Reminder: Deletion of Minerva modules from 2008/09 to 2013/14
Work will take place to delete 08/09 to 13/14 modules from Minerva on the 7th of February.
News and Updates
News of new developments across digital education systems, software upgrades or updates, along with any associated maintenance and downtime are shared here - and summarised on the Downtime and Maintenance page to help you keep track. The official Twitter account for IT at the University of Leeds, @ITServicesUoL is also recommended for service status updates, along with the service status page on the IT website.
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.
Search results for “”
Results 251 to 286 of 286
Issues with Minerva data extracts for Academic Integrity, Security Essentials Training & Reading Lists
There is an ongoing issue with extracting Academic Integrity, Security Essentials Training & Reading Lists data from Minerva.
New Padlet Homepage!
Padlet has a fresh new look! Padlet has updated its Homepage (dashboard). Though it may look different most of the functionality remains unchanged. Users with a Padlet account will now be able to create folders to save their Padlet's to, making it easier to find what you are looking for if you've got lots of...
PebblePad Downtime: 18 Jan 22, between 7am & 7:30am
PebblePad will have a short period of downtime between 07:00am and 07:30am on Thursday, 21st October (the downtime is likely to be around 10 minutes). Who is affected? All staff and student users of PebblePad will not be able to access the system during this time. Why is this downtime happening? PebblePad is being updated...
Minerva maintenance – Friday 7th January at 3am
Minerva will be unavailable on Friday 7th January at 3am for 1 minute to carry out essential maintenance.
Deletion of Minerva modules from 2008/09 to 2013/14
Work will take place to delete 08/09 to 13/14 modules from Minerva on the 7th of February 2022.
Linkedin Learning Downtime: 16 Dec 21, between 10am & 5pm
LinkedIn Learning will be unavailable Thursday 16 Dec, 10:00-17:00. You won't be able to access LinkedIn Learning during this time.
PebblePad ATLAS 2021.7 - changes to the look
Changes to the design of PebblePad ATLAS.
Errors when accessing files in Minerva
Some users have reported 404 or resource not found errors when opening files in Minerva. Please read the post for further information and suggested workarounds.
Mediasite maintenance taking place Saturday 27th Nov 1am-4am
There will be essential maintenance taking place on the Lecture Capture and Media Management System. During this period the Mediasite Service should be considered 'at risk' but users should still be able to playback recordings.
Minerva Upgrade
The next phase of the Minerva upgrade project, focusing on improvements to teaching areas, has now begun. Find out more about the changes that are happening and the support available ahead of the 2022/23 academic year.
A module fully integrated into TopHat
Dr Tad Gwiazdowski writes about using TopHat, combined with Blackboard and MyMediasite, emphasised active learning and constant student engagement. During the semester, students watched over 200 days of videos and submitted over 100,000 answers to questions.
Digital tools for students - a quick reference guide
Find out about the Digital Tools Guide for students - an introduction to the digital learning tools that are available at the University of Leeds.
PebblePad Downtime: 21 Oct 21, between 7am and 7:30am
PebblePad will have a short period of downtime between 7:00am and 7:30am on Thursday, 21st October of around 10 minutes for all users.
Using the Top Hat Concierge Service to get help setting up January assessments
Due to Christmas and New Year closures, please submit your requests to the Concierge Service no later than the 10th of December 2021 to ensure that content is returned to you within the standard 14 day turnaround time.
Using Collaborate Ultra in 21/22? Don't forget to add the link to your Minerva module
If you intend to use Collaborate Ultra for your 2021/22 teaching please remember to add a link it to in your Minerva module/org, as it will not automatically roll over.
Welcome to the Digital Education Systems Help Website
The Digital Education Systems website has now officially launched. It provides task-oriented help and guidance for staff and students on the use of digital learning and teaching systems and virtual classrooms.
Gradescope has changed!
Instructors are now able create direct links to assignments. The benefit of linking to an assignment directly is that a column within the Grade Centre is created automatically, and the due date appears in the activity stream for students.
