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Learn SaaS release 3900.106.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.106.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 26 November 2024 | Release to Production: Thursday, 5 December 2024
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.106.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found on Anthology Global Support.
Latest release: 3900.106.0-rel.53+be172ea to Production servers to take place on 19 December 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Anthology Global Support.
The December 2024 - 3900.106 release is robust with features in 8 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Communication and collaboration;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Integrations;
- Learn core and security; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- AI Design Assistant: rubric generation improvements
- Moodle conversion improvement: images in question text
- Improvements to grading assignments: New labels for late submissions
- Grade override improvements
- Group management: performance improvements
Instructors and Students:
Students:
Instructors and Administrators
Administrators:
- Deploy Role Play separately from Socratic Questioning for AI Conversation
- Copy items from courses improvement
- Performance Goals Scale via Public REST API
- Additional Grader Information for Grade Export Tool
All users:
Instructional Design
Deploy Role Play Separately from Socratic Questioning for AI Conversation – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: AI Design Assistant and Unsplash Configuration
We listened to your feedback and adjusted the AI Conversation toggle in the administrator panel. Previously, Socratic Questioning had to be turned on so that Role Play could be selected. Administrators can now choose to deploy Role Play separately from Socratic Questioning.
Image 1. The AI Design Assistant and Unsplash configuration screen
For administrators: Turning AI Conversation off after deployment will stop AI Conversation services. Therefore, any AI Conversation activities visible to students won't operate as expected.
Video Studio: skip to a specific part of a recording - 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related Topic: Video Studio (instructor page), Video Studio (student page), Video Studio (administrator page)
In Video Studio, users can skip to a specific part of a recording, giving them more control over viewing. By selecting a time stamp in the transcript, the recording plays from the time selected.
For example, a student who views a recorded lecture can skip forward to a specific portion of the video. They can also replay any part of the video by selecting the desired timestamp in the transcript.
Image 1: Select a timestamp on the transcript and the recording plays from that part of the video
For Administrators: Video Studio is a premium solution. We are offering customers a free trial until June 30, 2025. This trial provides access to the full version of Video Studio. Video Studio is set to OFF as a default in test/stage environments. If you want to enable it in your institution’s production environment, you can do that for free until the end of June 2025. In the Administrator Panel, select Configure in The Ultra Experience is Here! module. Select Enable creating/uploading videos using Video Studio. Beyond this date, your institution will have to purchase Video Studio to continue using it.
Group Management: Performance Improvements– 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Create and Manage Groups
Groups are an important part of managing students in a course, especially in large courses. We improved performance so saving groups is now 80%-90% quicker. This gives instructors more time for other course activities.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Navigation Added for LTI and SCORM Items within Learning Modules – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Related Topic: Learning Modules
Instructors use learning modules to guide student progress through diverse types of course content. For easier navigation, students can now select arrows to the left and right of LTI or SCORM items to move through learning modules.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
AI Design Assistant: Rubric Generation Improvements – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: AI Design Assistant
We optimized our AI Design Assistant rubric generation. Rubrics generated by the AI Design Assistant will now have more complex outputs. The AI Design Assistant will also work faster. Instructors can expect better rubrics, even for long, complicated assessments.
Image 1. Rubric generated by the AI Design Assistant in 3900.104
Image 2. Rubric generated by the AI Design Assistant in 3900.106
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Collaboration
Discussion Enhancement: New Post Indicator – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Students
Related Topic: Discussions
We added a "New" indicator that displays next to posts and replies that a user has not yet accessed. This helps direct engagement by making new discussion activity easier to find and access.
Image 1. The "New" indicator alongside a post and a reply
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression and Personalized Experience
Link to Attempt Log Added to Activity Log – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Administrators
Related Topic: Student Activity Log
Users may now directly go to the attempt log for any test or assignment from the activity log by selecting the Attempt Log button associated with the item.
Image 1. The new Attempt Log button in the activity log.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Improvements for late submissions – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Grade Assignments with Flexible Grading
To help instructors quickly identify late submissions in the attempt banner, late submissions now have a Late indicator. We also updated the wording from Submitted late <date> to Submitted <date>.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook
Grade override improvements - 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Override Grades
To increase transparency when overriding grades, we added an Override indicator to overridden grades on the Grades & Participation screen for Discussions.
We implemented the Undo Override workflow on the Discussion grading interface, mimicking the Undo Override workflow in the Journal grading interface.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Additional Grader Information for Grade Export Tool – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Grade Export
Exporting grade data helps institutions create reports, perform audits, or integrate with information systems. The Grade Export (v2) tool allows institutions to manage this data exchange in bulk. Gradebook column data in an export file now includes additional information about the last grader for each grade. The name and email of that last grader appear as new columns in the extract file. This indicates the owner of the current grade value. These data enable institutions to follow up on grade questions or create reports on staff task completion. The new column headers in the extract file are:
- User.GRADER_FULLNAME indicates the full name of the last grader of the gradable item.
- User.GRADER_EMAIL indicates the email of the last grader of the gradable item.
For administrators: This data is extracted for all courses, Ultra or Original. There are no configurations needed. Administrators manage the Grade Export (v2) tool by selecting Platform Extensions in Administrator Panel.
Integrations
Performance Goals Scale via Public API – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Course View & Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Blackboard APIs
A new Blackboard public REST API lets developers retrieve the Goal Performance Scale configuration. Third party applications can access the defined performance scale for goals aligned with assessments. Instructors can reference the Goal Performance Scale while working with integrations to better track and analyze student goal performance. Configuration fields include range, label, and color.
Users can access to this information through the following endpoint:
- GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/settings/goalperformance/scale
For administrators: No configurations or specific entitlements needed.
Learn Core & Security
Mobile app sessions renew without requiring authentication – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View & Original Course View
Impact: All users
Related topic: Account Lock
After the Blackboard App 9.11 is released on December 6, 2024, mobile users must update the Blackboard App on their devices to ensure proper functionality. A red banner indicating session expiration will display for any user who does not update their app.
Administrators can now define the maximum length of time a user can access the mobile app before they are required to login again. This time limit is controlled through an authentication token. The token allows the app to automatically renew a session without re-authentication, as long as it hasn't expired.
To set the length of a token, go to the Administrator Tool Panel, select Account Lock Settings, and then Mobile App Token Timeout. By default, the mobile token lifetime is set to the maximum of 336 hours (about 2 weeks). The minimum setting is 1 hour.
Image 1. Mobile Token Timeout configuration from Administrator Tool Panel
For administrators: The verification process that ends inactive sessions runs every hour. If Use same value as Inactive Session Timeout is selected, and Maximum Activity is less than 60 minutes, the session timeout may not be precise to that value. However, the session timeout will occur in no more than an hour. For security certifications, select Use same value as Inactive Session Timeout to end sessions in the same timeframe. This option works independently of the type of device used to log in. Use these values for the Inactive Session Timeout: FedRAMP Moderate: 30 minutes; IL4: 25 minutes.
Upgrade to Ultra
Copy Items from Courses Improvement – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Original Course View
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Copy Content from Other Courses
We updated the copy workflow in Blackboard to make copying easier. Now, users with the following privileges can copy from any course that they have access to, even if they’re not enrolled:
- Administrator Panel (Courses) > Courses > Copy Course
- Administrator Panel (Organizations) > Organizations > Copy Organization
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Moodle Conversion Improvement: Images in Question Text – 3900.106
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Original Course View
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Migrate from Moodle
Images in quiz questions are now preserved during conversion from Moodle to Blackboard. Previously, images were not retained during the conversion process
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.104.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.104.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 5 November 2024 | Release to Production: Thursday, 7 November 2024
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.104.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found on Anthology Global Support.
Latest release: 3900.104.0-rel.36+1656a6c to Production servers to take place on 28 November 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Anthology Global Support.
Instructional Design
Role play option for AI Conversation– 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: AI Conversation
We expanded our AI Conversation feature to include a role play option. Role play can enhance learning by providing active learning opportunities. Role play also encourages critical thinking. It also provides an opportunity for students to apply knowledge in a simulated environment.
For example, a student could role play a doctor by speaking to a patient, played by the AI persona. In this scenario, a student gains practical experience in a safe environment for experimentation.
Instructors customize the AI persona by giving it a name and image. Instructors also define the AI persona's personality traits and select the complexity of the responses.
Instructors should always preview an AI conversation before releasing the activity to students. AI tools can hallucinate and introduce bias. It is important to ensure that instructions are clear and that the AI persona responds in an expected and appropriate way.
We also introduced a stepped setup. This approach makes it easier for instructors to select the type of conversation and define the topic, student role, and AI persona.
Image 1. Select the conversation type
Image 2. Describe the conversation and define the student’s role
Image 3. Set up the AI persona
For administrators: For more information on how to enable AI Conversation, visit our page for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash Configuration. AI Conversation must be on before you can select the Role play option. Note that toggling AI Conversation off after deployment stops AI Conversation services. Therefore, any AI Conversation activities visible to students will not operate as expected.
Video Studio: Viewing controls for captions and transcription – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, students
Related Topic: Video Studio (instructor page), Video Studio (student page), Video Studio (administrator page)
In Video Studio, users can control the display of captions and transcription.
Control captions display
Video Studio makes recordings more accessible by automatically displaying captions. To accommodate diverse learner preferences, individual users turn captions on or off. For example, a student can close the auto-generated captions if they do not want to view them. To turn off captions, select the captions button next to the progress bar at the bottom of the video.
Image 1. Option to enable captions
Control transcript display
Video Studio also automatically generates a transcript for created or uploaded recordings. As with captions, students can control the display of the transcript.
To view the transcript, select the transcript button next to the progress bar at the bottom of the video.
Image 2. Display control for transcript
Students can view the transcript in-line and in full screen in Documents when videos are displayed three and four columns wide. When videos are one to two columns wide, the transcript displays in full screen.
For Administrators: Video Studio is a premium solution. We are offering customers a free trial until June 30, 2025. This trial provides access to the full version of Video Studio. Video Studio is set to OFF as a default in test/stage environments. If you want to enable it in your institution’s production environment, you can do that for free until the end of June 2025. In the Administrator Panel, select Configure in The Ultra Experience is Here! module. Select Enable creating/uploading videos using Video Studio. Beyond this date, your institution will have to purchase Video Studio to continue using it.
Video Studio improvements – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topics: Video Studio (admin page), Video Studio (instructor page)
We have enhanced Video Studio to improve the user experience for instructors. Instructors can now:
Edit video title
Instructors can edit the title of an audio/video recording or uploaded file after it is saved to the Document.
While editing the document, the instructor can select the pencil icon from the top left of the video block.
Image 1. Video title edit option
After the instructor selects the pencil icon, the previously uploaded video displays in the Upload Video screen.
Image 2. Field to edit video title
Device selection
With Video Studio, instructors can select the device used to record video and audio. By selecting the dropdown menu options for camera, mic, and screen, an instructor can choose from any connected devices on their computer.
Image 3. Select device
Retry a failed video upload
If an instructor uploads a file in Video Studio and the upload fails, they can select Retry upload at the top right corner of the screen or Retry next to the Upload process bar.
Image 4. Retry options if upload fails
For Administrators: Video Studio is a premium solution. We are offering customers a free trial until June 30, 2025. This trial provides access to the full version of Video Studio. Video Studio is set to OFF as a default in test/stage environments. If you want to enable it in your institution’s production environment, you can do that for free until the end of June 2025. In the Administrator Panel, select Configure in The Ultra Experience is Here! module. Select Enable creating/uploading videos using Video Studio. Beyond this date, your institution will have to purchase Video Studio to continue using it.
