Notas de la versión de Learn SaaS

Learn SaaS release 3900.104.0

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.104.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 8 October 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.1+32fa013 to Test/Stage servers to take place on 8 October 2024.

For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Anthology Global Support.

November 2024 – 3900.104 Release

The November 2024 - 3900.104 release is robust with features in 8 areas: 

• Instructional design;
• Tests and assignments;
• Communication and collaboration;
• Learner progression and personalized experience;
• Integrations;  
• Learn core and security; 
• Mobile app; and 
• Upgrade to Ultra

These improvements impact instructors, students, observers, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action. 

Instructors: 

• Role play option for AI Conversations 
• Video Studio improvements 
• Improvement to resizing blocks in Documents 
• Course Access options in Course Settings 
• Print Tests with questions from Question Pools and other improvements

Instructors and Students: 

• Video Studio: Viewing controls for captions and transcription
• Indentations added to discussions

Students:

• Improved performance for assignment file submissions

Instructors and Administrators:

• New role privileges for course access management 
• Brightspace conversion: quiz pools and quiz sections 
• Batch edit: usability improvement 
• Download option for student activity log

Observers:

• Observer access to Documents and uploaded files and media

Administrators:

• Enhanced course grades public REST API – Exceptions (Student Attempts) 
• New course completion setting in Administrator Panel

All users:

• Skip link to Course Information
• Blackboard mobile app rebranding

Role play option for AI Conversations – 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 Conversations, visit our page for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash Configuration. AI Conversations must be on before you can select the Role play option. Note that toggling AI Conversations off after deployment stops AI Conversation services. Therefore, any AI Conversation activities visible to students will not operate as expected.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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
• Select to record from connected devices
• Retry a failed video upload

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

Print Tests with questions from Question Pools and other improvements – 3900.104

Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Course View and/or Original 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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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 Tools area of the Administrator panel.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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. 

Image 1. Student Activity log with Download button

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

Course Access options in Course Settings – 3900.104

Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Course View  
Impact: Instructors
Related Topic: Course Settings, Course Availability

Instructors can now manage course access settings through the Course Settings page. This change streamlines administrative tasks and enhances usability for instructors.  

Previously, course availability to students was listed as Open or Private. This state is now called Locked. Course availability and course completion have been clearly separated in Course Settings under Course Access:  

• Locked - Course content is not available to students. Previously called Private.
• Complete – No changes can be made by students or instructors.

Image 1. Course Access section of Course Settings page

Enrolled students access Unavailable/Available displays at the top right of the Course Access section. This information changes in real time according to the Locked and Course Duration settings. This change makes it easier for instructors to understand the result of the combination of the course states.

Additionally, instructors can access Course Settings from the Courses page. Select the course three dot menu and choose Course Settings from the dropdown menu. This action navigates the instructor to the Course Settings page.

Image 2. Courses page with course edit menu dropdown displaying Course Settings

For administrators: These changes in the user interface involve changes to role privileges, which are detailed in Course completion and new privileges for course access management – 3900.104. Instructors need the course settings privilege for Course Settings to display in their course: Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Properties.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

New role privileges for course access management – 3900.104

Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Course View  
Impact: Administrators
Related Topic: Course Terms

In conjunction with the new Course Access options on the Course Settings page, we have introduced new and updated privileges.

The privilege allowing a user to change course availability and completion was split into two:

• Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Properties, Availability (updated privilege)
• Change Completion Status (on/off) (new privilege)

Additionally, another privilege was added:

• Partial Change Completion Status (on) (new privilege)

With this privilege, a user can mark a course as complete, but they can’t undo this change.

These new and updated privileges improve the administrator’s ability to respond to institution needs for instructors.

For Administrators: Be sure to review Course Access options in Course Settings – 3900.104 for instructor-facing changes to course access options. Based on user feedback, privilege names for Change Completion Status and Partial Change Completion Status may change in the next release.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.

Return to November 2024 – 3900.104.0 Release description

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.23+4749f73 to Production servers to take place on 10 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:

• Mastery tab in the gradebook
• Email notifications for followed discussions
• Email notifications for followed discussions (mobile)

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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. 

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

Mastery tab in the gradebook – 3900.102 

Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors, Students, Administrators  

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.  

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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).

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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. 

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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. 
 

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description

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.

Return to October 2024 – 3900.102.0 Release description