Release Notes for Learn SaaS - 2016
Collaborate integration - Group conversations
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3100.0.0 | Release to Production 18 November 2016
Ultra Course View
Now students can use Blackboard Collaborate to communicate with real-time video conferencing directly from their group assignment in an Ultra course.
To be able to use this feature, you must make Collaborate Ultra available for the course, and instructors will need to enable class conversations in the group assignment.
Freeform tests and student responses
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3100.0.0 | Release to Production 18 November 2016
Ultra Course View
With this release, instructors can now create tests without questions. Instructors can add text to which students can respond.
An instructor can:
- ask for attached files
- while grading, view the student's freeform response at the bottom of the test but not assign a grade
A student can:
- enter free form text as the response to the test
- attach files
- see their freeform response with no grade specifically associated with it
Collaborate Ultra integration
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.9.0 | Release to Production 8 August 2016
Now you can show your virtual classroom and a "join class" link on Course Content page of your Ultra course. The Collaborate session opens in a new browser tab.
Note: Collaborate will be disabled on mobile devices.
- This integration incorporates REST APIs.
- The instructor can enable or disable the Course Room (Collaborate link) from the Course Content page.
- The instructor can access settings, recordings, sharing links, and reports from an overflow menu.
Group conversations on assignments
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.9.0 | Release to Production 8 August 2016
Ultra Course View
Now you can start a group conversation as part of an assignment, either for small groups or the entire class.
Group discussions
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.9.0 | Release to Production 8 August 2016
Ultra Course View
Instructors can create group discussions. This feature behaves similarly to group assignments in the Ultra Course View.
- You may group students in different ways: randomly, by moving students within groups using a contextual menu, or custom groups.
- You can reuse groups from previous assignments.
- You can't modify a group once the group has submitted replies. You can only delete a group if there is not any activity.
Rubrics
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.9.0 | Release to Production 8 August 2016
Blackboard's proud to announce that rubrics are a new feature in the Ultra Course View, as part of our GA release of the Ultra experience.
Instructors can:
- Create rubrics and associate them with an assignment in the Ultra Course View.
- Evaluate the assignment using the rubric, and choose to override the grade if they desire.
Students can:
- View the rubric along with the assignment.
- Student sees the submission after being graded.
- See the criteria and performance levels indicated. Only the overall score is displayed.
Tests in Ultra Course View - Multiple choice
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.9.0 | Release to Production 8 August 2016
Ultra Course View
This milestone release of Ultra tests supports multiple choice questions in new Ultra tests, as well as conversion of multiple choice questions from tests in the Original Course View.
Multiple choice questions are the latest milestone to be released for Ultra tests; short essay questions were released in v3000.4.0.
- Instructors can add, remove, edit, and reorder multiple choice answers.
- Questions and answers are available with all text editing functionality.
- Instructors can include equations, media files, and other components that will display to students.
- Multiple choice questions are automatically graded after submission. During creation, the instructor indicates the correct answer(s). If a test has only automatically graded questions, the grade will be posted following student submission.
- Instructors cannot change the correct answer, point value, or add or remove answers after students have submitted. However, they may change the question text at any time.
Due date accommodations
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.7.0 | Release to Production 15 July 2016
Ultra Course View
Instructors can allow specific students to submit work without being marked late using due date exceptions.
This feature allows for accommodations that remove all "late" designations from student submissions. Students who have these accommodations will not be marked late for any graded work, and will never see late notices.
The exception applies to all graded work, including tests, assignments, and discussions. Instructors can easily see which students have accommodations on the roster, gradebook, submission screens, and content settings.
Course description
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.4.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
Ultra Course View
This feature allows the administrator to provide a high level summary of each course's goal, what students can expect to achieve, and even the pedagogical approach of the course. Through the Administrator Panel, administrators can add a simple text description for courses in the Ultra Course View.
An icon will appear on hover in two places when a course description is available:
- The Courses page, accessed directly from the Ultra base navigation
- An individual course's Course Content page
Users can select the icon and a peek panel will open, displaying the course description.
Document conversion
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.6.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
Ultra Course View
Document conversion allows instructors to import or copy content pages from the Original Course View into a document in the Ultra Course View. Text, attachments, multimedia, and links are all carried forward into the Ultra document. You may notice some loss of formatting, if you added any using the content editor.
The converted document will appear on your course's Course Content page in the Ultra Course View.
Document creation and editing
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.4.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
Ultra Course View
Native content provides a rich, responsive experience for optimal viewing, and an engaging course for instructors and students. This release of Documents provides instructors and course designers with a native content creation tool within the Ultra Course View.
Content creators have access to the full text editor, which includes the math editor, as well as file attachments. Additionally, they have the option to add media files that will display inline. Students will be able to view these images and play videos within the Document viewing screen without needing to download and open them separately.
Goal alignment
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.4.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
Ultra Course View
Now you can track students' progress-or monitor accreditation-using goals in the Ultra Course View. Instructors can align goals and standards with an assessment in the Assignment Settings panel, using the same process as the Original Course View.
Students can view associated goals with assignments, group assignments, or tests. Once the course has completed, goals will become read-only.
Goals associated with course content are retained through course conversion, copy, import, and restore processes.
Reports on student activity - Tests
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.4.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
The new Student Activity report displays details of when each student opened, started, and submitted a test in both Original and Ultra courses. The page also displays their grades on the test. And in Ultra Course View, instructors can send a message to an individual student from the Student Activity page. Instructors have the option to view the data visually using Chart View or in a traditional text layout in Grid View.
In Original courses: Select the Content tab, then navigate to a test and select the arrow to the right of its name. Choose Student Activity.
In Ultra courses: Access Student Activity data from the Course Content page. Hover over a test and select the bar chart icon labeled Student Activity.
This is the first of many future releases of a dual-panel feature. The feature generally looks and functions the same whether you are working in an Original or Ultra course.
Tests in Ultra Course View - Essay questions
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3000.4.0 | Release to Production 24 June 2016
Ultra Course View
This initial release of Tests allows for the creation, viewing, submission, and grading of short essay questions. This milestone will serve as the foundation, and we'll continue adding more question types, delivery settings, and a richer authoring environment in future releases.