Improvement to Resizing Blocks in Documents – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Create Documents
To help with resizing blocks that are vertically tall, we modified the resize handle. Now, instructors can resize a block by selecting the vertical edge of a block. It is not necessary to place the mouse directly over the handle.
Image 1. Resize handle in a Document
For administrators: A configuration option is on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel: “Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts.” The default state is on.
Empty State Indicator for Documents – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Create Documents
We added an empty state indicator to content blocks in Documents. If a content block is empty, text displays to tell instructors to select the block to add content. The empty state indicator doesn’t display outside of the edit mode.
For administrators: A configuration option is on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel: “Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts.” The default state is on.
Skip Link to Course Information – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Related Topic: Accessibility Overview
We added a second skip link to the Course Content page. In addition to the current skip link to tab directly into course items, users can now press the Tab key again to skip to course information. If users don’t use either skip link, they will tab into the course features.
Image 1. Skip link on Course Content page
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Tests & Assignments
Print Tests with questions from Question Pools and other improvements – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Question Pools
Instructors can now print tests that include questions from Question Pools. We also combined the answer key and the corresponding test. This ensures that users always have an answer key that matches the test. We generate the answer key and print it ahead of the test. We also labeled the Answer Key to ensure awareness.
The system generates a different version of the answer key and test each time a test is printed when the test:
- Randomizes questions or answer options
- Includes Question Pools
- Instructors can use the print option to save the answer key and test as a PDF.
Image 1. Printing a test
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Improved performance for assignment file submissions – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Related Topic: Submit Assignments
Working on assignments can be a stressful experience for students. When submitting their work, students need assurance that their files have been successfully attached, received, and stored by Blackboard. They also need to be informed if there is an issue with their submission.
In this release, we've made architectural improvements to mitigate against file corruption and to ensure files are correctly attached during uploads. These updates include:
- Managing Multiple File Uploads: To prevent issues when uploading multiple files, students will now be required to wait for the first upload to completely before attaching additional files.
- File Size Limit Notification: A modal will display a message if a file exceeds the permitted size limit.
- Corrupted File Alerts: In the unlikely event of a student attempts to submit a corrupted file, a modal will notify them of the issue, and the system will alert the instructor.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Collaboration
Indentations Added to Discussions – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related Topic: Discussions
To better distinguish between responses and replies, we added indentation.
Image 1. Indented discussion replies
We removed the delete option for the discussion topic. Instructors can edit discussion topics as needed.
Image 2. Edit option for Discussion Topic
We're improving the usability and appearance of discussions. Areas of focus include navigation, clearer calls to action, updating UI elements, terminology updates, and others. We’ll release small changes in several releases to benefit users as soon as we can make them available.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Observer Access to Documents and Uploaded Files and Media– 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Observers
Related Topic: Observer Role
Observers who mentor students need to access course content to understand what topics a student is learning. Observers can now access uploaded files and media and Documents in their students’ courses.
Observers are limited to the same file permissions that instructors have set for students: view and download, download only, and view only.
Progress tracking must be on for observers to access course content through the Progress tab.
For administrators: Institutions can choose whether observers have access to course content. Access controls are in the Ultra Experience Management area of the Administrator panel.
Download Option for Student Activity Log – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Administrators
Related Topic: Student Activity Log
Instructors and administrators can review the Student Activity Log to troubleshoot or resolve academic disputes. We added the option to download the Student Activity Log as a CSV. All filters applied to the log also apply to the CSV. Only the first 1000 events are downloaded.
Image 1. Student Activity log with Download button
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Enhanced course grades public REST API – Exceptions (Student Attempts) – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Blackboard Learn APIs
We enhanced Blackboard’s public REST API for course grades to improve grading exception management for individual student assessments. Grading exceptions include:
- extending due dates,
- allowing additional attempts, and
- providing more flexible grading options.
Developers can now retrieve parameters for grading exceptions to an individual student's assessment. Developers can also set exception parameters for a user-specific start date, hide date, and other parameters. The attributes are in all the endpoints. The endpoints are:
GET -
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{{courseId}}/gradebook/columns/{columnId}/exceptions/users/{{userId}}
POST - This method is traditionally intended for creating resources. However, there are specific circumstances with the GET due to some technical constraints and the POST for this occasion will be used to retrieve information about the exceptions, the retrieve will be made to a gradebook column (Retrieve all students associated to that column). This is because it allows the request to include detailed parameters in the body, taking advantage of the ability to send more extensive data and without the constraints associated with GET requests url length.
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{{courseId}}/gradebook/columns/{columnId}/exceptions
PUT - This allows users to create or modify an exception for a student.
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{{courseId}}/gradebook/columns/{columnId}/exceptions/users/{{userId}}
DELETE - Deletes the exception for a student.
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{{courseId}}/gradebook/columns/{columnId}/exceptions/users/{{userId}}
If the option is enabled, end users can read and update the assessment's due date, additional attempts, and rescheduled due date.
The required privileges and entitlements for student exception endpoints for course grades API are:
For GET and POST:
- entitlement: course.gradebook-item.exceptions.VIEW
- privilege: Course/Organization Gradebook > Gradebook Item > Exceptions > View Item Due Date Exception
For PUT and DELETE:
- entitlement: course.gradebook-item.exceptions.MODIFY
- privilege: Course/Organization Gradebook > Gradebook Item > Exceptions > Edit Item Due Date Exception
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
New course completion setting in Administrator Panel – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Course Terms
Administrators can now manage course completion through the Administrator Panel.
This gives administrators more control over course access that previously could only be controlled by instructors.
Image 1. The Complete option in the Availability section of the Course Settings page
For Administrators: From the Administrator Panel, select Courses in the Courses module. Choose a course, then select Edit. Under Availability, there is now an option to mark that course as complete. The Complete option in the Administrator Panel only applies to Ultra courses. Selecting Yes for an Original Course only disables notifications and may block other updates in the future for that course.
Mobile app
Blackboard mobile app rebranding – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Original Course View
Impact: All users
To reflect Anthology Inc.’s rebranding efforts, the Blackboard Learn App will now be known simply as the Blackboard App. The change aligns the app with Anthology, Inc.’s rebranding efforts. The Blackboard App has an updated:
- Splash screen
- App icon
- Name
- App description
These changes reflect Anthology’s vision, which is grounded in dedication to customer-centered innovation to inspire student success and institutional growth.
Image 1. Rebranded logos and designs for the Blackboard App
For Administrators: This feature is available for all courses. There are no configurations needed.
Upgrade to Ultra
Brightspace Conversion: Quiz Pools and Quiz Sections – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Administrators
Related Topic: Migrate from D2L Brightspace
Quiz pools are now converted to Blackboard. When quiz sections are converted to Blackboard, quiz sections now become separate pages on tests.
Things to consider about conversion:
- Quiz sections can be nested in Brightspace, but we flatten the nesting structure during conversion. All sections are now at the same level, divided with page breaks.
- Section titles and section text are dropped during the conversion process. We create a page break between sections and questions remain in their converted section.
- The conversion process does not maintain the ordering of questions, sections, and pools. Instructors should review the structure and presentation of converted quizzes.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Batch Edit: Usability Improvement – 3900.104
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Administrators
Related Topic: Batch Edit
"Change dates to a specific date and/or time" is the most popular option used in Batch Edit to change dates in a batch, so it is now the default option. This change simplifies the process for our users and helps instructors to prepare courses for teaching and learning even faster.
Image 1. Edit Dates option in Batch Edit
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.102.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.102.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 17 September 2024 | Release to Production: Thursday, 3 October 2024
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.102.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found on Anthology Global Support.
Latest release: 3900.102.0-rel.33+21f9d21 to Production servers to take place on 31 October 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Anthology Global Support.
October 2024 – 3900.102 Release
The October 2024 - 3900.102 release is robust with features in 9 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Mastery learning and learner pathways;
- Tests and assignments;
- Communication and collaboration;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Integrations;
- Mobile; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Usability improvements for Documents
- Video Studio: Enhanced caption support for uploaded files
- Usability improvement for Knowledge Checks
- Generate question banks
- Quickly access items that need grade reconciliation
- Show unavailable students in the gradebook
- Brightspace conversion improvements
Instructors and Students:
- Award Course Badges with Achievements
- Award Open Badges Automatically with Anthology Milestone
- Enhancements to student submission review page
- Flexible Grading performance improvements
All users:
Instructional Design
Usability improvements for Documents – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Create Documents
We made several usability improvements for Documents.
- For uploaded files, we've restored the default of View and Download in the Edit File Options.
- If there isn’t enough space when resizing blocks with keyboard navigation, the option to expand right is hidden.
- The Redo button now continues to display and function after removing an HTML block.
- The cursor function works as expected when dragging a block.
- We've restored the Content Collection option in the Insert content + in the Content block.
- For institutions that have not enabled support for the Content Designer for Documents, we've restored the option to generate a question bank directly from a Document.
For administrators: A new configuration option is on the Ultra configuration page in the Administrator Panel: “Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts.” The default state is on.
Video Studio: Enhanced caption support for uploaded files - 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Video Studio (admin page), Video Studio (instructor page)
Video Studio gives instructors the ability to easily upload or record audio and video within Documents, creating a more engaging learning experience. We have enhanced the capabilities of Video Studio to help create a more accessible learning environment. Now Video Studio auto-generates captions for all file types.
Video Studio is a premium solution. We are offering customers a free trial until June 30, 2025. This will provide access to the full version of Video Studio as a feature flag. Video Studio is set to OFF as a default in test/stage environments. If you want to enable it in your institution’s production environment, you can do that for free until the end of June 2025. Customers will have to purchase Video Studio to continue to use it beyond this date.
For administrators: For configuration and settings, see the Administrator page for Video Studio.
Usability improvement for Knowledge Checks– 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We modified the default for the Difficulty metric to display as "--" until there is at least one attempt. We also updated the answer instruction text for instructors to align with the instructions given in a test. It now reads "Choose one or more correct answers."
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Mastery Learning and Learner Pathways
Mastery tab in the gradebook – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Administrators
Related Topic: Mastery Tab
This feature will be available on September 17, 2024.
The new Mastery tab in the Gradebook allows instructors and students to see how their activities align with institutional goals. Based on the goal performance scale set by your institution, the tab displays the mastery of each alignment.
The Mastery tab enables instructors to:
- View the level of mastery per alignment for each student.
- View how each student is performing against those alignments.
- Drill down view for individual student mastery performance.
Image 1. The instructor view of the Mastery tab
The Mastery tab enables students to:
- Access a visual display of their mastery performance.
- View specific skills and competencies that they need to master. This insight helps students understand where they should concentrate their efforts. This leads to more targeted and effective learning.
- Access their performance as it relates to each specific criterion. This allows them to identify areas for improvement and work towards mastery.
- Focus on key areas where mastery was not achieved. This fosters a growth mindset and a deeper understanding of the course content.
Image 2. Instructor view of a student’s mastery of goals
The color schema used in the Goal Performance Scale (shown in Image 5) indicates levels of mastery. Instructors can select View Scale to view the Goal Performance Scale from the Mastery tab..
Image 3. Instructor view of the Mastery tab with View Scale selected
Goals tab
Students can drill down on the Goals tab to individual content items to see how goals align with their mastery progress.
Image 4. Student view of details of mastery on the Goals tab
Configuring the Performance Scale (Administrators)
The performance scale is an institutional configuration. This allows for consistent aggregation across courses. It also creates consistency for students in mastery-based programs.
Administrators can configure the number of levels as well as the labels and colors for each.
