Release Notes 2019 | Blackboard Help

Release Notes for Learn SaaS - 2019

Cumulative Update 4 for FDO Q4 2019 (release 3800.0.4)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 4 for the Q4 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Cumulative Update 3 for FDO Q4 2019 (release 3800.0.3)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 3 for the Q4 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Cumulative Update 2 for FDO Q4 2019 (release 3800.0.2)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 2 for the Q4 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Cumulative Update 1 for FDO Q4 2019 (release 3800.0.1)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 1 for the Q4 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Known issue

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Course View

We're currently investigating a known issue in Learn SaaS v3700.16.0:

In the Ultra Course View, when you associate multiple group discussions with the same course group set, responses made in one of the group discussions appear in all of the associated group discussions. While we resolve this issue, you can create new group sets for each group discussion.

We'll update this note with more details as they become available.

More information on group discussions

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.16.0 (full release number 3700.16.0-rel.56+7b9695c) to client Production servers during off-hours on Thursday, January 9, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

In the Ultra Course View, instructors couldn’t upload more than one file at a time to the course outline. We’ve fixed the issue.
In the Ultra Course View, instructors couldn’t upload a folder containing multiple files to the course outline. We’ve fixed the issue.
In the Ultra Course View, when instructors changed a Content Collection file link using the Assignment text editor, the file was deleted. We’ve fixed the issue.
In the Ultra Course View, when instructors dragged files added from their Institution’s Content Collection in and out of folders, the files moved to a read only folder in the course’s Content Collection. We’ve fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Original Course View, Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.16.0 (full release number 3700.16.0-rel.52+5c69d6d) to client Production servers during off-hours on Thursday, January 2, 2020.

Updates in this version include:

Some administrators couldn’t export the student goal performance report from the Administrator panel. We’ve fixed the issue.
In the Original Course View, some instructors encountered error messages when they created calculated questions that use predefined calculus functions. We’ve fixed the issue.

Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019

The Blackboard Learn SaaS Q4 2019 (3800.0.0) release for Flexible Deployment Option customers is now available. Contact Blackboard Support to schedule your upgrade for the time and date that works best for you.

This release includes features released as part of continuous delivery releases since 3600.0.0. Use the category filter to narrow down the list of features in this latest release.

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Partial delay for Continuous Delivery release to Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re delaying the Blackboard Learn SaaS 3700.16.0 Continuous Delivery release to client Production servers for US East customers, previously scheduled for December 5, 2019. All Continuous Delivery client Production servers will receive an updated version of the 3700.16.0 release during off-hours on Wednesday, December 18, 2019.

More information on the delay available on Behind the Blackboard

Updates in this version include:

Students and instructors using the Ultra Course View couldn’t download file submissions. We’ve fixed the issue.
Some instructors couldn’t access Message attachments in the Original Course View. We’ve fixed the issue.
In the Ultra Course View, when an instructor graded one assignment and moved on to the next, the first assignment displayed again instead of the next one. We’ve fixed the issue.
Instructors couldn’t copy more than 50 questions into a new test in the Ultra Course View. We’ve fixed the issue.
The Rustici fix for Chrome was included in 2017.1.67. This version was applied to 3700.16, 3700.0.5, 3500.0.9, 3400.0.14 versions of the Learn product. Customers that upgrade to these versions won't be impacted by the future Chrome release.

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Addition to client Production release

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, the scheduled Production release of 3700.16.0 (full release number 3700.16.0-rel.33+fdffbe0) during off-hours on Thursday, December 5, 2019 will include an additional update.

Users of some LTI tools couldn’t create LTI content or use services because the tools weren’t properly validated. We've fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.16.0 (full release number 3700.16.0-rel.27+2787f87) to client Test/Staging servers during off-hours on Tuesday, December 3, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

The Content Editor didn't load correctly for some users. We've fixed the issue.
In the mobile apps, users couldn’t access offline content in courses converted from Original to Ultra Course View. We've fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.16.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.16.0 (full release number 3700.16.0-rel.25+b897566) to client Test/Staging servers during off-hours on Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Some users got an error message when they downloaded student submissions in certain file formats. We've fixed the issue.
Some LTI 1.3 workflows didn't launch from Partner Cloud Settings. We've fixed the issue.

