Release Notes for Learn SaaS - 2022
Learn SaaS release 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.54.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 8 November 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 1 December 2022
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.54.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.54.0-rel.23+9ce60e6 to Production servers to take place on 15 December 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
December 2022 – 3900.54 Release
The December 2022 - 3900.54 release is complete with features in seven areas:
- assessment and grading;
- richer course and content design;
- data and analytics;
- integration, extension, and management;
- course upgrading;
- security; and
- usability.
These improvements primarily impact instructors and students. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Question Banks Descriptions & Search
- Needs grading for first and last attempts
- Drag-and-drop improvements
- Course Links
- Single student progress report
- Simpler Exit Actions for Student Preview
- Improvements for copying content
- Readability/accessibility improvements copying or converting Original content into Ultra Course View
Instructors and students:
All users:
Administrators:
Security change in release 3900.54 may be incompatible with some Building Blocks
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Administrators
Anthology constantly works to improve the security stance of Blackboard Learn and proactively reacts to vulnerabilities identified in third-party and open source libraries used in the application. Recently, security experts published a vulnerability for an open source library used in the Learn application. This vulnerability is now addressed in the 3900.54 release.
Depending on whether third-party providers also use this library and how they manage it in their Building Blocks, some Building Blocks and versions of Building Blocks may be incompatible with 3900.54. The impact is specific to third-party (add-on) Building Blocks only. This change doesn't affect Building Blocks that are part of the Learn core application, and doesn't affect integrations using Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), REST APIs, or Ultra Extension Framework (UEF).
For administrators: We encourage administrators to test third-party (add-on) Building Blocks as soon as possible, to prepare for the 3900.54 release. If you provide a Building Block that’s affected, contact Anthology product support for remediation details.
Assessment and Grading
Question Banks Descriptions & Search – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders
Instructors often use question banks to organize assessment questions. Reusing these questions creates efficiency and ensures consistency. Instructors can now add descriptions to question banks. These descriptions are useful for noting the topics or objectives the questions cover. The question bank description is displayed with the question bank title on the Question Banks page.
Image 1. Description for a question bank
Instructors sometimes have many question banks in their courses. To help instructors search for and locate a specific bank in the course, we added a search bar. The search functionality queries both the bank title and description.
Image 2. Search field for Question Banks; descriptions appear beneath the Question Bank name
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Needs grading for first and last attempts – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Graders
Instructors need to know what grading work remains for them to complete. When assessments have multiple attempts, the instructor may elect how to grade those attempts:
- average of all attempts
- first attempt with a grade
- attempt with highest grade
- last attempt with a grade
- attempt with lowest grade
When the instructor selects “first attempt with a grade” or “last attempt with a grade” sometimes the "needs grading" count was inaccurate or confusing.
We have updated the way that the "needs grading" count increments when more than one attempt is allowed. The "grade attempts" selection is honored for the following:
- last attempt with a grade - when the instructor grades and post the last attempt, previous attempts do not increase the "needs grading" count
- last attempt with a grade - if the student makes a new attempt after the instructor grades, that attempt does increase the "needs grading" count
- first attempt with a grade - when the instructor grades and post the first attempt, attempts that follow do not increase the "needs grading" count
Image 1. The assessment is set to grade using “last attempt with a grade.” The needs grading count does not include earlier attempts from this student.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design
Drag-and-drop improvements – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders
This feature will not be immediately available when the 3900.54 release is applied to test/stage and production sites. Please prepare for this feature to appear automatically up to 1 or 2 days after your site is updated.
Instructors organize and sequence their course materials when authoring. Contents are arranged by dragging and dropping them. In this release, drag-and-drop has been greatly improved, increasing efficiency. Instructors can grab items more quickly. When moving an item, it’s clearer to instructors where it will go when dropped.
Instructors can also use keyboard commands to reorder the content:
- tab to navigate to an item
- enter to select an item
- up/down arrows to move an item
- enter to drop the item
Image 1. Drag and drop functionality in Course Content
Image 2. Drag and drop utilizing keyboard commands
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Course Links – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
This feature will not be immediately available when the 3900.54 release is applied to test/stage and production sites. Please prepare for this feature to appear automatically up to 1 or 2 days after your site is updated.
Instructors may need to reference information contained in other sections of the course. For example, an instructor may want students to revisit an earlier activity to reinforce their learning. Course links provide access to content without excessive scrolling and reduce clicking. This new feature allows instructors to:
- Insert a link at the desired location on the Course Content page
- Browse the elements of a course to select an item
- Rename the link that will appear on the Course Content page
- Move a link on the Course Content page independent of the target item
To add a course link, select create from the plus option on the Course Content page. Select the Link option from the Course Content Items section. There are now two tabs:
- Create Web Link (the options on this page are unchanged)
- Create Course Link
Select the Create Course Link tab. Enter a keyword and/or select categories to locate the target content. Click search to view the search results. Select the desired content. Edit the Display Name as desired. Course links inherit the description of their targets, if one is included. Instructors may edit the description. Instructors can change the visibility and release conditions by editing the Course Link or the target content. A change made to one applies to the other. Instructors can use Batch Edit to modify linked items, but not associated Course Links.
Linking Exceptions
Instructors can create course links for most course materials and activities. There are exceptions:
- In this release, an instructor cannot create course links using the Content Editor.
- In this release, an instructor cannot create Course Links for Folders, Learning Modules, Discussions, and Web Links.
- We do not support Course Links with Learning Modules where force sequence is enabled. This is because links could allow users access to something they should not yet access. If a Course Link exists in a Learning Module, it will not be possible to enable forced sequence.
Copying Content
When a course is copied into a new course, Course Links are updated to link within the new course. There are exceptions:
- In this release, instructors cannot copy Course Links for Documents and third-party content (LTI).
- When copying or converting from an Original course, the copy process will exclude Course Links for Folders, Learning Modules, and Web Links.
Image 1. Adding a new course link to an Ultra document
Image 2. Course Link created on the Course Content page
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Data & Analytics
Single student progress report - 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors often desire insight into the progress students are making in their course. This information helps instructors to engage early with students or adjust the course content. We have created a new single student progress report. This report focuses on the path each student is taking on the course. In this new report instructors can view:
- The content they have created for their students
- The progress the student has made with relevant date/time stamps
- The current visibility status of each item
Instructors can access this new report:
- By selecting a single student from the Student Progress report on a content item
- By selecting a single student from the gradebook list view, Students tab, Student Progress tab
- By selecting a single student from the gradebook grid view, Student Progress tab
Image 1. Student progress report
When grading anonymously, the student progress status is hidden until the instructor posts grades. This ensures the student’s identity remains anonymous during the grading process.
Image 2. Anonymous test progress information hidden
This report is only available when progress tracking is turned on in the course.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management
REST APIs to Read Rubrics and Goals – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Rubrics are a valuable tool for instructor-to-student communication about performance expectations. Rubrics also help instructors with consistent and unbiased grading. Rubrics may also enable students to self-assess their performance on an assessment. Some rubrics may also be aligned to Goals. In a recent release, we included an option for REST API to read rubrics. Now we are happy to make available a new public Goals API.
This new API provides a suite of GET endpoints that allow users to read:
- Goals
- Goal Sets
- Goal Set Types
- Goal Categories
This allows developers to read matrices of criteria that enable measurements of student performance.
For administrators: The REST integration user must have the privilege “Administrator Panel (Tools and Utilities) > Goals.”
Icon Display and Synchronization for Third-Party App Content (LTI) – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Content from third-party apps are a significant portion of materials and activities in many courses. Generic icons for these materials made it difficult for users to understand their purpose. Now unique icons can be displayed for each third-party content type. These icons can be set by the tool provider or by the institution administrator. When an icon is not set, third-party contents show a generic icon.
The updated icons apply to contents that are selected or created in the third-party app. Adding a simple link to a tool that can be accessed in Books and Tools (Ultra) or Course Tools (Original) do not display the custom icon at this time.
Images uploaded for icons must be JPG or PNG files and 50x50 pixels.
Image 1. A third-party app icon in the Course Outline of Ultra Course View
Image 2. A third-party app icon in a Content Area of Original Course View
For administrators: We recommend Administrators review LTI placement configurations after this release because icons will now display to users in more places. Icons set for the placement type Deep Linking Content Tools will display in the Course Outline and Content Areas. Other placement types will continue to display generic icons. Tool providers may also set the icons. An administrator can retrieve icons set by tool providers using the “Synchronize placements” action. When the provider sets icons, they will replace and override institutional icon choices because they are the owner of their branding.
Security
Password policies and logging when users change their passwords – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Most institutions use an identity provider (e.g. Azure Active Directory) to manage and authenticate users. Sometimes, some users are created in Learn. These users may be allowed to set their own passwords in Learn. Now, administrators can determine length and complexity requirements for these passwords. This can improve the security stance of Learn environments when the default authentication provider is used.
The administrator can set a password length requirement between 8 and 32 characters. The default is 12 characters. The administrator can individually set whether upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters are required.
The authentication logs now capture password change events. This only applies to Learn password changes, not to password changes in an identity provider. There are three event types:
- A user changed their own password.
- An administrator or other privileged user changed another user’s password. The event details will show who changed the password.
- A user reset their password using the forgotten password feature in Learn.
Image 1. A user changes their password in Original Experience.
Image 2. A user changes their password when Base Navigation is enabled.
For administrators: We recommend administrators review this configuration when users see the password reset option in Learn. The settings appear in the Administrator Panel on a new Password Settings page. Only a full System Administrator can access the configuration page. The default settings enforce the following policies: a minimum of one numeric and one special character, and the minimum length is set to 12. Administrators may also wish to review that system roles are configured correctly so users don’t see Learn’s password reset option when an identity provider is used (single sign-on). In this release, policies are enforced when a user is changing their own password. This includes when using the password reset tool. Password policies aren’t enforced when a support user changes the password of another user. Password policies aren’t enforced when using SIS Framework, Building Blocks, or REST APIs to change passwords.
Image 3. An administrator configures the password length and complexity policies.
Image 4. Authentication logs include Password Change events.
Course Upgrading
Improvements for copying content – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
When building and managing courses, course content reuse provides an important efficiency. We continue to make the copy process for courses and organizations simpler and more effective. In this release, we have changed the following:
- A larger item selection page shows selected items and items that can be selected at the same time. In the past, instructors would need to switch between two views.
- Tabs now separate courses and organizations. This makes it easier for instructors to find the correct source location.
- Breadcrumbs make navigation easier. Using breadcrumb links, instructors can return to a higher level of the course or organization structure. This prevents instructors from having to start again from the top level.
- The course and organization lists are displayed in alphabetical order. This makes it easier for instructors to find the correct one.
Image 1. Previously, copy actions were managed in a small panel.
Image 2. Copy actions are now more efficient in a larger panel.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Readability/accessibility improvements copying or converting Original content into Ultra Course View – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In Original Course View users can choose any color for text. Content could be hard to read or not accessible—for example, yellow text on white background. The Ultra Course View has a curated selection of font colors to ensure readability. Users choose from black, gray, purple, blue, and green font colors. We now remove any unsupported font colors during a content copy or course conversion from an Original course.
This release focuses on announcements, discussions, assignments, and documents (not file attachments). We plan to remove unsupported font colors for tests, journals, and other item types in a later release.
Image 1. The last paragraph of light gray text is difficult to read when viewing in Original Course View.
Image 2. When copied, the light gray text is changed to improve readability and accessibility.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Usability
Simpler Exit Actions for Student Preview – 3900.54.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Student Preview helps instructors experience their course contents and settings. Saving the preview user on exit retains the user in the Roster and Gradebook. Discarding the preview user on exit removes this user from the course. Previously, the two options were displayed with a default selection and a confirmation action. This was confusing. Now when exiting Student Preview, only the two choices are displayed as actions.
Image 1. Student Preview - Exit function
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.52.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.52.0
Release to Test/Stage: Wednesday, 12 October 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 3 November 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.52.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.52.0-rel.22+0f5d4f9 to Production servers to take place on 3 November 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
November 2022 – 3900.52 Release
The November 2022 - 3900.52 release is complete with features in five areas:
- assessment and grading;
- richer course and content design;
- data and analytics;
- integration, extension, and management; and
- course upgrading.
These improvements primarily impact instructors and students. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Course Activity Report under the Analytics tab
- Grade History Improvements
- Gradebook view saved
- Enhanced Student Grades Overview
- Gradebook Icon tooltips
- Content Collection in Ultra Documents
- Grading navigation improvements in Journals
- Preserve Course Image setting
Instructors and students:
- Hotspot Question
- Page Breaks in Tests and Assignments
- Richer Student feedback options for manually added columns
- Ultra Course Content and Original Content Areas display LTI tool icon
- Unread Messages indicator for Courses and Organizations
Students:
All users:
Administrators:
Assessment & Grading
Hotspot Question – 3900.52.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may want to assess a student’s knowledge of visual content. The hotspot question type is popular for this type of assessment. This question type is also good for reducing the potential of cueing or guessing.
Common examples across diverse disciplines include:
- identifying as specific state or province on a map,
- pinpointing a particular bone on a skeleton, and
- locating a discrete part of a cell.
Hotspot questions present an image without any answer options for students to choose. Students must mark a certain area of the image that is within the area the instructor defined as correct.
Image 1. Instructor view - Add Hotspot question type for assignments and tests
Image 2. Instructor view - Add one or more hotspots to an image
Image 3. Student view – students may add a pin to the image to mark their selection
In the Original course view instructors can only create hotspot questions using a mouse. Now, in the Ultra course experience, instructors can create the hotspot question using a keyboard. Similarly, students may answer hotspot questions via the keyboard. Hotspot questions do not provide full support for assistive technologies. Hotspot questions are not an acceptable question type for instructors and students who use screen readers.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Page Breaks in Tests and Assignments – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Assessment design is an important aspect of course design. Page breaks are helpful in assessments for a few reasons. Page breaks allow for easy creation of sections within an assessment. Page breaks also make it easy to group related questions.
Students can easily navigate from page to page. If the instructor activates ‘Display one question at a time’ or ‘Question randomization’ all pages will be merged.
Image 1. Page breaks are inserted through the same drop-down as any other assessment component
Image 2. Page breaks are shown to instructors as a black line in the test; select the individual break to remove it
Image 3. Instructors receive a warning message if a configuration they want to use turns page breaks off (e.g. activating randomization)
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Auto save enhancements for lost connections – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Disruptions to internet connectivity can maximize test anxiety. To help, we are further improving how we inform students about connectivity issues. We designed assessments in Ultra to detect if a connection is lost. If this happens, we warn students.
Image 1. Connection lost warning
After 20 seconds, the warning disappears. If the connection is not restored, another warning informs the student that their most recent progress is not saved.
Image 2. Connection lost and progress not saved warning
When the connection is restored, the system alerts the student and confirms that progress is saved.
Image 3. Connection restored and progress saved alert
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Grade History Improvements – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Grading records are important for instructors and academic leaders. The records are useful for addressing academic disputes or addressing students' questions. In an earlier release, we added Grade History to the Ultra Course View. In this release, we are including a new user interface where users will be able to:
- Select which gradebook items to include in the download,
- Include deleted items, and
- Select timeframes to optimize the amount of information downloaded.
The download file report will include additional information:
- Student username
- Grade category
- Submission receipt: The submission receipt number
- Submission attempt: The number of the submitted attempt
These changes make it easier to access and search the log of changes to student grades.
Image 1. New options for Grade History
The additional columns in the downloadable file will also be present for users of the Original Course View.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook view saved – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors tend to have a preferred view between the Grid View and the Gradable Items list view. The Gradebook will now save the last selected view from the instructor, saving time and a click.
Image 1. Course Gradebook on Gradable Items list view as preferred view
Image 2. Course Gradebook on Grid view as preferred view
Image 3. Organization Gradebook on Gradable Items list view as preferred view
Image 4. Organization Gradebook on Grid view as preferred view
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Enhanced Student Grades Overview – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors often want to view the assessments and performance of an individual student. This is a common task, so it should be easy and accessible from the gradebook. In a previous release, we added this option to the grid view to provide consistency with the Gradable Items list view.
Now we have enhanced the Student Grades Overview by:
- surfacing the last access, username, and accommodations;
- adding the Student Activity report; and
- surfacing accommodations.
Image 1. Student Grades Overview with student information on the header
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Student feedback options for manually added columns – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Student feedback is a crucially important part of instruction. To better support instructors we have expanded the content editor options for manually added columns. Now instructors can give robust feedback that includes formatted text, lists, links, attachments, and media.
Image 1. Content editor options for a manually created column
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook Icon tooltips – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Tooltips are helpful for providing guidance and information right when users need it. In the Gradebook we have added tool tips for the following icons:
- Search by submission receipt number,
- Upload gradebook,
- Download gradebook, and
- Settings.
To improve keyboard navigation, we also modified the focus order for these icons.
Image 1. Tool tip for Submission Receipt number
Image 2. Tool tip for Upload Gradebook
Image 3. Tool tip for Download Gradebook
Image 4. Tool tip for Settings
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design:
Content Collection in Ultra Documents - 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Many faculty enjoy using the Content Collection so that they can easily reuse content across courses. In the past, instructors could only add content from the Content Collection on the Course Content page. Now instructors may include content from the Content Collection in Ultra Documents.
