Minerva Monthly Update - January

In the January update, there are updates to navigation in Minerva, expanded options for True/False questions and some changes to multiple choice/answer question workflows. Large tests will also load more quickly.

Navigation changes

The changes are part of a series of enhancements planned throughout 2026 to improve the user experience for both staff and students.  They include:

• full-screen pages reducing visual clutter for items in the navigation bar such as Content, Calendar, Announcements, Discussions, Gradebook and Groups
• a module switcher function, allowing you to quickly move between your four most recent modules and giving you access to your full module list
• where there is a module banner this is now full-width displaying the module name and ID freeing up vertical space and improving contextual clarity

The module navigation bar will also now display above the banner (above the module name and ID where there is no banner) and a new Home button will take you to the My Leeds page in Minerva.

All changes will also apply to your Minerva organisations.

You can access a short video or read detailed guidance for more information.

Blackboard Test

True/False Questions

The options for responses to his question type have been expanded. Previously, you could only give students the option to select True or False. Now, you can select from the additional responses:

• Yes/No
• Right/Wrong
• Agree/Disagree

Multiple Choice/Answer Questions

Following feedback, the default responses for these questions will now be 4 rather than 3.

Staff can now also define the number of answers a student can select. Previously, if there was only one answer, students could only select one. If there was more than one answer, student could select all answers.

When you create a new question, the default configuration will be:

• 4 answer options
• students can select up to 4 answers

However, you can define the number of answers required and adjust how many options a student can select.

The student view of these question types has also been updated. Previously, it was not visually clear to students if they could only select one answer. Now, for questions where students can select only one answer, the selection mechanism is radio buttons. For questions where students can select more than one answer, the selection mechanism is checkboxes.

Load times for large Tests

The rendering of MCQ and True/False questions has been optimised, significantly improving load times for large tests. For example, a 200-question test now loads in ~5 seconds, down from ~25 seconds, which equates to an 80% improvement.