Course-level group sets

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Course View

To further support effective teaching and learning, we’ve enhanced the functionality of the Groups workspace for the Ultra Course View. With this release, instructors can create course-level group sets and align them to discussions, tests, and assignments. Within an Ultra course, select Course Groups from the Details & Actions menu. Create a new group set and save. In the settings panel of a discussion, test, or assignment, select Assign to groups. Then select your group set from the Group students menu.

Grade pill color

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Course View

In the Ultra Course View, the color of the grade pill visually communicates grades/marks to students and instructors. While effective in many instances, we’ve received feedback from some Ultra early adopters that grade color can have an adverse effect on student well-being. We first introduced the ability to turn off grade pill color in the Blackboard App, and with this release we’re bringing this functionality and flexibility to Learn.

Administrators can visit Course Settings > Grade Pill Colors in the Administrator Panel to disable grade pill colors.

Learn more about disabling grade pill colors

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

You can view maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3700.16.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

Text update for Multiple Answer questions

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.16.0 | Release to Production 5 December 2019
Ultra Course View

In previous versions, the prompt for Multiple Choice questions differed from that of Multiple Answer questions. This difference offered an unintentional clue to students when a question had more than one correct answer. Based on feedback from the community, including St. Mary's College, we've made the prompt consistent across Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer question types.

Cumulative Update 5 for FDO Q2 2019 (release 3700.0.5)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 5 for the Q2 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Learn SaaS release 3700.14.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.14.0 (full release number 3700.14.0-rel.9+dce67da) to client Test/Staging servers during off-hours on Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Some internal CSS files were processing incorrectly. We’ve fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.11.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.11.0 (full release number 3700.11.0-rel.19+09cd901) to client Production servers during off-hours on Thursday, October 31, 2019.

Learn SaaS release 3700.14.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.14.0 (full release number 3700.14.0-rel.8+884e842) to client Test/Staging servers during off-hours on Tuesday, October 29, 2019.

Learn SaaS release 3700.11.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.11.0 (full release number 3700.11.0-rel.17+dca4b12) to client Production servers during off-hours on Thursday, October 24, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

When instructors reused a question pool in the Ultra Course View, answers to Multiple Choice questions didn't randomize correctly. We’ve fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.14.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.14.0 (full release number 3700.14.0-rel.3+e156b1f) to client Test/Staging servers during off-hours on Tuesday, October 22, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

When instructors reused a question pool in the Ultra Course View, answers to Multiple Choice questions didn't randomize correctly. We’ve fixed the issue.
The X icon didn't display correctly in some Ultra Course View panels. We’ve fixed the issue.

Account lockout

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

In this release, by default Learn will lock user accounts after 5 failed login attempts. Administrators can disable the feature or edit its limits by selecting Account Lock Settings in the Administrator panel. Administrators can decide the maximum failed attempts allowed within a specified period. They can also choose how long accounts remain locked and whether accounts unlock automatically if users reset their passwords.

More on configuring Account Lock Settings

Student help with account lockout

Instructor help with account lockout

Ally updates

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

In this release, we've improved the Ally experience in Ultra courses. Now students can download alternative formats of files and images attached to documents. Just select the download option next to a file and choose the format you want.

Accessibility scores for instructors are also available with attachments in document and tests. The scores appear next to the files they are scoring. This makes it easier for instructors to see how their content scores and fix any issues.

Accessibility scores and alternative format icons are only available with attached files. They aren't available with files and images added in the content editor.

Assessment Settings panel button update

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

In a continued effort to make Learn Ultra as consistent as possible, we updated the previous Done button to match the rest of the system. We've found that instructors prefer the Save and Cancel options, so we updated the Assessment Settings to align with that preference.

Batch Edit moved into overflow menu

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

When we first introduced Batch Edit, we wanted to make sure that users saw this new capability. We gave it a level of prominence that, over time, was too strong given the standard usage of the tool. We moved it into the overflow menu to better align with how it's used.