Image 5. Goal Performance Scale (Administrator only)
Notes:
- Students will always see the Goals tab and instructors will always see the Mastery tab. When there are no goals aligned, the tab will be empty. The Mastery tab will display to other users depending on privileges. If their course role or system role allows them to create or view goal alignment, users will see the tab.
- Users can select the student column header on the Mastery tab to sort students by last name.
- Instructors can preview what the Goals tab will look like for students.
- The calculation method is points-based. To weigh different items, different point values should be assigned. For example, an instructor wants to weigh performance on a rubric criterion ten times greater than a matching question on a test. Therefore, the rubric row should be set to 50 points and the matching question to 5 points.
- The calculation method prioritizes more granular alignments. Priority is given to alignments on individual rubric rows or test questions, and other alignments are then ignored. When the alignments are only on the assessment itself, those alignments will apply to all the assessment’s test questions or rubric criteria.
For administrators: The Administrator panel has a new configuration option on the Ultra Experience Management page: Enable support for Mastery Tab in Gradebook. The default state is OFF. Note that if enabled, students will see the Goals tab even when goals are not aligned to content items. In addition, all instructors will see the Mastery tab. The ability to control this feature at the course level will be available in a future release.
Award Course Badges with Achievements – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topic: Achievements
Achievements is a new capability for Ultra courses to help keep students motivated and congratulate them for their participation in a course. With Achievements:
- Instructors can create course badges and set criteria for students to earn the badges.
- Instructors can view which students earned a course badge.
- Students can review the requirements to earn a course badge.
- Students can view both earned and unearned course badges.
- Leaders can use achievements in Ultra organizations.
Achievements support learning in many ways:
Supports self-directed learning pathways. Instructors can give learners tasks, goals, or quests with clearly defined criteria. Learners have more flexibility in how they approach their activities; they might choose to focus on a particular area of development before moving on to another. This flexibility can replace a set sequence to personalize learning.
Engages and motivates learners. Some learners respond to extrinsic motivations. They feel accomplishment when they complete tasks. Teaching methods can use achievements to add game mechanics to a course.
Adds transparency to learning. Course badges that define the skills and competencies in a course can help students:
- Follow how they’re developing competencies.
- Understand and articulate to others what they’re learning.
With this release, there are two achievement types: course badges and Open Badges.
Create course badges
Users with privileges to manage achievements can:
- Create, publish, and delete course badges.
- Select a badge image from a badge library.
- Set performance criteria for one or more assessments in the course. With multiple performance criterion, students must meet all to earn the course badge.
- Preview how the course badge appears to students.
Image 1. Instructor view of the Achievements tab with saved course badges and the New Course Badge button
Image 2. Instructor view of the new course badge screen where you can set the title, description, badge image, and earning requirements
View recipients of achievements
On the Achievements tab, instructors can view the recipient count for each course badge. Select an achievement to review details about the recipients, including the date and time they earned the course badge. To review the settings for the badge, select Badge Settings.
Image 3. Instructor view of the Recipients tab displays course badge earners
Review achievements as a student
On the Achievements tab, students can review the details of badges and the requirements to earn them. They can also determine which badges they’ve earned, and which remain unearned. When a student earns a badge, the badge displays the date and time the badge was earned.
Image 4. Student view of the Achievements tab with details of earned and unearned course badges
Notes:
- When overall grade or a calculated column is a performance criterion, that calculation itself is not enough to earn the achievement. Students must have scores for all gradable items used for the calculation. This requirement prevents a running total issuing a badge before a student completes all tasks.
- When a gradable item has multiple attempts, it is calculated using one of the following: last attempt, first attempt, highest score, lowest score, or average of all attempts. If you need to change this setting, we recommend doing so before grading submissions. If you change it after grading, calculation updates may not award new achievements to students. If you encounter this issue, you can update student grades again for the item.
- An earned achievement isn’t revoked if an instructor changes a student’s grades.
- Custom badge images aren’t supported in this release.
- Student preview isn’t supported in this release.
- Once an achievement is published, it can’t be changed. If there is a configuration error, delete the achievement and create it again.
- Achievements from Original course view do not convert when copying or importing a course.
- Achievements can’t be copied from one Ultra course to another. We plan to support this in a future release.
- Blackboard sends out events for changes to calculated columns every 4 hours; therefore, Achievements using a calculated column will have a delay before they are awarded.
- For calculated columns, if there are contributing gradable items that are ungraded, any Achievements based on that calculated column will not be issued until all grades are posted.
Considerations for early adoption:
- The Achievements tab appears for all students, even when achievements aren’t used in the course. We plan to improve this in a future release.
- Student preview isn’t supported in this release.
- Course copy for achievements isn’t supported in this release.
- Administrators can restrict who can manage achievements and view recipients of badges. Manage privileges for Achievements in Course Role and System Role configurations.
- The Achievements management pages found in the Administrator panel main page and the Tools area are only for Original. These don’t apply to Achievements in Ultra.
For administrators: This feature is opt-in using the administrator toggle Achievements in Ultra. Enable it in the Ultra configuration page of the administration panel.
Award Open Badges Automatically with Anthology Milestone – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Academic leaders
Achievements in Blackboard can be linked to Open Badges in Anthology Milestone. When linked, earned Open Badges are issued automatically to the student’s profile in Blackboard.
Anthology Milestone is a solution for managing institutional micro-credentials and badges. It can issue transferable Open Badges that offer several benefits for education, professional development, and career advancement:
- Verified and Trustworthy: Transferable Open Badges are digital credentials that are securely checked for authenticity. They prove that the skills and achievements they represent are reliable and recognized by schools and employers.
- Easy to Share: These badges can be shown on different platforms like LinkedIn, personal websites, digital resumes, and social media. This makes it easy for people to keep a consistent record of their skills and achievements, no matter where they work or study.
- Supports Lifelong Learning: Transferable Open Badges allow people to collect and show their skills over time, helping them continue learning throughout their lives.
- Personalized: Individuals can choose and organize their badges to reflect their unique skills, learning experiences, and career goals. They can manage and display their badges with a free Achievement Studio account or transfer them to another system.
- Clear and Trustworthy: The information included in Open Badges makes it clear what skills were demonstrated and how they were assessed.
- Works Across Platforms: Open Badges follow open standards, so they can be used and recognized on different systems and platforms.
- Inclusive: Open Badges can recognize a variety of skills, including those that might not be acknowledged by traditional education, like soft skills, informal learning, and community involvement.
Set up Open Badges with Achievements
An administrator must first set up the Anthology Milestone integration.
Once enabled, users with privileges to manage achievements in Blackboard can:
- Add an Open Badge to a course or organization.
- Set performance criteria required to earn the badge.
Add an Open Badge
On the Achievements tab, select Use Open Badge. Search for and select an Open Badge from Milestone. Then work with the badge like any other. For more information, see Achievements.
Image 1. Instructor view of the Achievements tab with Milestone integration enabled. The Use Open Badge button appears on the tab
Image 2. Instructor view of the Select an Open Badge screen. It displays a list of Open Badges from Milestone
Set performance criteria and preview the badge
After you select an open badge, you can set performance criteria for one or more assessments in the course. With multiple performance criterion, students must meet all to earn the Open Badge.
In the Summary section, you can preview how the Open Badge will appear to students in Blackboard.
Image 3. Instructor view of Earning Requirements where you can set the performance criteria required to earn the Open Badge and preview the how the badge appears for students
Students earning Open Badges
When students earn an Open Badge, they receive an email at the address associated with their Blackboard profile. Students can manage their earned Open Badges using an Achievement Studio account. To manage their Open Badge, the Achievement Studio account profile should include the same email address.
From Achievement Studio, students can:
- View an Open Badge
- Add it to a collection
- Download it
- Get a sharing link
For more information about student tasks in Achievement Studio, see Badges Overview.
Image 4. Student view of an Open Badge in Achievement Studio
Enable Anthology Milestone
If you license Anthology Milestone, you can integrate it into the Achievements tool in Blackboard. When using Ultra courses in Blackboard, instructors and course builders can link performance criteria to Open Badges in Milestone.
Currently, there are not distinct production and test/stage instances of Milestone. Therefore, we recommend only integrating Milestone with your production instance of Blackboard. This is to avoid accidentally issuing authentic Open Badges from a testing environment.
To set up the integration, contact Product Support for Milestone. In the request, provide the following:
- State your request to integrate Milestone with Blackboard.
- Provide the tenant ID of your production Blackboard instance.
- Access the Administrator Panel.
- Navigate to Building Blocks and click the link to list Installed Building Blocks.
- In the context menu for Foundations Connector, select Settings.
- The Tenant ID is second in the list.
Notes:
- Administrators must set up the integration with Milestone.
- Open Badges can be used in Ultra courses and organizations.
- Users without an email address won’t be able to use the Open Badge picker. Students must have an email address in their Blackboard profile to receive Open Badges they earn.
- Any user with privileges to manage achievements can link to Open Badges. We plan to limit this access in a future release.
- An earned achievement isn’t revoked if an instructor changes a student’s grades.
- Deleting an achievement that’s linked to an Open Badge doesn’t delete that badge in Milestone.
- Student preview isn’t supported for earning Open Badges.
For administrators: This feature requires licensing Anthology Milestone. The integration is configured as an LTI tool. A new LTI placement type adds appropriate Open Badge tools into the Achievements tool. This placement type should not be used for other LTI tools.
You can manage the Achievements privileges in Course Role and System Role configurations. In this release, there aren’t separate privileges for users who can set up Open Badges versus course badges using Achievements. You may want to consider a limited rollout of Achievements until we address this with separate privileges in an upcoming release.
Tests & Assignments
Generate question banks - 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Question Banks
Creating questions is time consuming. Instructors now have the option to generate questions in a question bank. Generating question banks from course materials provides inspiration and saves time.
To generate a question bank, select the Auto-generate option from the + on the Question Banks page.
Image 1. Auto-generate a question bank
From the menu, instructors can select content items. These content items provide context for the questions. Instructors can further refine the questions they ask by entering a description of the learning objectives or topic.
Image 2. The context picker for creating new questions
Instructors can select the type of question to generate, such as multiple choice or fill in the blank. The complexity of the questions can also be adjusted. Instructors choose which questions to include in the question bank.
Image 3. The Auto-Generate Question Bank page
For administrators: The option to generate questions only appears for instructors when the tool is on. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate "AI Design Assistant and Unsplash" and select Settings from the dropdown. The default state is off. You must also activate privileges. Assign the “Use AI Design Assistant” privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (for example, Instructor).
Enhancements to student submission review page – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students, Instructors
The student submission review page makes it easier for students to access instructor feedback on their submissions.
We made several enhancements to this page:
- When an instructor selects student preview, they can now access the student submission review page.
- Students can now access offline submissions from this page.
- Students now have a Read more option for overall and attempt feedback.
We also made general usability improvements, including additional labels and other indicators, to help students easily find the information they need.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Collaboration
Email notifications for followed discussions – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Related Topic: Discussions
To encourage participation in discussions, we expanded notifications to include email. Emails are sent when users opt for Email me right away notifications.
Key Enhancements:
User Notification Settings: New notification options allow users to manage their emails for discussions they follow. To help with consistency, these settings align with the user's settings for their activity stream.
- Activity on my responses
- Activity on responses I have replied to
- Responses from instructors
- Responses for followed discussions
- Replies for followed discussions
Administrator Settings: New administrator controls allow institutions to set defaults for user notification settings. These are enabled by default:
- Discussion activity on the current user’s responses
- Discussion activity on responses the current user has replied to
- Discussion responses from instructors
- Discussion responses and replies for followed
Image 1. The notification settings available for the Email me right away option
Image 2. An example of an email for discussion activity
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. However, administrators can change these notification settings to default off, always off, or always on if desired.
