When there is a planned software update or release, often to introduce new features, bug fixes or improvements, you'll find associated News posts on this page.
Sometimes these can involve short periods of planned downtime, if so, we'll mention this in the relevant News post below and also show them on the Downtime and Maintenance page to help you keep track.
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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.
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.
In the March update there are changes to rubrics in Blackboard Assignment, module settings, the AI Design Assistant tools and release conditions.
The February update introduces changes to Blackboard Assignment, rendering of files, image options in Minerva Documents, Group creation, and the AI Design Assistant.
An issue with the recording tool (as reported in December) is now confirmed as resolved by our supplier.
The January PebblePad update brings a new central hub for account settings and preferences, and shortcut navigation accessibility improvements.
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.
The December update introduces an improvement to Learning Module navigation, new discussion posts and late assignment submissions are now easier to identify. There is also a fix to an accessibility issue with images in Minerva Documents.
The November update introduces an improvement to the file submission process for Blackboard Assignment. There are also some changes to the Print Tests functionality and a new option to download the Activity Log. The Minerva Document content item was also recently updated.
New PebblePad release for October 2024 brings an update to finding and adding tagged assets.
The October update introduces a new option to have email notifications for followed Discussions. There are also updates to how leavers show in the Gradebook and AI options for Question Banks. Recently, a change to how module staff appear on the module content page has been made. A known issue with the Gradebook Overview is also resolved.
The September update introduces changes to the layout of module pages and some new Gradebook functionality.
New PebblePad release for August 2024 brings updates to Submission Viewer 2, embedding and accessibility.
The August update introduces improvements to Blackboard Assignments, Forms, conditional availability and options to follow Discussions.
Following a recent upgrade, the way Mediasite content can be added to a Minerva module has been refreshed.
New PebblePad release for July 2024 brings updates to exporting permissions, feedback template reports and rich content editing.
We're planning to upgrade Mediasite, the University’s video platform, this will make it easier for colleagues to embed videos directly into Minerva Documents.
A new Turnitin Similarity Report integration is now available for Blackboard Assignments. Our guide on using Blackboard Assignment with the Turnitin similarity report integration will provide you with more information.
The June update introduces improvements to Announcements, Blackboard Tests, Gradebook, Group settings, and updated filtering options when accessing modules. The AI Design Assistant now also has the option to create content in different languages.
New PebblePad release for May 2024 focuses on accessibility improvements.
The May update introduces improvements to Blackboard Tests, Gradebook navigation and conditional availability.
Minerva now detects and supports device reduced motion setting.
The April update introduces improvements to Blackboard Tests and Assignments, Discussions, Learning Modules, Gradebook Calculations, Conditional Availability, Forms and Batch Edit functionality.
New PebblePad releases for March 2024 includes improvements to SV2 and exporting, opening evidence in new tab and a favourites indicator.
Staff who wish to request a change to the owner of a Mediasite lecture capture or recording are advised to refer to guidance on the IT website for who to contact.
The March update introduces updates to the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Design Assistant, Gradebook, Blackboard Assignments/Tests and Announcements.
New PebblePad releases for February 2024 include a favourite function, and an improvement to comments and iconography.
The first phase of the migration began on February 5th 2024 and has now been completed. Learn more about what the team or working on and how this affects your Stream content.
The February update introduces a new tool for gathering information/surveying students (Forms) and improvements to the flexible grading interface and recording tool.
Microsoft announced that they are retiring Stream (Classic) in June 2024. In preparation, IT are migrating all published video content (circa 180,000 videos) from Stream (Classic) into Stream (on SharePoint).
New PebblePad releases for January 2024 include submission versioning and navigation improvements.
The January update brings some improvements to assessment tools (including the introduction of a Test attempt log), changes to conditional release functionality, and Gradebook.
The December update brings some improvements to the Gradebook and assessment tools. Support for adding images via the content editor is also expanded.
User experience improvements released.
The November update brings some improvements to the content editor (for adding images), the Gradebook and Assessment tools, and a new feature in Turnitin allowing assignment settings to be copied. A known issue relating to progress tracking is also resolved.
Labster, our 3D laboratory training software, now has a custom quiz editor added to its simulation platform.
New release includes rich content editor going live.
The October update to Minerva introduces updates to Blackboard Assignments, Tests and improved functionality to send reminders to students for Turnitin assessments. Changes have also recently been introduced to the grading interface for Blackboard Assignments and Tests.
A new 'flexible grading' interface is now available for Blackboard Test and Assignment.
Our vendor has released a new grading interface which we will enable in Minerva w/c 18th September. This will affect the marking of Blackboard Assignments and Tests only.
The September update to Minerva introduces updates to Learning Modules, Module Banners, Batch Editing and Progress Tracking. Additionally, a Recording Tool has been enabled and there is now the option to remove Blackboard Collaborate from the Details & Actions menu.
The August update to Minerva introduces updates to Learning Modules, Messages, Gradebook and Groups. A known issue relating to Calculated Numeric Test questions is resolved.
Improvements to PebblePad this month include: PDFs now viewable directly within PebblePad; Activity Log and Collections features now enable a specific tempate as the criteria - this template will automatically be reportable on, without the need to create an assignment for it.
The July update to Minerva introduces updates to assessment, options to resize media added to Documents, copying, and progress tracking (student view). The option for students to self-enrol is now also possible in Ultra Course View Organisations.
31 accessibility improvements to PebblePad
A summary of key Minerva updates made since summer 2022 is now available.
The June update to Minerva introduces improvements to Tests and Module Links. Announcement now also appear in the top menu and there is a new icon for Learning Modules.