Image 1. “Browse Content Collection” option in Ultra documents
Image 2. “Browse Content Collection” option in content editor for Ultra Documents
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Grading navigation improvements in Journals – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
When an instructor applies the "needs grading" filter on the Grades & Participation page for a Journal, student to student navigation may not work as expected. We have corrected the navigation. Now an instructor can navigate student journals student by student as expected.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Data & Analytics
Course Activity Report under the Analytics tab – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors identify struggling students based off their performance and engagement within a course. Sometimes the information was hard to find, or instructors had to look in many places.
Instructors now have easier access to the course activity page. The page is now located under the analytics tab in courses.
The course activity page allows instructors to:
- Identify struggling students based on their grade and hours spent in the course. This data is a snapshot taken weekly that allows instructors to compare.
- Act by messaging students who have a low grade and/or have not logged in recently.
- Focus on a student to see how their engagement and performance has changed each week.
- Receive alerts when a student has not accessed their course in a while or if their grade has dropped.
- Notify students when their course activity or grade in the course is below average.
Image 1. Course activity report under the analytics tab – chart view
Image 2. Course activity report under the analytics tab – table view
Image 3. Course activity report access via Grades Base Navigation
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Integration, Extension, and Management:
Ultra Course Content and Original Content Areas display LTI tool icon – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Inclusion of learning tools is important to some instructors. These tools help provide diverse and engaging course content. In the past, the icons for LTI tools were not meaningful for students and instructors. Now administrators can link LTI tools to appropriate icons. This provides users with greater confidence as they engage with LTI tools in the course.
Image 1. Administrators can add LTI tool icon of choice
Image 2. Instructors may add LTI tools to their course
Image 3. Student view of the LTI content
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. To add the icon, navigate to Administrator Tools | LTI Tool Providers | Placement Information.
Unread Messages indicator for Courses and Organizations – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past it was difficult for users to know which courses and organizations contained unread messages. Now there is an unread messages indicator for courses and organizations on the Messages tab in the Ultra Base Navigation. This indicator helps users know where to direct their attention.
Image 1. Unread messages indicator for Messages tab in the Ultra Base Navigation
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Messages tab shows only to enrolled users – 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
In the past, a user with a limited system role could access a course messaging tool but received an error. When attempting to close the error, the page froze. We have corrected this error. If a user is not enrolled in the course, the messages tab does not appear.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
REST APIs to Utilize/Reference Content Collection Items - 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View,Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
The Content Collection is a helpful file storage tool. Some users store files for courses. Users may also store files for sharing across the institution or with external users. In the 3900.41 release, we enabled REST APIs to read all files in all Content Collection. Now developers can use REST APIs to reference Content Collection files from other Public APIs and features. The following can be referenced:
- File attachments in Original and Ultra Courses
- BbML embedded files
- User Avatars
- Student Attempts
- Course Content Files
An administrator must allow this access for a third-party app. This improvement is part of ongoing work to expand the capabilities of the Content Collection REST APIs.
For administrators: Access the Administrator panel -> System roles to assign the "Read-only access to the content system file system" permission to the API user.
Course Upgrading:
Preserve Course Image setting– 3900.52
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, when upgrading a course, the course image was retained but turned off in the Ultra course. Instructors did not realize that the course image was turned off. With this update, course images are now visible by default.
Image 1. Course image in Ultra Course View
Image 2. Course Image setting is on
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.50.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.50.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 13 September 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 6 October 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.50.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.50.0-rel.21+840a19d to Production servers to take place on 26 October 2022. The build number doesn't increase from last week's as this is an Ultra UI only update. Also, it includes Bb Annotate iterative conversion improvements and bug fixes.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
October 2022 – 3900.50 Release
The October 2022 - 3900.50 release is complete with features in four areas:
- assessment and grading;
- richer course and content design;
- integration, extension, and management; and
- course upgrading.
These improvements primarily impact instructors and students. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Improved access to Student Grades Overview
- Student Progress report for course content
- Preserving the forced sequencing setting on Learning Modules during course upgrades
Instructors and students:
Students:
All users:
- Global HTML Filter Requirement Change
- Messages for courses with +100 people
- Improvements to Blackboard App Settings
- Base Navigation - Grades: Reduce height of course tiles for courses without grades
- Course Name in browser tab
Administrators:
Assessments and Grading
Improved access to Student Grades Overview – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
An overview of a student's performance is helpful to instructors when working in the gradebook. In the List View of the Gradebook, when an instructor selects a student card an overview of the student’s assessment performance displays.
Before, in the Grid View of the Gradebook, when an instructor selected a student the student’s account information appeared. This was an unexpected result. Now, an overview of the student’s performance on assessments is displayed.
This change supplies a consistent experience when instructors select a student in the list and grid views. This change also supplies an expected behavior and improved access to the student grades overview.
Image 1. The gradebook grid view
Image 2. An overview of a student’s grades
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Enhanced auto save capability in the Content Editor in Tests & Assignments – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Test anxiety is a real problem that some students face today. To help, we want to ensure that students have confidence that all progress in an assessment is auto saved. In the past, student responses entered in the content editor only auto saved when a student clicked outside of the content editor.
Now student responses entered in the content editor auto save two seconds after the student stops typing. The "last saved" time is displayed at the bottom of the assessment. This time stamp auto updates.
Image 1. Last saved time stamp
If there is a disruption in connectivity, students receive a "Connection lost" warning. This warning informs students that they must act to re-establish the connection. When the connection is restored, the student’s work is saved automatically.
Image 2. Connection lost warning
Auto saving is independent of any browser undo function. When a student uses the undo action, contents change according to browser behavior. Any changes because of an undo action will auto save.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design:
Math Formulas accessible with screen readers - 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Math formulas are a critical part of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. Participants in these courses expect that all aspects of the course are accessible, including the math formulas. Now instructors and students can use screen readers to access math formulas when creating, editing and viewing content.
This update helps people who use a screen reader independently access math formulas. This new functionality also supports easier content creation since no added effort is needed to make the math formulas accessible.
Image 1. Math formulas added with the math editor and LaTeX equations read with screen readers
Image 2. Math formulas read with screen readers in user’s local language (Spanish)
Key considerations:
- Math formulas alternative text and language depends on the Learn Ultra course language configuration.
- Screen reader language, speed, and voice depend on the user’s device language configuration.
- Users should confirm that their device and Learn Ultra course have the same language configuration.
- Languages supported depends on WIRIS library. As of October 2022, WIRIS supports Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Norwegian, Portuguese and Spanish.
- If the Learn Ultra course is configured to use a language not supported by WIRIS, math formulas are read in English.
- Math formulas can be added in content editors using the math editor or by typing LaTeX equations. Both formats are accessible with screen readers.
- LaTeX equations display as text in the content editor. When users save the text, the LaTeX equations render as images. The screen reader reads the equations as text in the content editor and reads the math formulas when rendered as images.
- Content editors that have the math editor option also render LaTeX equations.
- LaTeX equations are not rendered inside code snippets because LaTeX equations are treated as part of the code format.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Student Progress report for course content - 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors need to know how their students engage with course content. This knowledge helps instructors take important actions, such as improving course content or reaching out to idle students. Now instructors can see the progress that students indicate for the following content types:
- Ultra Documents
- SCORM packages
- Uploaded files
- Links
- Cloud documents
- LTI content with no associated grade
- Learning modules
- Folders
The new report allows instructors to select a piece of content and view:
- Students who have not yet opened content;
- Students who have opened or started viewing content; and
- Students who have marked the content as complete.
The report includes the date and time an action occurred (e.g., when a student started viewing content). Instructors may sort by student name or progress status. Instructors can act based on this information by sending an individual or bulk message with a blind copy to each student.
The Student Name list includes the most recent improvements in diversity, equity, and inclusion. If the student has provided this information, the list displays additional name, pronunciation, and pronoun information.
Image 1. Student Progress report for a specific piece of course content
Instructors may access this report from:
- Select the ellipsis menu for the piece of content, select “Student Progress”
- Select the piece of content (e.g., Ultra Document) and select the “Student Progress” tab
Image 2. Select the ellipsis menu of a piece of content
For administrators: This feature is dependent on the “progress tracking” feature flag on the administrator panel. If you wish for Instructors to use this report, ensure “progress tracking” is turned on. Access the configuration options from the “The Ultra experience is here!” section on the administrator panel.
Granular Content Copy - Improvements to Legacy Content – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
In the past, we used a type of file storage called Legacy Content in Original courses. When a user deleted the course content items, Legacy Content could become orphaned.
When upgrading an Original Course to the Ultra Course View, the process could retain the Legacy Content. Legacy Content may also increase with the use of Granular Content Copy feature. Storage and course copy performance could be affected. The Legacy Content folder is not available for user access in SaaS.
Starting with this release, Legacy Content will move to the Content Management System. Administrators will have access to a new ‘lost and found’ folder in the Course home folder.
Courses affected by this issue will see a reduction in Legacy Content in the course size report.
For administrators: Please review the files in the new "Lost and Found" folder. Move the files to permanent storage or discard them.
Course Messages recipient picker improvement for courses with more than 100 participants – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn Original
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
Course Messages is a useful tool for course communication.
In the past, the recipient picker did not work as expected in courses with more than 100 participants. When a user clicked the “Add recipients” button, the Compose Message page collapsed and was unusable.
Now users may add recipients as expected.
Image 1. Recipient picker for courses with more than 100 users
When users select recipients, a recipient chip is created. If the user wishes to edit the list of recipients, the user should remove the chip and select the desired recipients.
Image 2. Recipient chip with all selected recipients
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Course name in browser tab – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Some users open different courses in separate browser tabs. Adding the course name to the browser tab helps users find the right tab. When a user is in the following areas of a course, they will see the name of the area and the name of the course: Analytics Calendar Content Discussion Gradebook Messages
Image 1. Area and course name appear in browser tab
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management:
Global HTML Filter Requirement Change – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
We conduct continuous reviews of Blackboard Learn to improve our security. Learn has an HTML filter in the Original Experience and Original Course View. This filter removes scripts that users add in the content editor. This helps prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities.
In the past it was possible for an administrator to turn off this filter. Starting with this release, the filter will always be on. Administrators can still allow certain users to bypass the filter. They can grant users the privilege Add/Edit trusted content with scripts. As before, we recommend administrators restrict the number of users with this privilege.
The Ultra Experience and Ultra Course View do not use this filter. In the Ultra Course View, HTML blocks render in an iframe from a separate domain. This prevents XSS risk to the Learn application.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed. This change will happen automatically. It will not be possible to turn off the global HTML filter.
Improvements to Blackboard App Settings – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Users expect to have access to their courses on mobile devices. The transition between mobile and desktop applications should be seamless and frustration free. To support effortless movement between the two, we added settings categories and mobile-specific categories. A new design of this section provides simplified toggles for configurating your preferences.
Image 1. Stream notification option in the Settings section
Image 2. Stream notification settings
Image 3. Disrupted connectivity alert
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. Users with enabled automatic updates on their devices are not required to do any actions. Users with disable automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Base Navigation - Grades: Reduce height of course tiles for courses without grades – 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
In the Grades section of the base navigation, we have reduced the space used on course tiles for courses without grades.
Reducing this space for courses without grades gives users with multiple courses a better browsing experience.
Image 1. When there are no grades, space for course grades is reduced
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra and Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Course Upgrading:
Preserving the forced sequencing setting on Learning Modules during course upgrading - 3900.50
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, when upgrading from the Original to Ultra Course View, we did not preserve the forced sequence setting selection for Learning Modules. Now we now preserve this setting selection during the upgrade process. If enabled in the Original Course View, the upgrade process keeps the setting in the Ultra Course View.
Image 1. The Forced Sequence setting in the Original Course View
Image 2. The Forced Sequence setting in the Ultra Course View
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.48.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.48.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 16 August 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 1 September 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.48.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.48.0-rel.18+c7edfda to Production servers to take place on 22 September 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
September 2022 – 3900.48 Release
The September 2022 - 3900.48 release is complete with features in four areas:
- assessment and grading;
- richer course and content design;
- diversity, equity, and inclusion; and
- integration, extension, and management.
These improvements primarily impact instructors and students, but value is truly added for all users. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Rubric Copy between Courses
- Question Bank Sorting Controls
- Discussion replies are available on the individual discussion grading page
- Grade History: Non-Posted Grades included
- Set points for manually added gradable items
- Prevent copying an entire course into the same course
Instructors and students:
Students:
Administrators:
All users:
Assessments and Grading
Rubric Copy between Courses – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors spend a great amount of time building and refining assessment rubrics. Rubrics provide instructors with a set of criteria to grade student assignments. Reusing these rubrics provides instructors with greater flexibility in how they design and build their courses. This saves time and reduces the need to recreate items within their Ultra courses.
From the Copy Content menu, instructors may select the Rubrics folder from the desired course. To copy all rubrics the instructor may select the checkbox for the Rubrics folder.
Image 1. Rubrics folder option from Copy Content menu
To copy individual rubrics the instructor may select the Rubrics folder to open it. Select the checkbox for each rubric to copy.
Image 2. List of all Rubrics
Copied Rubrics appear in the Gradebook Settings area. Select ‘Gradebook,’ select the gear icon in the top right-hand corner, and review all the rubrics in the ‘Course Rubrics’ section.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Question Banks Sorting Controls – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors often use question banks to organize their assessment questions. In the past, question banks were difficult to navigate. With this release, instructors can now use sorting controls. These controls supply improved navigation through the questions in the bank. Instructors can easily sort question banks based on the name, number of questions in a bank, or the last edited date.
Image 1. Sorting arrows added for name, number of questions, and last edited date
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Discussion replies are available on the individual discussion grading page – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may want to respond to a student in a discussion while grading the student's participation. In the past, this was not possible. Grading discussions and taking part in discussions were on separate pages. Now an instructor can reply to posts from the individual student grading page. This provides greater efficiency in the grading process for instructors.
Image 1. Instructors may now reply to a student’s discussion post while grading a single student
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Grade History: Non-Posted Grades Included – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Grade records are important to instructors and academic leaders. These records are helpful for addressing student questions and grade challenges. In an earlier release, we added Grade History to the Ultra Course View. In this release, we are including a log of changes to non-posted grades.
There are no changes to how Instructors and other privileged users access and download Grade History.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Summary list of annotations for inline grading – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
File submissions can be annotated inline when grading. Now a side panel will summarize all comments in a list. Selecting a comment will navigate the instructor or student to the location of that comment in the document. This change makes it easier to find all comments and feedback in a student’s submission.
This functionality will be released in September, independently from the 3900.48 release.
Rollout schedule by region:
- Korea (prod-ap-northeast-2) - Tue 06 Sep 1pm EDT
- Singapore (prod-ap-southeast-1) - Tue 06 Sep 2pm EDT
- South Africa (prod-af-south-1) - Tue 06 Sep 7pm EDT
- GOV US (prod-us-gov-west-1) - Wed 07 Sep 6am EDT
- Sydney (prod-ap-southeast-2) - Wed 07 Sep 11am EDT
- EU (prod-eu-central-1) - Wed 07 Sep 7pm EDT
- Canada (prod-ca-central-1) - Thu 08 Sep 8am CET
- US (prod-us-east-1) - Thu 08 Sep 8am CET
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Set points for manually added gradable items – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, roles with the same gradebook privileges
Manually added gradable items collect additional scores and grades for students. Previously, instructors would need to set the item to display as points to edit the maximum points. Then they could change the display option to letter or percentage. Now instructors can always edit the maximum points value when using any display type.
Image 1: Instructor creates an manually graded item, selects the percentage grade option, and has the choice to edit the maximum points
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Test Timer Notifications – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
When taking a timed assessment, it is important for students to be aware of the time that remains to complete it. However, a fixed display of the timer can also add stress. To support various student preferences, we are introducing notifications for timed assessments. These notifications are less invasive yet keep the student informed.
- For assessments less than 10 minutes, there is no notification.
- For assessments less than 1 hour but greater than 10 minutes, there will be a single reminder when 10% of the time remains. For example, for an assessment with a 10-minute time limit, the notification will appear when 1-minute remains.
- For assessments longer than or equal to an hour, there will be an added notification when 50% of the time remains. For example, for an assessment with a one-hour time limit, the notification will appear when 30 minutes remain. A second notification will appear when 10% of the time remains.
- If a student has a time limit accommodation, a notification will appear when 10% of the extra time remains. If the extra time allowed is less than 10 minutes, there will be no added notification.
- If a student has an unlimited time accommodation, there will be no notifications for the time remaining.
All notifications for remaining time auto-dismiss after 20 seconds. If a student prefers, they can dismiss the notification.
Image 1: Example notification of time remaining
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Improved Access to Feedback – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Student access to feedback is critical. Students need consistent ways to access feedback regardless of how an instructor grades. In the past, there were times when students could not access feedback if an instructor had overridden a grade. Now students have access to feedback regardless of how an instructor grades.
Richer Course and Content Design
Microsoft Immersive Reader for Anthology Ally for LMS – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Administrators, Course Builders
Many classrooms today, both physical and digital, include participants with diverse needs. To better support learning needs and preferences, alternative formats are key. Alternative formats let all participants access course content according to their preferences.