Quickly access items that need grade reconciliation – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
With parallel grading, multiple people can share grading responsibilities for a course. For example, an instructor can divide up the grading tasks among teaching assistants and other graders. The designated reconciler reviews all grades and feedback to determine the final grade.
A Needs reconciling section now appears on the gradebook Overview tab. In this section, reconcilers can easily access all items ready for reconciliation.
Image 1. The reconciler's view of the Needs reconciling section on the gradebook Overview tab
This section is hidden when the grader has no items for reconciliation.
Graders can select Reconcile now to open the Submissions tab for the item. They can review grades and feedback from others before determining the final grade.
The Gradebook tab displays an exclamation point when there are items to reconcile or post.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Show unavailable students in the gradebook – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may have students in their courses whose access to Blackboard is temporarily restricted. For example, if a student has a payment pending, an administrator can set the student’s user account as unavailable until the hold is lifted.
In direct response to user feedback, we’ve made changes to how unavailable students appear in the gradebook. Now unavailable students appear in the gradebook for their enrolled courses, but their avatar has a strikethrough to indicate the unavailable status.
Image 1. Instructor view of the gradebook showing an unavailable student
To completely hide unavailable students from their gradebooks, instructors can use the Students Visibility setting introduced in the last release.
When the hide unenrolled students from the gradebook option is turned on, unavailable and unenrolled students are hidden from these gradebook areas:
- Grades page
- Students page
- Calculation student list
- Gradable items student list
- Submission tab for an assessment
- Group Submissions tab for an assessment
- Student Activity tab for an assessment
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Flexible Grading performance improvements – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students, Instructors
We made several adjustments to improve the performance of Flexible Grading. Users will experience faster loading when:
- Scrolling in the Student list (instructors)
- Posting all grades (instructors)
- Viewing the rubric (instructors and students)
For larger classes with more than 2000 enrollments, the Flexible Grading page loads 25% faster!
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Mobile
Email notifications for followed discussions – 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Instructors and students sometimes need to pay special attention to one or more discussions or threads in a course. Users can now easily follow specific discussions to receive email updates on new contributions. Institutions can set notification defaults for discussion activity and responses for followed discussions. This feature makes it easier for users to monitor and engage with class discussions from the Blackboard Mobile App.
For Administrators: You can configure this feature in the Administrator Panel by selecting Notification settings and enabling/disabling your institution’s preferences.
Upgrade to Ultra
Brightspace Conversion Improvements - 3900.102
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View and/or Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Migrate from D2L Brightspace
Question Library and Sections
We further refined the conversion of courses from Brightspace. The question library and sections in Brightspace now convert to question banks. This enhancement is important for converting quizzes that include question pools and sections.
Important notes:
- The question library and sections will be flattened. Nested question banks are not supported in Blackboard.
- Any sections without questions will not convert to question banks.
Gradebook Columns
Numeric, selectbox, text, and pass/fail grade Items in Brightspace are now preserved when converting a Brightspace course to Blackboard. Formula and calculated grade Items are not preserved and are dropped from the gradebook. Instructors should check if their formula or calculated grade items can be rebuilt in Blackboard’s calculated column. For more information, see Calculate Grades.
For Administrators: These features and improvements are available for all Ultra and Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.100.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.100.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 13 August 2024 | Release to Production: Thursday, 5 September 2024
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.100.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.100.0-rel.38+07d2c83 to Production servers to take place on 26 September 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
September 2024 – 3900.100 Release
The September 2024 - 3900.100 release is robust with features in 7 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Tests and assignments;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Learn core and security; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Student Activity Log
- View items that need grading and posting in the new Overview tab
- View late submissions that need grading
Instructors and Students:
- Content Designer: Knowledge Check in enhanced Documents
- AI Conversation
- Wiris upgrade and benefits
- Exclude attempt when grading
Students:
- Review instructor feedback on the student submission review page
- Access assignment feedback hidden by release conditions
Administrators:
Instructors and Administrators:
All users:
Instructional Design
Content Designer: Knowledge Check in Documents – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Students
Related Topic: Create Documents
The Content Designer for Documents now includes a Knowledge Check block. The Knowledge Check enhances the learning experience. Knowledge checks allow students to engage with content and receive immediate feedback. Instructors are also empowered with valuable insights to tailor their teaching strategies.
Key Features:
- Question Types: Multiple choice and multiple answer questions
- Feedback: Pre-populated correct and incorrect answer feedback, which instructors can edit
- Student Interaction: Students can select an answer and submit it. They receive immediate feedback on whether their answer is correct or incorrect. Knowledge checks allow unlimited attempts.
- Metrics: Instructors can access detailed metrics including:
- Number of students participating
- Total number of attempts
- Average number of attempts to reach the correct answer
- Maximum number of attempts to reach the correct answer
- Level of difficulty metric
- Percentage of students selecting each answer option
Image 1. Instructor view - Knowledge Check creation
After saving the Knowledge Check, instructors may resize and move it as desired within the document.
Image 2. Animation of student experience interacting with Knowledge Check
Image 3. Instructor view of Knowledge Check metrics
Grading for Knowledge Checks isn't supported at this time. There are also no notifications specific to Knowledge Checks.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. You must enable the option on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel. It's called "Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts." This setting is on by default. You can toggle this option on or off. If you turn off this option, it may affect content created with or changed by enhanced options. Note that this option will be available until December 2024. At that time, we will remove the option. Enhanced Documents will be the default.
Content Designer: Video Studio in Documents – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students, Administrators
Related Topic: Video Studio (admin page), Video Studio (instructor page)
Video Studio is a premium solution. We are offering customers a free trial until June 30, 2025. This will provide access to the full version of Video Studio as a feature flag. Video Studio is set to OFF as a default in test/stage environments. If you want to enable it in your institution’s production environment, you can do that for free until the end of June 2025. Customers will have to purchase Video Studio to continue to use it beyond this date.
Instructors have recording capabilities in Announcements and Feedback features. Now they have the ability to upload or record audio and video within Documents. The lightweight, deeply integrated Video Studio solution promotes a more engaging learning experience.
When creating a Document, a new block option is available to create audio and video files from a camera, audio recording, or from screen recordings. Additionally, it is possible to upload audio and video files.
Image 1. New Audio/Video block in a Document
Image 2. Recording and uploading options available in Audio/Video block for a Document
When a user starts recording, there is a 3 second countdown before the recording begins. Users can pause, resume, retake, or end the recording as needed.
Image 3. Start recording process
After a user ends the recording, the uploading process begins. During this time, the user can preview the result and edit the title. Users can select Save to add the audio or video into a Document. After saving the video, auto captioning for videos is available.
Image 4. Add video details, preview, and save options
Image 5. Automatic captioning for videos is available
For administrators: These new video capabilities require a license for Video Studio. Also, the "Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts." setting on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel must be on. The videos created using Video Studio will not count towards your existing storage entitlement. The following existing privileges are used for the Video Studio solution:
- Course/Organization (Content Areas) > Create Materials: To create videos. Includes all operations like save, finish, check Video upload Status. Not needed for playback.
- Course/Organization (Content Areas) > Delete Materials: To delete videos.
Course Content Page Enhancements– 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
User experience (UX) plays a vital role in student engagement and learning. We're committed to continuous improvement of the Blackboard Ultra course view. It's important to us that we meet the needs of our users—both educators and students. We're excited to deliver several changes to improve the Course Content page. Client feedback is at the center of the changes we’ve made.
The improvements include:
- Greater visual depth
- Improved page structure
- Differentiation among course elements
- An enhanced presentation of top-level and nested content
Greater Visual Depth and Content Page Structure
Creating a more appealing and engaging interface has been a key theme in client feedback. To support this, we've created greater visual depth to the Course Content page. This provides a more enjoyable and inviting experience for end users.
The new design incorporates:
- Subtle gradients and softer edges
- A more cohesive color palette with inviting, warmer tones
- More intuitive navigation, which reduces cognitive load and increases focus on the content
Image 1. Instructor view: Course Content page visual depth improvements
Image 2. Student view: Course Content page visual depth improvements
Content presentation enhancements
We've improved the differentiation among learning modules, folders, and content items. Currently, users sometimes find it challenging to distinguish among these elements. This can lead to confusion and inefficiency in navigating course materials.
Image 3. Instructor view: Content item presentation for a Learning Module
Image 4. Instructor view: Content item presentation for a Folder
Image 5. Student view: Content item presentation for a Learning Module
Image 6. Student view: Content item presentation for a Folder
These improvements create a more organized and improved user experience.
To learn more about the visual style changes and to access supporting resources, visit the community blog post here.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
AI Conversation – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Related Topic: AI Conversation
It's tough to have 1:1 conversations with every student, especially in large courses. Some instructors are asking students to use AI services for topic-related activities to help. But, with many services and limited instructor visibility, results can vary.
To better serve instructors who want to use AI with students, we're launching a new activity called AI Conversation. This is a Socratic questioning exercise guided by AI. AI Conversation lets students explore their thoughts on a topic.
There are two elements to the activity:
- AI Conversation
- This lets students think critically about the topic that the instructor designs.
- Reflection question
- This asks the student to share their thoughts on the activity. The reflection question also lets the student flag any bias or errors from the AI as part of our Trustworthy AI Approach. Reflection helps students understand the responsible use of AI services.
Instructors have the following configuration options:
- A topic for the AI Conversation
- An AI persona including a name, avatar (can be uploaded or generated), and personality trait
- Complexity level of responses
- Edit the reflection question, guiding the student on how best to reflect on this activity
On submission, the instructor can review the AI conversation transcript and the student's reflection. The AI Conversation is a formative assessment by default, but you’re not restricted to this option.
Image 1. Instructor setting up a topic, AI Persona, and Reflection question
Image 2. Instructor previewing the AI Conversation before making it visible to students
Image 3. A Student participating in the AI Conversation
Image 4. Instructor view of a submitted AI Conversation and reflection question
For administrators: In the building block, ‘AI Design Assistant and Unsplash,' a new option called ‘AI Chat Conversation’ is available. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege needs to be assigned to course roles as necessary, such as Instructor. The privilege that needs assigning is ‘Use AI Design Assistant.' When that role creates an AI Conversation in a course that’s visible to students, students will be able to complete the activity. Note that toggling this feature to ‘off’ after deployment will stop the AI Conversation services. Therefore, any AI conversation activities visible to students will not operate as expected.
Tests & Assignments
Review instructor feedback on the student submission review page - 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Assessment feedback gives students insights into their strengths and weaknesses. It also helps them refine their skills and knowledge.
We are introducing a new student-facing submission review page for assignments. The new page makes all instructor feedback on a submission more accessible. We are planning to add this same feature for tests in a future release.
Students can access the new assignment submission review page from these locations:
- The gradebook feedback button for the assignment.
- The small panel that displays when students access an assignment from the Course Content page.
If a student submits multiple attempts, they can review each on the submission review page. By default, the student sees the appropriate graded attempt. The instructor defines which attempt to grade in the assignment's final grade calculation setting.