Description field for Ultra documents

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

Instructors want to be able to give an overview to students so they have a clear understanding of what's expected of them. While instructors generally had the ability to give this overview in the Ultra Course View, we didn't offer this ability when instructors created an Ultra document. With this enhancement, instructors can provide high-level details about what the Ultra documents contain. This reduces unnecessary clicks for students and improves their overall experiences. Instructors can open the Document Settings panel in an existing document to add a description. Students can see descriptions on the Course Content page.

Empty learning modules removed

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

As an education company, it's sometimes important to display a sense of preference in the system's pedagogical approach. While learning modules are a powerful tool, we understand that displaying one all the time can cause some unintended stress to instructors. Listening to our community is important, so we've removed the learning module when you first log in to an empty template as well as the empty module that appeared on the page.

Error messages when deleting assessments with externally-referenced questions

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View

To help instructors understand why they can't delete some items, we've added three detailed messages. Instructors can't delete question banks, folders, or assessments that contain questions used in question pools in other assessments.

Guest Account can't be enrolled in courses

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

Previously, when an unauthenticated user accessed Blackboard Learn and the "Enable Guest" property was enabled they were associated with the "Guest" account. Instructors were able to enroll this "Guest" account in courses and organizations, circumventing application entitlement handling.

This account is a unique Blackboard System Level account that was never intended to be enrolled. Allowing this account to be enrolled meant possible data exposure to unauthenticated users as multiple un-authenticated users could be associated with the account.

Therefore, in this release we removed the ability for the "Guest" account to be enrolled in courses stopping potential data exposure concerns between unauthenticated users. Existing "Guest" account enrollments will remain and be visible to instructors and administrators so they can clean up these existing enrollments through the user interface.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

New icons

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Course View, Ultra Experience

Iconography is incredibly important in Learn Ultra. The icon set we currently use was created when we first brought Ultra to the market. We've done a lot of research with our clients regarding what they liked and didn't like about the iconography in the system. Because of that feedback, we've made some adjustments to the icon set. Most notably, the new icons are darker and appear more prominently now.

System administration notification settings

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.14.0 | Release to Production 7 November 2019
Ultra Experience

Learn Ultra has always been designed with the end user in mind, and that includes flexibility and personalization of Notifications. Feedback from the wider Blackboard Community outlined that although this is positive, offering levels of control for an institution to support and manage notifications is an important. Blackboard listened to this client feedback, and we're pleased to outline our support for System Administration Notification Settings in Ultra.

Ultra administrators can change notifications at the system level, configure digest functionality, and set up default notification settings. In the Administrator Panel, select Notification Settings. For every available notification type and source, administrators can select whether notifications are on or off by default. Administrators can also decide whether users can change the default setting in their individual preferences.

Bulk download submissions

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Ultra Course View

When assignments require students to submit files in Learn, it's time-consuming for instructors to download each individual submission to grade it, especially in large courses. With this release, instructors can now download multiple student assignment submissions at once as a ZIP file from the Ultra gradebook.

Instructors can download files from the Ultra gradebook or from the submissions list page with the Download all option. Instructors can then choose whether to download all or select specific submissions. Instructors receive an email and a course message when the ZIP file is ready to download to their computers.

Courses with 5,000 or more students may see page load times of up to 30 seconds. We’ll address the limitation in the near future.

Decimal point values for assessments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Ultra Course View

To balance the total points possible in their courses, instructors need the flexibility to assign fractional possible points to test questions and assessments. With this update, instructors can now enter decimal values in the Points field for individual questions and in the Maximum points field for assessments that don't contain individually graded questions.

When creating a question in an assessment, instructors can enter values with up to two numbers after the decimal in the Points field. For assessments with no individual questions, the Maximum points field will accept values with up to two numbers after the decimal.

Delete copied course attendance data

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Ultra Course View, Original Course View

When instructors prepare a course for an upcoming term, they commonly copy all content, including the gradebook, from the last term’s course. For courses that used the attendance tool, the copied attendance gradebook column was difficult to remove. With this release, instructors can delete attendance gradebook columns added during a course copy from the destination course’s gradebook.

