See what's new in the SaaS Admin Panel.

The following table identifies what changes and what stays the same in the Administrator Panel when you migrate to Blackboard Learn SaaS. We've also outlined what changes when you enable the Ultra experience.

What does it mean?

  • Unchanged: The feature behaves exactly the same is it did in Blackboard Learn 9.1.
  • Restrictions or moved: The feature behaves mostly as before with some modifications due to the redesign of the Ultra experience.
  • Original Course View only: The feature or configuration applies only to courses using the Original Course View.
  • Does not apply: The configuration option still appears, but doesn't work in the Ultra experience yet.
  • Removed: The feature is no longer available in SaaS deployment of Blackboard Learn.
Feature Changes
Feature Description

User Management
Users Unchanged: No changes to how you create, modify, and delete users.

Restriction: At this time, observers can't access associated users after you enable the Ultra experience, and guests are only allowed access to the Original Course View.
Institution Roles Unchanged: No changes to how you manage these roles. Institution role privileges don't apply to unavailable tools.
System Roles Unchanged: No changes to how you configure these roles. System role privileges don't apply to unavailable tools.
Course/Organization Roles Original Course View only: Custom roles and privileges you assign will only apply to users enrolled in the Original Course View.

You can assign Ultra Course View instructors the privileges of enroll, create, and invite at this time. Facilitation privileges may apply to both Original and Ultra.

Course Management
Courses Unchanged: No changes to how you create, modify, and delete courses.

Restriction: Some course settings apply only to the Original Course View such as enrollment options, language packs, banners, and guest access.
Course Settings Most of these settings apply to the Original Course View only.

Exception: In Default Course Properties, you can choose the Default Course View to Original, Ultra, or Instructor Choice.
Course/Organization Catalog Does not apply: You can create course categories, but they don't currently appear anywhere in the Ultra experience.
Terms Unchanged: No change to how you organize courses using term information. Courses organized by terms appear in the appropriate section on the Courses page in the Ultra experience. Learn more about course terms.

Communities
Institutional Hierarchy Unchanged: No change to how you create, modify, and delete course and personal relationships. You can still search and find them.

Restriction: While you can define tab and module relationships, they're not reflected in the Ultra experience.
Tabs and Modules Does not apply: When you enable the Ultra experience, your users don't navigate using tabs and modules.
Brands and Themes Removed in the Ultra experience: Brands and Themes have been removed. The Customize Login Page option remains accessible from the Administrator Panel.
Discussion Boards Does not apply: When you enable the Ultra experience, your users no longer can access institution-wide discussion boards.
Institution Branding Ultra experience only: Update your institution logo in the Communities module. You can add your institution logo to the Ultra login page and the base navigation.
Domains Unchanged: No change to how you use domains to define administrative access to objects.

Restriction: When you enable the Ultra experience, users with administrative access no longer have tabs and modules.
Customize Login Page Moved: You can customize and style the login page. In the Ultra experience, you can find the Customize Login Page option in the Communities module. This page was previously under Brands and Themes in the Original experience.

Cloud Management
Cloud Connector Unchanged: No change to how you configure the Cloud Connector.
Blackboard Open Content Settings Restriction: Open content applies to the Original Course View only.
Partner Cloud Settings Unchanged.
Content Management Unchanged: Users can access the Content Collection from Tools in the base navigation in the Ultra Experience. Instructors can access the Content Collection in both the Original and Ultra Course Views.

Security
Privileges Unchanged: No change to how you manage privileges.

Restriction: When you enable the Ultra experience, some privileges may not apply.
Gateway Options Does not apply.
Safe HTML Filters Unchanged.

Integrations
Data Integration Unchanged.
Authentication Unchanged.

Restriction: You can't install new authentication types, but you can configure the available authentication providers or contact Support for help installing custom solutions.
Building Blocks Unchanged: How you enable and configure building blocks hasn't changed.

Restriction: You can't install new building blocks. Full building block support is available with the Learn SaaS Plus or Advantage deployment options.
Web Services Unchanged: No change to how you manage web services.

Restriction: You can't add additional SOAP web services.

Tools and Utilities
Goals and Assessments Unchanged: No change to how you manage goals and assessments. You can align goals and collect evidence in both course views.
Enterprise Surveys Unchanged: No change to how Enterprise Surveys work.

Restriction: Course evaluation invitations sent as announcements appear only in the Original Course View. For the Ultra Course View, the invitation appears in the stream.
Email Original Course View only.
Language Packs Unchanged. Available in both course views. You can create and edit locales in the Learn user interface after enabling the Ultra experience.
System Reporting Unchanged.
Logs Restriction: System Logs are accessible in the Content Collection.
Avatars Changed: You have two options for avatars in the Ultra experience.

Option 1: Users upload their own avatar images. If a user hasn't uploaded one, a system-generated avatar is used.

Option 2: Administrator uploads avatars. When an avatar is missing, a system-generated avatar is used.

The previous method for uploading avatars required server access. In the Ultra experience, you can use an option through the user interface to upload avatar images.
Portfolios Changed: Users access portfolios from Tools in the base navigation.

Restriction: Instructors can use portfolio assignments only in the Original Course View. In the Ultra Course View, students need to use a workaround. First, they need to share the portfolio, then provide the portfolio link.
Achievements Original Course View only.
Spell Check Dictionaries Original Course View only.
Rubrics, for outcomes assessment Changed: Users can also access rubrics from Tools > Goals in the base navigation.