The new assignment submission review page displays the following information and feedback formats:
- Assessment content
- Student submission with inline feedback
- Submission timestamp
- Submission receipt
- Final grade and calculation model
- Attempt grade and feedback
- Override grade and feedback (if applicable)
- Optimized display of rubrics information and criterion feedback
Image 1. The feedback button lets students access the new assignment review page from their gradebook
Image 2. Students can access the new assignment submission review page by selecting the "3 submitted" link and the "Your Grade" label on the assignment’s settings panel
Image 3: Student view of the assignment submission review page, displaying the inline feedback, attempt feedback, and rubric information
Image 4: Student view of the assignment submission review page; in this example, the instructor has overridden the final grade and provided override feedback; the inline feedback and rubric information are also visible
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Access assignment feedback hidden by release conditions - 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Students must access feedback on past submissions. Feedback review is vital for their academic growth. Now students can access all feedback on their submission, even if the assignment is hidden by a release condition. We are planning to ensure that students have access to all feedback on tests, discussions and journals in future releases.
Image 1. Instructor view of release conditions settings with a date/time release condition combined with the Hide state
Image 2. Student gradebook view of an assignment hidden by a release condition; the ‘Content isn't available’ label indicates the student can’t make further submissions
Image 3: Student view of the assignment submission review page for the hidden assignment; all instructor feedback is displayed
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible grading
Exclude attempt when grading – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Allowing students to submit multiple attempts for an assessment can help them stay on track. It can improve the quality of the assessment and boost student success.
However, there are some circumstances where an attempt doesn’t need to be graded. For example, the student may have submitted the wrong file, or their submission may be incomplete or an outlier.
We added a new option to help instructors remove submissions from the grading workflow without having to delete them. When grading a student, you can now select Exclude Attempt to remove it from the Needs Grading workflow.
If an attempt is excluded, the Excluded label appears above the attempt grade and in the attempt selector. If you need to remove the attempt exclusion, select from the menu.
Grade calculations ignore excluded attempts. Students aren’t automatically granted an additional attempt if an attempt is excluded. You can grant additional attempts to the student via the exception's workflow.
You can exclude any submitted attempt by a student. If you exclude an attempt when the student has no remaining attempts, you receive a warning that their final grade can’t be calculated.
When students review their submissions, a banner notification appears on excluded attempts.
Image 1. Instructor view of the Exclude attempt menu option
Image 2. Instructor view of the Exclude label above the grade and in the attempt selector
Image 3. Warning that a student has no remaining attempts and the final grade can't be calculated
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
View items that need grading and posting in the new Overview tab – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To help instructors stay on top of their grading workload, we added an indicator to the Gradebook tab to let you know when there are new submissions to grade. The indicator displays the number that needs grading. If the count goes higher than 99, it displays as 99+.
We also added a new gradebook Overview tab to improve task orientation and grading efficiency. This tab contains two sections: Needs Grading and Needs Posting.
Needs Grading section
If you face a substantial grading workload, the Needs Grading section is a useful tool for prioritizing your tasks. It allows you to see all items ready for grading and a count of the total number of outstanding grading tasks in your course.
This section displays up to five items at a time, ordered by the oldest ungraded submission. For an item, select Grade now to quickly access the submissions you need to grade. If your course has more than five items that need grading, you can use the buttons at the bottom of section to navigate through all pending tasks.
Needs Posting section
The Needs Posting section increases accessibility of assessments with grades that need posting. For an item, select Post now to its grade If there are more than five items that need posting, you can use the buttons at the bottom of section to navigate through the pending tasks.
Image 1. Instructor view of the new Needs Grading count on the Gradebook tab and the Needs Grading section on the new Overview page
Image 2. Instructor view of the new gradebook Overview page where the Needs Grading and Needs posting sections appear
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
View late submissions that need grading – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
When enabled, the Automatic Zeros gradebook setting gives a zero score to students who haven’t made a submission by the due date.
To help instructors to find and grade late assessment submissions, they are now indicated as Needs Grading on the Grades and Gradable Items gradebook pages.
Image 1. Instructor view of the updated Gradable Items page; the status the assignment now displays 1 to grade for a late submission that needs grading
Image 2. Instructor view of the updated Grades page; the column status displays 0 Graded | 0 Posted and a New Submission label indicating the late submission that needs grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Student Activity Log – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Student Activity Log
Instructors often need to review student activity. Student activity helps inform decisions in academic disputes and aids in troubleshooting. You can also analyze the course participation of students at risk.
Instructors can use student participation to support financial aid decisions. For example, requests for tuition fee reimbursements if a student hasn't participated in a course. Course participation records can also help with awarding scholarships.
Now the Student Overview page has a student activity log. Instructors and other higher roles can use the report to check what a particular student did in a course.
Image 1. Student activity log report located in the student overview page
The Activity log can be filtered by event type and can look to the past 140 days. Any information older than that won’t be stored in this report. The log can take up to 20 minutes to update from the last time a student performs an action.
The following events can be found in the report:
- Course Access
- Assessment Started
- Assessment Draft saved
- Assessment Submitted
- Assessment Auto-submitted
- Discussion Access
- Discussion Draft saved
- Discussion Edit
- Discussion Reply
- Discussion Response
- Document Access
- Journal Access
- LTI Item Access
- SCORM item Access
For administrators: A new privilege is available to control role-based access to the student activity log report. Go to Manage Privileges, choose the role you want to add the privilege to, and then select "Course/Organization > Student/Participant > Activity Log."
Integrations
Wiris Upgrade and Benefits – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
We’ve upgraded the Wiris engine and equation editor to the latest versions to improve performance. Version 8.10.2 of the engine and version 7.23 of the editor improves rendering of subscript and superscript formulas. This upgrade provides a better experience for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses.
Image 1. Before the Wiris upgrade
Image 2. After the improvement
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra and Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Group Attempts Grading Management via Public REST API – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Blackboard APIs
Group assignments are a crucial component of collaborative learning in Blackboard. Group assignments enable students to work together on projects and submit their collective efforts for evaluation. Effective management and grading of these group submissions are vital for accurately assessing group performance and providing meaningful feedback. Previously, we introduced CRUD operations for managing group assignment attempts. Now we have provided enhanced capability of the Group attempts endpoints to include comprehensive grading functionalities.
- Score. The numeric grade assigned to a group’s submission.
- Notes. Additional notes that an instructor can include regarding the group’s performance or submission details.
- Feedback. Detailed feedback provided to the group, helping students understand their performance and areas for improvement.
This update ensures that instructors can efficiently grade group submissions directly through the public API, enhancing the overall workflow for managing group assessments in Blackboard.
For administrators: The required privileges for Group attempts endpoints can be validated for each endpoint in the API documentation.
Learn Core & Security
Calendar Event Management – 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Institutions can now control which users can create events in the Base Navigation Calendar with a new system-level entitlement Calendar>Create Personal event. This update gives institutions greater control over calendar event creation within their learning environment.
If the Calendar>Create Personal event entitlement is not granted:
- Users can’t create personal events in the Base Navigation Calendar.
- Calendar tool is hidden in Base Navigation if users have no existing events in their calendars and lack this entitlement. Users don’t have permission to import Calendar events from external files (Settings).
When users possess the privilege of the Calendar>Create Personal event entitlement:
- Users can create personal events using the Base Navigation Calendar.
- The add calendar option is displayed.
- The Calendar tool appears in Base Navigation.
- Users can import Calendar events from external files (Settings).
For administrators: This feature is available for all System role users including None. There are no configurations needed.
Upgrade to Ultra
Brightspace Conversion Improvements - 3900.100
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and/or Original Experience
Ultra Course View and/or Original Course View
Impact: Instructors and Administrators
Related Topic: Migrate from D2L Brightspace
- Embedded Multimedia for Assignments and Discussions
- Embedded Multimedia via Media Library Now Supported
- Arithmetic and Significant Figures Question Types
Embedded Multimedia for Assignments and Discussions
We’ve updated the conversion process from Brightspace to Blackboard for Assignments and Discussions. Images embedded in Assignments and Discussions will now convert. Instructors will no longer need to reupload images or multimedia after converting from Brightspace
Embedded Multimedia via Media Library Now Supported
Previously, multimedia added to the Rich Content Editor in Brightspace using the Media Library did not convert properly. Images and multimedia would fail to load, requiring users to reupload them after converting their courses. This issue has been resolved, and multimedia added from the Media Library will convert.
Arithmetic and Significant Figures Question Types
We’ve improved the way we convert Arithmetic and Significant Figure Questions from Brightspace to Blackboard. We preserve more information related to the questions and questions can now be edited to resolve issues that can't be resolved during conversion.
When converting Arithmetic and Significant Figure Question Types from Brightspace to Blackboard, it's important to carefully review all converted questions to ensure accuracy and functionality. Equations constructed using plain text in Brightspace may not accurately transfer to Blackboard, leading to potential errors or formatting issues. These discrepancies can impact the clarity and correctness of the questions, which affects the assessment's validity.
We advise instructors to thoroughly examine each converted question and verify the accuracy of the equations. In some cases, it may be necessary to rebuild the equations partially or entirely to align with Blackboard's formatting and calculation standards. Ensuring the precision of these questions is essential before making the test available to students. Taking the time to review and correct any issues will help maintain the integrity of the assessment and provide a fair testing experience for all students.
For administrators: These features and improvements are available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.98.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.98.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 16 July 2024 | Release to Production: Thursday, 8 August 2024
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.98.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.98.0-rel.37+68cbd0f to Production servers to take place on 22 August 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
August 2024 – 3900.98 Release
The August 2024 - 3900.98 release is robust with features in 8 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Mastery learning & learning pathways;
- Tests and assignments;
- Communication and collaboration;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Learn core and security;
- Integrations; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Content Designer: Enhanced Documents
- Improved navigation between students in Flexible Grading
- Hide unenrolled students from the gradebook
- Status information removed from the gradebook download file
- Image Generation Improvements
Instructors and Students:
Instructors and Administrators:
- Multiple rules for release conditions
- Original Conversion Improvement: Convert Undeployed Tests to Question Banks
- Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Gradebook Categories
- Brightspace Conversion Improvement: File Uploads
- Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Discussion Forums and Topics
- Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Quiz Timer Settings
- Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Embedded Equations
- Moodle Conversion Improvement: Embedded Images
Administrators
- Enhanced Attendance Public REST API with Timestamp Data
- Enhanced Group Assignments Management via REST API
- Building Block Content to LTI Link Migration Tool: Change in support status
All users:
Instructional Design
Content Designer: Enhanced Documents – 3900.98
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Create Documents
Content design is key to creating an engaging course that supports learner needs. The Document feature is a useful option for creating and presenting a variety of visual elements. We have made significant enhancements to Documents to provide new and robust options for content design. Instructors will be delighted that all enhancements work beautifully using a mouse, trackpad, or the keyboard. All enhancements are mobile friendly for instructors and students.
We've removed the option to generate questions from Documents. Generating questions from within a test using the context picker in the AI Design Assistant is the preferred method.
Image 1. Enhanced Document with diverse content laid out in rows and columns
Image 2. Empty Document with block options
Instructors can now design Documents by selecting from a variety of block types.
- Content block
Add content via the content editor. - HTML block
Add content via HTML or CSS in the Document.
An administrator must configure an alternate domain for the HTML block to appear. Learn more about setting up an alternate domain.
- File upload block
Browse for files on the local machine to upload to the Document.
Note: Administrators can define the maximum size of a file that users can upload. - Cloud upload block
Login to a cloud service and select a file to add into the Document. - Content Collection block
Browse the Content Collection and select a file to add to the Document. - Convert a file block
Browse for files on the local machine. Once selected, the system converts the file into the Document format. Supported file types include PDF, PowerPoint (ppt, pptx, pps), and Word (doc, docx, odt).
In this release, the option to convert a file is only available in the main authoring space. In the Add Content panel (the + menu), the option to convert a file doesn’t appear. We'll correct this in an upcoming release.