LeedsforLife – Guides and Support Material
This site contains a growing number of self-help guides, FAQ’s and links to related content for users of the Academic Personal Tutorial (APT) workbook which is hosted in PebblePad.
Should you create a new Top Hat course for 2021/22?
Top Hat courses do not rollover automatically, if you used Top Hat in 2020/21 you may find it helpful to take a look at staff article: I used Top Hat last year, do I have to create a new Top Hat course this year?
What's New For September?
The Digital Education Systems Update newsletter for September 2021 introduces new tools that have been implemented and summarises recent changes to tools and systems.
Better formatting options when creating questions in Top Hat
Staff can now apply bold, italic, superscript and subscript formatting to question text when creating a multiple choice, matching or sorting question.
Minerva upgrade begins 5pm today (Friday 6th August)
Minerva will be unavailable from 5.00 pm on Friday 6 August until Wednesday 11 August while the upgrade takes place. During this time you won’t have access to content.
The way to create posts on a Padlet is changing
Padlet are changing the way that posts are added to a Padlet. The change is being rolled out and all users should see the new post composer by the 15th of August.
Minerva is changing – August upgrade reminder
Minerva is being upgraded to the latest version of Blackboard at the beginning of August. Minerva will be unavailable from 5.00 pm on Friday 6 August until Wednesday 11 August while the upgrade takes place.
Support for staff delivering teaching using Live Streaming
Around 90 teaching rooms will be equipped with live streaming capability across campus from September 2021.
Changes to where Teams meeting recordings are stored has been deferred
Teams meetings will continue to save to Stream during 2021 as Microsoft is allowing us to defer the change to 2022.
Mediasite Upgrade – Desktop Recorder to be replaced by new software.
Mediasite Desktop Recorder will be retired on Friday 27 August and replaced by Mediasite Mosaic. This new application provides access to multiple recording options, and can also be used to bulk upload videos created in other applications to Mediasite. Colleagues are encouraged to start using Mosaic before Mediasite Desktop Recorder is retired – full instructions...
Mediasite Possible Disruption: 28 Aug 21, between 12am & 4am
Mediasite will be upgraded on Saturday 28 August, between 12am and 4am. During this period the Mediasite Service should be considered at risk but users should still be able to playback recordings. Content uploads are not advised as they may take longer than usual to process. You may also need to reload the Media area...
Minerva is changing - training sessions available
Minerva will be upgraded to the latest version of Blackboard over the summer period, we have scheduled sessions for staff where key changes will be demonstrated.
Minerva is changing – August upgrade
Minerva will be unavailable from 5.00pm on Friday 6 August until Wednesday 11 August while upgrade takes place. Access to other University systems, such as Outlook, OneDrive and Student/Faculty Services, will be unaffected.
Create and Share Digital Content Workshops
OD&PL are offering two workshops on Creating and Sharing Content. Colleagues who have not yet migrated to Mediasite Mosaic may find these short workshops helpful.
Flipped Classrooms using Top Hat
Top Hat has really helped me to redesign my delivery method in teaching ...
Active Learning using Top Hat
The Digital Education Service have produced a video showcase exploring how University of Leeds staff have used Top Hat in their teaching. (Duration 4:41 minutes).
Academic Personal Tutoring using ePortfolio and Learning Analytics
The University of Leeds has procured two new Digital Education systems to support students and staff; an ePortfolio system (PebblePad) and a Learning Analytics system (StREAM@Leeds). These systems will contribute directly to a completely refreshed approach to Academic Personal Tutoring at Leeds and help us to address attainment gaps, student retention and student success. Initial...
New partnership to support Academic Personal Tutoring
Leeds has chosen Solutionpath as its institutional provider for Learning Analytics. The platform will radically transform the Academic Personal Tutoring experience for both students and staff, providing more contextualised and nuanced student support. The five-year partnership, starting in early 2021, will support the delivery of our vision to enhance Academic Personal Tutoring as part of Leeds...