Changes to Browser Support

BOLT platform support will change on February 19:

• Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 9 (IE9) is no longer supported
• IE10 and IE11 are now in maintenance mode
• Microsoft® Edge web browser is now supported
• Previous versions of Safari (including Safari 6, 7, and 8) are now in maintenance mode
• The latest version of Safari® is now supported

 For current platform support, see the tables below.

Desktop Support

 

Browser	Supported Browser Version(s)	Maintenance Browser Version(s)
Microsoft® Edge	Latest	n/a
Microsoft® Internet Explorer®	n/a	10,11
Mozilla® Firefox®	Latest, ESR	n/a
Google® Chrome™	Latest	n/a
Apple® Safari®	Latest	6,7,and 8

 

Tablet and Mobile Support

Device	Operating System	Browser	Supported Browser Version(s)
Android™	Android 4	Android	Latest
Apple	iOS·6,7,8,and 9	Safari	Latest
Microsoft Surface™	Windows 8	Internet Explorer	11
BlackBerry® (mobile only)	BlackBerry 7,10	BlackBerry	Latest

 

BOLT TIP: If you have a problem, contact BOLT Support ASAP

If you experience technical difficulty taking quizzes, submitting to dropbox, posting to discussions, or taking surveys, contact BOLT Support right away!

The sooner we hear from you, and can get on-the-spot information, the sooner we will get you a resolution to your problem!

BOLT TIP: Submitting Work

Sometimes students contact BOLT Support to resolve issues related to submitting their work to instructors via BOLT. BOLT Support has a few tips that can really help Bloomsburg University students submit their assignments successfully.

Plan Ahead

Have a contingency plan in place in case you have difficulty submitting work. Know if and when BOLT will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check BOLT news items and the BOLT Students Blog for notifications about downtime.

Keep It Simple

Name your files without punctuation, spaces, or special characters. If you can, submit one document once rather than five separate documents several times. Simplify your submissions.

Keep a Backup

Always back up your work. Keep a digital copy handy. You can keep backups on storage media such as flash drives or external hard drives, on Microsoft One Drive, on other cloud storage solutions, or on your Bloomsburg University P drive.

Give Yourself Time

Give yourself enough time to submit work prior to the due date. If your assignment is due at 11:59pm, give yourself until 11:49pm to submit or post. If you wait until the last minute, taking time to click through BOLT to the submission area might make your submission late!

Check For Verification

BOLT sends submission receipts by email for dropbox submissions. It is good practice to check blogs, journals, wikis, and discussion topics after posting to ensure your work was submitted. If not, re-submit or contact your instructor and BOLT Support immediately.

BOLT TIP: Keep Your Filenames Simple

When you are submitting work to BOLT, keep things simple.

Don't use spaces, punctuation, or special characters in your filenames!

BOLT doesn't like those things in filenames and may not accept your file.

EXAMPLE:

Your professor wants you to submit a paper to the Paper#1 Dropbox. You create a document file called paper#1yourlastname.docx. When you go to submit the document to BOLT, you cannot upload your file.

Q: Why does this happen?

A: BOLT does not like the # sign in your filename. 

Q: How can you fix it?

A: Remove the special character from your filename (paper1yourlastname.docx for example) and make sure there are no spaces or other punctuation marks in your filename. Then try submitting the renamed file to BOLT.

2015Winter Courses in BOLT

The 2015Winter session begins December 14, 2015.

TIP: You will not begin to see your 2015Winter courses in BOLT until December.If you don't see your 2015Winter course in BOLT  and you haven't heard from your instructor, ask your instructor if they are using BOLT for class!

BOLT Session Start Tips

• Make sure you can login to your Bloomsburg University email with your HuskyID. If you can't access your email, try to reset your password or contact the Help Desk at (570)389-4357. 
• After December 1, access BOLT using your HuskyID and find your Winter courses in the My Courses widget on the right of the My Home page. If you don't see a course you're registered for listed, it may be because:
• You just added the course. Courses take 24-48 hours to show up in BOLT after you add them in ISIS.
• The course is inactive. Instructors need to activate courses before students can access them. Some instructors don't use BOLT so they don't activate the course. 
• Watch your Bloomsburg University email for messages from your instructors. They may be sending you important information about your course(s) in the weeks leading up to the Winter session.

Respondus LockDown Browser Has Come to BOLT

Respondus LockDown Browser® (RLDB) is now available for Bloomsburg University students.

RLDB is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within BOLT. When professors ask you to use Respondus LockDown Browser you will be unable to print, copy, go to another URL, access other applications, or close a quiz until it is submitted for grading.

If your professors use RLDB, you will need to download and install RLDB to any computer you take quizzes on. 

If your professors allow you to take quizzes on iPad, you will need to download the Respondus LockDown Browser app in iTunes.

There is information at the BOLT Student Support page to get you started downloading and using Respondus LockDown Browser: http://departments.bloomu.edu/imdc/boltstudentsupport.html

For help troubleshooting Respondus LockDown Browser, you can contact BOLT Support at bolthelp@bloomu.edu or by calling (570)389-2888.

BOLT Will Be Unavailable November 8, 2015 from 1:00AM to 7:00AM

Every month, BOLT undergoes a maintenance window. This month’s maintenance window is on Sunday, November 8, 2015 from 1:00am to 7:00am ET. BOLT will be unavailable during this time. Please plan accordingly. 

Maintenance Window FAQ

Q: Where are the maintenance dates announced?

A: Maintenance dates are announced here on our BOLT Students blog, our BOLT Blog for faculty, and in the News items on your My Home page in BOLT. 

Q: What will happen if I try to log in during a maintenance period?

A: A page will load that says Desire2Learn is unavailable due to scheduled maintenance.

Q: Why am I still seeing a page that tells me D2L is unavailable after the maintenance window?

A: If you tried to login to BOLT during the maintenance window, your browser may be loading the scheduled maintenance page from its cache memory. If you encounter this page outside of the maintenance window, please clear your browser cache before trying to login to BOLT again. 

• Clear your browser cache in Internet Explorer
• Clear your browser cache in Firefox
• Clear your browser cache in Chrome
• Clear your browser cache in Safari

Q: This is a bad time for BOLT to be unavailable. Can maintenance be rescheduled?

A: We understand frustration when BOLT downtime occurs during busy times of the academic year. Unfortunately, we cannot reschedule the maintenance windows. The IMDC has no control over the regularly scheduled maintenance windows. They are scheduled by our vendor and are necessary to keep BOLT working optimally.