Hallo Chris (and Yanna)
Thanks for all of the information on portfolios and the various bugs.
Our problem is that up to now we were able to work with the limitations of the portfolio tool and still manage their submission for assessment . The big issue is that now the tool is becoming
“unworkable” and we are getting student submissions now.
I’ll report on what Bb comes back to me with feedback. If Bb can resolve most of the issues with either a CU or a bug fix involving a rolling restart, then ok but if nothing is done, then
then we are going to have a lot of unhappy people out there. Remember everyone is concerned about the student experience these days and with these kind of issues , we are not giving a good one.
Cheers
JIM
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Boon, Chris
Sent: 08 August 2017 10:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Portfolio Tool
Hi Yanna and Jim,
Although I appreciate installing a cumulative update isn’t a trivial task nowadays, I’m slightly reassured that there’s some type of fix on the way. However, I’ve
just searched for bugs related to the portfolio in Behind the Blackboard and it’s rather disturbing how many have been introduced in Q2 2017 – it’s a pretty buggy tool already without having all of these being introduced!
Is the first one the issue you’re referred to with URLs links giving a 404:
Portfolio Artifact Attachment URLs not Migrated After Upgrade Giving 404 Not Found Error
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L4dX
MashUp In Portfolios Artifact Share Leads to 404
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000CgkC
Portfolio Content Editor Unresponsive
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L6MF
504 Error When Attempting to View or Download Portfolio
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L4RG
Portfolios Containing Hyperlinks will Error when Shared and Opened with an External User
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L4dh
Portfolio: when Adding a File Link Within an Artifact Using the VTBE Editor it will only show if Coming from Content Collection
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L6NX
Artifact Page Layout Unstyled
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L4jV
Emoticons do not Display In Portfolio View Mode
https://blackboard.secure.force.com/btbb_articleview?id=kA339000000L6F9
As well as these there are many other long-standing bugs with the portfolio – these are just the new bugs from Q2 2017.
I’m not as concerned about the last one, but some of these a quite fundamental issues – “Portfolio Content Editor Unresponsive” could prevent the tool from being usable!
Time to do some testing and open some tickets on BtB…
I’ve also started a thread on the community site about this – see
https://community.blackboard.com/message/15783-why-have-so-many-bugs-been-introduced-to-the-portfolio-system-in-q2-2017.
Best
Chris
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Yanna Nedelcheva
Sent: 07 August 2017 18:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Portfolio Tool
Hi Chris and Jim,
Thank you for your emails!
These are the exact cases with errors our users are experiencing and unfortunately, with every day passing we find a new way of breaking the tool. More or less all scenarios are related to hyperlinking.
Chris, perhaps you will find that the artefact breaking the portfolio was added with hyperlink instead of being directly added to a section, having said that there is no right or wrong way just
the way one prefers. Adding hyperlink to artefacts helps to deliver very clean interface for the reader and is something we have recommended due to being practical and user-friendly.
Jim, according to our SDM, another 3 institutions have reported this but at this stage, only CU3 (to be released soon) is being offered as a solution. We treat CU upgrades more or less as a small
upgrade and this is the last thing we need before the beginning of the academic year or in your case before marking period or whilst marking.
It is very concerning that such a simple function as hyperlinking is not working.
Please do log this issue with Behind Blackboard. Ideally, I will be pushing for a custom patch as it is easy to implement and does not require long downtime period however this request will only
be escalated and prioritized if people are actually reporting the issue and being reluctant to jump to CU3 I guess.
Many thanks again!
Best wishes,
Yanna
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of
"Emery, James" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, 7 August 2017 at 17:19
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Portfolio Tool
Hallo Yanna and Chris
We’ve also got some issues after the upgrade to Q” 2017 and with portfolios in particular. The error 404 message and don’t use hyperlinks workaround are unsatisfactory. We are
about to go into out Trimester C assessments. I really don’t want to ask colleagues to disable their hyperlinks in their portfolio submissions. No update on the solution
Here are screenshots of our position from a test module – GREAT!!!
Jim EMERY
Lecturer (Digital Learning) | Academic Quality and Development
T: +44 (0)141 273 1262| E: [log in to unmask] | Twitter: @gcujime
Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, G4 0BA,
Scotland, United Kingdom
Twitter | Facebook | YouTube |
[log in to unmask]">
[log in to unmask]">
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Boon, Chris
Sent: 07 August 2017 17:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Portfolio Tool
Hi Yanna,
We also use the portfolios, mostly for our teaching courses, and we’ve recently upgraded to Q2 2017 CU2. I’ve had a report from a lecturer who is having problems clicking on attached
documents (Artefacts, I believe), and is seeing a Blackboard error:
Does this look like the same issue that you’re seeing?
I’ve also noticed a number of new knowledgebase articles have been created for new bugs in the portfolio system as of Q2 2017. It’s not the smoothest tool to use, so it’s very concerning if it
now has more rough edges that it had before…
Best
Chris
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Yanna Nedelcheva
Sent: 31 July 2017 15:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Portfolio Tool
Hello All,
We have made a very good use of the Blackbard’s native portfolio tool for the last few
years and invested a huge time into making it more popular amongst users.
Since we upgraded to q2 2017 CU2, 2 weeks ago we started getting reports of users having
Error: 404 NOT FOUND
it turns out that any hyperlink added to VTBE is breaking the portfolios from being
shared or viewed when submitted as assignments.
We are managed hosted and asking Tier one to investigate if this is a bug and send to
product development if needed however if you are using the tool can you please let me know if you have seen any of these issues or perhaps you might have found a work around other than Resolution/Workaround: Do not use hyperlinks in Portfolios (Article No.: 000046017)
Any help is much appreciated. Thank you!
All the best,
Yanna
_______________
Yanna Nedelcheva, MPhil
Senior Education Technology Specialist
University of Westminster
Email: [log in to unmask]
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