Anthology Ally for LMS now includes a new alternative format: Microsoft Immersive Reader. Microsoft Immersive Reader helps students improve their reading, comprehension, and grammar skills. All course participants are empowered by Anthology Ally with Microsoft Immersive Reader.
From the Ally Alternative Format menu, users may select the Immersive Reader option and select download.
Image 1: Select the Anthology Ally Icon
Image 2: Select Immersive Reader Alternative Format
Image 3: Immersive Reader View
This functionality will be released on August 31 independently from the 3900.48 release and as part of the Ally release.
Your institution will need to license Anthology Ally for LMS to use this functionality.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Prevent copying an entire course into the same course – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and other users with course copy privileges
Course copy is an important feature for building out and updating courses. In an earlier release, we added a way to copy content within a single course. In this release, we made modifications to the course copy options to prevent inadvertent full course copying in the same course. Instructors may continue to copy or duplicate content within a course.
Images 1: Disabled checkbox to prevent copying an entire course into the same course
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Activity Stream navigation improvements – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
The Activity Stream supplies updates about various actions taking place in a course. For example, it is simple for users to navigate straight to a new test in a course. To help make it clearer where a user is navigating, we have added an on-hover underline to the course name and the content item name.
Images 1 and 2: Activity Stream - course name and assignment name underline on hover
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Blackboard Home: Additional Site Health and Utilization Reports – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Original Experience
Impact: System administrators
Blackboard Home gives administrators insights into how their Learn site is being used. The previous release of Blackboard Home focused on storage usage metrics.
The September release has updates related to site health and utilization. It also helps administrators understand adoption of Ultra Course View.
As before, administrators can see metric changes over time. They can also use the time picker to look at specific timeframes. In this release, there are six new reports.
- Unique users. See the count of active unique users over time.
- Logins. See the count of user logins over time. Multiple logins by the same user are counted multiple times.
- Requests Per Minute. See the average requests per minute served by the Learn application. This reflects the traffic volume (throughput) of the site. Request volume includes traffic from web browsers, mobile apps, and integrated systems.
- Application Performance Index (Apdex). This is a measure of the timeliness of the user experience. It is impacted by both the application performance and users’ bandwidth. Apdex is on a scale from 0 to 1. A 0 is an unsatisfactory slow experience; 1 is very fast loading. The apdex measure is a standard managed by an open standards organization. It is meant to act as one indicator of a satisfactory user experience.
- Uptime. This report helps administrators identify outages where users were impacted. An outage for this report is defined in the Service Level Agreement.
- Ultra adoption. Administrators managing sites with instructor choice for Ultra course adoption need to track adoption and use trends. This report shows the share of active Original and Ultra courses.
Administrators can now switch between viewing different environments. This includes looking at test/stage environments separate from production. Each site will display its deployed version, URLs, deployment location, and information about direct database access (DDA) if enabled.
This functionality will be released in September independently from the 3900.48 release. Details will be shared later on this page.
For administrators: Blackboard Home is only available for Learn SaaS. There are no configurations needed if Blackboard Home was previously enabled. In some environments, it can be necessary to perform the following action to allow access. Go to Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers. Find “Blackboard Home” and edit it. Enable “Role in Course” to send role information to Blackboard Home and click submit. Only full system administrators can access Blackboard Home.
Image 1: Course count over time shows the share of courses that are Original, Ultra, Undecided, and in Ultra Preview.
Image 2: Site utilization visualizations include throughput and user count reports.
Image 3: Site health reports including uptime and Application Performance Index (Apdex).
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Display Name Choice – 3900.48
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users, if enabled by administrator
As part of planned diversity, equity, and inclusion improvements, this feature gives institutions the option to allow users to express their preferred name. Name expression fosters greater respect among students and with faculty. Name expressions inform other course members about how best to refer to them.
Profile page settings
When administrators enable this feature, users may select their display name. The new options will appear for all users when editing their own profile in the Base Navigation area. A user editing their name will have options to display the first name, the additional name, or both names. A card preview shows how their name will appear.
- First name: The first name field continues to display to users. This is the default for all users.
- Additional name: A user chooses to display a different name to others. This is used when someone does not go by their legal given name.
- Both names: A user chooses to display both the first name and additional name to other users. When selected, the additional name appears before the first name. This is used for nicknames or when a name has multiple forms.
Image 1: A user selecting to display additional name
Image 2: A user selecting to display both first and additional names
Name display in Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Anywhere name information appears, the user’s choice is displayed to other users. This applies to areas throughout Learn:
- Ultra Course View tools and pages
- Original Course View tools and pages
- Base Navigation and tools
- Administrator experiences
- Non-course tools such as Portfolios and Content Collection
Images 3 and 4: Examples from Ultra and Original Discussions
Images 5 and 6: Examples from Ultra and Original Groups
Sometimes administrators, faculty, and graders need to see actual name values. They may need to match up a user to an external system such as a Student Information System. The following locations show name values in the fields as they are set by the Student Information System:
- Ultra Course View: Instructors, assistants, and graders viewing the user details in the Course Roster under the Basic Information header.
- Original Course View: Instructors, assistants, and graders viewing the “Edit” page in the Control Panel user list
- Administrator Panel: An administrator viewing the user “Edit” page in the user management panel
- Gradebook exports and system and course reports
Image 7: An instructor viewing the student details in the Ultra Course Roster sees both the student’s display name choice and first name (defined in the Student Information System).
Integration frameworks: REST, LTI, SIS Integration
- Full name information sent for LTI will be the selected display name.
- The SIS Framework remains unchanged. Field control configurations and field names are the same.
- REST calls to First Name and Other Name fields remain unchanged.
For administrators: This feature is off by default. Enable in Admin Panel > Customize User Information. To use this feature, enable Base Navigation, and the “other name” field set to display. There are no other permissions configurations needed. Administrators still control whether users can edit data in the name fields. Admins still control whether data populates by external systems. The “Other Name” field name remains unchanged for integration purposes. This field displays to end users as “Additional Name.”
Image 8: Setting for allowing users to choose their displayed name
Learn SaaS release 3900.46.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.46.0
Release to Test/Stage: Wednesday, 20 July 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 4 August 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.46.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.46.0-rel.27+79a83af to Production servers to take place on 25 August 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
August 2022 – 3900.46 Release
The August 2022 - 3900.46 release is replete with features in three areas: assessment and grading; richer course and content design; and integration, extension, and management. These improvements primarily impact instructors and students. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Improved management of question banks
- Advanced calculation for Overall Grade
- Delete Student Preview User
- Import/Export Group Sets and Members
- Explicit declaration of Messages handling
- Granular Content Copy – Copy Status in Course Tasks and Logs
- Granular Content Copy – Retain links to assessment questions
- Progress Tracking – Status and Filter updates for Submission View
- Bb Annotate undo/redo functionality: Roll out deployment
Instructors and students:
- Unified Blackboard App
- Congruent Mobile App and Desktop Experiences for Ultra Course View
- Microsoft OneDrive – Create a Collaborative Document
- Microsoft Teams Meetings
- Improvements to LaTeX question support
- Due Date Exceptions
- Messaging in Private Courses
Students:
- Enhanced auto save capability in the content editor in Tests & Assignments
On the Submission page, instructors and students were unable to download files attached from Cloud Storage. Due to this issue, this feature has been removed from this release to be included in a future one.
All users:
Assessments and Grading
Advanced calculation for Overall Grade – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors have varying preferences about how they define the overall grade calculation. Now the Overall Grade supports an advanced calculation. This new calculation gives instructors greater flexibility and supports varied evaluation practices.
The instructor may use the 'Set it up' option to configure the Overall Grade.
Image 1. An instructor may select a points, weighted, or advanced calculation for the overall grade
Image 2. An instructor may configure an advanced calculation for overall grade
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Managing Question Banks - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, System and Course Roles with privileges to manage question banks
Outside of course content, test questions are one of the most valued artifacts in a course. Instructors often spend a great deal of time building and refining banks of test questions. These banks are important as they enable question reuse across various assessments. Up until now, instructors could only import existing banks into their Ultra courses. Instructors could use the questions in their assessments. But instructors could not create new question banks or manage questions in existing banks.
Image 1. Before - former Question Banks interface
With this enhancement, instructors will be able to:
- Create new, empty question banks in their Ultra courses,
- View and search for questions within a question bank, and
- Add, edit, and delete all aspects of a question within new and existing question banks.
Image 2. After – new Question Banks interface
This functionality is available both on the desktop and in the mobile app. Instructors may access these options from Manage Banks in the Details and Actions.
Image 3. Add New or Import question banks from a file
Image 4. Question bank interface – add questions
Image 5. Edit a question in a question bank
Image 6. View questions in a question bank with filter criteria
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Due date exceptions - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past, instructors could cater to specific student's needs by:
- allowing additional attempts
- changing item visibility
Now instructors may accommodate special circumstances by also allowing due date exceptions. This exception has been added to the existing exceptions panel.
Image 1. Exceptions panel
Key considerations:
- Due date exceptions support is for individual tests and assignments only.
- If an assignment or test does not have a due date, an exception cannot be set.
- If an instructor wishes to remove the due date on an assignment or test, the instructor must first remove all due date exceptions.
Image 2. Banner warning when instructor attempts to delete a due date on an assessment with due date exceptions
- To find students with the due date exception, instructors may access the submission list view page. Students with the clock icon next to their name have the due date exception.
Image 3. Submissions list view; clock icon for students with the due date exception.
- Instructors may grant due date exceptions in combination with other exception types.
- Automatic zeros respect due date exceptions. Automatic zeros are only applied if students with the due date exception do not submit on time.
- The “prohibit late submission” and “prohibit new attempts” options respect due date exceptions. These settings only apply if students with the due date exception do not submit on time.
- Students with a due date exception will see the excepted date in:
- Ultra Base Navigation
- Activity Stream
- Calendar
- Grades Page
- Email, depending on a user’s notification settings
- Ultra-Course
- Assignment or Test Details & Information
- Course Outline
- Calendar
- Grades
- Ultra Base Navigation
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Progress Tracking: Status and Filter updates for Submission View - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, System and Course Roles with privileges to copy content
Instructors need clear information about the status of student progress in a course. In the past, the submission view of tests, assessments, and discussions had a single "Status" column.
Image 1. Before - Assessment submission view
Image 2. Before - Discussion submission view
We have split this column into two:
- Student Status
- Grading Status
This change provides instructors with greater clarity while grading and supporting students.
We have also separated the current filter to allow compound filtering between the two columns. The default for filters is to show everything. The filter resets every time the instructor accesses the submission view.
Image 3. After - Assessment submission view
Image 4. After - Discussion submission view
There are slight differences in filtering options based on role. When selecting two graders per student, the filters change:
- Graders do not have the "needs posting" filter
- Reconcilers have the "needs to reconcile" option
These changes will not apply to anonymous grading, journals, or group assessments/tests.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design:
Microsoft OneDrive: Create a Collaborative Document - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Original Experience, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Collaborative documents provide students opportunities to engage with one another and course content. Instructors can now create a Microsoft OneDrive collaborative document in the Ultra and Original Course Views.
Supported file types:
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft PowerPoint
In the Ultra Course View, a new choice, Cloud Document, appears on the menu after selecting “Create” from the plus sign to add content.
Ultra Course View Flow
Image 1. Improved workflow for adding content from OneDrive
An instructor can choose Cloud Document from the “Create Item” panel and select “One Drive.” The following options are displayed:
- 'Open from OneDrive' to create a document link
- 'Start a new Collaboration' to create a collaborative document
Image 2. Start a new collaboration
Instructors may need to sign into a Microsoft account to continue.
Instructors can select an existing document or create a new file for collaboration.
Image 3. Create a new collaboration
All student members of the course will be able to access the file. The students may select Edit Document to begin collaborating on the file.
Image 4. Students select Edit Document to begin collaborating on the document
Any existing file linked to OneDrive stays unchanged. These files will remain read only.
In the Original Course View, a link appears in the content add tools menu and/or the add content button (+) in the content editor. The system administrator can decide the specific name in the Original Course View.
Original Course View Flow
Image 5. Adding Microsoft Cloud Collaboration document in Learn Original
An instructor can choose to create an item or edit an existing item and select the + symbol from the content editor. Select the "Microsoft Cloud Collaboration document" to continue.
Image 6. Start a new collaboration
Instructors may need to sign into a Microsoft account to continue.
Instructors can select an existing document or create a new file for collaboration.
All student members of the course can access the file.
Image 7. Students select "Edit Document" to begin collaborating on the document.
For administrators: Please register the LTI Tool Provider in the Administrator Panel. Only users in the same Microsoft tenant can collaborate on documents.
Delete Student Preview User – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors often need to preview their course as a student. Student preview helps instructors understand students' experiences in all aspects of the course. In the past, when an instructor exited student preview there was no choice to remove the preview student and related data from the course. This was problematic as the preview user appeared in the course as a student to all course members. Now instructors have a choice when exiting student preview:
- save the preview student and data
- delete the preview student and data
Image 1. Save or delete the preview student and data
The delete option removes the preview user and data from these areas:
- roster
- gradebook
- gradebook filter
- messages
- messages recipient
- discussions
- journals
- conversations
The method for exiting Student Preview also changed. We removed the three-dot menu and X option to close the Student Preview panel. Now to exit Student Preview, an instructor will choose the exit icon.
Image 2. Before - three dot menu and X options to close the student preview panel
Image 3. After - exist student preview via the exit icon
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Improvements to LaTeX question support - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors and students often use math formulas in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. LaTeX is a descriptive markup language used to typeset technical or scientific documents. Now instructors and students can create LaTeX equations in the content editor.
LaTeX equations display as text in the content editor. When users save the text, the LaTeX equations render as images.
Image 1. LaTeX equation as text in the content editor
Image 2. LaTeX equation rendered as image after it is saved
Users can edit the LaTeX equation in text format in the content editor. Also, users can edit the equation using the Math formula option.
Image 3. LaTeX equation edited as formula using math editor
Key considerations:
- Content editors that have math editor option render also Latex equations.
- Essay questions and the "Additional Content" section in Assessments do not have a save option in the text editor. In these areas, LaTeX equations will render as images after submission. Students can verify that the formula will render by opening the equation using the Math editor option.
- Formatting such as italics or bold must be in the LaTeX code. Users can add the code formats in text or when editing using the Math editor. If a user chooses the bold format in the content editor, the image will render without that format. Example:
- Code without format: $$axˆ2+bx+c=0$$
- Code with format: $$\style{font-size:72px}{axˆ2+bx+c=0}$$
- LaTeX equations are not rendered when they are inside code snippets. This is because LaTeX equations are treated as part of the code format.
- Upgrading from the Original to Ultra course experience: LaTeX equations convert and respect the size limit and options of the text editor in Ultra. If the text editor in Ultra does not support math formulas, the LaTeX equations will copy as plain text.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Import/Export Group Sets and Members – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
This functionality will become available in Test/Stage environments on Tuesday 26 July, 2022.
In the past, instructors did not have a way to bulk create group sets or add group members in Ultra courses. Creating group sets and adding students to groups one at a time was very inefficient. Now instructors can create group sets and add group members by importing a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file. This feature also supplies the ability to export group sets and members to a CSV file.
Image 1. Import Group Set
Instructors can create a group set by importing a CSV file from the course group set page or the groups view page. When assigning an assessment to a group set, instructors can import a CSV file. This allows the instructor to assign an existing group set or create a new one while creating an assessment.
Image 2 and 3. Upload file option; we recommend instructors use the provided template.
In the template, all mandatory cells are marked with an asterisk (*). There are two templates included in the download:
The asterisk will appear in the production version of the release.
- one template for creating group sets
- one for importing members into the groups
After importing a file, the instructor will receive a confirmation email. The email will say that the file imported successfully or had errors. We recommend instructors use the template supplied to avoid errors.
Instructors can export and download their Group Sets, Groups, and Group members as a CSV file.
Images 4 and 5. Import or Export Group Set & Groups
Image 6. Export Group Set
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed
Messaging in Private Courses – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Some instructors need to communicate with students before a course is open to students. When a course is set to private, students cannot access the course. This means that students cannot access the course inbox to review messages. Because of this, we disabled the ability for instructors to send messages since there was no way for students to access those messages.
Image 1. Before – Instructors did not have a way to send messages when a course was private
Now instructors can send messages from within the course. Students can access the messages from the email address associated with their Blackboard account. This change does not change the access to the course inbox when the course is private. This change allows students to receive messages from the instructor via email when the course is private.
Image 2. Upload file option; we recommend instructors use the provided templates
Image 3. After – When composing a new message in a private course, instructors are informed how students receive those messages
When a course is private, instructors will see a banner in the course inbox or when drafting a message. The banner states that students cannot access the messages in the course when the course is private but will receive an email copy instead. Students will receive an email copy of any message sent. They will be able to access the message from within their course once the instructor opens the course.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed
Force Email Copy for all Messages – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators and all users who can send messages
When drafting a message, users have had the option to choose “Send an email copy to recipients.” For policy reasons, some institutions may want this choice to always be on by default for all messages.
Image 1. Before – Users can choose to “Send an email copy to recipients” when composing a message
With this update, administrators now have the choice to force an email copy to recipients for all messages sent.
