News and Updates

The latest updates on developments across digital education systems are detailed below along with service information on our dedicated Downtime and Maintenance page.

You can also find status updates from Digital Education Systems on Bluesky at desystemsleeds.bsky.social and at the IT service status page for wider University IT updates.

You can also get these updates directly to your inbox by subscribing to the mailing list. Monthly summaries which provide an overview of the new features, bug-fixes, and improvements made to Digital Education Systems can also be found on the Monthly Digital Education Systems Updates page.

Clicking on a category (shown to the right of the post date) allows you to filter this list to a specific category to help you find related articles easily.

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Minerva experienced a service disruption between 8:56-9:02 pm and 9:59-10:03 pm on 7th August. Full availability has since been restored.

In the August update, there is a new table of contents in Learning Modules for students, a new method for creating video/audio in Announcements, an AI option to help you format Minerva Documents and some minor changes to copying integrated assessment tools. Later in August, there will be a change to how LaTeX is rendered in Minerva.

The method of linking from Minerva to Microsoft Teams is being updated by our suppliers. Read about what this means for your teaching and how to troubleshoot any issues.

The way LaTeX is rendered will change in Minerva w/c 25 August (after resits). A new MathJax integration will instead render any LaTeX entered in the Minerva content editor

Turnitin will undergo a six-hour maintenance period from 4.00pm to 10.00pm BST on Saturday 9 August 2025.

In the July update, there is a new Activity page for staff, a new option to add captions to images in Minerva Documents and the option to create Test Question Banks via QTI. It is also now possible to see which students have reviewed Announcements in your Minerva modules and, for colleagues who utilise Blackboard Group Assignments, navigation is improved. Finally, the option for configuring Progress Tracking has moved to Module Settings.

PebblePad LTI 1.3 is now enabled for Minerva modules and organisations. The LTI allows the integration of PebblePad's tools and resources within the Minerva platform.

Collaborate will transition to 'read-only' access on 30 June 2025 and will no longer be available at the University from 31 July 2026.

In the June update, there is a new Jumbled Sentence question in Blackboard Test, some Gradebook improvements and a new Discussion activity indicator.
There are also some updates to Annotate (the inline marking tool for Blackboard Assignment).

All modules due to run in 2025/26 have been created in Minerva and are now ready for population.

Staff no longer need to fill in the access to Noteable request via the IT website to access the system

Some students are finding that they cannot see their Turnitin grades in t

The University is closed on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 May 2025 for the May Bank Holiday. Find out what to do if you need help with IT during this time.

Some students are finding that after submitting their Turnitin assignments, Minerva incorrectly shows the assignment as 'Unopened'. When opening the submission area, the assignment is still listed as submitted in Turnitin.

Our supplier has reported that Turnitin was affected by a service degradation which may have affected some users accessing Turnitin between 10:00am and 1:35pm on 21st May 2025.

Our supplier has reported that Turnitin is affected by a service degradation on which may be affecting some users accessing Turnitin.

The University, and the IT Service Desk, will be closed on Monday 5 May. Find out how to log a ticket or find self-help resources during this time.

In the May update, there are changes relating to assessment tools and Discussions. There is also an improvement to the recently released AI Conversation tool.

The April PebblePad update brings a few fixes and accessibility improvements, in addition to user interface updates to assignment managements.

AI Conversation is a new tool using artificial intelligence which supports student learning through interactive role-play scenarios.

PebblePad experienced unplanned downtime which affected services across the UK.

The University is closed from 17 April to 22 April 2025 inclusive for the April Bank Holiday. Learn about what IT support is available over this time.

We have received reports of issues affecting users accessing Minerva via Safari version 16.3. This may be related to older versions of the Apple operating system (OS) and the Safari browser.

Gradescope will undergo a one hour maintenance period from 16.00pm to 17:00pm BST on Saturday 29 March 2025.

Join us on Thursday 19 June 2025, 9.30am-1.00pm in Helix to be part of PebbleShare, our event to showcase the potential of PebblePad!

In the April update, there are changes to Gradebook to indicate whether students have reviewed assessment feedback, Group Assignments, and a new print option for Minerva Documents. There are also changes to Ally alternative formats in relation to maths notation.

An issue reported on the 18 March where module banner images were not loading has been resolved.

An update on Vevox changes over the last year, including a new AI Quiz Generator, improvements to question functionality and integrations.

Turnitin will undergo a thirty minute maintenance period from 15.00pm to 15.30pm GMT on Saturday 29 March 2025.

The March PebblePad update brings small changes such as optimisations and fixes.

In January we reported an issue with the Activity Log in Minerva modules - access to integrated platforms (e.g. Turnitin and Gradescope) was not being recorded in the Activity Log. This issue was resolved by our supplier on 7 March 2025.

There is an issue in Minerva where module Banner images and Learning Module thumbnails may fail to load.

An upgrade to the Module catalogue has impacted existing module catalogue links in Minerva.

In the March update there are changes to rubrics in Blackboard Assignment, module settings, the AI Design Assistant tools and release conditions.

Gradescope experienced an unexpected service disruption affecting Gradescope Code Autograders on Thursday 6th March between 11:00 and 15:00 GMT.

Gradescope is experiencing unexpected service disruption which is affecting Gradescope Code Autograders.

Noteable maintenance from 08:00 to 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 5 March.

Gradescope will undergo a one-hour maintenance window between 15:00 to 16:00 GMT on Saturday 15 March 2025.

The February update introduces changes to Blackboard Assignment, rendering of files, image options in Minerva Documents, Group creation, and the AI Design Assistant.

LinkedIn Learning will be undertaking essential maintenance on 31 January 2025.

There is currently an issue where access to integrated items (e.g. Turnitin and Gradescope) are not being recorded.

Noteable maintenance from 07:00 to 08:30 GMT on Thursday 30 January.

An issue with the recording tool (as reported in December) is now confirmed as resolved by our supplier.

Ally will undergo maintenance between 05:00 and 13:00 on Saturday 8 February 2025

The January PebblePad update brings a new central hub for account settings and preferences, and shortcut navigation accessibility improvements.

As reported in December, there is currently an issue with the recording tool in Minerva. We have received reports of this not working correctly, specifically when adding recordings to feedback for Blackboard Assignments.

The January update introduces changes to how Minerva modules are made available to students. There are also changes to Gradebook, the AI Design Assistant and Conditional Release.

On Tuesday, 3rd December 2024, a global issue impacted access to third-party integrated tools within Minerva. Staff and students may have experienced difficulties accessing these tools between 07:26 AM and 11:00 AM GMT.

Turnitin will undergo a four-hour maintenance window between 16:00 to 20:00 GMT on Saturday 18 January 2025.

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