Instructors can delete copied attendance columns from the gradebook menu. The attendance column that is correctly associated with the course can be deleted if all students’ attendance records are removed first.

In the Ultra Course View's gradebook list or grid view, open the menu for the extra attendance column from a course copy and select Delete.

In the Original Course View's Grade Center, open the menu for the extra attendance column and select Delete Column.

Select all and clear all questions for question pools

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.11.0 | Release to Production 3 October 2019
Ultra Course View

When adding questions to a question pool, instructors need to be able to select large groups of questions quickly and efficiently. As instructors create question pools for their Ultra assessments, the options to Select all and Clear all question choices now appear on the Add Question Pool page.

Learn SaaS release 3700.9.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.9.0 (full release number 3700.9.0-rel.24+374338b) to client Production servers during off-hours on Thursday, September 12, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Blackboard Learn’s September 4 update introduced an issue with the LTI Advantage version of the Cengage integration for some institutions. The Blackboard gradebook didn’t always synchronize with graded student activities that used Cengage links created prior to the release. The Blackboard Learn September 12 update resolved the issue, and LTI Advantage with the Cengage integration functions as intended.

UPDATE: Upcoming changes to Open JDK and impact to Building Blocks in Learn SaaS deployments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

To address recent changes in Oracle’s Java support model, Blackboard Learn is transitioning to adopt a more recent version of Java, Java 11 JDK. Our new target for adopting Java 11 is 3800.0.0. Please confirm release dates with the SaaS release schedule.

We strongly encourage all clients and partners who use Building Blocks to test them with Java 11. Partners and clients can access early builds of Learn with Java 11 by requesting to join the Learn SaaS Technical Preview program.

As part of this change, we are transitioning from the Oracle-supported version of Java 11 to the AWS-supported version of Java 11 called Corretto. This does not impact SaaS or Managed Hosting clients. Operational changes for self-hosted clients are minimal.

For further details on Java 11 Technical Preview testing with Building Blocks and Corretto changes for self-hosted clients, see the following articles:

View the Behind the Blackboard announcement

Join the conversation on Blackboard Community

We previously announced this change to Java 11 to be part of Blackboard Learn release 3600.0, scheduled for April 2019. Later, we'd communicated a new target of June 2019 followed by September 2019. Based on the results of testing with Technical Preview participants and our partners, we concluded that Java 11 adoption should be delayed further.

Previous announcements:

To address recent changes in Oracle’s Java support model, Blackboard Learn is transitioning to adopt the latest version of OpenJDK as it’s released. We previously announced this change with the introduction of OpenJDK 11 as part of Blackboard Learn release 3600.0, and later announced a new target of June 2019. Based on the results of initial testing with Technical Preview participants and our partners, we concluded that Java 11 adoption should be removed from those target releases due to compatibility issues with extensions. The delay allowed for continued testing to uphold the user experience and minimize disruptions.

For developers, partners, and institutions, testing Building Blocks for compatibility is highly recommended because libraries may have changed. For developers, recompiling Building Blocks using the updated Java libraries is also a best practice and should be performed for Java 11.

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We’re changing the way we adopt Java updates in Blackboard Learn. These changes start with Blackboard Learn SaaS release 3600.0 with the adoption of Open JDK 11.

While we expect that building blocks will continue to work as is, Blackboard is aware that some fundamental library changes could affect compatibility. To help ensure that you’re able to thoroughly test for these upcoming changes, we’re introducing a Learn SaaS Technical Preview program.

Partners in the Blackboard Developers’ Network (BbDN) should enter a support case requesting to participate in the program.