Image 2. After – “Send an email copy to recipients” is now the default behavior for all messages; users are informed that recipients will receive an email copy
Image 3. Before - Administrators did not have the choice to force email copies for all messages
Image 4. After - Administrators have the choice to force email copies for all messages
For administrators: Configure this setting from Tools & Utilities > Messages on the administrator panel.
Explicit declaration of Messages handling – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, it was unclear how individual users received messages sent to more than one recipient. Some instructors expected that messages with multiple recipients would be sent as a group message. Others thought that messages with more than one recipient were private, like a blind carbon copy email.
Now when an instructor adds more than one recipient, the interface makes clear how the message is sent: group message or private message. This is a temporary solution. In a future release, instructors will be able to make this choice for themselves.
Image 1. Before – Users were not informed if the message was a group message or private message
Image 2. After– Users are informed when a message is a group message
Image 3. After– Users are informed when each recipient receives their own private message
All Roles:
- With Multiple Recipients. The message is treated as a group message.
- Base Navigation > Messages > + Symbol
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Messages > + Symbol
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Messages > Message
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Roster > User Profile > Message
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Message Icon next to Course Faculty
Instructor Roles:
- With Multiple Recipients. The message is treated as a group message.
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Course Groups > Elipsis next to Group Set > Edit > Elipsis next to Group > Message group
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Assignment > Settings > Groups > Elipsis next to Group > Message group
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Test > Settings > Groups > Elipsis next to Group > Message group
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Discussion > Settings > Groups > Elipsis next to Group > Message group
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Gradebook > Student List View > Elipsis next to Student > Message Student
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Gradebook > Student List View > Student > Message
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Elipsis associated with a Discussion > View Analytics > Elipsis > Message Non-Participant
- With Multiple Recipients. Each Recipient receives an individual message/copy from the sender:
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Elipsis associated with a Discussion > View Analytics > Elipsis > Message # Non-Participants
- Base Navigation > Courses > Course > Gradebook > Settings > View Class Performance > Message Icon
- Base Navigation > Grades > Pie Chart > Messages Icon
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Granular Content Copy – Copy Status in Course Tasks and Logs - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, System and Course Roles with privileges to copy/export/import
Content reuse is an important aspect of building out and updating courses. In recent releases, we have made improvements in this area:
- copying content from Original Course View courses (March release)
- copying content within the same course (April release)
Instructors will now have access to the status of all the course tasks that they start. This includes:
- Copy
- Convert to Ultra
- Archive
- Export
- Import
- Restore
Image 1. Course Tasks and Logs Access Point
Image 2. Course Tasks and Logs – Tasks tab
Image 3. Conversion Report - See Report
Logs are available for all course tasks. Instructors will be able to view the conversion report, view/filter, and download logs. These logs will help instructors triage any issues that may arise.
Image 4. Course Tasks and Logs - Logs tab
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Granular Content Copy – Retain links to assessment questions - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, System and Course Roles with privileges to copy content
Content copying is an important feature. Instructors rely on content copy for easy reuse. Content copy is also helpful for quickly updating or building a course. In the past, there were instances when an assessment would be copied but the contents would not. This would happen in these cases:
- An assessment has a question set or random block that links to questions in another assessment
- An assessment has a question set or random block that links to questions in an assessment pool
When this happened, the copied test rendered incomplete. In some cases, the assessment was non-functional. Now all the linked questions stay intact after the copy process. Assessments now copy as expected.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management:
Microsoft Teams Meetings – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, and any course role with privileges to engage and access Teams meetings
Microsoft Teams supports communication and collaboration for instructors and students. Now Microsoft Teams Meetings seamlessly integrates in Ultra courses. In the Original Experience and Original course view, users may access Teams Meetings from the Course Tools.
This integration includes easy access recordings and options to manage meeting settings. In addition, and for the Ultra course view only, we built Teams Meetings into the existing Teams classes integration and data sync process. This allows instructors to access the Ultra course roster while scheduling meetings.
With this integration, instructors will be able to:
- Schedule new or reoccurring Teams Meetings
- Invite specific users from the course or the entire course
- Access recordings
- When integrated with Teams Classes, support scheduling of Teams Meetings for dedicated Teams channels (Ultra course view only)
- All scheduled Teams Meetings will populate in the Teams and Outlook calendar
This integration is available on both the desktop and mobile app. The integration supports access to Teams from within the Teams app. Users can also access Teams Meetings from the Original course view. Teams Meetings may be used as a replacement to the existing Microsoft Teams meeting scheduler.
Image 1. Before - Only Teams Classes enabled (Ultra Course View)
Image 2. After - Teams Classes and Teams Meetings enabled (Ultra Course View)
Image 3. Manage Teams Meetings menu choice in Course Tools (Original Course View)
For administrators: Administrators will need to enable this feature for Ultra courses. Teams Classes must be enabled to use this feature. For Original courses, administrators will need to enable the feature using the administrator LTI setup. When enabled by the administrator, instructors may choose to disable the integration at the course level.
For Ultra and Original course views Teams meetings will be available for access on August 4, 2022.
Unified Blackboard App– 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Assistants, and Graders
In the past we had two separate mobile apps: the Blackboard App and the Blackboard Instructor App. The two apps caused confusion for many instructors. They did not realize that they needed to use a different app to manage their courses.
With this release, we are consolidating to a single app for both instructors and students. The user experience will change based on the user’s role within a course. Instructors can use the updated Blackboard app for both Original and Ultra courses.
Action needed: Support for the Blackboard Instructor iOS and Android apps ends in September 2022. Instructors, Assistants, and Graders should download the Blackboard app for iOS or Android.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed. We encourage admins to notify instructors of the need to download a different app.
Congruent Mobile App and Desktop Experiences for Ultra Course View – 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
The user experience in the Ultra Course View is now the same between the Blackboard mobile app and a web browser. In the past, users had to make a choice because the features were different between the app and a web browser.
This new Blackboard mobile app will be available August 8, 2022, from the iOS and Android app stores. Students using the current Blackboard app should simply update. Instructors, assistants, and graders should remove the Blackboard Instructor app. These users should download the Blackboard app.
The Blackboard app update does not change the experience for Original Course View.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
File Upload Indicator for Original Course View - 3900.46
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
Users sometimes upload large files or have slow upload speeds. In Original Course View, it may not be clear to users that anything is happening. Some pages in Original Course View will now display a file upload indicator after users submit. We added this upload animation to four course tools where large file uploads are most common. Other pages stay the same. The upload indicator will now appear on these pages:
- Assignment Submission
- Content Item
- Discussion Board Thread or Reply
- SCORM
Image 1. Before – no file upload indicator
Image 2. After – new file upload indicator
For administrators: There are no configurations needed. As before, a user cannot upload a file if it is larger than the configured file size limit.
Bb Annotate undo/redo functionality: Roll out deployment - 3900.46.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1, Managed Hosting, Self-Hosted
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, roles with grading permissions
We will do a phased roll-out deployment for the new undo/redo functionality of Bb Annotate. This new capability will allow instructors to easily edit their annotations. The schedule is:
Region/Date
- ap-southeast-1-p: Aug 1, 2022
- af-south-1: Aug 2, 2022
- ap-southeast-1: Aug 3, 2022
- us-gov-west-1: Aug 4, 2022
- ap-northeast-2: Aug 5, 2022
- us-east-1, eu-central-1, ap-southeast-2, and ca-central-1: Aug 11, 2022
The deployment will include some downtime, and we will avoid high traffic hours in each specific region.
The downtime will only be for Bb Annotate not the entire Learn environment.
It is expected to be around 1 hour long. During this time users will see a maintenance message inside the Bb Annotate framework.
Learn SaaS release 3900.44.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.44.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 21 June 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 7 July 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.44.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.44.0-rel.23+b930328 to Production servers to take place on 28 July 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
July 2022 – 3900.44 Release
The July 2022 - 3900.44 release is robust with features in four areas: assessment and grading; richer course and content design; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and integration, extension, and management.
Instructors:
- Select a points overall grade calculation
- Download grade history
- Edit the points a student earns on an assessment question
- Copy question banks
- Convert Blank Pages in Original Course View to Documents in Ultra Course Views
- Recategorize journals and discussions
- Improvements to user interface for multiple choice questions
- Description field length increased to 750 characters
Instructors and students:
- Points overall grade display
- Prohibit backtracking in assessments with questions presented one at a time
- Files render inline in Course Content, Folders, and Learning Modules
- Quality and accessibility improvements of math formulas
- Improvements to Group Feedback and Grade Overrides
- LTI Item name change to Content Market
Students:
Administrators:
- Institution Role Mapping to LTI Institution Roles
- Launch LTI course links
- Blackboard Home Improvements
All users:
Assessments and Grading
Points overall grade calculation option - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Some instructors prefer to define the overall grade calculation based on points. Now the Overall Grade supports a points-based calculation. This new calculation gives instructors greater flexibility and supports varied evaluation practices.
The instructor may use the 'Set it up' option to configure the Overall Grade.
Image 1. Setting up the overall grade
The setup wizard guides the instructor to select points or weighted calculation. The wizard includes examples of each calculation type.
Image 2. Overall Grade calculation wizard
Image 3. Overall Grade calculation wizard with examples
The interface displays all grade categories with the associated points values. The total points available in the course auto sum.
Instructors can:
- Add calculation rules to assessments within a category.
- This is existing functionality that supports the following:
- dropping scores
- using only the lowest or highest score in the total calculation of the category
- Exclude a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the category's points from the total points available in the course.
- Expand categories to reveal the individual items within the category and point values.
- Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to exclude an item from a category calculation rule.
- Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course
Image 4. Expand categories and unlink or exclude items within a category
Instructors who have already configured the Overall Grade will see a new tab. This tab supports switching between points and weighted calculations.
Image 5. Tabbing option to switch the Overall Grade calculation
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Points overall grade display option - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
The method of presenting the overall grade in a course is as important as the calculation. In the past, instructors could present the overall grade as a letter or percentage. Now, the instructor may choose to display the overall grade as points. This display option supports the new points-based calculation for the overall grade.
Image 1. Instructor Overall Grade settings, the overall grade display options, including points
With the points display option, instructors and students see the overall grade as a fraction. For example, 745/800.
Image 2. Instructor gradebook view, in the grid view the Overall grade is displayed as points
Image 3. Instructor gradebook view, in the student list view the Overall grade is displayed as points
Image 4. Student gradebook view, current grade displayed as points
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Copy Question Banks - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors spend a great amount of time building and refining assessment questions. Reusing these questions across courses is of utmost importance. Now instructors can copy question banks from Original and Ultra courses. This saves time and provides greater efficiency.
From the Copy Content menu, instructors may select the Question Banks folder from the desired course. To copy all banks the instructor may select the checkbox for the Question Bank folder.
Image 1. Question Banks folder option from Copy Content menu
To copy individual banks the instructor may select the Question Banks folder to open it. Select the checkbox for each bank to copy.
Image 2. List of all Question Banks
Copied Question Banks appear in the Question Banks area. Select 'Manage banks' in the Details & Actions menu to review all question banks in the course.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Display one question at a time – Prohibit backtracking - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Robust assessment settings are key for supporting a range of instructional scenarios. Building on the one-question-at-a-time feature, instructors can now prevent backtracking. This option allows instructors to force a sequence through questions in an assessment. A sequence is important when upcoming questions provide hints or reveal answers to earlier questions.
Once the student answers the question and continues to the next, the student cannot go back. If a student skips a question, an alert informs the student that they cannot go back to the question.
Image 1. Student view of assessment with backtracking prohibited
Image 2. Alert if a student tries to skip a question
Instructors can choose this setting in assessments with questions configured to display one question at a time.
Image 3. Assessment Settings panel with prohibit backtracking
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Grade History Download - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors and administrators need a record of changes to grades in a course. These records are important for addressing quickly student questions and grade challenges. Now instructors can download the grade history from an Ultra course.
Instructors may save the history as a tab or comma separated file (.xls or .csv) to their device or the Content Collection.
Image 1. Download Grades with Grade History option
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Edit points a student earns on an assessment question - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors can now change the points a student earns on an assessment question. The points field supports negative and positive values with up to two decimal points.
Image 1. Instructors may select the question score pill to change the points earned.
Image 2. When an assessment does not post grades automatically, a banner alerts the student that question scores appear after the instructor posts the grades.
Image 3. Instructors must choose "Undo Override" so that the assessment grade reflects changes made to the points a student earns on a question.
Students will receive a grade change notification if an assessment grade changes. We honor students' notification preferences. The grade on an assessment may change when:
- an assessment posts grades automatically, but then the instructor changes the points earned on a question
- the instructor removes an overridden grade so that changes to points earned reflect on the assessment grade
Image 4. Student notification of a posted grade in the Activity Stream
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Test question filtering improvements - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
In an earlier release, we added a question filter to support students as they take a test. In this release we are making improvements to the filter options:
- Enhance prominence of applied filters to increase awareness
- Improved filter management experience for students who use assistive technology
When a student applies a filter, a corresponding filter chip appears below the test header. A student may quickly remove any applied filter from this area by selecting the X on the filter chip.
Image 1. Student view of a test with no filters applied
When a student applies a filter, a filter button appears. If a student selects the filter button, the question filter options menu opens below.
Image 2. Essay questions filter applied
Image 3. Essay questions and unanswered questions filters applied
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed
Recategorize graded discussions and journals - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
A best practice in course design is to use a variety of assessments. Recategorizing assessments is important to instructors who assign weight to categories in the overall grade calculation. An instructor may select a category that does not match the assessment tool used. For example, an instructor may wish to include an Assignment in the Test category. We support this option. In the past, recategorizing graded discussions and journals was not allowed.
There is now a 'Grade category' selector in the settings panel for graded discussions and journals. The category options include both default and custom categories.
In a future release, the icon for the assigned category will appear in the course content area, gradebook, and activity stream for both students and instructors.
Image 1. Discussion Settings panel
Image 2. Journal Settings panel
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Multiple Choice Question type improvement - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The multiple choice question is one of the most popular question types used in an assessment. Instructors told us that some of the text within the user interface was confusing. We removed the text.
Image 1. Multiple choice question with text
Image 2. Multiple choice question with text removed
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Improvements to Group Feedback and Grade Overrides - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors often provide meaningful feedback to students. In the past, when a group assessment grade was overridden, the feedback for the student was hidden. We have corrected this. Now feedback shows as expected for any posted grade that has been overridden.
Richer Course and Content Design
Inline file rendering of files in Course Content, Folders, and Learning Modules – 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Content creation and presentation are key for designing engaging courses. Various files will now render inline in Course Content, folders, and learning modules. Instructors can set the behavior of these files for users:
- view and download (default)
- view only
- download only
Image 1. Instructor view - Edit File Options
Supported file types:
| Adobe Acrobat Documents (PDF) | Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX) | Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX) |
| Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX. XLST, CVS, TSV) | OpenOffice Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP) | Standard text file (txt) |
Non-supported file types will always be downloadable for users.
For the file types: .xlsx, .xls, .xlst, .csv, and .tsv, inline viewing is only supported for files up to 10 Mb in size. Files over 10 Mb are downloadable only.
Some image, video, and audio file types will now open in a large panel. Users can view or play back media in the browser:
Images:
| JPEG | GIF | PNG |
Audio:
| m4a | mpeg | mp3 | ogg |
| mp4 | flac | wav |
Video:
| mp4 |
Image 2. Several types of files in Course Content
Image 3. Audio recording - inline display and playback
Image 4. Document inline display
Image 5. Image inline display
Image 6. Presentation inline display
Image 7. Video inline display and playback
For administrators:
- Inline rendering applies to new and existing files in the course. Existing files will be set to ‘view inline and download’ by default. Instructors can change the files to 'view only' or 'download only' if preferred.
- We convert supported content types to PDF on demand when a user accesses them. This conversion provides an improved user experience. We cache these files for 30 days. Files converted to PDF as part of this feature do not count towards your storage quota.
- Hyperlinks in files are disabled.
- Inline file rendering is not available for Gov Cloud clients.
Conversion of Blank Pages to Ultra Documents - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders, Administrators
An exemplary course design practice focuses on content composition and structure. In the Original Course View, instructors often use Blank Pages for course content creation. In the Ultra Course View, the Ultra Document is a similar content creation tool.
In the past, Blank Pages did not convert in course conversion. Now Blank Pages are converted to Ultra Documents. This conversion will help ensure a smoother transition from Original to Ultra Course View.
For administrators: When there is an attachment to the Blank Page with the “Display media file within the page” option, the attachment may duplicate after conversion to an Ultra Document. The instructor should remove the duplicate attachments.
Quality and accessibility improvements of math formulas - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors and students often use math formulas in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. In the past, formulas might render slowly or lose quality when zoomed. Now we will render math formulas as images in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. This allows users to zoom in or enlarge formula images without losing quality. This change also improves accessibility for users with low vision.
Image 1. Before rendering images in SVG format
Image 2. After rendering images in SVG format
Users can create math formulas using the text editor. Some content types include a description. The description appears on the Course Content page. Some notifications on the Activity Stream also display the description. When a description for a discussion or journal includes a math formula, we replace the formula image with '[Math formula].' When the user selects the content or notification, the math formulas will render as images.
