Release Notes 2020

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View, Original Course View

We’re applying an updated version of 3900.2.0 (full release number 3900.2.0-rel.34+4ad580a) to client Production environments on Thursday, December 17, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

• In the Ultra Course View, the Question Analysis report for tests presented incorrect results at some institutions. We’ve fixed the issue.
• In the Ultra Course View, some students didn’t have permission to access a group assignment. We’ve fixed the issue.
• In the Original Course View, the Link to Wiki page option was missing from the new Content Editor experience. You can now find it under the Add content dialog. Learn more about linking to other wiki pages.

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View, Original Course View

We’re applying an updated version of 3900.2.0 (full release number 3900.2.0-rel.31+0a50fe3) to client Production environments on Thursday, December 10 and Friday, December 11, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

• If HTML content written by instructors or administrators referenced hosted content served from an alternate domain, the iframe didn’t load properly. We’ve fixed the issue.
• In the Original Course View, test questions linked from a question pool had a difficulty score of 0% regardless of how students answered. We’ve fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Partial delay for update to Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re partially delaying the regular maintenance update to Blackboard Learn SaaS 3900.2.0 Production environments, previously scheduled for Thursday, December 10, 2020.

• Production environments aligned to Europe and US Eastern time zones will be updated as usual on Thursday, December 10, 2020.
• Production environments aligned to Asia-Pacific, US Central, US Mountain, and US Pacific time zones will be updated on Friday, December 11, 2020.

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Addition to client Production release

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View, Original Course View

The scheduled Production release of 3900.2.0 (full release number 3900.2.0-rel.27+70f5845) during off-hours on Thursday, December 3, 2020 includes two additional updates.

• When an LTI gradable item with a deep link response was copied, the copy wasn't gradable. We fixed the issue.

• In the Ultra Course View, some students didn't see the feedback their instructor added to their journal. We've fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Update to client Test/Stage environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

We’re applying an updated version of 3900.2.0 (full release number 3900.2.0-rel.20+e43df0f) to client test/stage servers on Tuesday, November 24, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

• The download button for the Insight Report (Beta) for administrators wouldn't respond or create a CSV. We've fixed the issue.

• When restoring a merged course from an archive, Learn only restored the parent course and not its child course(s). We've fixed the issue.

• A few institutions that use the Consulting Central B2 for Blackboard Assist saw slow performance and some downtime in Learn. We've fixed the issue.

• Existing and newly created web links in Library modules were throwing an error when clicked. We've fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3900.2.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View, Original Course View, Ultra Experience, Original Experience

We’re applying an updated version of 3900.2.0 (full release number 3900.2.0-rel.11+071cf8e) to client Test/Stage servers during off-hours on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

• When an instructor copied a journal from one Ultra course to another, all journals from the first course were copied to the second. We’ve fixed the issue.

• In the Ultra Course View, some Collaborate sessions didn’t appear in the Join Session overflow menu. We’ve fixed the issue.

• In the Original Course View, response feedback for the Grade Questions feature of the Grade Center was missing the new content editor, and text entered into the box there wouldn’t save. We’ve fixed the issue.

• Unannotated Box documents wouldn’t load in Blackboard Annotate. We’ve fixed the issue.

• Ally wouldn’t work in Learn when alternative domains were enabled. We’ve fixed the issue.

• When a Redis connection failed, Learn didn't attempt to reconnect, so users had to manually retry their task. We’ve fixed the issue.

• Final automatic archive files created after a course was deleted didn’t include enrolled user data. We’ve fixed the issue.

• After an upgrade, some institutions had to manually uninstall and reinstall their Authentication Provider SAML building block because of a Postgres installation problem. We’ve fixed the issue.

Custom HTML/CSS code blocks in Ultra course documents

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View

With this release, instructors can create, edit, and delete custom HTML/CSS code blocks in Ultra course documents. Instructors can select Add HTML when creating a document to add their own HTML and CSS and fully customize the appearance of their Ultra course documents.

We've added this capability without compromising the Ultra design aesthetics (i.e., content will be fully responsive and accessible). We’ve also added a new entitlement to support greater security and flexibility for institutions to allow granular permissions to specific roles.

Students will see what the instructors created or edited, but they will not be able to create, edit, or delete any of the HTML/CSS blocks. 

In an effort to support more enhanced security and to maintain the responsiveness of the Ultra Experience, we're leveraging an existing solution in Learn to support this capability. If you already have an alternate domain configured, your instructors will see the Add HTML option in Ultra Course View documents. If you don't have an alternate domain configured, we have you covered! We're in the process of automating an alternate domain for all clients, and should have that work completed later in the year. You can submit a support ticket to request access to this feature now.

Fixed issues

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

The bug fixes in this Learn release include:

• When D2L course content was imported into an Ultra course, document heading formatting was lost. We’ve fixed the issue.
• In an Ultra course, when a user not enrolled creates a discussion, the system throws an error when a student tries to access it: “Oops! Something broke. Please reload the page.” Now, the discussion board opens without error.
• In the Ultra Course View, students couldn’t navigate to the next course content item from a discussion board post if conditional availability was set. We’ve fixed the issue.
• The Course List / My Courses module was missing from the main Courses tab on the Institution Pages during the upgrade process. We’ve fixed the issue.
• When an instructor exported a single question pool with a special character from the Original Course View, the pool wouldn’t import as a question bank to an Ultra course. We’ve fixed the issue.

You can view all maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3900.2.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

LTI tool availability by institutional hierarchy

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

Administrators can now manage the availability of third-party LTI tools according to their institutional hierarchy, similar to how they can with Building Block tools. Administrators can control availability of tools by department or course in Admin Panel > Institutional Hierarchy. Original Course View courses continue to allow instructors to override the availability state of tools if allowed. Tool availability in Ultra Course View courses is always managed by the administrator. The options when managing LTI tool availability settings have been updated to reflect these differences.

Student list view improvements

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View

This release includes additional improvements for student list view in the Ultra gradebook that we added based on feedback we’ve had from instructors. New functionalities include:

• Administrators can configure whether students’ usernames are visible to instructors if they need to differentiate students. This capability is available for institutions that choose to hide usernames for privacy considerations and when instructors still need to be able to see them, particularly in courses with very large enrollment numbers. Administrators need to enable this permission for a role in Admin Panel > System Roles > Show username even when hidden from other users.

• Instructors will receive additional search capabilities, column sorting options, and enhanced page controls for both large and small devices.

Ultra feedback timing controls

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View

With this release, Learn Ultra now allows instructors to further promote test fairness and discourage academic dishonesty. Instructors can enable more granular controls on when and what type of feedback is given to students when taking an assessment. Instructors can set up timed release to automated question feedback, correct answers, and question scores. They can also select when to show feedback: after submission, after due date, at a specific date, or after the assessment is graded. Students will see if and when feedback will be available for a specific assessment after they submit an attempt.

Ultra journals enhancements

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.2.0 | Release to Production 3 December 2020
Ultra Course View

With this release, we’ve added the highly-anticipated participation and submission views to Ultra journals. Importantly, participation view can now support over 1,000 students at once. Instructors can clearly see when students post new journals and comments, and can view a single submission. Instructors can also use Ultra’s grading tools, including feedback and rubrics, to create and post grades. To allow instructors more varied access, both participation and submission views link to the gradebook. By default, students will be allowed to delete and edit their journal entries and comments, but instructors can also now choose to disable this permission.