Instructors can also open the left panel by selecting the + and choosing the desired block.
Image 3. Empty Document with the blocks panel opened
Document menu bar
To provide greater efficiency when designing content, we added a menu bar to Documents. The menu bar remains in view as the instructor scrolls the Document to view, add, or edit content. The menu bar contains the Edit option when in the view state. After selecting Edit, the menu bar displays the following options:
- Edit
- Add Blocks
- Undo/Redo
- Cancel
- Save
Image 4. Add blocks from the left panel or select the purple + to add a block as a row
Resizing and moving blocks
Instructors can create appealing layouts by resizing and dragging/dropping blocks into columns and rows.
- Each row includes a menu with options to move or delete the block.
- Each block includes a menu with options to edit, move, or resize, or delete the block.
Image 5. Move, expand, and shrink options via keyboard controls
New LTI placements via the Content Market option in the content editor aren't yet supported in enhanced Documents. Pre-existing placements continue to function as expected. We are working to add this feature. We will update you soon.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. A new configuration option is on the Ultra configuration page in the Administrator Panel: “Enable support for customizing Ultra document layouts.” The default state is on. This option will be available until December 2024. At that time, we will remove the configuration option and enhanced Documents will be default.
The 3900.98 release will begin updating on production sites on Thursday, Aug. 8 in the US morning as usual. The Content Designer: Documents option will not appear as configuration setting for administrators in the Administrator Panel and enhanced Documents will not be available in courses. We will enable the Content Designer: Documents feature on Monday, Aug. 12 at 9 am ET. At this time, the administrator setting will display in the configuration options and will be ON by default, but administrators can toggle it off.
This option can be toggled on or off. Be mindful of potential impacts to content created with or modified by enhanced options if you turn this option off.
Image Generation Improvements – 3900.98
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Add Files, Images, Audio, and Video
Images enhance comprehension and engagement with course content. To help, we introduced the ability for instructors to generate images using the AI Design Assistant.
We are updating the technology in the image generation process from DALL-E 2 to DALL-E 3. This update allows instructors to generate higher quality, higher resolution images in the following workflows:
- Learning Module images
- Document images
- Announcement images
- Assessment question images
- Journal prompts images
Image 1: Generated image using DALL-E 3 in a Document
For administrators: The "Generate images" options only appear for instructors when each tool is on. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate "AI Design Assistant and Unsplash" and select Settings from the dropdown. The default state is off. You must also activate privileges. Assign the Use AI Design Assistant privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (for example, Instructor).
Mastery Learning & Learning Pathways
Multiple rules for release conditions – 3900.98
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Administrators
Related Topic: Content Release Conditions
Instructors need to release course content based on performance criteria to sequence students on learning paths correctly. Sometimes they also need to release content to different groups using different criteria. For example, graduate students may be required to perform additional activities or perform at a higher level than other students. To support this needed flexibility, instructors can now create multiple rules for release conditions.
You can create rules for release conditions based on these criteria: date, time, and grade range performance criteria. You can also create rules for specific individual learners, groups, or for all members.
Image 1. Release Conditions page
This release also improves copying content from Original courses. Rules and criteria now copy from Original adaptive release settings. The supported criterion types are date, time, grade range, and memberships (individual or groups). Only supported criteria types are copied from Original to Ultra courses. These criteria types are removed automatically during a copy:
- Attempt for a gradable item (student submitted the assignment or test)
- Student marked an item reviewed
As before, we recommend reviewing settings after copying content from Original courses.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. For Test/Stage environments, availability will be on July 24.
Tests & Assignments
Improvements to creating assignments – 3900.98
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related Topic: Create and Edit Assignments
Instructors need robust, easy to use tools when creating their assessments.
To create a better experience, the new Assignment page includes these improvements:
- A new Instructions box where instructors can use the full content editor to craft assignment instructions.
- There are no options to add questions to an assignment.
- The Settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments.
- Blank attempts are no longer created when students view assignment instructions. The system only creates an attempt when students add content to the file drop zone / content editor. Note: Group or timed and proctored assignments continue to create attempts when students view the instructions.
Assignments created before this release will continue to create blank attempts when students view the instructions. We'll address this issue in a future release.
The New Test page remains unchanged. Instructors can access all the same question types and settings options. Attempts are still automatically created when students view the test questions.
Image 1. Instructor view of the New Assignment page with the new Instructions box
Image 2. Instructor view of adding instructions to an assignment
Image 3. Students view of the new Assignment Information panel and the View Instructions option
Image 4. Student view of the assignment instructions
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
January 2024 – 3900.82 Release
We're aware that updates to copy workflows for admins are causing issues and we're actively working on a resolution.
The January 2024 - 3900.82 is robust with features in 9 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Mastery learning / Competency based education;
- Tests and assignments;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Integrations;
- Mobile; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- AI Design Assistant – Authentic Assessment prompt generation
- AI Design Assistant - Generate Rubric Improvements
- Delegated Grading improvements
- Improved attempt display in Flexible Grading
- Sorting controls in Students view for assessments graded anonymously
- Enhanced grid view
- Total & Weighted Calculations
- Category information on the Gradable Items page
- Original Course View: Updated options display when sending email from the Grade Center
- Attempt logs for enhanced assessment integrity
- Unused files management
- Batch Edit: Change to specific date and/or time
Instructors and students:
All users:
- Multi-Factor Authentication for the internal authentication method
- Mobile: Help Center and About sections added to More menu
Instructors and Administrators:
Administrators:
Instructional Design
AI Design Assistant - Authentic Assignment prompt generation – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
AI plagiarism is a growing concern among academics. Research indicates a variety of issues with a reliance on AI detection. Detection models cannot keep up with advancements in AI technologies. Our approach to combatting AI plagiarism is different. We empower instructors to lean into the effective practice of authentic assessment.
Learn more with our academic paper AI, Academic Integrity, and Authentic Assessment.
Now instructors can generate assignment prompts that encourage students to:
- engage in higher-order thinking,
- apply their learned knowledge,
- produce authentic submissions that are evidenced, and
- emulate real-world situations.
To ensure the instructor is in control, the generation process allows instructors to:
- enter an assignment description,
- select a desired cognitive process based on Bloom's Taxonomy,
- set the complexity, and
- generate an assignment title.
The instructor can review the generated prompts and select one to add to the assignment. After adding the prompt, the instructor can edit or further refine the prompt as appropriate.
Image 1. The auto-generate assignment option
Image 2. Three generated prompts; each include a title, prompt, and cognitive level
Image 3. Instructors can add additional context through a description, select the desired cognitive level and complexity, and then generate prompts
Image 4. Selected title and prompt added to an assignment
For administrators: To use this feature, enable the AI Features option in Ultra Experience Management. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate AI Design Assistant and Unsplash and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. Set Enable AI Design Assistant to on. Set Generate Assignments to on. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor): Use AI features.
AI Design Assistant - Generate Rubric Improvements – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The AI Design Assistant helps instructors create rubrics for assessments. We've streamlined a time-intensive task and created efficiency for instructors with rubric creation. Being careful to consider user feedback, we have made some improvements to rubric generation. The improvements improve column and row labels . We also improved the distribution of percentages/points for criteria.
Image 1. Rubric generation outputs using the AI Design Assistant
For administrators: To use this feature, enable the AI Features option in Ultra Experience Management. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate AI Design Assistant and Unsplash and select Settings from the menu. The default state of the AI Design Assistant is set to Off. Select Enable AI Design Assistant to turn the feature on. You must also set Generate Assignments to On. Assign the Use AI features privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (for example, Instructor).
Mastery Learning/Competency Based Education
Grade visible to students in Gradebook when item is hidden by release conditions – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Release conditions provide options for custom learning paths through course content. When instructors set release conditions, content is unavailable until students meet those conditions. An option to 'Hide' selected content from students is available. This setting also hides the grade from the student view of the gradebook.
Now, instructors can set release conditions without concern of hiding grades. Regardless of the setting in "When will content appear?", students can see the grade. All other functionality of release conditions is unchanged.
Image 1. Release conditions settings with date/time release condition set in combination with Hide state in “When will content appear?”
Image 2. Student gradebook view with display of student’s grade regardless of the release condition setting in Image 1
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Tests & Assignments
Delegated Grading improvements – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors sometimes distribute the grading workload for an assessment to multiple graders. This is a popular practice in larger classes. Instructors can assign graders to groups of students with the new delegated grading option. Each grader only sees the submissions made by students in the group(s) assigned to them.
Now instructors can also use delegated grading in combination with anonymous submissions and tests.
Image 1: Instructor view of the assessment Settings panel for a test with the Delegated Grading and Anonymous grading options enabled
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Improved attempt display in Flexible Grading – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple-attempt assessments result in more submissions, which can increase the complexity of grading.
In the past, when an instructor selected a student in the list the most recent attempt displayed. Now, the attempt selected for display is based on the grading status and attempt aggregation model selected.
| Attempt Aggregation Model | Grading Status and Attempt Displayed |
|---|---|
| Average of all attempts | If all attempts are graded, the most recently submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent, ungraded attempt displays. |
| First attempt with a grade | If all attempts are graded, the first submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the oldest ungraded attempt displays. |
| Attempt with highest grade | If all attempts are graded, the attempt with the highest grade displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent, ungraded attempt displays. |
| Last attempt with a grade | If all attempts are graded, the most recently submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent ungraded attempt displays. |
| Attempt with lowest grade | If all attempts are graded, the attempt with lowest grade displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent ungraded attempt displays. |
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Sorting controls in Students view for assessments graded anonymously – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We are adding sorting controls to assessments graded anonymously. Now instructors can apply these sorting options:
- Submission date (oldest - newest) of latest attempt
- Submission date (newest - oldest) of latest attempt
The grading interface stores the most recently used sorting option. If an instructor stops grading an assessment and resumes grading later, the last sorting option is applied.
Image 1: Sorting options on an anonymously graded assessment in flexible grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook
Enhanced Grid View – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To improve usability and maximize the screen real estate of the gradebook grid view, we have made several enhancements:
Improved row visibility and display more rows:
- We reduced the size of the column icons and the spacing around them.
- We removed group names and highlighting on group assessments.
- The course name moves up and hides when vertically scrolling.
Improved student identification:
- When hovering over a truncated student name, the full name displays in a tooltip.
- Student IDs display beneath student names to aid in distinguishing between students with similar names.
Image 1. Improvements to gradebook grid view
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Total & Weighted Calculations – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and other users with permissions
Instructors need a gradebook that supports diverse grading scenarios. The gradebook supports the creation of calculated columns and an overall course grade. We are expanding gradebook functionality to also support total and weighted calculated columns. These types of calculations are helpful for specific events or periods, such as midterms or finals.
Total calculated columns can be point-based or weighted calculations. Like setting up the Overall Grade, instructors may link/unlink items in a category in the calculation. They may also choose to exclude categories from the calculation. For an included category, instructors may edit the calculation rule. The calculation rule allows instructors to drop scores or to include only the lowest or highest score in the category.
Instructors may wish to define a total calculated column for their own use. In this case, they can choose to hide from students. If desired, instructors can include a total calculated column in the overall grade calculation.
Image 1. Add a Total Calculation column from the Grid view
Image 2. Add a Total Calculation column from Gradable Items view
Image 3. Editing a Weighted Total Calculation Column
Image 4. Define rules for the Weighted Total Calculation column
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Category Information on the Gradable Items Page – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To provide greater efficiency and clarity in the gradable items view, we have added a Category column. This column, along with the grading item icon, helps instructors more readily identify to which category, if any, an item belongs. Instructors can sort this column ascending or descending alphabetically.