Cumulative Update 4 for FDO Q2 2019 (release 3700.0.4)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 4 for the Q2 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Cumulative Update 3 for FDO Q2 2019 (release 3700.0.3)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 3 for the Q2 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Learn SaaS release 3700.9.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.9.0 (full release number 3700.9.0-rel.23+e0c105e) to client Test/Stage servers during off-hours on Tuesday, September 3, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Some mobile users saw an error message in the Activity Stream. We’ve fixed the issue.
Some users couldn't customize their default brand in the Ultra Experience. We’ve fixed the issue.
Users couldn't create new accounts on Open Education. We’ve fixed the issue.
Some users had trouble logging out in the Original Experience. We’ve fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.9.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.9.0 (full release number 3700.9.0-rel.16+4fb2947) to client Test/Stage servers during off-hours on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Users encountered an error message when saving changes to their default brand in the Ultra Experience. We’ve fixed the issue.
Open Education pages returned errors site-wide. We’ve fixed the issue.
Assessments took longer than usual to load in the Ultra Course View. We’ve fixed the issue.
For users preparing to migrate to a SaaS deployment, the Move Legacy Content tool caused problems with Turnitin feedback. We’ve fixed the issue.

Additional updates in the user interface

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Course View, Ultra Course View

In an Original course, if instructors delete a content folder in a content area that contains graded items with no attempts, the corresponding columns are also deleted from the Grade Center.
We've made these refinements to question pools in Ultra Course View:
- A more accessible button structure
- Clearer error and confirmation modal messages

Collaborate Ultra in private mode

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Ultra Course View

Create Collaborate sessions in your course before making it live. Now instructors can pre-schedule Collaborate sessions in their Ultra courses any time. Even when the course isn't available to students.

Filter students by grading status

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Ultra Course View

Grading student work is one of the most important, yet time consuming tasks in the management of a course. Often, an instructor knows which course and assignment needs to be graded, but it can be difficult to identify which students have made submissions. In order to help instructors locate submissions and begin grading more quickly, we have added a Needs Grading filter to the submissions list for individual assessments.

On an item's Submissions page in the Ultra gradebook, instructors can use the new Filter menu to display only those submissions that need grading. At this time, instructors can filter by All statuses and Needs grading.

The Filter menu doesn't appear for group and discussion items.

Group self-enrollment

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.9.0 | Release to Production 5 September 2019
Ultra Course View

Instructors can create self-enrollment groups for students to join to complete group assignments and discussions. Instructors choose the number of groups, can set the maximum members per group, and may allow students to view other members of the groups before they choose a group.

Instructors may set an enrollment period that students see on the Course Content page and with the group items. Instructors see Self-enroll on the Course Content page and with group assignments and discussions.

Create Ultra Organizations

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.7.0 | Release to Production 12 August 2019
Ultra Experience

In this release, we've brought Ultra Organizations to life. Administrators can now create Ultra Organizations, which have the same functionality and workflow as Ultra courses. Administrators can choose to create Original Organizations, Ultra Organizations, or let users choose. Administrators can import and export existing courses and organizations.

Create Ultra Organizations using the same workflow as Ultra Courses. You can create groups, make the organization private or visible to students, and create content within the organization.

Show answers option in Ultra assessments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.7.0 | Release to Production 12 August 2019
Ultra Course View

In Ultra assessments, instructors can decide if students see the answers to questions that were answered incorrectly. For example, instructors may want students to see which questions they missed on a multiple attempt assessment, but don’t want to show the correct answers. Instructors may also hide answers until all students complete their submissions.

In the assessment settings panel, a new option appears: Show correct answers. The option isn’t selected by default, so correct answers are hidden from students. Instructors need to return to the assessment settings and select Show correct answers so students can review them with the assessment content.

Updates to branding

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.7.0 | Release to Production 12 August 2019
Ultra Experience

In this release, we've included the ability to filter brands by roles or host names from the brands listing page and view which brands were just created. We included a notification if a custom login is specified but won't be visible to users based on brand associations. Administrators can choose to allow the navigation logo area to be filled with a theme color, like the base navigation area.

In the Brands listing page, an Administrator can now view the Host and Role Associations assigned to any specific brand and search those brands by clicking the Find a Brand function to filter the list based on the Brand Name or Host Association.

