REST APIs
The 9.1 Q2 2016 release supports limited REST APIs in a Technical Preview. Administrators and developers can create integrations using REST APIs and secured with OAuth. Please note that we strongly encourage anyone making use of these APIs to thoroughly test their functionality.
More on REST APIs is available on the Blackboard Community site
Java 8
The 9.1 Q2 2016 release now uses the latest version of Java from Oracle. We strongly encourage anyone who has a Building Block to test it against Java 8 before installing the Learn 9.1 Q2 2016 release onto a production environment.
More on how Java 8 impacts your Blackboard Learn environment
SAML authentication
The authentication framework has been updated to support the latest SAML 2.0 protocol, which focuses on security, improved user experience, and easier IT administration.
More on Administrator: SAML Authentication | Instructor: Log in to Learn | Student: Log in to Learn
VALUE rubrics
For Blackboard Learn users who are interested in using VALUE rubrics developed by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), we are making them available for download and import. Each rubric has been built and formatted appropriately so it can be imported to your courses and used anywhere you can align and evaluate with rubrics today.
VALUE Rubrics are available in US English only.
Learn more about VALUE rubrics at the AACU website
More on Instructor: Rubrics
Clients who have control over their user's email addresses and aren't susceptible to DMARC-based rejections now have the option to turn off DMARC handling.
More on Administrator: Email | Instructor: Email | Student: Email
Localization
We've made updates to the Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean language packs to correct translation issues and grading workflows. Clients who use the Korean language pack can globally replace username with user ID.