Image 1. Category column on the Gradable Items, sorted Z – A
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Attempt logs for enhanced assessment integrity – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Assessment integrity is a paramount concern for educational institutions. We empower instructors with valuable insights into students' progress for native assessments. The Attempt Logs prove to be an indispensable tool for validating issues students may encounter during an assessment. The logs also help instructors identify signs of academic dishonesty.
For tests, the logs provide the following:
- Detailed information, including the date and time of the start and answers to each question
- Question-specific details, such as question number, a preview of the question, and estimated time spent on each question
- Submission receipt number, final grade, and attempt grade
- Easy toggling between all in-progress and submitted attempts for comprehensive assessment tracking
Image 1. Test attempt log with multiple attempts made by the student
For Assignments, the logs offer:
- Start and submission date and time
- Submission receipt number
- Seamless toggling between different attempts for a holistic view
Image 2. Assignment attempt log
Instructors can access the Attempt Logs from two primary areas:
- Context Menu on Submission Page - exclusive to individual assessments
- Grades Tab under Student Overview Page - available for both group and individual assessments
Image 3. Access from the Submission tab
Image 4. Access from the Grades tab from the student overview
For anonymous assessments, the report becomes active after grades are posted, and the anonymity is lifted. This ensures that the Attempt Logs report is a robust tool even in scenarios where student identities are initially concealed.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Multiple LTI Deployments improvements – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Managing LTIs
Some administrators need to add multiple domains to a single LTI integration. We have expanded support of multiple domains for a single LTI integration. Now administrators can approve or exclude the deployment tool status. This provides greater flexibility for the creation and use of multiple domains. Administrators can also associate deployment IDs with different domains managed by a third party tool.
Image 1. Deployment Tools Status – select approved or excluded
When an administrator creates new deployments of an LTI tool, the default setting is “Approved.” Administrators can change the setting to “Excluded.” This prevents the use of that deployment. Manage Deployments now displays a status column to ensure clarity of the status of the deployment.
Image 2. Status column indicates if a deployment is approved or excluded
Some institutions merge courses (create parent and child courses). If a parent course has an LTI deployment ID associated with it, the child course inherits that deployment ID.
We support multiple domains for LTI integrations that appear in Books & Tools in an Ultra course and in the rich text editor.
For administrators: This feature is available for Ultra and Original environments.
Enhanced grading control via REST API
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
Each institution has its own evaluation methods. Some courses have specific grading criteria. To support varied grading and evaluation methods, we have enhanced the Gradebook API.
Previously, the Gradebook API allowed users to update the overall grade formula. Now, the API aligns with the same formula validation rules enforced in the user interface. This ensures consistency and accuracy in the grading processes.
Users can still modify and validate of the formulas through the API using the endpoint:
PATCH /public/v2/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns.
This update reflects our commitment to providing a seamless and controlled grading experience.
For administrators: The required entitlements for Users API remain unchanged.
Converting Building Block content to LTI: Panopto Course Content – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Converting Building Block Content to LTI
The Panopto conversion is now available to users.
The Panopto integration makes it easy for users to create, share, and view videos. Users can embed these videos in Blackboard Learn courses.
Panopto provided a Building Block for customers using Original Course View. To ensure a smooth transition we have updated the conversion tool so that users can convert Panopto content from Building Block to LTI content.
This conversion supports the following Building Block content:
- Course tools content
- Mashup links within the content editor
This tool only converts links created through the building block. Also, it validates the standalone links within the course to change the way those are processed. This will prevent standalone links from breaking after the building block deactivates.
Image 1. Converting Building Block Content to LTI
Administrators can select from a drop-down menu the building block for configuration:
- Echo360
- Kaltura
- Panopto
Administrators can configure the required IDs and custom parameters for the conversion details. For Panopto, we have added the following custom parameters:
- Instancename: The administrator must modify the instance name if it has been changed in the general configuration of the Panopto Building Block.
- folderid: This is a Panopto identifier for the courses in the different folders; this custom parameter does not need to be modified.
Image 2. Migration settings for Panopto, Echo 360 and Kaltura, including Panopto custom parameters
Building block mappings are displayed. Administrators can edit, delete, or turn off the building block for the conversion tool.
Image 3. Building block mappings
Once configurations are set, administrators can manage the placements. They have the option to choose the courses for which they want to initiate the content link conversion for a specific Building Block.
Image 4. Migrate courses with building block content
Finally, at Migration Run Status, users can monitor the status of the conversion process for each course.
Image 5. Migration run status
For administrators: If a course contains content from Panopto, Kaltura and/or Echo360 building blocks, the conversion process must be performed once for each building block.
Multi-Factor Authentication for the default authentication method – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Related topics: Identification and Authorization, Quick start for Blackboard App
Some institutions enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to fulfill security policies and best practices. To better support these institutions, we now offer a second authentication factor for the internal authentication method (where a user provides a username and password).
When the administrator enables MFA, users start the MFA registration process after providing a correct username and password. Users can use an authenticator app of their preference or the one suggested by their institution.
Image 1. Initial instructions described in the MFA registration process
Image 2. Request of temporary code to complete MFA registration
Image 3. Confirmation of successful MFA registration
Users are asked for a code generated by the authentication app on their trusted device(s) each time they log in.
If a user loses access to their trusted device, they can request a reset of their MFA (via normal institution-defined support channels). This allows the user to start the registration process of a new device.
For administrators: MFA is inactive by default. MFA is compatible with any kind of authenticator app.
For this release, MFA is only compatible with the Force to Web authentication method in the mobile App. If the institution has the native authentication method activated, the users won’t be asked to enter the TOTP code when logging in the mobile app. Compatibility with the native authentication method will be available in a future release.
To set MFA to active, go to the Administrator Tool Panel -> Integrations -> Authentication -> Default -> Edit -> Multifactor Authentication -> Active.
Image 4. Enable MFA feature from Administrator Tool Panel
To reset a user’s MFA, go to Administrator Tool Panel -> Users -> Search and select user -> Reset MFA.
Image 5. Reset MFA for a specific user
MFA is compatible with the Account Locking feature. To protect accounts from unauthorized access, we recommend enabling the Account Locking feature. To confirm the current configuration, go to the Administrator Tool Panel -> Account Lock Settings -> Enable Account -> Locking.
For audit and monitoring purposes, events related to MFA log in and reset can be found in Administrator Tool Panel -> Tools and Utilities -> Logs -> Authentication Logs.
Unused files management tool – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
File management is important to many institutions that want to be cognizant of their digital footprint. To help instructors understand the usage of files in their course, we've created the Unused Files tool. This tool helps instructors find and delete course files that are not in use. Instructors can locate the Unused Files tool in the three-dot menu on the Course Content page.
Image 1. Unused Files tool
There are two views available: unused files (default view) or all files. The file name, upload date, and file size display along with an option to download a copy of the local file. Instructors can easily delete unused files.
Image 2. List of unused files
Image 3. List of All files
Course roles will need “Course/Organization >Files Manage Files” privileges to access the Unused Files tool.
For administrators: A new configuration option is available from the Configure option in The Ultra Experience is here! module on the Administrator Panel. In the Available Features section, locate “Unused files management.” The default state is on.
Create Message privilege improvement – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
We've made some improvements to the privilege for creating messages in courses and organizations. This change improves the experience for system administrators and other users who are not enrolled in the course.
Now administrators and other privileged users can
Access and use the message tab to communicate with course users
Course users will not be able to send messages to the administrator or respond to the administrator's messages.
- Make changes to the Course Tools - Messages and Messaging Options
For administrators: This improvement applies to all Ultra courses. Apply this privilege to appropriate roles as appropriate: “Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) -> Create Message”.
Mobile
Help Center and About sections added to More menu – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users
Related topic: Blackboard Learn App Help
To elevate user accessibility and awareness, we've added two improved segments to the More menu: Help Center and About.
The About section is a comprehensive reservoir that empowers users with essential information to navigate their app experience.
This includes:
- Accessibility details
- Institution policies: Institutions can add their institutional privacy policy URL if this link has been configured in the "Data Use and Privacy Disclosure" Building Block settings.
- A dedicated channel for mobile app feedback
- Privacy policies
- Release notes
- Terms of use
- App version information
Users can explore the Help Center for more information, providing a seamless and enriched user experience. The release notes provide users with information on enhancements, optimizations, and introduced features. This ensures users are well-acquainted with the app's evolving capabilities.
Image 1. New sections in the More menu: About and Help Center
Image 2. New About section in the More menu
Image 3. Help Center for the Blackboard Learn App Help
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Batch Edit: Change to specific date and/or time – 3900.82
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We heard that instructors want to change the date and time for selected items in their course. For example, the due date times are currently set to 8:00 PM and the instructor would like to change them to 11:59 PM. The change would give students more time to make their submissions. The problem with making that change is that it would be very tedious if you had to do one item at a time.
Using Batch Edit, instructors can override the existing date and/or time for selected items. Instructors can adjust the due date time for all assessments using this option. The same feature also works on show on and hide after dates and times.
Batch edit of dates/time only works with items that have pre-existing date and time values. Items without a date or time value will not have one applied.
Image 1. Change to a specific date and/or time option for Batch Edit
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.82.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.82.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 12 December 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 4 January 2024
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.82.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.82.0-rel.51+579fa4e to Production servers to take place on 25 January 2024.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
Learn SaaS release 3900.80.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.80.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 November 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 7 December 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.80.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.80.0-rel.28+80fe7a8 to Production servers to take place on 21 December 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
December 2023 – 3900.80 Release
The December 2023 - 3900.80 is robust with features in 8 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Tests and assignments;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Integrations;
- Learn core and security;
- Mobile app; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Authentic Discussion and Journal prompts
- Large rubric support
- Group assessment due date exceptions
- Goal alignment to questions in banks
- Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit
- Sorting controls in Students and Questions tab
- Grid view sorting controls
- Automatic zero gradebook improvement
- Canvas conversion improvements: Support for Multiple Grade Schemes
Instructors and students:
All users:
Administrators:
Instructional Design
Authentic Discussion and Journal prompts – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
AI plagiarism is a growing concern among academics. Research indicates a variety of issues with a reliance on AI detection. Detection models cannot keep up with advancements in AI technologies. Our approach to combatting AI plagiarism is different. We empower instructors and lean on the effective practice of authentic assessment.
Learn more by reading our white paper about AI, Academic Integrity, and Authentic Assessment.
Now, instructors can generate discussion and journal prompts that encourage students to
- engage in higher-order thinking,
- apply their knowledge,
- justify or challenge their beliefs and ideas,
- and emulate real-world situations.
To ensure the instructor is in control, the generation process allows instructors to
- enter a discussion or journal description,
- select a desired cognitive process based on Bloom's Taxonomy,
- set the complexity,
- and generate a discussion or journal title.
The instructor can review the generated prompts and select one to add to the discussion or journal. After adding the prompt, the instructor can edit or further refine the prompt as appropriate.
Image 1. The auto-generate discussion option
Image 2. Three generated prompts; each includes a title, prompt, and cognitive process
Image 3. Instructors can describe the discussion, select the desired cognitive process and complexity, and then generate prompts
Image 4. Selected title and prompt added to a discussion
For administrators: To use this feature, enable the AI Features option in Ultra Experience Management. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate AI Design Assistant and Unsplash and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. Set Enable AI Design Assistant to on. Set Generate Discussions and Generate Journals to on. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor): Use AI features.