Additional updates in the user interface

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.5.0 | Release to Production 11 July 2019
Ultra Experience

To ensure privacy, only instructor names—not instructor usernames—appear to students throughout the Ultra experience.
Building on the URL and role branding feature released earlier, administrators can see a brand’s host and role associations from the Brands page.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.5.0 | Release to Production 11 July 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

Office 365/G Suite Integration: Individual authentication

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.5.0 | Release to Production 11 July 2019
Ultra Experience

The ability to support institutionally managed access to cloud storage alongside personal storage is an important major request we hear from our clients. This release provides the ability for institutions and schools who leverage Microsoft or Google to select their preferred solution and allow users to access their institutional cloud storage account from within their profile or directly upload content in the Ultra Course View.

Allow your instructors and students to access Office365 or Google accounts from Blackboard Learn. Users can access cloud storage from their Ultra courses, profile, and the Tools page. Multiple entry points make it easier to get to the files they want when they want it. Administrators must configure the institution account to turn on instructor and student access. On the Administrator panel, go to Institution Cloud Storage to set up the integration.

Cumulative Update 2 for FDO Q2 2019 (release 3700.0.2)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 2 for the Q2 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

New updates for Ally customers

Ally 1.31 | Release to Production 18 June 2019
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.31) contains improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

Learn SaaS release 3500.0.5: Update to FDO client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2018
Note: Does not apply to Blackboard Learn SaaS FDO on Learn SaaS Q2 2019 (3700.0.0)
Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3500.0.5 (full release number 3500.0.5-rel.49+4a09578) to Flexible Deployment Option client Production servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 5:00PM EST on May 20, 2019.

Learn SaaS release 3700.3.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.3.0 (full release number 3700.3.0-rel.7+29b16e7) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 5:00AM EST on May 31, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

When a student submitted multiple attempts on a test in quick succession, the system's responsiveness would slow or stop. We've fixed the issue.
On the Courses page in the Ultra experience, longer course names were appearing with unexpected symbols. We've fixed the issue.
A few improvements for custom themes in the Ultra experience:
- We've improved how custom themes are created and updated on the backend in the Ultra experience to improve performance.
- Deleted custom brands weren't being removed from the database properly, leading to unexpected behavior. We've fixed the issue.
- When an administrator uploaded a custom navigation logo, the custom login logo was cleared. We've fixed the issue.
- Some users reported losing the ability to upload a logo to the Institution Page. We've fixed the issue.
- The Institution Page associated with a custom brand wasn't available for administrators if modules weren't visible. We've fixed the issue.

Add external calendars in Blackboard Learn

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Experience

Instructors and students often use calendars to organize and keep track of events. Access to a course calendar is crucial to meeting deadlines and overall success. Having access to all events—both personal and academic—in one place helps keep everyone on track. In this release, users can synchronize external calendars with Blackboard Learn, building on the previously released capabilities.

On the Calendar page in the base navigation, open Calendar Settings and select Add Calendar. Drag and drop or click to upload your calendar file in ICS format. When you connect your external calendar to Blackboard Learn, all course events appear one year in the past and into the future.

More on how to add calendar files in Learn

Additional updates in the user interface

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Previously, the Courses page in the Ultra experience listed a user's oldest courses first. The order has been flipped and now the newest courses are listed first. If a user designates any courses as favorites, those courses still appear first in the list.
To improve performance for system tasks, we’ve introduced new retention settings. You can configure how long your system retains information on asynchronous system tasks, including “complete,” “error,” and “incomplete” tasks. Find these options in Administrator Panel > Logs > System Tasks Status > Retention Settings.
We’ve updated file behavior for Portfolios to improve performance. When a user downloads a portfolio, the assets will reference assets stored on Blackboard's content delivery network (CDN). File names will use https://learn.blackboardcdn.com/. Related updates are described on Behind the Blackboard.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

Office 365/G Suite integration for Ultra Course View

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Course View

Learning institutions all over the world are adopting Office 365 and G Suite. With the many benefits they offer, these cloud suites are a compelling solution for education. In this release, we’re pleased to introduce the Office 365 and G Suite integration with Blackboard Learn. Instructors and students can now add files from their institution cloud storage account directly into their courses. Before this release, they could only add files from their personal cloud accounts.