Image 3. Example discussion description that includes a math formula.
Image 4. Example discussion topic that has math formulas.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Updated Panel for Messages - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
In the past, Messages used a small panel for authoring and presenting a message. This made authoring and viewing messages on devices with larger screens difficult. Now users will author and view Messages on a large panel, supplying a better user experience.
Image 1. Before - Viewing Message on small panel
Image 2. After - Viewing Message on large panel
We have also moved two options above the rich content editor:
- Allow replies to this message
- Send an email copy to recipients
Image 3. Before - Authoring Message on small panel
Image 4. After - Authoring Message on large panel
Relocating these options improves the user experience for those who use assistive technologies.
Now users on mobile and larger devices will have a great user experience with Messages.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Display Pronouns and Pronunciation in Original Course View - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
The November 3900.26 and February 3900.32 releases included these features for Ultra Course View. This release adds full support for Original Course View. It also adds limited capabilities for Original Experience without Base Navigation enabled.
This release continues to deliver on planned diversity and inclusion improvements. Institutions can allow users to express their personal pronouns. This fosters greater respect among students and with faculty.
Institutions can also enable name pronunciation. Users can add text guidance to describe the pronunciation of their names for other users. Users can record the pronunciation of their names. The recording tool counts down to when the recording begins. The recording may be up to 20 seconds long. For accessibility reasons, text guidance must be allowed if name recording is enabled. Recordings are compressed and included in storage use calculations.
If a user has pronoun or pronunciation information, it is displayed on a profile card. Selecting any avatar icon in Original Course View displays the profile card. All avatars are selectable in user lists, course tools, and grading workflows.
Image 1. Pronouns and pronunciation for a student when the instructor views an assignment submission.
Image 2. Pronouns and pronunciation in discussion.
Base Navigation is required for the following features:
- Administrator can enable pronunciation recording
- Administrator can configure pronoun options for user choice
- Users can select their own pronouns
- Users can create or play back pronunciation recordings
All deployments support the following, including Original Experience:
- Display pronouns and pronunciations in Original Course View
- Integrate pronoun and pronunciation guidance text from a user information system
- Administrators can manually set user pronouns and pronunciation guidance text
- Users can manually set pronunciation guidance text
Known issue in Safari browsers: There is a known issue creating or playing pronunciation recordings in Safari. The issue is because of a mismatch of compression codecs that Safari supports.
For administrators: Manage these features in Administrator Panel > Customize User Information. You may add pronouns and pronunciation guidance text through data integration. This includes REST, flat file, LIS, XML, and IMS methods.
Integration, Extension, and Management
LTI Item name change to Content Market – 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
The rich text editor is a valuable tool used throughout the course. The insert content button gives users the option to add math, media, and other types of content. Users shared feedback about uncertainty of the "LTI item" option. To provide greater clarity, we have changed the name of the "LTI item" button to Content Market. For more information about the content market, please visit our Help site.
Image 1. Instructor view of Content Market option in the rich text editor in an assessment
Image 2. Student view of Content Market option in the rich text editor in an assessment
For administrator users: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Institution Role Mapping to LTI Institution Roles - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Some third-party integrated tools function better when users’ institution roles are more specific. This is especially true for tools accessed outside of courses. In the past, Learn did not send institution role information to LTI tools. Learn will now send to LTI tools users’ mapped primary institution role information. Secondary institution roles are not supported.
When administrators edit institution roles, they may select from a list LTI Institution Roles that their tools expect.
The mappings are supported for all deployment types. Mappings apply to both user experiences and course types. You can map the Learn default institution roles or any custom ones made by the institution. We support mapping for LTI 1.1 or 1.3/Advantage.
To prevent disruption for current users, the default role behavior remains unchanged. Administrators may edit each role configuration and choose the best LTI role for each. LTI institution role mapping applies to all LTI tools.
Administrator launch for LTI course links - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators, System Support Roles, Node Administrators
In the past, administrators would receive an error when selecting an LTI link in a course. To remediate the error, administrators would have to enroll in the course. Because only course members could launch LTI links, enrollment was a requirement.
Now administrators no longer need to enroll in the course.
The tool shows the user with an LTI system role of “Administrator” and an LTI context role of “Administrator.” The administrator or support user will not appear in tool requests for course membership. The tool shows them as an administrator, not an instructor. A tool must follow the LTI specification and be able to give a proper experience to an administrator user.
This change applies to the mobile application as well since LTI links are handed off to the responsive web browser.
Description field length increased to 750 characters - 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors use the description field to provide more information about their content. In the past, the description field was limited to 250 characters. Now this field supports up to 750 characters.
Students can now better identify the topic of content.
Learn will inform the instructor the number of characters entered.
Image 1. Learn Ultra informs instructors the amount of characters supported.
Image 2. Learn Ultra informs instructors when there are no available characters remaining.
Image 3. Learn Ultra informs instructors if they have exceed the number of supported characters. The number of excess characters appears. The border of the description field shows in the color red.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Blackboard Home Improvements – 3900.44
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Administrators need access to timely information about storage and usage. We released Blackboard Home in the June 2022 - 3400.41 release. In response to client feedback, we have made four improvements:
- Added a new ‘Courses’ Tab under Insights with two pie charts to show the number of Active and Total courses. Pie charts display the number of courses on Ultra and Original
Image 1. New Courses Tab
- Included more support links in the My Support section
Image 2. More general support options from My Support menu
- Updated the language on the Logins subtab of Insights. We made this change to more clearly define unique logins and how they are counted.
Image 3. Updated description for Unique Logins
- A major change we added is the new option to download the metrics in .csv format. At the moment, it's available for Storage, Users, and Logins graph types, but not for Courses.
You asked, we listened: this feature was added as per initial feedback from one of our clients who took part on the Beta release. Thank you for helping us improve our platform for the benefit of all.
Image 4. Option to download the metrics in .csv format
For administrators: This feature is an LTI 1.3 application and managed via DevPortal. Application must be enabled via Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Blackboard Home. LTI application must be configured to send the user fields "Role in Course". Administrators are unable to further limit access. If the application is not present, you may just need to resynchronize the LTI Tool Providers via: Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Synchronize LTI 1.3 Tools > Submit.
Learn SaaS release 3900.41.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.41.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 10 May 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 2 June 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.41.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.41.0-rel.22+d0bc71c to Production servers on 23 June 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
June 2022 – 3900.41 Release
The June 2022 - 3900.41 release is rich with new features and improvements in three areas: assessment and grading; richer course and content design; and integration, extension, and management.
Instructors:
- Enhancement to Overall Grade weighting – item and category weighting in Ultra courses
Instructors and students:
- Added support for multiple attempts in group assessments in Ultra courses
- New Overall Grade calculation option (running total or not) in Ultra courses
- Attachments render inline for Ultra Documents and Ultra Assessments
- Journals display more than 50 entries
Administrators:
- Blackboard Home: storage and utilization reports for Original and Ultra Experience (SaaS only)
- REST APIs to read all Content Collection files for SaaS and Learn 9.1
All users:
- Changed behavior for pasting JavaScript in Original Course View Content Editor
- Support Max File Upload Limit for Ultra Courses
- Improvements to Permissions in Ultra courses
Assessments and Grading
Multiple attempts for Group Assessments - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Some instructional scenarios are better supported when students have multiple attempts. With this release, we are adding support for multiple attempts in group assessments. Instructors may want student groups to submit work in phases. Other instructors may wish to provide student groups with iterative feedback. This approach may improve students' experiences in group work, engagement, and learning.
Instructors will now have the option to give more than one attempt for group assessments.
Image 1. Assessment Settings for group assessment with more than one attempt
From the submissions page, the instructor can view the following:
- all groups
- attempt and submission details
- status
- group grade(s)
- option to post all grades or individual group grades
- more options, including add or edit exceptions
When grading, the instructor can view the following:
- the assessment and all groups
- the number of members in each group
- the number of remaining attempts and/or submission details,
- the status
- the grade
The instructor may select a group to view/grade their attempts. All attempts with their respective grades and the final posted grade appear. There is also a possibility to search for submissions by the submission receipt number.
Image 2. Submissions panel for Group 2 with all group submissions in the background
Image 3. Assignment Content, Grading and Feedback for Attempt 4 for Group 2
When a student in a group begins a submission for the group assessment, the number of remaining attempts is displayed. There are no changes to all other details and information related to the group.
Image 4. Single student in a group before viewing a group assessment
After a student submits the assessment for the group, group members can view the number of remaining attempts. The members can view the grade and assessment (depending on the instructor's settings).
Image 5. Single student in a group views previous and remaining attempts information and grade
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Calculate Overall Grade options (running total or not) - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Philosophies and practices are quite diverse when calculating the overall course grade. Today, the overall grade is the quotient of points earned divided by total graded points. This calculation is the running total. In this release, we are adding the option to calculate the overall grade as earned points divided by total possible points. This calculation is the not running total option.
Image 1. Instructor view of Overall Grade Settings - Before
Image 2. Instructor view of Overall Grade Settings - After
To provide greater clarity to students, dynamic text explains the instructor's calculation choice. Students can see the Overall Grade and calculation details from the information icon in their Gradebook. The student may also select the Overall Grade pill to see calculation details.
Image 3. Student view of dynamic text to explain the Overall Grade calculation options
For administrators: This feature will be behind a feature flag. Administrators may turn on this feature to allow instructors to choose the preferred calculation: Administrator Panel | Configure in "The Ultra experience is here!" module | Available Features | Running total grade calculation. When the feature is on, the default is the running total calculation. For students, the dynamic text only appears when the feature is on.
Image 4. Administrator view to configure the feature
Watch a video about overall grade calculations using earned points
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: New Overall Grade calculation option (running total or not) shows how to use the not running total option for the overall grade calculation.
Weighted Overall Grade Calculation Improvements – 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Each instructor takes care to decide how to calculate their students' grades. It is important that we provide great flexibility to support diverse needs. In the past, instructors could only weight gradebook items or grade categories. Now, both items and categories can have weight in the overall grade calculation. This allows instructors to weight high stakes assessments while also weighting categories.
Instructors may unlink items from categories to assign weight at the item level. Unlinked items appear ahead of the related category. An instructor may specify the weight and lock it to prevent further changes to the weight. Locking is helpful because the weights auto-adjust to ensure that the weighted calculation sums to 100%.
Image 1. An instructor may set the weight of items and categories. The instructor may lock the weight. Weights auto-balance to ensure the weights sum to 100%.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about item and category weighting
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: item and category weighting shows enhancements made on how to weight course items and categories in Learn Ultra.
Journals display more than 50 entries - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Journals are a valuable tool for facilitating reflection. Journals also allow students to express their feelings about their learning experiences.
To better support instructors and students who use this tool, we have made a series of updates:
- students may make unlimited entries
- students and instructors have improved navigation with pagination on the entries page
- students and instructors can decide the number of items that appear per page
- instructors have a count of graded journals
Image 1. Instructors may select the number of entries displayed per page
Image 2. Instructor's view of improved page navigation with choice to control the number of entries per page
Image 3. Instructor's view of the count of graded journals and students filtered for grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design
Attachments render inline for Ultra Documents and Assessments – 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS (all non-Gov Cloud clients)
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Robust options for content creation are important to instructors. Equally important is the flexibility for how the content is rendered for users. Currently, instructors can add file attachments to Ultra Documents and Assessments. Students who click on the file attachment link(s) can download the file(s). Now instructors can set the behavior for attachments in Ultra Documents and Assessments:
- view and download (default)
- view only
- download only
Image 1. Instructor view - edit file options
The view option renders the file in the web browser without the need for the native application(s).
Supported file types:
- Adobe Acrobat Documents (PDF)
- Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX)
- Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX)
- OpenOffice Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)
Users can still download non-supported file types.
Image 2. Student view of an attachment in an Ultra document
Image 3. Student view of a Microsoft Word document rendered inline
For administrators: Inline rendering applies to new and existing attachments to Ultra Documents and Assessments. To render files inline, Office files are converted to PDF on demand and are cached for 30 days. Files converted to PDF as part of this feature do not count towards your storage quota.
This feature is on by default for all non-Gov Cloud clients. This will be an opt-in feature for Gov Cloud clients in a future release.
Watch a video about file rendering in Ultra documents and assessments
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Attachments render inline for Ultra Documents and Ultra Assessments shows how files attached can appear within documents and assessments.
Changed behavior for pasting JavaScript in Original Course View Content Editor - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
The Original Course View Content Editor allows users to paste JavaScript into their HTML. JavaScript can add rich capability to web content but can be malicious. The Content Editor removes JavaScript automatically for most users when saved. This way, scripts cannot harm other users. Only authorized users can keep JavaScript when they save.
In the past, the Content Editor would temporarily render pasted scripts in the edit view. A user copying a script from a bad actor could inadvertently run a script against themselves.
A user could still run malicious JavaScript against their own device, but not by using the Content Editor. For users authorized to save scripts, JavaScript will still render after they save.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed. The existing permission for the ability to save scripts is called, “Add/Edit trusted content with scripts.”
Integration, Extension, and Management
Support Max File Upload Limit for Ultra Courses – 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
File upload is an important part of online teaching and learning. Instructors upload files as part of course content. Students may upload files as part of an assessment submission or discussion post. When a user uploads or drags and drops a file, if the file is larger than the size specified by the administrator, a new upload error appears. The new upload error provides clear information to help the user know how to continue.
A user may upload multiple files at once. If some files are too large, the upload error will note the specific files so that the user may correct those files.
If an assessment requires a file upload and the student selects a file that is too large, the upload error displays. The student may select another file before submitting.
The upload error may include the following:
- maximum upload size
- size of the file(s) the user attempted to upload
- Optional storage locations if the administrator includes this information
- Optional support page link if the administrator includes this information (Ultra Experience Only)
Administrators may configure the upload error from the Administrator Panel: System Configuration > File Size Limits.
Image 1. Warning message without alternative storage location or support page link.
Image 2. Warning message with alternative storage location without support page link.
Image 3. Warning message with alternative storage location with support page link.
Image 4. Administrator flow for maximum file size settings, alternative storage, and support link page.
For administrators: To configure the maximum file size, alternative storage location, and personalized link: Administrator Panel > System Configuration > File Size Limits. The optional support link is only available for the Ultra Experience.
Watch a video about maximum file size limit
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Max file size limit shows information about the maximum size a file can have to upload on Learn Ultra, and the related errors the user may get when attempting to upload a file.
Blackboard Home: storage and utilization reports – 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Administrators need access to timely information about storage and usage. They use this to compare actual usage against contracted limits. We send administrators monthly reports of peak usage metrics. Using Insights Reports, admins can also look at many daily metrics over time to find the peaks. Blackboard Home now provides up-to-date peak usage metrics. The reports show peak usage over a configurable number of months. These metrics include billable storage and users, displayed together with the contracted limits. There are also reports for login counts and current storage use segmented by file type. Blackboard Home has not yet replaced the Insights Report. Both reports will appear for now. Blackboard Home appears to full System Administrators in the Admin panel.
Blackboard Home will become available to all Blackboard Learn SaaS instances with the next SaaS Feature Release in June, scheduled for June 2nd, 2022. This includes production, stage, and test environments. Blackboard Home is only for Learn SaaS.
Image 1. Peak storage usage
Image 2. File type breakdown
Image 3. Peak User Counts
For administrators: This feature is an LTI 1.3 application and managed via DevPortal.
Application must be enabled via Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Blackboard Home. LTI application must be configured to send the user fields "Role in Course". Administrators are unable to further limit access.
If the application is not present, you may just need to resynchronize the LTI Tool Providers via: Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Synchronize LTI 1.3 Tools > Submit.
Watch a video about storage and utilization reports appearing in the Blackboard Home
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Storage and Utilization reports in the Blackboard Home shows how Blackboard Home provides up-to-date peak usage metrics.
REST APIs to read all Content Collection files - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
The Content Collection stores files used in courses. It also stores files needed for other features of Blackboard Learn. Some third-party apps need access to these files to function. In the past, tool developers may have used Building Blocks APIs to read these files. Now developers can use REST APIs to read all files in all Content Collection directories. An administrator must authorize this access for a third-party app. The admin should assign permission “Read-only access to the Content System filesystem” to the API user. This improvement is part of ongoing work to expand the capabilities of the Content Collection REST APIs.
Improvements to Permissions - 3900.41
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users - system and course roles with corresponding permissions
There are several areas where permission checks do not work as expected. This results in users such as graders and course builders having an unexpected experience. In this release, we have corrected the following permission issues:
- Linked Help documentation for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors
Users in Ultra courses can click links to access Help documentation. There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. In the past, these users would be linked to student documentation for several tools. This also happened in warning messages that have Help links. We have corrected this.
Image 1. Example of corrected Help links
- Progress tracking behavior for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors
There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. Students can have a progress tracking experience in the Course Outline. In the past, these other roles would see the student experience for progress tracking. We have corrected this.
Image 2. Example of progress tracking corrected behavior
Learn SaaS release 3900.39.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.39.0
Release to Test/Stage: Friday, 22 April 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 5 May 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.39.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.39.0-rel.27+6e72bbb off cycle release to Production servers on 13 May 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
May 2022 – 3900.39 Release
This release features a variety of improvements. Some improvements center on assessment and grading and better, more efficient workflows. Other features focus on refinement based on instructor, student, and administrator feedback.