Removal of First Time User Experience pop-ups – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
In the past, we provided in-context information pop-ups to support users when they used the system for the first time. These pop-ups, called First Time User Experiences (FTUEs), can be helpful to some users. At the same time, FTUEs can be distracting or unnecessary. Users who would like supportive information can locate that on our help pages. Some institutions want to provide their own support information across Ultra and choose to use tools such as Anthology Adopt.
Based on client feedback, we are removing the FTUEs across Learn Ultra. This improves the users' experience and supports a greater focus on the learning content. Approximately 60 FTUEs are being removed in this release. Examples of some of the FTUEs we removed are below.
Image 1. FTUE in an assessment that guides the instructor to name the assignment
Image 2. FTUE in the gradebook, highlighting the student list view
Image 3. FTUE on the base navigation courses page, highlighting course search
For administrators: This update is available for Base Navigation and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Additional image insertion and generate options – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Images enhance comprehension of and engagement with course content. Instructors and students want to use high-quality images in content and submissions. To help, we have added a new image button in the content editor in the following places:
- Announcements
- Assessment Questions
- Student answers on questions (local file upload only)
- Submission feedback (standard view)
- Journal entries and comments
Image 1. Instructor view - image button on content editor for Announcements
We also added the option for instructors to generate images in journal prompts and assessment questions.
To learn more about working with images, please visit the “Work with Text" page.
For administrators: The "Stock images from Unsplash" and "Generate images" options only appear for instructors when each tool is on. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate "AI Design Assistant and Unsplash" and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privileges for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor):
- Search for images using Unsplash
- Use AI features
Tests & Assignments
Large Rubric Support – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Rubrics serve as a well-organized and transparent framework for assessing student work. We now support an unlimited number of rubric criteria and performance levels, up from 15 each. This change empowers instructors to craft rubrics that support diverse assessment scenarios. Unbound rubrics are valuable where a higher number of criteria are needed. Larger rubrics also prove invaluable for rubrics employed in accreditation processes.
Image 1. Large rubric support with the potential for the addition of more rows
Image 2. Large rubric support with the potential for the addition of more columns
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Group assessment due date exceptions – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may want to set different due dates for each group working on a group assessment.
In the past, there was no way to assign varying due dates for each group working on a group assessment. Now, instructors can assign a unique due date to each group using the exceptions workflow.
On the group assessment Submissions page, the instructor may add or edit exceptions for a group.
Image 1: Instructor view – add or edit exceptions option on the group assessment Submissions page
The Exceptions panel displays relevant information such as the assignment name and selected group name. This helps ensure the accuracy of an exception. Instructors can select a due date for the group using the date and time picker.
Image 2: Instructor view - exceptions panel
Image 3: Instructor view - group assessment Submissions page displays the exceptions indicator for Project Group 1
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Goal alignment to questions in banks – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Institutions want to align goals to course content. Goal alignment ensures that the curriculum is designed to meet specific learning outcomes.
Instructors can currently align goals to the following course items:
- Assignments
- Tests, including individual questions
- Discussions
- Rubrics criterion
- Files
- Web links
- Teaching tools with LTI connection
- Documents
Now, instructors can also align goals to questions within a question bank. Question-level goal alignment ensures that assessment items measure the desired learning outcomes. This helps to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of evaluation and feedback practices.
Image 1: Instructor view of the “Align with goal’ menu option used to align a question to a goal
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multi-select questions require students to select multiple correct answers from a list. This variation of a multiple choice question encourages critical thinking. Some instructors may award partial credit to students on these types of questions. Partial credit promotes a fairer and more accurate assessment of students' knowledge.
In the past, students received full credit when selecting all answer choices for a multi-select question with partial credit. This happened because there was no penalty or negative credit applied for wrong answer choices.
Now, when an instructor designs a multi-select question and allows partial and negative credit, the negative credit auto-distributes across wrong answer choices. An instructor can remove or edit the negative credit if desired.
Image 1: Partial and negative credit auto-distributed across correct and incorrect answer choices for a multi-select question
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Sorting controls on Students tab – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Grading large numbers of submissions without a way to organize them can be tedious. Now, instructors can apply various sorting options in flexible grading:
- Submission date (oldest - newest) of latest attempt
- Submission date (newest - oldest) of latest attempt
- Last Name (A - Z)
- Last Name (Z - A)
- First Name (A - Z)
- First Name (Z-A)
- Student ID (ascending)
- Student ID (descending)
The grading interface stores the most recently used sorting option. If an instructor stops grading an assessment and resumes grading later, the last sorting option is applied.
Also, if sorting the submissions by last name or grading status, the chosen sorting option carries over into the grading interface.
Image 1: Sorting options as shown from Students tab in flexible grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook
Grid view sorting controls – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Sorting options in the gradebook provide a more efficient grading experience.
We extended the sorting options to all remaining columns in the gradebook grid view:
- SCORM
- Journal
- Group Assessment
- Group Discussion
- LTI
- Calculations
- Attendance
- Discussion
Instructors can sort records in ascending or descending order and remove any applied sorting. A purple highlight in the column header indicates sorting is applied.
Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns in the gradebook grid view.
Image 1: Sorting controls on all grid view columns headers
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Automatic zero gradebook improvement – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can configure their gradebooks to assign automatic zeros to past due work. In the past, automatic zeros were assigned to past due work regardless of a student’s course enrollment status. For example, automatic zeros were applied to past due items for withdrawn students. This was problematic as, in some cases, it skewed course data.
Now automatic zeros are assigned to past due work only if the student has an enabled course enrollment. Automatic zeroes are no longer applied to past due items for withdrawn students. This helps to ensure that academic records are preserved as they are at the time of withdrawal.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Gradebook API: Accessing grading dates – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
In a previous release, we introduced a feature that allows users to retrieve date-related grading data. Now, we incorporate two more fields into the response of all gradebook APIs: first and last relevant dates.
"firstRelevantDate" determined as:
- The first recorded date when an attempt is scored.
- The most recent date in which a final score is overridden.
"lastRelevantDate" determined as:
- The date of the most recent modification of a grade when an attempt is scored.
- The most recent date in which a final score is overridden.
We also introduce the following query parameters:
- firstRelevantDateCompare
- lastRelevantDateCompare
These parameters allow users to filter and refine the results.
For administrators: The required entitlements for Gradebook API remain unchanged. First and Last relevant dates do not apply to calculated columns.
Enhanced user data retrieval with secondary IDs via REST API - 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
The option to retrieve user data is crucial for administrators and support roles. User data retrieval is important for a host of reasons. For example, it allows institutions to ensure access control, user support, and data security.
In the past, retrieving user data depended on a single ID. Now, we are expanding the capabilities of the users' REST APIs to support secondary IDs. This will provide more flexibility and control when accessing user information.
Users can now use a secondary ID:
- Contact Email: Users can now use the "contact.email" secondary ID to retrieve user data. This enhancement allows users to access their information by their institution/personal email address.
- Student IDs: The "studentId" secondary ID is now supported in the GET /users public endpoint. You can use this feature to access user data using their student ID.
- "Name" as New Attribute: Users can now retrieve user data based on attributes such as the user name. For this, we have the new query parameter "?name=". This will allow filtering by full names (first names, last names, middle names, or usernames).
These changes provide a significant improvement in the way users can manage user data via REST APIs.
For administrators: The required entitlements for User API remain unchanged.
REST API for accessing assessment passwords - 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
In Learn, assessments can be protected with access codes. Access codes help provide integrity and security for assessments.
To improve the integration with proctoring services, we extended the access code option via REST API.
Now, users can retrieve the access password configuration settings. The configuration setting is for both Ultra and Original courses. This information includes the following key fields:
- Enabled: Flag that indicates whether the assessment is password-protected or not.
- Password: This field contains the 6-digit passcode. The password is available in plain text, simplifying the integration process.
Furthermore, these fields will be accessible through the following Content endpoints:
- GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents
- GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}
For administrators: The required entitlements for Users API remain unchanged.
Learn Core & Security
Building Block Management page displays support details – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Manage Learn SaaS Building Blocks
Three years ago, we announced the end of support for third-party integrations using Building Blocks. Starting in January 2024, most third-party Building Blocks will no longer be supported. Some Building Blocks have been granted extensions for limited continued support.
To help administrators understand what third-party tools will no longer work in January, we've updated the Building Block management page. Now, each Building Block will have a support indicator. These appear under the header “Support Status” on the Building Block management page.
- ONGOING: These Building Blocks are part of Blackboard Learn and are not third-party. Anthology continues to support these.
- EXTENDED: These are third-party Building Blocks with approved extended support. Support will end sometime in the future. This includes Building Blocks with both announced and unknown support end dates, such as:
- Exceptions, or currently no known end of support date.
- Extended support to specific dates as published on Behind the Blackboard. We will provide updates to support statuses for these Building Blocks in future releases of Blackboard Learn.
- ENDS JAN 2024: These third-party Building Blocks can no longer be used starting with the January 2024 release (3900.82).
Image 1. The Support Status column indicates if support is ongoing or when it will end
This functionality was not included in the Nov. 7 Test/Stage release. It will be included in the Nov. 14, 3900.80 SaaS Test/Stage release.
For administrators: This feature will be available for all Learn environments. There are no configurations needed. These changes won't impact tools integrated with other methods, such as LTI and REST. You can access the Building Block list in Administrator Panel > Building Blocks > Installed Tools.
If you believe the status of a third-party Building Block isn’t correct, please contact Anthology Product Support.
Mobile App
Enhancements to Grades – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In response to user feedback, we've made improvements to the Grades page. The Grades page now offers more comprehensive information for students and instructors. We enhanced both the appearance and functionality.
For Instructors:
- Upcoming Grading
- Upon expansion, instructors find items that need grading.
- Concise View
- We've limited the display to only three items at a time.
- A Show More link is available, leading to the gradebook for that course.
- Efficient Navigation
- Instructors can access grading tasks by selecting the respective item.
- In the past, grade pills were black. Now grade pills display corresponding grade colors.
Image 1. Instructor view of Grades
For Students:
- Upcoming Due Items
- When expanding the section, students now find items that are due within a week.
- Recently Graded
- Expanded sections display items that have been recently graded.
- Concise View
- To avoid clutter, we've limited the display to only three items at a time.
- A Show more link is available, leading to the gradebook for that course.
- Quick Access
- By selecting any item, users can navigate to the specific assessment or activity.
- In the past, grade pills were black. Now grade pills display corresponding grade colors.
Image 2. Student view of Grades
For administrators: No additional settings are required for this feature.
Improved mobile experience for Course Content page – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
The Course Content page had several issues on mobile devices. We have made the following improvements:
- Anthology Ally icons no longer overlap with other elements on the page.
- Items nested in learning modules and folders no longer occupy as much space.
- Icons on the content page are smaller, providing more space for titles and descriptions.
- Titles and descriptions are no longer truncated. The full title and description are always visible now.
- The button to make an item visible to students or hidden from students no longer goes off the page.
Image 1. The course content page before improvements.
Image 2. The course content page after improvements.
For administrators: This update is available for Base Navigation and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Canvas conversion improvements: Support for Multiple Grade Schemes – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Canvas Learning Management System allows instructors to create Grade Schemes. Grade schemes can use point or percentage ranges. Each point or percentage range has a name value.
Image 1. A Grade Scheme in Canvas
In the past, Grade Schemes in Canvas did not convert. We have updated the conversion so that Grade Schemes from Canvas are now preserved. Instructors no longer need to rebuild Grade Schemes when converting a course from Canvas.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Release notes for earlier versions
Release notes for earlier versions available in English only:
Return to top of the Archived Release Notes page