Administrators need to allow and set up the integration with the institution's suite account. The service provider and domain name are needed to complete institution account configuration. After configuration, authenticated institution cloud accounts are associated with Blackboard Learn accounts. This means that users don't need to authenticate more than once. The institution accounts display in their course no matter what device or browser they use.

Users must use a login ID that matches the domain configured for institution accounts to display.

Under Integrations in the Administrator Panel, select Institution Cloud Storage to set up the integration.

Parallel grading in the Ultra Course View

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Course View

For higher stakes assessments, a double marking process is sometimes used in which each student’s submission is evaluated by two graders and a final grader reviews those evaluations to make the final decision on a student’s grade. This approach intends to reduce bias and is often paired with student anonymity. When setting up an assignment in the Ultra Course View, instructors can enable parallel grading and select non-student course members to act as graders and reconcilers. Instructors can also hide student names to prevent unintended bias.

The Assignment settings panel is open with the "2 graders per student" checkbox selected and the Evaluation options section pointed and highlighted.

Update to the Organizations and Courses pages in the Ultra experience

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Experience

In this release, we've updated the Courses and Organizations pages in the Ultra base navigation.

We've brought the Ultra design language to the Organizations base page. Courses and organizations also now include the ability to add images. You can also view the Courses and Organizations pages as either a list or a grid, where banner images are on display. The Organizations page contains the same functions and workflows as the Courses page.

URL and role branding for the Ultra experience

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.3.0 | Release to Production 6 June 2019
Ultra Experience

Institutions want to be able to express their own brand and identity within the learning management system, and this often extends to specific branding for their faculties or affiliations. With the introduction of URL and role branding in the Ultra experience, institutions can now create their own domain and role specific Ultra brands, providing a sense of personalization for instructors and students.

Create a new brand from the Brands link on the Administrator Panel. You can customize the login logo, navigation and login icon, color selection, and Institution Page for a brand. Associate the brand to a new host/domain name and/or institution role in the Ultra experience.

Cumulative Update 1 for FDO Q2 2019 (release 3700.0.1)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 1 for the Q2 2019 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Learn SaaS release 3700.0.0: Update to FDO client Test/Stage environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.0.0 (full release number 3700.0.0-rel.23+4c6d4de) to Flexible Deployment Option client Test/Stage servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 5:00AM EST on May 15, 2019.

Learn SaaS release 3700.0.0: Update to Ultra Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of the 3700.0.0 Ultra user interface (full release number 3700.0.0-rel.23+4c6d4de) to client Production servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 1:00 PM EST on May 13, 2019.

Updates in this version relate only to the Ultra Course View and include:

Instructors weren't able to use rubrics on graded group discussions in the Ultra Course View. We've fixed the issue.
Students saw an error message when opening a rubric applied to a graded group assignment submission in the Ultra Course View. We've fixed the issue.

After your environment is updated, users will need to refresh their browser or log out and log in again to see the updates.

Learn SaaS release 3700.0.0: Update to client Test/Stage and Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.0.0 (full release number 3700.0.0-rel.23+4c6d4de) to client Test/Stage and Production servers.

Your Production instance may be updated starting on May 9, 2019. Your Test/Stage instance may be updated starting on May 10, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

An issue introduced with the 3700.0 release caused Learn Ultra to frequently query the entire content management resource link. This caused extreme garbage collection and out-of-memory issues across application servers leading to system instability and eventual outage. We've fixed the issue, restoring environment stabilization and operations. More information on Behind the Blackboard.

Learn SaaS release 3700.0.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.0.0 (full release number 3700.0.0-rel.14+b5a694ef) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 1:00AM EST on April 30, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

A bug was introduced related to discussions in the Ultra Course View. Discussion settings weren't retained when an Ultra course was duplicated. We've fixed the issue.

Learn SaaS release 3700.0.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3700.0.0 (full release number 3700.0.0-rel.10+745b49a) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 5:00AM EST on April 15, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

System and course role privileges weren't appearing in the user interface as expected. We've fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.
A critical security vulnerability has been internally identified and we have fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.

