Note: if you have feedback about these announced changes, please visit the feedback form .

As mentioned in a previous post to this new site, Blackboard Inc. is discontinuing the no-cost mobile access to UR Blackboard via the company’s Apple and Android apps.  This change began the afternoon of September 17th with the availability of an iOS upgrade to the Blackboard Mobile Learn application via the Apple App Store.

Note: at the time of this announcement posting, the “old” iOS app for Blackboard Mobile Learn still works with UR Blackboard without requiring the in-app subscription of $1.99 per year or $5.99 for life  licensing.  One theory is that as long as you do not update the application through iTunes or the App Store, it may continue to give access to UR Blackboard until it is explicitly disabled or becomes incompatible.    The obvious downside is that the “old” app is/was restricted to wi-fi access for iOS users and cellular data access for Sprint users (and no access for other carriers).  Another negative is that it would not receive new features as the app developer adds them.

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UPDATE: This particular issue was caused by copying from Word into the Test Editor. Blackboard recommends the following:  Display issues(especially with Internet Explorer) are usually a result of bad/invalid HTML in the content(in this case, the test). Some browsers(such as Firefox) are more forgiving than others when it comes to this. This can happen when the questions/content in the test have been copied and pasted, bringing in the unwanted HTML, and background code from the source(such as Microsoft Word). After which, Blackboard adds its own HTML and background code, and a variety of issues ensue. Going to the questions, and selecting Edit, you can look by using the toggle HTML Source Mode icon(<>) in the text editor. When unwanted HTML is found, follow these steps to “clean” the text. Toggle it back to display the text, Select All, and cut. Paste into Notepad(or EditPad, EditPadLite), and then copy and paste back into the text editor. Submit.

We are currently working with Blackboard on an issue with taking assessments in Blackboard. When taking an assessment in Safari or Internet Explorer, the entire assessment might not be visible to the student. We are recommending students use Firefox when taking an assessment until this issue is resolved by Blackboard. It is a good practice to try multiple browsers if you experience a problem to eliminate the browser as the source of the problem. As always, if you need support please contact blackboard@richmond.edu or call 287-6860 (M-F, 8:30 – 5). Will update this post as soon as we are provided a solution from Blackboard.

Overview:

Blackboard Inc. has decided to discontinue the (no-cost) version of the Blackboard Mobile™ Learn system that currently allows Apple iOS device users with wi-fi and Sprint cellular device users to access the UR Blackboard system via an app from the Apple App Store and the Amazon Marketplace, respectively.

There will be a new “Personal License” option available in mid-September, and it will allow students and instructors to purchase access to the app on iOS and Android devices only, and it will allow both wi-fi and cellular data access. End users will be able to choose between two different introductory pricing options: $1.99 per year or a one-time fee of $5.99.

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