News and Updates

News of software upgrades or updates, along with any associated maintenance and downtime are shared here – and summarised on the planned maintenance and downtime page to help you keep track. Service issues that may prevent you from using a particular Digital Education System or functionality are also shared on this page, and on our Twitter account @DESystemsUoL, (you’ll find the latest tweets at the bottom of this page). You can also get these updates directly to your inbox by subscribing to the mailing list.

The official Twitter account for IT at the University of Leeds, @ITServicesUoL is also recommended for service status updates, along with their service status web page.

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

PebblePad Downtime: 12 July 22, before 8:30am

Slight change to PebblePad log-in

Turnitin Downtime: 9 July 22, between midnight & 8am

Turnitin will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance from midnight to 8am (BST) on 9 July. You can find out further details via Turnitin’s service status page

Minerva Maintenance: 24 June 22, between 8pm & 9pm

To resolve an issue where data feeds did not run on the 24 June, the vendor will be carrying out maintenance.

PebblePad Downtime: 29 June 22, between 7am & 7:30am

There will be 30 minutes of potential downtime from 7am whilst PebblePad implement their latest release (2022.6).

Turnitin Downtime: 9 July 22, between midnight & 8am

Turnitin will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance from midnight to 8am (BST) on 9 July. You can find out further details via Turnitin’s service status page

Turnitin – Changes to Feedback Release Date Functionality

Turnitin has introduced new functionality where Grade Centre columns are unhidden when the Feedback Release Date is reached.

Changes to where Microsoft Teams meeting recordings are saved from 27 June 22

From the 27th of June, all users will notice that Microsoft Teams meeting recordings are no longer automatically saved to Microsoft Stream, they will be saved to the either OneDrive or SharePoint. The way you create, start, and take part in Teams meetings will not change. Essentially, this change affects: Where a meeting recording is…

Minerva Downtime: 14 June 22, between 3am & 3:30am

Minerva will be unavailable for up to 30 minutes on Tuesday 14th June at 3am (BST) for essential maintenance.

University’s Reading List tool changing ahead of 2022/23 academic year

The University’s Reading List tool is changing ahead of the 2022/23 academic year. Support sessions and demos are available for tutors to update their reading lists using the new system. The new Leeds Reading List system is available in Minerva Ultra from Thursday 9 June, with all previous reading lists transferred over to the new system….

Move to Minerva Ultra Course View

Ultra Course View modules will be available from Thursday 9 June, along with support to assist in the transition over the summer period.

Auto-captions now available in Blackboard Collaborate

Instructors can now improve the accessibility of content within Blackboard Collaborate sessions by creating captions for recorded modules.

Resolved – Top Hat Gradebook Issue

The issue reported on 24/05/2022, which affected the ability to disable/enable the Top Hat gradebook has now been resolved. If you are still experiencing any issues, contact the IT Help Desk.

Reminder – Move to Minerva Ultra Course View

Information about the upcoming move to Ultra Course View, with details on training resources and support.

Resolved – Minerva issues reported 17 May

Minerva – update on issues reported 17 May

In an attempt to resolve the recent issues with Minerva, our vendor will apply a fix overnight. The fix will be applied on Wednesday 25 May 02:00-05:00 BST.

Issue with disabling the Top Hat gradebook

It is currently not possible to disable/enable the Top Hat Gradebook from the Top Hat course settings panel. Checking or unchecking the box and pressing Save does not result in your change being saved.

PebblePad Downtime: 30th May 22, between 7am and 7:30am

Combined student and assessor-initiated submissions to be added to PebblePad.

Minerva – follow-up on issues reported 17 May

Minerva is continuing to experience performance issues. In an attempt to resolve these issues, our vendor will apply a fix overnight. The fix will be applied on Saturday 21 May 02:00-05:00 BST.

Minerva – update on issues reported 17 May

Minerva is currently experiencing performance issues affecting Activity Stream, content copying and emails from announcements.

Minerva – fix to be applied overnight: 19 May 2am to 5am

As reported on 17 May, Minerva is currently experiencing performance issues. The Activity Stream is not loading and staff may experience issues copying content between or within modules and organisations. To resolve these issues, our vendor will apply a fix overnight.

Minerva – issues with Activity Stream and Copying Content

Minerva is currently experiencing performance issues. The Activity Stream is not loading and staff may experience issues copying content between or within modules and organisations.

Minerva Downtime: 14 May 22, between 3am & 3:30am

Minerva will be unavailable for up to 30 minutes on Saturday 14th May at 3am (BST) for essential maintenance.

Minerva Downtime: 13 May 22, between 3am & 3:30am

Minerva will be unavailable for up to 30 minutes on Friday 13th May at 3am (BST) for essential maintenance.

