Known Issues

Known Issues

Check back here for a running list of known issues that we discover through our testing.  If you find anything please contact UNIT, support@villanova.edu or 610-519-7777.

Bb Exams using Respondus Lockdown Browser or Bb Exam Password Feature

Some students have reported issues trying to take Blackboard exams with Respondus Lockdown Browser or the Blackboard Exam Password feature enabled. When trying to open the exam, students see an “Incorrect Password" message or "Need instructor to click ‘Fix it’ in Lockdown Browser Dashboard" message. This issue is not impacting every exam using Respondus Lockdown Browser or using the Blackboard Password feature.  This issue is sporadic.

• If your exam uses Respondus Lockdown Browser and students report receiving this message, we have identified a temporary workaround that you will need to apply, which is listed below.
• If you are using the Blackboard Exam Password feature (and not using Respondus Lockdown Browser) and your exam is affected, there is no workaround.  Our recommendation is to disable the Bb exam password setting.  
• Note: If your exam does not use Respondus Lockdown Browser or the Bb Exam Password feature, then your exam is not affected by this problem.

Workaround for Exams using Respondus Lockdown Browser and impacted by this issue

• Go to the “Respondus Lockdown Browser” settings in your Blackboard course (Course Management-Course Tools-Respondus Lockdown Browser).
• Go to the Respondus settings for your exam.
• In the “Password Settings” area for your exam, enter a password. Our recommendation would be to avoid using a basic password, such as “password”. Instead, create a password that is more complex, such as “ENG1001IntroExam1”. Then, click on “Save + Close”. Please provide this password to your students.
• Please inform your students to enter this password when they are prompted at the start of the exam.

Using an Ampersand (&) in a test title will cause errors
Do not use an ampersand in the name of Tests, Surveys, and Pools.  Using this character will cause for the test data to become corrupt or for loss of the test altogether.
Resolution:  Do not use an ampersand in the title.  We are working with Blackboard to correct the issue.

Students are receiving timeout errors when submitting tests
Blackboard Learning System users may randomly appear to get kicked out of the system while taking Assessments due to session timeouts. They get "Access denied" messages, and after re-authenticating they are unable to finish their assessment. Frequently reported are errors about non-existing attempts. The issue described here is specific to not having made intermediate saves for some period of time (longer than 20 minutes). 
Resolution:  Train users to save their attempt every 10-15 minutes (but avoid too-frequent saves, which overload the application).

Some Blog postings disappear from both the instructor and student view
Sometimes when copying and pasting from a website the HTML code causes other posts to be hidden from everyone's view.
Resolution:  Remove the post with all of the HTML code and the other posts will be visible.  IF your post has the HTML, try copying it into Notepad first and then pasting into Blackboard to help alleviate the issue.