Minerva Monthly Update - March

The March update includes the introduction of AI‑generated Knowledge Checks, updated participation requirements for discussions, improvements to Blackboard Test and the Recording tool.

Minerva Documents - Generate Knowledge Checks with AI

Staff can now use AI tools to generate draft Knowledge Check questions within Minerva Documents. Once generated, staff can review, edit, and approve the questions before making them available to students.

When adding a Knowledge Check to your Minerva Document, you will now see options to either 'Enter my question' or 'Auto-generate question'.

If you select 'Auto-generate question', the AI will generate questions based on your module name and content in the Minerva Document. If you prefer, you can add text to the Description text box or reference items in your module to inspire the AI. Select questions you wish to add to your Minerva Document. They can be edited after this step.

Second participation requirement and due date for discussions

Discussions now support an additional participation requirement and a separate due date. For example, staff can require students to submit an initial post by one date and responses to peers by another.

Blackboard Tests

Question title field relocated

To reduce confusion identified through user feedback, the Question Title field has moved from the beginning of the question authoring workflow to the bottom, underneath the Question metadata field. Now you must toggle on Question Metadata for Question Title and Tag options to appear.

Recording Tool

1. The Recording tool now displays the maximum recording time in both full and minimised views, giving users a clearer sense of time remaining to reduce the risk of unexpected cut‑offs.
2. When users create a video/screen recording, the system captures a thumbnail image from the video ten seconds into the recording (and zero seconds for a recording under ten seconds). The thumbnail appears wherever the recording appears, so users can quickly recognise and identify video content before opening it.