Fix your Minerva content for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022

Thursday 19 May 2022 marks the annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and as part of our commitment to inclusive and accessible education, we are participating in the Blackboard Ally ‘Fix Your Content Day’.

Resolved – Turnitin issues 10/5/22

Users may have found that a server error message appeared when trying to submit or access Turnitin papers today, Turnitin have reported that this issue has now been resolved

Turnitin currently experiencing issues 10/5/22

Turnitin have reported an issue with their service. This may impact students who are trying to submit their assessments.

Minerva Ultra Course View – FAQs for Staff

Frequently asked questions regarding the move to Minerva Ultra Course View, along with information on how you can keep up-to-date on project developments.

Fix your Minerva content for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022

Thursday May 19th 2022 marks the annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and as part of our commitment to inclusive and accessible education, we are participating in the Blackboard Ally ‘Fix Your Content Day’.

PebblePad Downtime: 27 April 22, between 7am & 7:30am

On Wednesday 27th April 2022, there will be 30 minutes of potential downtime from 7 am whilst PebblePad implement their latest release (2022.4). Submission Viewer 2 will now support Asset Approvals. You can now create, edit, delete, release and recall Asset Approvals at every level (1, 2 and 3). Submissions in ATLAS can now be…

Resolved – Turnitin Now Available (06/04/22)

Turnitin is now available to all staff and students.

Turnitin Downtime: 6 April 22, between 11am & 12 noon

Turnitin will be unavailable today between 11:00 and 12:00.

Turnitin Service Degradation 05/04/22

Some users may currently experience issues when marking with Turnitin Feedback Studio.

PebblePad Downtime: 30 March 22, between 7am & 7:30am

On Wednesday 30th March 2022, there will be 30 minutes of potential downtime from 7 am whilst PebblePad implement their latest release. Two improvemets have been made to Submission Viewer 2.

Padlet Downtime: 25 March 22, between 11pm & 1am

On Friday, March 25, between 11:00pm – 01:00am GMT Padlet will be conducting a round of maintenance. During this time, you will not be able to access the Padlet web or mobile apps.

Minerva Ultra Course View – Dates to Note

Dates to note in relation to Minerva Ultra Course View, along with information on training and resources.

Resolved – Turnitin and Grade Centre Issue 18/03/22

Turnitin have released a fix for any assignments affected where grades are not syncing with the Grade Centre.

Turnitin and Grade Centre Issue 18/03/22

There is currently a known issue where some Turnitin assignment grades are not syncing with the module Grade Centre, despite the feedback release date having passed.

Changes to Minerva – Ultra Course View eLearning Resource

A new eLearning resource is now available for colleagues, providing a high-level overview of forthcoming changes within Minerva. 

Turnitin Issue 28/02/22 – Update

The following advice had been given to us by Turnitin, who advise that this issue is likely caused by the privacy settings enabled in your browser. If you see an error message that says ‘invalid state’ when trying to launch Turnitin, please use the following the steps to ensure that your preferred browser reflects the…

Automatic cleanup of archive and exports in Minerva

Auto cleanup of Minerva module/organisation archives and exports.

Turnitin Issue 28/02/22

Some users may find that they are currently unable to access Turnitin assignments. Most will see an error that says ‘invalid or missing state’ when they try to click on an assignment. This issue has been reported to Turnitin and we will provide an update when it is fixed. In the meantime, please try using…

Minerva performance issues – update 23/02

On Tuesday 22 February Minerva experienced issues from approximately 16:05-16:45. A second related incident occurred at 18:20-18:30, although users may have noticed slow performance immediately after this time period. Our vendor has identified the root cause of the issue to be the module catalogue link in the module menu. Therefore, this link has been disabled…

Minerva performance issues – update

Our vendor has now applied a fix. We believe this has resolved the issue but will continue to monitor the service. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this disruption.

Minerva – performance issues

Minerva is currently experiencing performance issues. We have escalated this with the vendor as a matter of urgency. Please accept our sincere apologies for this issue with the service. We will post an update as soon as possible.

Resolved with workaround – Turnitin Issue reported 15 Feb

After liaising with the vendor, it is advised that adaptive release settings used on Turnitin assignments must not have a start date that is after the due date in the assignment settings. If the start date set in Minerva is set to be after the assignment due date, then the following error message will appear…

Resolved: Errors accessing files in Minerva

The issues accessing files in Minerva have been resolved.

PebblePad Downtime: 21 Feb 22, between 7am & 7:30am

On Monday 21st February 2022, there will be 30 minutes of potential downtime from 7 am whilst PebblePad implement their latest release (2022.2). Two changes are being made. The first will enable you to contact students via the Submissions tab in ATLAS. Choose all students or a selection and send a bulk or individual message. …