Blackboard Known Issues

Error When Downloading Documents [RESOLVED]

Posted 10/25/2022

We were just notified that there seem to be some issues with downloading student submissions and clicking certain links (including documents and videos) within Blackboard courses. This isn't happening in every course, but Blackboard is aware of the issue and is working on it. You will all be notified when this is resolved.

SoftChalk Issues on Blackboard [RESOLVED]

Posted 04/26/2022

SSH-9127 Access denied error in Blackboard: The latest Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.37.0 update likely has caused this error. The release was made to production Blackboard systems at the time this error was first reported to us (Release to Production: Thursday, 21 April 2022).

We are now working with Blackboard Support to resolve the bug. We have provided them with our building block for further troubleshooting. Although we are unsure of a timeline, we will keep you informed as progress is made. We apologize for the interruption to student access while we work with Blackboard to identify and resolve the cause of this error.

Ally - Partial Outage [RESOLVED]

Posted 02/01/2022

Investigating - We are currently investigating an issue with Ally in the Americas (excluding Canada) that is preventing the processing of new content added to Learn courses. All other Ally capabilities remain functional.

This has been resolved, the backlog of events have been processed. New events are being processed in real time. Time posted Feb 3, 08:18 EST

Intermittent Outages affecting some Blackboard Services [RESOLVED]

Posted 12/7/2021

Blackboard has informed us that Amazon Web Services (AWS) server outages may be affecting some aspects of Blackboard’s performance including access to Blackboard Collaborate recordings. We also believe that the performance of the inline grading tool may be impacted by this outage. Please let us know if you or your students are experiencing issues with other tools or features within Blackboard by contacting bbtechsupport@harpercollege.edu. We will follow up when Blackboard communicates that the AWS issues have been resolved.

Resolution: AWS Servers were all up and running by 8:00pm on 12/7

Opening Office Documents in Microsoft Edge Causing HTTP 404 Error in Blackboard

Posted 11/18/21

Over the past week, faculty and students have been experiencing an HTTP 404 Error (file removed, missing or unavailable) when trying to access documents in Blackboard, when using the EDGE browser. Blackboard confirmed this is an issue and they do NOT have any target date on when it will be fixed.

This is the workaround until there is a "fix":

• Open Edge settings

• Select Downloads

• Set Open Office files in the Browser to Off

BLACKBOARD IS DOWN [RESOLVED]

Posted 07/29/21 (10:00AM)

Blackboard is currently experiencing problems with their servers and the Blackboard website is inaccessible. After speaking with Blackboard, we do not yet have an ETA on when it will be resolved and back up. The mobile app is down as well. We will keep you posted with a follow-up email when it is resolved. Please let your students know and we will post an announcement on the Student Portal.

SafeAssign Not Generating Reports [RESOLVED]

Posted 07/08/21

SafeAssign is not generating Progress Reports. Student's submittals are sitting at "Report in Progress". We will update this as RESOLVED, when the tool is fixed and working properly.

Resolution: Normal assignments' submissions which need to be checked with SafeAssign are placed into a queue within Learn. Batches are then submitted to the SafeAssign Central Service ("SACS") in the background frequently out of the queue. This is done via a periodic task. These tasks are not starting when it is time for them to begin. As a result: the papers are waiting in the queue forever to be submitted. Papers are not expected to be lost due to this incident and should resume submission after the fixes are applied. Because of the nature of this issue it is anticipated that a large influx of papers will be delivered to Safeassign all at once. Please allow sufficient time for the Safeassign service to process the influx.

Embed Math Type Not Working Properly

Posted 06/09/21

The status of this Known Issue has been updated to "Pending Target". Blackboard has confirmed this issue is a software defect, but they don't yet have a target release to deliver the fix. Their next step is to determine the root cause, required fix, and target release for this bug. We will update this to RESOLVED when the fix is available in an upcoming SaaS release.

Ongoing Issue with LockDown Browser for Chromebook (Extension) [RESOLVED]

Posted 04/20/21

This notification is related to the LockDown Browser for Chromebook “Extension” which is currently in beta. It does NOT apply to the “kiosk mode” version of the Chromebook App that’s only available for managed Chromebook environments.

Since last Friday, we’ve been experiencing ongoing issues with the Chrome Web Store, which is the entity that approves and distributes extensions for Chromebooks. We continue to work with Google to resolve this updating issue, but, in parallel, have submitted a second Chromebook extension for review.

Students who have updated to the latest release (0.2.0.51) may encounter an error from the Learning Management System (LMS) indicating that LockDown Browser isn’t being detected. For the time being, the best course of action is to find a Windows, Mac or iPad device to take the exam.

We will send a follow-up note when this issue is resolved. The next steps will depend on which Chromebook extension is approved first by the Chrome Web Store.

We sincerely apologize if this issue is affecting your students. We are actively working to resolve it.

If you have technical questions, please open a support ticket at https://support.respondus.com/. Be sure to indicate you are using LockDown Browser for Chromebook

Respondus "pop-ups" While Taking an Exam [RESOLVED]

Posted 03/12/21

There is a known Blackboard server bug that appears to have begun after a recent SaaS update that Blackboard made. Students are receiving pop-ups stating that their essay questions are not being saved. The pop-up messages students are getting appear to be a false positive, as their answers do appear to be getting saved by the LMS server.

To suppress the false-positive Blackboard message students are seeing, students should update to LockDown Browser version 2.0.7.00 or higher. The pop-up message saying that the answer has not been saved will no longer appear after installing this update.

• To upgrade, Windows users can open LockDown Browser, then click the “i” icon in toolbar, then select the "Check for newer version" button. Or they can download and run the full installation program.

• Mac Users can upgrade by opening LockDown Browser, and clicking the "globe" icon in the toolbar....then selecting "check for update."

Notification Settings - Controlling Incoming Emails [RESOLVED]

Posted 01/25/21

You may have noticed that you have been getting more Blackboard notifications than in the past. Blackboard has moved to having all notifications defaulting on, which we cannot adjust administratively during a semester but can revisit before the next term. If you are getting unwanted notifications, you can set what notifications you want to receive from each course by doing the following:

Notifications Settings in Blackboard

1. Click on the “My Blackboard” tab (top right) and then click on “Notifications Dashboard” (left side bar tab)

2. Click on any box that reads "Edit Notification Settings"

3. Under "Edit Notification Settings", you need to click on and open each course individually, look at the email column and select/deselect your choices of what emails you would like to receive or turn off.

4. Once you are done making your choices, click on the "My Blackboard" tab (top right) and then click on "My Blackboard (left side bar tab). This will take you back to your course list.

Response Feedback not holding when grading by "question" [RESOLVED]

Posted 11/11/20

When grading by question (full grade center > down chevron next to title of column > grade questions), the feedback to learner box is not retaining instructor feedback. Alternative would be to grade by student, which is grading through the Full Grade Center and clicking the down chevron in each individual student cell. The Instructor Feedback option here is working.

Resolved: This issue was resolved on December 3rd. It is now working properly.

Pending Release: The status of this Known Issue has been updated to Pending Release (Decemmber 3rd) to show that Blackboard has confirmed this is a bug that is planned to be fixed in a specific future release of Learn, but that release is not yet available. Once this issue is fixed, this box will be marked as updated and resolved.