error issue with a student’s online submission. The general position in these circumstances is to find in favour of the student and aim to have a consistent approach which is not punitive towards the student. A judgement on the appropriate action should be made on the basis of:
- how clear the instructions are which have been provided to the student regarding how to submit.
- whether the student concerned has a disability which may affect their ability to follow written instructions.
- whether the student has been advised previously about incorrect submission attempts.
There is a potential issue affecting students who submit their assignments to Blackboard using the Microsoft Edge browser. Students who submit their work using Edge and who have a copy of the work open whilst the submission is in progress are encountering an issue whereby the content of the file that is submitted becomes blank, any text, images etc. are removed and a single blank page is submitted. When advising students or publishing guidance about submitting work to Blackboard, please can you alert students to the following advice:
If you have recently submitted an assignment to Blackboard using the Edge browser please check both your email receipt for the submission and review your assignment via the submission point. If you have ‘0 bytes‘ file size showing on your email receipt and/or a blank page in the assignment preview window, you will need to submit your work again via the Start New Submission button.
If you are an Edge user who is yet to submit (or needs to resubmit because of a problem), ensure you do not have a copy of your work open whilst submitting your assignment to Blackboard, or better still, use an alternative browser.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your work is successfully submitted. Always check your email receipt and the submission point again following each submission.
Storage and system issues
The majority of student work generated electronically can be submitted online through Blackboard. However, files that are over 250MB cannot be submitted directly as attachments to Blackboard. There are alternative methods to allow students to submit large or medial files electronically for marking.
It is recommended that you do not store any submissions content to local D drives. Please refer to Digital Technology Service (DTS) guidance on Cloud Storage (SP site) and staff guidelines on the use of IT Facilities (SP site).
If you require additional storage on your personal drive F (all staff get 500mb), a private area on shared N drive or access to the Q drive, contact DTS via the Assyst online portal (SP site), who will consider requests for additional space.
If system unavailability prevents the submission of work, an extended period of time equivalent to the duration of system unavailability (up to 48 hours) is to be allowed to complete the submission. A standard message will be placed on Blackboard and College will contact students with further details. If there is to be a delay in allowing students to submit work due to system unavailability, updates will be communicated to students via the Assessment Scheduler.