The May 2022 - 3900.39 release includes several new features.
Instructors:
- Weighted Overall Grade calculation improvements
- Prohibit late submissions – usability improvements
- Support "undo" and “redo” capability in Bb Annotate
- Granular Content Copy improvements
Students:
Administrators:
- In-product Updates and User Engagement Surveys improvement
All users:
Test Question Filtering - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Test-taking anxiety is real. We want students' experiences taking tests to be as worry free as possible. To support students well, we are introducing
- a question filter,
- an unanswered question warning, and
- a choice to hide the timer on timed tests.
The question filter supports common test taking strategies. For example, students may complete questions they know first and skip harder ones. The filter enables students to quickly return to skipped questions. Students may also use the filter to find essay questions.
Image 1. Question filter options
If a student submits a test with unanswered questions, a warning will alert the student. The alert shows the number of unanswered questions. The student may choose to submit the test or keep working. If the student chooses to keep working, the unanswered questions filter auto applies. The unanswered questions display automatically.
Image 2. Unanswered question warning.
In response to student feedback, students may now choose to hide the timer in timed tests. This may help to reduce pressure and anxiety during assessments. When students hide the timer, the timer icon stays visible. Students may view the remaining time as needed.
Image 3. Before we added the option to hide the timer.
Image 4. Timer visible with choice to hide.
Image 5. Hidden timer with choice to unhide.
Watch a video about test question filtering and timer
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: test question filtering and timer options shows how to filter test questions and set visibility to the timer.
Weighted Overall Grade Calculation Improvements - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Some instructors prefer to use category weights to calculate the overall grade. Currently, instructors are unable to assign weight to any empty grade category. This restriction requires each category to have at least one assessment. This is not always practical, especially at the beginning of an academic term. Now instructors can configure a weighted overall grade that includes empty grade categories. This will give the instructor greater flexibility for configuring the calculation.
Image 1. Before Overall Grade Calculation Improvements
Image 2. After Overall Grade Calculation Improvements
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about weighted overall grade calculation improvements
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Weighted Overall Grade Calculation Improvements shows how to configure a weighted overall grade that includes empty grade categories.
Prohibit Late Submissions - Usability Improvements - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors appreciate control over assessment due dates and time limits. Robust assessment settings are necessary to support a range of different scenarios. These settings are also important for academic integrity and honesty in courses. The February release included two new assessment settings. These settings give instructors better control of due dates and time limits.
Settings for Tests and Assignments:
- "Prohibit late submissions" - Select this setting to enforce a hard deadline and disallow a late submission. In-progress and saved attempts will auto-submit at the due date. Students will receive a submission receipt via email. Specified accommodations are still honored.
- "Prohibit new attempts after due date" - Select this setting to prevent students from beginning a new attempt after the due date.
We have made changes to the "prohibit late submission" setting.
- An instructor has selected this setting for an assessment. If students have submitted attempts, the instructor cannot change the due date to a date in the past.
- If the due date has passed, the instructor will not be able to select the "prohibit late submission" setting.
These changes prevent instructors from triggering the submission of in-progress and saved attempts.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Support "undo" and “redo” capability in Bb Annotate - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Managed Hosting, Self-Hosted
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, roles with grading permissions
We've paused the release of the new undo/redo capability in Bb Annotate due to an issue causing loss of information on comments. The root cause of it has been identified, and we'll communicate a new target date for the deployment in the following days. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, as we understand this is a critical timing, and a critical tool for the grading process.
Many instructors today enjoy the efficiency and effectiveness of using Bb Annotate. Assignments with file submissions include the Bb Annotate feature. This release adds new functionality to include an "undo" and "redo" option. An instructor may undo a change and then if inclined, redo it.
Image 1. Before - Bb Annotate toolbar.
Image 2. After - undo and redo buttons on the Bb Annotate toolbar
"Undo" and "redo" will not apply to comments. All other annotations are included for this capability.
For administrators: This feature is not aligned to the deployment dates for 3900.39. This feature will be released on 19 May 2022. There are no configurations needed.
Session time-out warning for Ultra Course View - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
When a user is idle for over three hours the session ends. A user must login again to continue to use Learn. If a user saves a page or selects a button, the session refreshes and stays active for three more hours. There can be times a user is working but considered idle. This happens because the browser is not sending data to Learn. Some examples are when a user is:
- authoring a Discussion Board post,
- authoring an Assignment submission in the text editor in Learn, or
- creating a Content Item.
With this release, users whose session is ending soon will receive a warning. This warning will appear at least six minutes before the session times out. If the user closes the warning before the session ends, the session will extend for three more hours. This is the primary scenario for this improvement. The goal is to help users who have been authoring for an exceptionally long time not to lose their work. A user away from the computer for an extended time will receive the warning. However the user will not be able to extend their session. When the user closes the warning, they will return to the login page.
Image 1. “Are you still there?” warning
With this release, for a user who was away from their computer for a long time it will be unclear when the warning appeared. Thus, the user will not know if the session renewed or not. We are considering future improvements for session timeout behavior. This release focuses on helping users who have been idle to the server but engaged in authoring content. The goal is to help these users not lose authored content.
For administrators:
* The user warning will appear at least six minutes before the session ends. Users may have more than six minutes to extend their session because the session cleanup process is a grouped background task.
* The most common setting for session duration is three hours. The most common timeframe for timeout warning is six minutes. Some institutions have configured other time durations. This feature will work with these other configurations, and always give users at least six minutes to extend their sessions.
Improvements to permissions - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: All users - system and course roles with corresponding permissions
There are several areas where permission checks do not work as expected. This results in “You’re not on the list” errors. We are making improvements in several upcoming releases that address permission issues. These improvements will also remove the need for a quick enroll option. In this release, we have corrected the following permission issues:
- Managing settings in Course Timeline for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors:
There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. In the past, they could not favorite their courses in the Course Timeline. They also could not choose to hide and show courses. When they had permissions, they could not open courses and make them private. We have corrected these issues in the Course Timeline. - Access to notification settings for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors:
There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. Users manage their email notification preferences in the Stream. Before users with these roles could not set their email notification preferences. We have corrected this. - Support users accessing Journals will not receive errors:
There are support users such as administrators who access courses. In the past, these users who accessed a Journal saw error messages in Ultra courses. We have corrected this. - Improved Rubric access for graders:
In the past, some Rubric grading workflows would cause errors for graders. We have corrected these. - Improved SCORM access for course builders:
Course builders could receive errors editing SCORM settings. We have corrected this. - Support users without view enrollment permissions will not see Roster errors:
There are support users who access courses. Sometimes these users do not have permission to view course enrollments. At times, these users would click on the Roster tool and see errors. Now the Roster tool will not appear for these users. They also will not see the Course Faculty section in the Course Outline.
Improvements to Granular Content Copy – 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: System and Course Roles with permissions to copy content
Course copy is an important feature for building out and updating courses. In several upcoming releases we will be making a series of improvements. These improvements focus on copy and performance issues. They also build on recently released features:
- copying content from Original Course View courses (March release)
- copying content within the same course (April release)
In this release, we have corrected the following granular content copy issues:
- No longer duplicate user-defined gradebook categories with Granular Content Copy action
User-defined gradebook categories from the source course also copied into the destination course. This caused duplication and had a negative performance impact. We have corrected this. - No longer copy unrelated data to the copied item
The gradebook included data unrelated to the copied content item. This could cause errors to display. We have corrected this. - Improved database logging and conversion exception messaging
Database logging and the conversions exception report produced errors when copying content. These errors occurred when copying content within an Ultra course and from Original courses. We have corrected this. - Errors no longer shown in Copy Detail menu when copying content with custom font color in the title
Original course content that included custom font-colors in the item title produced errors when copied. We have corrected this. - Improvements to Ultra Group Conversion and Batch Edit
If a user deleted groups via the Batch Edit Delete option, groups associated with a content item were not removed. This resulted in orphaned but not visible groups. In Ultra course conversion, groups not in a group set or used in a content item were not removed. These groups remained in the course in a hidden state. Course conversion performance was negatively affected. We have corrected both issues. - Support for Ultra Preview Course
In the past, instructors could not copy content into or from a course in Ultra preview. An Ultra preview course is a converted course in preview mode. We have corrected this issue.
In-product Updates and User Engagement Surveys Improvements - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
We have a responsibility to help users understand new features and other changes. To support this effort, we introduced in-product updates and user engagement surveys. Product updates are brief mentions of what is new in the Ultra Course View. User engagement surveys are brief polls launched to small samples of users. These polls help us improve our product.
In the April release, these settings were "off" by default.
With the May release, these settings will be "on" by default.
For administrators: If you do not wish to allow in-product updates and/or user engagement surveys, you may opt out. Define the setting for your institution: Administrator Panel > Configure Ultra Experience.
Manage image title attribute in Original course Content Editor - 3900.39
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Managed Hosting, Self-Hosted
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
The Content Editor in Original courses allows users to add image attributes. Now it also supports adding the "title" attribute. This attribute adds text tips to images. We still recommend prioritizing alternative description. An alternative description makes content more accessible, while a title doesn't.
Image 1. Before
Image 2. After
Learn SaaS release 3900.37.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.37.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 15 March 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Original Experience
Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.37.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.37.0-rel.37+c829417 off-cycle release to Production servers on 29 April 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
April 2022 – 3900.37 Release
Educators consider many areas as they design high-quality, engaging courses. This release features improvements for instructors and students around assessment. Other features focus on intuitive and time saving workflows and surfacing data insights.
The April 2022 - 3900.37 release includes several new features.
Instructors:
- flexible question presentation including one question at a time
- efficiency for content creation via content duplication (granular content copy within the current Ultra course)
- improved control over when students' see assessment results, which helps with academic integrity
- choice and control for grades auto-posting
- the calculated numeric question type supports assessment across various disciplines
- download assessment results to support external analysis and evaluation
- reporting for submission receipts for easier student support
- improved access to the Course Activity Related to Grades report
- enhanced Blackboard Instructor app
Instructors and students:
- code snippet option in the rich text editor to add value in programming, logic, math, and other computing courses
- In-Product updates and user engagement surveys a to support client feedback
- Session time-out warnings for Original Courses to help prevent loss of authored content
Students:
- greater insights with improved access to the How Am I Doing? performance report
Administrators:
- easier management over the option to display the gradebook username by course role
- addition of branded URLs in scheduled notification emails
- manage hierarchy level administrators by API, which is helpful for segmenting access to Blackboard Data reporting
- improvements to permissions
One Question at a Time - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Course Builders
Careful assessment design is important. Instructors desire flexibility in question presentation. For example, an instructor may select a one-question-at-a-time presentation so that students:
- Focus on a single question at a time without feeling overwhelmed by all the questions
- Enhanced browser performance for student access on older computers
- Enhanced experience for students in remote areas with poor network connections
- Have an improved user experience when test taking from a mobile device, where touch scrolling can lead to mistakes
Image 1. Instructor View - Test Settings - Without Display One Question at a Time
Image 2. Instructor View - Test Settings - With Display One Question at a Time
Image 3. Student View - Test Question Presentation - Without Display One Question at a Time
Image 4. Student View - Test Question Presentation - With Display One Question at a Time
Instructors may enable this setting, if desired, from the Test Settings panel. This option also appears in Assignment Settings when the assignment includes questions.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about the display of one question at a time in assessments
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Display one question at a time shows how an instructor may select a one-question-at-a-time presentation for students and its potential benefits.
Granular Content Copy within the current Ultra Course - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders
Course copy is an important feature for building out and updating courses. Instructors desire flexible approaches to support how they design and build courses. To better equip instructors, we have added a way to copy content within a single course. This new workflow supplies a way to duplicate content for quicker course building. Instructors can access the Copy Content menu to search for the current course. From there it is easy to navigate content and select content to copy or duplicate.
Supported content types include:
- Folders
- Documents
- Tests, including group tests
- Assignments, including group assignments
- Links to websites
- SCORM packages
- Discussions and Journals
- Learning Modules and individual items within a Learning Module
Image 1. Instructor view - Copy Content from an Ultra course within the Same Ultra Course
Image 2. Instructor view - Copy items from within a Learning Module
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about granular content copy enhancements
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Granular content copy enhancements shows how to copy content within a single course.
Student Feedback Display Controls - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Course Builders
Supporting academic integrity and protecting assessment content is important. Instructors need controls and flexibility for sharing assessment results with students. This new choice allows the instructor to decide when assessment results become available.
If selected, the instructor defines when the student can view their assessment submission:
- after submitting the assessment,
- after the instructor posts the individual student's grade for the assessment,
- after the assessment due date,
- after the instructor posts all the grades for the assessment, or
- on a specific date.
When not selected, students cannot view:
- assessment content such as the title, videos or images, text sections,
- the assessment questions,
- answers,
- automatic feedback, or
- the additional content section at the end of the assessment.
Scenario examples:
- Scenario. An instructor is delivering a high-stakes exam. Students should not be able to return to the exam questions after they submit their answers.
Image 1. The instructor should de-select "Allow students to view their submission."Image 2. The student can view the due date, number of attempts remaining, number of submissions, and the grade.
Image 3. If the student clicks on the submitted attempt link or the grade, the student submission is hidden. But the student can view the overall assessment feedback.
- Scenario. Students take an exam asynchronously. The instructor wants students to review the questions, answers, and automated feedback after all grades are posted.
Image 4. The instructor should select the "After all grades are posted” option.
The student view reflects the instructor's choice.Image 5. Student view before all grades are posted.
Image 6. Student view after all grades are posted.
For instructors and administrators: The default setting is that students can view the assessment results after submitting. Deselecting this option hides the student submission view. Other feedback options included in the side panel remain visible. This includes the overall assessment feedback, final grade, and originality report (if applicable).
Watch a video about student feedback display controls for instructors
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Student Feedback Display Controls shows how instructors can decide when assessment results become available for students.
Prevent Grades from Auto-Posting - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Graders
The option to control if a grade auto-posts supports academic integrity. This new option gives control to the instructor to post grades at the right time. When selected, an assessment grade appears to the student as soon as the attempt is graded. To prevent students from viewing grades, the instructor may de-select this option. This new setting is in the assessment settings and assessment preview panels. The workflow to manually post grades is still the same.
Image 1. "Post assessment grades automatically" setting on the assessment settings panel
Image 2. Automatic grade posting status indicator on the assessment preview panel
When this setting is de-selected, the instructor will need to manually post grades. Students will see ‘not graded’ in the grade pill until the instructor posts results.
When instructor selects the option to auto post, the post grades button will not appear.
“Post assessment grades automatically” is not selected by default for Assignments. The option is default on for new Tests. When an instructor adds an essay question to a Test, a banner displays when the question is saved. The banner asks the instructor if they want to post grades automatically or manually. The banner includes a link so that the instructor may change the grade posting setting.
Image 3. A new banner warns the instructor that a question that needs manual grading has been added to a test set to auto post grades.
The banner alerts the instructor that they have added a question that needs manual grading on a test set to auto post grades.
For instructors and administrators: Behavior for existing Tests and Assignments stays unchanged. Grades of Tests with essay questions or Assignments will not auto post. Tests with auto-graded questions will auto posted.
Watch a video about preventing grades from auto-posting
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Prevent grades from auto-posting shows how instructors can control to post grades at the right time.
Calculated Numeric Question Type - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Course Builders
Robust and diverse questions better support assessment across various disciplines. The calculated numeric question type is important for math and other STEM courses.
This new question type supports the following:
- Students may enter a number as an answer. The number can be an integer, decimal, or scientific notation. The largest value supported is 16 digits.
- Instructors may combine text and mathematical formulas in the question.
- Instructors may define an answer range. The range value can be an integer, decimal, or scientific notation. The largest value supported is 16 digits.
- The answer field validates only numeric digits.
Image 1. Instructor view of the Calculated Numeric Question Type
Image 2. Student view of the Calculated Numeric Question Type
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about the Calculated Numeric Question type
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Calculated Numeric Questions shows how to use this new question type within assessments and other student resources.
Download Assessment Results - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may need to download test results for external analysis and evaluation. External analysis is important for supporting course quality and assessment efforts. Furthermore, institutions often want compiled assessment data for accreditation and program review activities.
With this release, instructors may download assessment results in the Ultra course experience. Instructors may download assessment results from either the gradebook grid or list views.
Image 1. Download Assessment Results option from Gradebook grid view
Image 2. Download Assessment Results option from Gradebook list view
When downloading results, the following options are available:
- file type - Excel spreadsheet (.xls) or Comma Separated Value (.csv); the default is .xls
- format results by student or by question and student; the default is by student
- download all attempts or only attempts included in the grade calculation. The instructor defines which attempts to include in the grade calculation in the ‘Grade attempts’ settings. The default is to download only attempts used for calculation.
Image 3. Download Results peek panel
The downloaded report includes the following information:
- Student name
- Username
- Questions
- Answers
- Grading status
- Any content the student may have included with their submission
Image 4. Sample for the result format “Download by student”
Image 5. Sample for the result format “Download by student and question”
The “Download All” option is now named “Download Submissions.”
For instructors and administrators: We improved the readability of the downloaded data by removing extraneous HTML tags. This is the same for reports downloaded in the Original Course View and Ultra Course View.
When using anonymous grading the downloaded results exclude student and score details until grades are posted for all students.
Watch a video about how to download assessment results
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Download assessment results shows how to download test and assessment results data.
Instructor Reporting for Submission Receipts - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators, Instructors, Graders
Learner support is a key part of exemplary course building and instruction. To better enable instructors to support students, we have expanded submission receipt functionality. For each attempt a student makes, the instructor can search for a receipt confirmation number. This helps instructors find student submissions when extra verification is needed. Using this receipt confirmation number, the instructor can find the following information:
- assessment name
- assessment grade
- the number of attempts for an assessment the student who submitted the assessment
- the size of any file included with the submission; this allows the instructor to insight into what a student has attached for marking
- submission date and time stamp
This information appears on the peek panel for all submitted attempts.
Image 1. Submission date and time stamp, file size, and submission receipt number for all attempts.
The receipt number and size of any attached files appears at the top of the submission view.
Image 2. Submission receipt number, date and time stamp, and file size on the submission view.
For instructors and administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about submission receipt enhancements
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Submission receipt enhancements shows expanded submission receipt functionality for instructors and students.
Code Snippet - Content Editor Improvements - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Supporting collaboration and assessment across diverse disciplines is important for students and instructors. This includes computing, logic, and math courses where participants discuss programming syntax. Now instructors and students can author and share computer code in the Content Editor using a new Code Snippet tool.
The Content Editor identifies eleven programming syntaxes:
- Python
- Java
- JavaScript
- Kotlin
- R
- PHP
- Go
- C
- Swift
- C#
- HTML
Image 1. Code snippet is now featured as a choice from the Text option icon.
The text style menu in the Content Editor has changed from text to an icon. This improves tool spacing for different screen sizes.
For instructors: This feature is included in the Content Editor in all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Watch a video about code snippets
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Code snippets shows how to author and share computer code in the Content Editor using the new Code Snippet tool.
Improve the display of and access to the Course Activity Related to Grades Report icon - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: Instructors and Students
Instructors gain insight into student performance through the Course Activity Related to Grades report. This helps instructors intervene early, if necessary, to improve student outcomes. Students may use this report to review their performance and compare it to other members of the class.
In the Ultra Course View, the icon to access the report is now always visible to instructors. Students can see their report earlier because we reduced the activity rule. We also made updates to the way the metrics are processed.
This report is also available for Original Course View.
Image 1. Course Activity to Grades Report icon for instructors
Students can always access the "How Am I Doing?" panel from the Course Progress icon on the Grades page. This report is available for both Ultra and Original Course Views.
Image 2. Course Progress icon students select to access the "How Am I Doing?" Panel
For instructors and administrators: This feature is available from the Course Progress icon on the Grades page of the Ultra Base Navigation. The charts in these reports are based on data obtained from courses. In Ultra courses, for the Grades chart to appear to instructors and the My Grades chart to appear to students, instructors must set up the course overall grade.
Enhanced Blackboard Instructor App - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders
Mobile devices are a significant part of our lives. From staying in touch with family and friends across the globe to mobile banking, we expect to do almost anything from our mobile phones. For instructors, the same expectations apply to teaching and learning. The Blackboard Instructor app provides instructors with a way to manage courses on a mobile device. We have made improvements to the app to better meet instructor expectations. These updates include improvements to managing course content, grading, and engaging students. The new app uses Responsive Web Design (RWD) for Ultra courses. RWD ensures consistency and reduces the differences between desktop and mobile experiences.
Instructors will now be able to complete the following tasks using the Blackboard Instructor app:
- course building - including creating and uploading content
- grading students work - including updating assessment settings
- communication - including participation in discussions
The enhanced Blackboard Instructor app is the first in a series of planned improvements to our mobile solutions. Stay tuned for more as we move towards a single unified app experience.
Instructors can navigate the base navigation from within the app. The primary navigation controls display the following:
- Stream
- Courses
- Grades
- More including View Profile, Organizations, Institution, Tools, Messages, Settings, Feedback, Logout. (Calendar access is available from within an Ultra course)
For instructors and administrators: The enhanced Blackboard Instructor app will be available on April 11, 2022, from the iOS and Android app stores. If you have already downloaded the app then it will be automatically updated if you have this choice enabled on your device or will require a manual update if this choice is not selected.
Image 1. Main Blackboard Instructor App Navigation Menu
Image 2. Ultra Course view displaying in Responsive Web Design
Branded URLs in Scheduled Notification Emails - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Managed Hosting, Self-Hosted
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
Some institutions use domain branding. Different authentication providers (IdPs) can have an association with a specific domain. When this is the case, notification emails reflect the domain in the URL for each individual user. This functionality supplies support for all authentication types for each individual user. When a user clicks into a notification email, they will authenticate to that domain.
Recently scheduled notifications sent daily had correct URLs in links. This release improves links for emails sent because of a user action (e.g., a user may share a portfolio or send an announcement).
For administrators: No action is necessary. This update is structural only.
In-product updates and user engagement surveys - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Original Course View
Impact: Administrators, Instructors, Students
To help users understand changes and effectively use new features, we are introducing in-product updates. Product updates are brief mentions of what is new in the Ultra Course View or Original Course View. Product updates will vary by role. For example, instructors will have different updates from students.
Image 1. Example of a product update for an instructor.
We strive to be data-informed to help make our products better. Feedback and input from those who use our products every day is a critical part of this process. User engagement surveys are brief polls launched to a small sample of users. Each survey has its own purpose. For example, a survey might ask users to rate their overall experience of a feature or workflow. A user can easily dismiss a survey and will not see the survey again. Only a small set of users will see the survey. The collected feedback will help us improve the product and prioritize our roadmap. We will share survey results with our clients.
Image 2. Example of a user engagement survey for a student.
For instructors and administrators:
- Product updates and user engagement surveys do not support right to left languages.
- These new settings apply to Base Navigation and include Original and Ultra courses.
- Both options are off by default in the April release. In the May release, the options will be on by default. Administrators will be able to opt out if desired.
- Administrators can define the setting for their institution: Administrator Panel | Configure Ultra Experience.
Image 3. Administrator’s view of Product Updates and User Engagement Surveys set to "on."
Improvements to permissions – 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: System and Course Roles with corresponding permissions
There are several areas where permission checks do not work as expected. This results in “You’re not on the list” errors. We are making improvements over several upcoming releases that address permission issues. These improvements will also remove the need for a quick enroll option. In this release, we have corrected the following issues:
Change course availability permissions for non-instructors
Non-instructor users with permissions to change course availability states may have experienced problems:
- opening a course,
- setting a course to complete, or
- setting a course to private.
We have corrected this.
Student preview access for support roles
Some privileged support roles could not access the student preview mode. The permission is “Course/Organization > Student Preview > Access Preview Account.” We have corrected this.
Fixes to role permissions for accommodations
There are four permissions for course and system roles that relate to accommodations. These were not working as expected. We have corrected this. When granting an “edit” permission, administrators should select the associated “view” permission. This ensures the user can access the settings as expected.
- Course Outline > Course Roster > Accommodations > Edit User's Due Date accommodation
- Course Outline > Course Roster > Accommodations > Edit User's Time Limit accommodation
- Course Outline > Course Roster > Accommodations > View User's Due Date accommodation
- Course Outline > Course Roster > Accommodations > View User's Time Limit accommodation
Manage Gradebook username display by course role - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Course Roles with corresponding permissions
Instructors can see student usernames even when the username display is off for all other users. At some institutions, this can help instructors distinguish between students with similar names. In the past, this permission was only managed by system role. This restriction created too much management burden for administrators. Now administrators can grant the permission to the correct course roles for teaching staff. The permission is “Show username even when hidden from other users.”
For administrators: Please review course role configurations to decide if instructional roles should have this permission.
Session timeout warning for Original Course View
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Managed Hosting, Self-Hosted
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
When a user is idle for over three hours the session ends. A user must login again to continue to use Learn. If a user saves a page or selects a button, the session refreshes and stays active for three more hours. There can be times a user is working but considered idle.
This happens because the browser is not sending data to Learn. Some examples are when a user is:
- authoring a Discussion Board post,
- authoring an Assignment submission in the text editor in Learn, or
- creating a Content Item.
With this release, users whose session is ending soon will receive a warning. This warning will appear at least six minutes before the session times out. If the user closes the warning before the session ends, the session will extend for three more hours. This is the primary scenario for this improvement. The goal is to help users who have been authoring for an exceptionally long time not to lose their work.
A user away from the computer for an extended time will receive the warning. Yet the user will not be able to extend their session. When the user closes the warning, they will return to the current page instead of returning to the login page. This allows the user to copy anything authored before it is lost. A user in this situation will redirect to the login page when they select any link or button on the page.
Image 1. Session Expiring Soon warning
With this release, for a user who was away from their computer for a long time it will be unclear when the warning appeared. Thus, the user will not know if the session renewed or not. We are considering future improvements for session timeout behavior. This release focuses on helping users who have been idle to the server but engaged in authoring content. The goal is to help these users not lose authored content.
For administrators: The user warning will appear at least six minutes before the session ends. Users may have more than six minutes to extend their session because the session cleanup process is a grouped background task.
The most common setting for session duration is three hours. Some institutions have configured other durations. This feature will work with these other configurations, and always give users at least six minutes to extend their sessions.
We are planning to make similar improvements to the Ultra Course View.
API Updates:
Ability to set node administrators via APIs - 3900.37
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Original Experience
Impact: All clients and partners
Blackboard Learn clients use institutional hierarchy to distribute management tasks to authorized staff. Using APIs, developers can now manage hierarchy level administrators. This is also beneficial for segmenting access to data in Blackboard Data reporting.
For more information about our REST Public APIs, please explore the Learn API at: https://developer.blackboard.com/portal/displayApi
Learn SaaS release 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.34.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 15 February 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 3 March 2022.
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.34.0 version included below on this page. Details will also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.34.0-rel.63+d2ece0b to Production servers on 24 March 2022.
Due to the way that our release calendar lines up in March, we will release 3900.34 to production on Thursday, 3 March. It will remain for a week in both Test/Stage and Production environments while version 3900.37.0 is released to Test/Stage on Tuesday, 15 March.
Any changes to version 3900.34 after the initial release to Production will go directly to the Production environment.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
March 2022 – 3900.34 Release
The March 2022 - 3900.34.0 release includes several new features.
Instructors:
- more intuitive workflows for forced sequence in learning modules
- automatic grades release for 3rd party tools using LTI Advantage
Instructors and students:
- inclusion of Microsoft OneDrive files in courses
Students:
- a new header on tests to improve their testing experience
Administrators:
Learning Modules - Forced Sequence and Other Improvements - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Learning modules are a helpful tool for arranging content. A learning module provides navigational elements for students. Enforced sequence guides students through the content in the order the instructor defines. We have made a series of improvements to the workflows related to learning modules. These improvements are more intuitive and provide time-saving efficiencies for instructors.
Updated behavior for learning modules:
When an instructor creates a learning module, all settings appear in a peek panel. From the peek panel an instructor can:
- name the learning module,
- set the visibility of the learning module for students,
- add an optional description, and
- apply forced sequence to the content in the module. Note this option is no longer available on the Release Conditions panel.
New behavior for learning modules:
An instructor can add more content to a learning module with forced sequence applied. This new behavior allows instructors to make modifications to the learning module. This change supports instructors as they guide students towards the desired learning outcomes. For example, results on a formative assessment may show that some concepts need reinforcement. The instructor can add content to the learning module and still control the sequence. If an instructor adds or changes content, a warning notifies the instructor: "Additions and changes in content can make students who already started the module follow a different order."
Figure 1. Before
Figure 2. After
For Administrators: These improvements are on by default for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations required.
Watch a video about Learning Modules enhancements
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Learning Modules enhancements shows the latest changes applied to Learn Ultra Learning Modules including forced sequence.
Automatic grades release for 3rd party tools using LTI Advantage - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1 MH/SH
Original & Ultra Experience, Original & Ultra Course Views
Impact: Instructors and Students
We support the latest interoperability standards for adding 3rd-party apps into your courses. We use LTI Advantage from IMS Global. In the past, scores from integrated apps would not auto-post in Ultra Course View. This required instructors to act so students could see their grades.
The specification for LTI Advantage was ambiguous about how to handle grade visibility. We partnered with the IMS organization to update the standard. Now the LTI Advantage / LTI v1.3 tools can define whether grades should auto-post to students.
Updated behavior for tools
- Ultra Course View: We now default to auto-post grades for LTI Advantage tools. Instructors will not have to remember to post grades. One exception exists when a tool indicates that grades should not post to students.
- Original Course View: The behavior for LTI Advantage tools remains unchanged. Grades auto-release when the tool sends scores. One exception exists when the Grade Center column is not visible.
New capability for tools
We also now support the ability for an LTI Advantage tool to manage the release of grades. When appropriate, grades auto-post to students. TurnItIn, for example, plans to use this approach in an upcoming release.
- Ultra Course View: If a tool sets that grades should not auto-post, scores sent to the Learn Gradebook only display to instructors. Instructors can choose to post grades for students, or the tool can auto-release grades later.
- Original Course View: If a tool sets that grades should not auto-post, scores sent to the Learn Grade Center appear behind a “Needs Grading” status indicator. Students and instructors see that students have submitted work but not the result. When the tool releases grades, all students will see their scores.
The improvements in this release are specific to LTI Advantage/LTI 1.3 tools. Behavior for older LTI 1.1 tools remains unchanged. For older LTI 1.1 tools in Ultra Course View, new scores sent from tools are always auto posted.
For developers and tool providers: LTI Advantage has a new Line Item attribute - gradesReleased. You can specify it in a Deep Linking message or an Assignment and Grades service call. You only need to update your tool if you want to send scores to Learn but release them to students later. The default value for gradesReleased is true if you do not specify the attribute. When set to false, students will not see scores sent to the gradebook. When the attribute is true, students see current scores and future updates. If you use the gradesReleased=false attribute and want to maintain compatibility with Original Course View, you will need to manage the release of grades. Instructors do not have a post action in Original Course View to release grades. Instructors do have the post action in Ultra Course View.
Microsoft OneDrive - Document Linking - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View, Original Experience, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors and Students
We have partnered with Microsoft to create a new LTI integration for OneDrive. Once enabled, this integration can be accessed within the Ultra Course View and the Original Course View. This new intuitive workflow allows instructors to add OneDrive files to:
- the Course Content area
- Learning Modules
- Folders
Document linking for Microsoft OneDrive is important for many reasons.
- Document linking provides a link to a document instead of duplicate copies of a file in courses. This helps reduce storage space used.
- Linking allows instructors to edit a single document. All links to the file reflect the most current version of the document. This approach provides greater efficiency and saves the instructor time.
- The OneDrive integration enables instructors to edit the file from an Ultra course and Original course. This is a time saver for instructors.
- Instructors access and manage OneDrive storage from within Learn. This provides a centralized and at-your-fingertips location for access and management.
- Students can access and manage their own OneDrive storage from within Learn. Students can submit content from OneDrive using the rich text editor in Learn. This option provides greater choice and flexibility for content sharing.
The instructor may need to sign into a Microsoft account to view and select files. After adding the OneDrive file, the instructor may rename the file link in the course. The instructor can control the student visibility/availability setting. The instructor can enter full screen to edit the content of the file. When selecting this option, a new browser tab opens, and the file will be editable.
Figure 1. Add a OneDrive file to the Course Content.
Figure 2. Select the OneDrive file.
Figure 3. To change the name of the file and set visibility, select the file.
Figure 4. After changing the title and visibility, the instructor can modify the contents of the file by selecting the "Full Screen" option.
Figure 5. The instructor can make edits as desired.
The student has a read-only view of the file in the course.
Other existing LTI options in the course remain unchanged:
- Content Market (Ultra)
- Books and Tools (Ultra)
- Rich text editor (Ultra and Original)
- Build Content (Original)
- Course Tools (Original)
For Administrators: Please register the LTI Tool Provider in the Administrator Panel.
Watch a video about OneDrive documents integration within Learn Ultra
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: OneDrive Integrations shows how to open a document from Microsoft OneDrive within any Learn course content.
Sticky Test Header - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Test taking can be a stressful experience. We have designed a new test header to improve the student's testing experience. The new header provides students with key information to inform their test-taking strategy. The new header displays the following helpful information:
- a progress bar,
- the number of answered questions out of the total questions in the test or assignment,
- and time remaining if the instructor has set a time limit.
The header is sticky, meaning that it is always visible as a student navigates the test. This header also appears in assignments that include questions.
Figure 1. Before
Figure 2. After
For Instructors and Administrators: This feature is on by default for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations required.
Watch a video about the new sticky test header
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Sticky Test Headers shows the new look and permanent position of test headers in Learn Ultra.
Automatic cleanup of user-created archive and export packages - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1 MH/SH
Original and Ultra Experience, Original and Ultra Course Views
Impact: Users with permission to create course packages (Administrators; in some cases, instructors, course builders, and other privileged users)
Export and archive packages within a course will now have auto-delete settings. This automatic cleanup enables institutions to reduce storage space used. The auto-cleanup also allows administrators to control storage growth. This also saves time and reduces frustration for administrators.
In the past, all packages remained in the course until the deletion of the packages or the course. The retention of the course packages resulted in extensive storage usage.
Existing user-generated course packages will be set to expire in 90 days from the 3900.34 upgrade. This gives more time to copy packages to external storage if needed. In the course package list view, the expiry date for these packages will reflect a 90-day expiry. Packages are deleted on the expiry day.
Course packages created after the upgrade to 3900.34 will expire and auto-delete 30 days after the creation date.
We will notify users of this behavior in three ways:
- When creating the package, the interface informs the user of this time constraint.
- The notification that a package is ready to download informs the user of the time constraint.
- In the course package list view for the course, the removal date displays for each package.
This improvement does not change the way administrators delete courses. These changes only apply to the export/archive packages stored within the course. There are no changes to the behavior of automatic archive creation or deletion.
For Administrators: Please leverage your own communication channels to reinforce this change to affected users.
Access automatic archive packages from within courses - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Original and Ultra Experience, Original and Ultra Course Views
Impact: Administrators, others to whom admins grant permissions
In SaaS, daily archives are auto created for active courses. Administrators can retrieve lost data from these archives. These archives are available for 30 days. Now privileged users can now access and download archive packages from the course. The daily archives often lessen the need for other users to create their own packages. This change in access reduces storage space used. The access change saves time and reduces frustration for privileged users and administrators.
For Administrators:
- This permission is not on by default for instructors. Required permission: Course/Organization Control Panel (Packages and Utilities) > Archive Course/Organization, including user passwords
- Automatic archive packages include highly sensitive personal information for users. If you use the default authentication type in Learn, the package includes an encrypted version of users' passwords. When this is the case, we recommend that you do not enable this feature for instructors.
- The password values in the Learn database pose no security risk if you use an identity provider (IdP) for authentication (e.g., SAML/LDAP) without fallback to the default Learn authentication.
- We recommend that you review policies about storing and handling sensitive personal data. These archives contain highly sensitive data. Please ensure it is appropriate to grant users privileges to access these archives.
- There are no changes to the restore process with this enhancement. Only administrators can retrieve user data through a restore process. We always recommend restoring courses into a non-production environment. This helps to ensure no disruption to current courses/users in production.
API Updates:
Adaptive Release API Support: User Predicate APIs and Group Predicate APIs (Ultra and Original) - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Impact: All clients and partners
Instructors value the option to release course content according to various criteria. Using APIs, developers can now manage the release of content by group membership. Added with this release are PUTs endpoints:
- one that will receive a list with only the userId set
- one that will receive a list with only the groupId set
For more information about our REST Public APIs, please explore the Learn API at: https://developer.blackboard.com/portal/displayApi
Highlight on bug fixes - 3900.34.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
The bug fixes in this Learn release include:
-
Date picker uses the default server time zone rather than the user’s time zone: The date/time selector for course duration on course management pages uses the default server time zone rather than the user’s time zone.
This applies to course properties management:- in the administrator panel
- in course settings for the Original Course View when instructors have access to course properties
- To provide greater clarity, we have added a time zone indicator to display the time zone that applies. For example, a Learn environment with a default time set to US Eastern Standard Time (EST) would display UTC –05:00.
Integration behaviors remain unchanged:
- course duration times set through REST APIs should use UTC
- times set through SIS Framework should use server default time.
Also, users can configure the availability dates with hours precision from the user interface. This configuration does not affect the integrations.
-
Notifications are not created for some users: In the past, because of performance reasons, we omitted notifications for users with 500 or more enrollments. Now if the number of enrollments for a user falls below 500, the notifications resume. Please remember that this process will run only every 24 hours.
-
Unable to change course role in Ultra courses due to "Save" button disabled: Users with the appropriate privileges were unable to save role changes made in other users' profiles. The issue was that the "Save" button was disabled. We have corrected this behavior.
You can view all maintenance items on 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. You can view the 3900.34.0 maintenance issues details on Behind the Blackboard.
Learn SaaS release 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.32.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 11 January 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 10 February 2022.
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.32.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.32.0-rel.35+f6a6242 to Production servers on 17 February 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
February 2022 – 3900.32 Release
The February 2022 - 3900.32.0 release includes several new features.
Instructors:
- prohibit late submissions and new attempts after due date
- granular course copy in an Ultra course now includes content from Original courses
Instructors and students:
- add text guidance and a short audio clip for name pronunciation
Administrators:
- branded URLs in scheduled notification emails for institutions using domain branding
- three other improvements, an API update, and several bug fixes.
Prohibit late submissions and new attempts after due date - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors may set both a due date and a time limit on an assessment. The Ultra experience accepts and marks "late" submissions received after the due date. But depending on the situation, instructors may want to enforce a due date and/or a time limit on an assessment. In some cases, the due date is not a strict deadline, but the time limit is. In other cases, the time limit is less of a concern, but the student must complete the assessment by a specific date. There may be times when enforcement of both the due date and time limit is important.
Robust assessment settings are necessary to support a range of different scenarios. These settings are also important for academic integrity and honesty in courses. Two new assessment settings are now available. These settings give instructors more control over due dates and time limits.
New Settings for Tests and Assignments:
- "Prohibit late submissions" - Select this setting to enforce a hard deadline and disallow a late submission. In-progress and saved attempts will auto-submit at the due date. Students will receive a submission receipt via email. Specified accommodations are still honored.
- "Prohibit new attempts after due date" - Select this setting to prevent students from beginning a new attempt after the due date.
Note that selecting "Prohibit late submissions" auto-enables "Prohibit new attempts after due date." But an instructor can enable the "Prohibit new attempts after due date" option on its own. This supports a scenario when students should have the full amount of time available on a timed test. In this scenario, we assume that the due date is of less importance. A student can resume any attempt saved before the due date passes. This supports a scenario where the student experiences a disruption during the assessment. Students who submit an attempt after the due date will have their submission marked as late.
If an instructor enables the due date and/or time limit, students see these details. These details appear in the Details & Information section for the assessment.
Scenario examples – 1-hour timed test due today at 6:00 PM
Scenario 1 – "Prohibit late submissions" enabled:
Instructor settings:
Student view:
When starting a 1-hour timed test less than 1-hour before the due date:
- Students starting an attempt before 5:00 PM today will have the full 1-hour time limit available.
- Students starting an attempt after 5:00 PM today will not have the full 1-hour time limit available to them. For example, a student who starts the test at 5:15 PM will only have 45 minutes available.
- Attempts not submitted before the 6:00 PM deadline will auto-submit at the due date.
- No new attempts can begin after the 6:00 PM deadline.
- Students with accommodations can continue working past the due date. Their attempt will not be auto-submitted.
Scenario 2 - "Prohibit new attempts after due date" enabled on its own:
Instructor settings:
Student view if the due date has passed:
- Students starting an attempt before 5:59 PM today will have the full 1-hour time limit available.
- Students who submit an attempt after 6:00 PM today will have their submission marked as late.
- No new attempts can begin after the 6:00 PM.
- Students with accommodations can continue working past the due date. Their attempt will not be auto-submitted.
Limitations:
"Prohibit late submissions" does not work in combination with:
- Peer review
- Group submissions
- Offline submissions
- LTI tools
"Prohibit new attempts after due date" setting enabled on its own does not work with:
- Peer review
- Offline submissions
- LTI tools
Pronunciation display and recording - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience (pronunciation description only)
Impact: All users
When enabled, all users can add text guidance and an audio recording of their name to their user profile. Users can use the text guidance to describe the pronunciation of their names for other users. Users can record the pronunciation of their name. The recording tool counts down to when the recording begins. The recording may be up to 20 seconds long.
If enabled, text guidance and audio recordings appear with pronouns in these locations:
Assessments
- Group Assessments
- A user can see group pronunciation information in the overview panel.
- A user can see group members’ pronunciation information while taking the assessment.
- Peer Review
- A user entitled to see peer reviewers’ names can see their pronunciation information. This information displays above their feedback when viewing a student’s attempt.
Course Roster
- Roster
- Users can see other users’ pronunciation information in the course roster view.
- User Management
- A user can see pronunciation information when searching for users to enroll.
- A user can see a user’s pronunciation information when editing users in the course roster.
- A user can see a user’s pronunciation information when editing their accommodations.
Communication Tools
- Discussions
- Users can see other users’ pronunciation information with their responses.
- Messages
- Users can see other users’ pronunciation information when searching for message recipients.
- Users can see other users’ pronunciation information in the message panel.
Gradebook
- Instructors and graders can see users’ pronunciation information in the grid view.
- Students can see their own pronunciation information when viewing their own grades.
Groups
- A user can see the pronunciation information of users in a group.
- Instructors can see the pronunciation information of students in the group management view.
User profile
- A user can see their own pronunciation information in their profile page.
- A user can see their own pronunciation information when editing their profile.
System administrators should configure this feature. Define preferences from the Customize User Information option in the Users section. Enabling the audio recording option also enables the textual pronunciation description. We have designed this rule for accessibility reasons. You may choose to manage the pronunciation description field through data integration.
Providing this functionality to all users is important to us. We will complete this feature work for other experiences in an upcoming release.
Base Navigation and Original Course View:
For now, if enabled, users can create audio recordings of their name pronunciation. Users may also add a pronunciation description. The pronunciation description appears to users who have privileges to edit others’ profiles. The information will not appear to students in courses.
Original Experience and Learn 9.1:
For now, administrators can enable a text field for pronunciation description. Users may add a pronunciation description. The pronunciation description displays to those with privileges to edit other users’ profiles. Pronunciation information will not display to students in courses.
Known issue in Safari browser:
There is a known issue creating or playing pronunciation recordings in Safari. The issue is because of a mismatch of compression codecs that Safari supports. Safari users will receive warnings about the issue in the interface.
Granular Course Copy - Copy from Original - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: Instructors
Instructors now have the option to copy content from Original courses to an Ultra course. This enhancement to course copy provides efficiencies and greater flexibility for reusing content. This will save time and reduce frustration when building a course.
The course copy procedure and process remain the same. The Copy Content menu now includes both Original and Ultra courses. Instructors may choose to copy all or select content. If the system encounters a problem with content copy an error report will appear. The details will provide more information about why the content failed to copy.
Supported content types are as follows:
- folders
- documents
- tests, including group tests
- assignments, including group assignments
- links to websites
- SCORM packages
- discussions and journals
More detailed information on supported content types is available.
Branded URLs in Scheduled Notification Emails - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Impact: All Users
Some institutions use domain branding. Different authentication providers (IdPs) have an association with a specific domain. When this is the case, notification emails reflect the domain in the URL for each individual user. This functionality provides support for all authentication types for each individual user. When a user clicks into a notification email, they will now authenticate to that domain.
System administrations do not need to take any action. This update is structural only. Changes apply only to emails sent per the notification settings that each user has made.
Other improvements - 3900.32.0
Force Completion changes to better support Multiple Attempt Tests
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Impact: Instructors, Students
In Original Course View, enabling Force Completion on a test or survey has new behaviors. The Force Completion option now requires a time limit and automatic submission. We made this change to enforce the submission of incomplete or abandoned attempts. This change is important so that instructors can access and grade these attempts. Instructors may also create a multiple attempt assessment with the Force Completion option. This change ensures that students can now start new attempts in this scenario.
Gender Field update: Other
Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Impact: All users
We have updated the gender field to include a new parameter for "other." This change is important as we strive to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in Learn. As part of this work, we have updated REST APIs and SIS Frameworks to map a value of "X" to "other." As a categorical field, gender is primarily important for institutional reporting. The gender field is an option for inclusion in two Learn reports:
- Enterprise Surveys
- Outcomes reports
Note for Administrators: We recommend that administrators do not enable the gender field. Instead, enable the pronouns option for personal expression in teaching and learning. Pronouns provide a more valuable option for self-expression when interacting with course members.
Text on Page update: Exceptions setting consistency
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: Instructors
In the Assessment view list, the descriptive text reads "Edit settings." In the Submission view, the descriptive text reads "Exceptions." We updated both texts, which now read "Add or edit exceptions." This change provides a more consistent experience and improves clarity. We also changed the title of the peek panel. The title was "Edit Submission Settings" but is now "User or Group Exceptions."
Content Editor improvements for Original Course View
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
- Pasting from Google Docs now gives an option to keep styling or simplify the HTML.
- Users can move the spellchecker window so that it does not cover the text the user is checking for errors.
- Missing icons for table row and column cut/copy/paste will now appear.
API updates: Adaptive/Conditional Release API Support - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Impact: All clients and partners
Instructors value the option to release course content according to various criteria. Using APIs, developers can now manage the release of content by group membership.
For more information about our REST Public APIs, please explore the Learn API at: https://developer.blackboard.com/portal/displayApi
Highlight on bug fixes - 3900.32.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
The bug fixes in this Learn release include:
- Future courses shown as "ended" to students: When a student tried to access a course that began on a future date, the student received this error:
"This course has ended. You can no longer access this course."
This message is now updated to provide clearer information.
"You can't access this course right now. Your instructor will allow access when the course is ready." - Students received error when trying to access group assessment:
When a student tried to access a group assessment, the student received this error:
"Oops! Something went wrong. Please reload the page."
We corrected this error. Students can now access the group assignment as expected. - Incorrect submission date on assignment submission receipt:
The assignment submission receipt included the timestamp when the student started the attempt. The timestamp now shows the time/date the student submitted the attempt. - Feedback was not saved if the instructor did not click save before updating and saving the grade:
Feedback was not saved if the instructor did not click save before updating and saving the grade. This problem occurred only in Ultra courses. We have corrected this error. Both the grade and feedback save as expected.
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 3900.32.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.
Learn SaaS release 3900.30.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.30.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 December 2021 | Release to Production: Thursday, 6 January 2022.
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
For full feature details please see the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.30 version included below on this page. Details can be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.30.0-rel.39+97a2be2 to Production servers on 24 of January 2022.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
Bb Annotations: Save preferences / Settings
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery | Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View, Original Course View, Original Experience
For this improvement, we constantly work with our partners to align the product functionality with the pillars of efficiency and pedagogy, now we are pleased to present this update for Bb Annotate tool, available for both Original and Ultra Courses which is built around the common and really used workflow: the grading process.
Since the initial deployment of Bb Annotate, we have identified that saving preferences is a great need for instructors and grading roles, avoiding the need to reset common preferences when switching from submission to submission. For this release, we will be able to go through the inline grading process in the Course, saving common preferences for Annotation tools, and having the possibility to save custom Stamps to add to the submissions, these new functionalities are user-defined, which means that user preferences and custom stamps will persist through all courses.
With this release, we help our instructors and grader roles to improve their productivity, decreasing work time in a “do it once and then forget” way and encouraging the use of the application as a preferred tool for feedback.
Enhancement is going to be out in January, the exact date may differ from the release update and even be different across regions. This improvement will be released to client Production environments with the 3900.30.0 release.
Assist disclaimers for third-party tools
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.30.0 | Release to Test/Stage and Production 6 January 2022
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
The Assist updates are micro-service changes that will affect all Test/Stage and Production instances on the same day. On this first launch for a third-party tool, as a user, you'll see and need to accept a legal disclaimer anywhere Assist is used. You can set later not to see the disclaimer again for each tool.
Ally File Transformer in Blackboard Assist (global availability)
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.30.0
Ultra Experience, Original Experience, Base Navigation, and Blackboard App
The Ally File Transformer helps students to personalize their learning experience. It can convert files into alternative formats that better fit their needs, devices, and learning preferences. Ally File Transformer, as a free part of Blackboard Assist, is available by default but can be turned off.
- Available at no cost with Blackboard Assist enabled. An Ally license is not required.
- It converts files to alternative, more accessible formats including HTML, ePub, electronic braille, audio, BeeLine reader and to a PDF that’s undergone optical character recognition (OCR).
- For institutions licensing Ally, the Ally File Transformer allows students to convert their own files or files they've found via research or project work.
- The Ally File Transformer comes automatically with Blackboard Assist. There is an option to turn it off, if preferred, in the Administrator Panel > Partner Cloud Settings.
Previously available for North American higher education clients, the Ally File Transformer will now be available with Blackboard Assist for clients globally on January 6. Blackboard Assist is available for all Learn SaaS clients except for US K12.
Blackboard Assist (business/government availability)
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.30.0
Ultra Experience, Original Experience, Base Navigation, and Blackboard App
Assist offers your learners one central hub within Blackboard Learn to find and access the services they need to flourish. Previously, Blackboard Assist was not available to clients with business or government licenses. From January 6, 2022 these clients will also have the chance to enable Assist.
Enable Blackboard Assist within Blackboard Learn and you will:
- Give learners one place to find vital support services: Blackboard Assist’s prominent placement in Blackboard Learn helps make learners increasingly aware of all connected support resources.
- Get learners to take advantage of available services: Blackboard Assist’s around-the-clock availability through both the desktop and Blackboard app means that learners can access these support resources whenever and wherever they need them. Featuring services offers an additional way to capture your learners’ attention.
- Gain access to Ally File Transformer: Blackboard’s Ally File Transformer helps learners to personalize their learning experience. It can convert files into alternative formats that better fit their needs, devices, and learning preferences.