Gradebook improvements: Filter based on merged courses

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

Grading tasks and workflows vary widely from instructor to instructor. To support these specific workflows in Ultra, we’re building features to help ease the administrative burden of working in the grade book. In this release, instructors can filter their gradebook view based on child courses that have been merged. Instructors who manage merged courses can filter the gradebook view to show only students in a specific child course.

Learn how to filter your view in the gradebook

Individual feedback for group assessments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

Instructors often use group-based assessments as part of their curriculums. There are times when instructors want to provide specific feedback for individuals in a group, in addition to group feedback overall. In this release, we introduce the ability to provide feedback for an entire group as well as individual members.

For group assessments, instructors can add individual feedback for each student within a group. Previously, each student in a group received the same feedback and only differentiated grades were supported. Now group members can see feedback for the group and their individual feedback if provided.

More on how to give individual feedback on group assessments

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

Preview course as a student

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

This feature was previously announced as part of 3600.0.0. We found an issue with this feature that would impact the user experience. After carefully reviewing the issue and to ensure release quality, we concluded that we should remove Student Preview from that release for quality concerns.

This feature is now confirmed as part of 3700.0.0.

Instructors want to be confident that their courses are well-designed and function as intended—before their students see them. Instructors can use student preview to review the course content. They can also validate the course behaviors, such as those that control course content availability or require a particular interaction from the students to be triggered. With student preview, instructors can experience their courses exactly as their students do. 

Start student preview from the Details & Actions menu within your Ultra course. The preview creates user in your course that you can use to view everything as a student would.

Get started with student preview in the Ultra Course View

Question Banks in the Ultra Course View

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Course View

With this release, instructors can now directly import question banks, including question pools that have been exported from Original courses and packages of questions that have been purchased from a publisher. These questions are then available for use and reuse across the assessments in that course. Imported question banks display in the same area of the question reuse search and filter panel as pools that were converted from Original courses. As with any conversion from Original to Ultra, question types that are not yet supported are dropped during the processing of the imported file.

Instructors can import question banks to use in their assessments. Access to question banks now appears on the Course Content page in the Details & Actions panel.

Learn more about question banks

Additional updates in the user interface

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3700.0.0 | Release to Production 3 May 2019
Ultra Experience

On the Details & Action panel of the Ultra Course View, the Collaborate link has been updated to say Blackboard Collaborate. It previously said Course Room. We've also updated the link text in this menu.
Previously, assessment descriptions weren’t properly converted to plain text when a course was converted to the Ultra Course View. Assessment descriptions are now converted to plain text like other content descriptions in Ultra.

Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019

The Blackboard Learn SaaS Q2 2019 (3700.0.0) release for Flexible Deployment Option customers is now available. Contact Blackboard Support to schedule your upgrade for the time and date that works best for you.

This release includes features released as part of continuous delivery releases since 3500.0.0. Use the category filter to narrow down the list of features in this latest release.

Learn SaaS release 3600.0.0: Update to client Production environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3600.0.0 (full release number 3600.0.0-rel.11+318243c) to client Production servers. Your instance may be updated starting in the early evening hours on April 13, 2019 based on your region and timezone.

Updates in this version include:

A critical security vulnerability has been internally identified and we have fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.

Cumulative Update 5 for FDO Q4 2018 (release 3500.0.5)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2018
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 5 for the Q4 2018 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Learn SaaS release 3600.0.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3600.0.0 (full release number 3600.0.0-rel.9+22b493d) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 6:00AM EST on April 1, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Instructors and students were unable to view portfolio submissions after a recent upgrade. We've fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.
In the Original Course View, the breadcrumb navigation bar at the top of the browser window appeared twice. We've fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.
In the Ultra Course View, we've removed the new Student Preview feature to address quality concerns. It will be included in an upcoming release.

Course role for facilitators

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Facilitation privileges have been long requested functionality in Blackboard Learn's Original Experience. We’re excited to bring this ability to both the Original and Ultra Experiences.

3600.0.0 marks the culmination of previous content lockdown releases with the introduction of the Facilitator role. This course role contains a set of default privileges regarding course calendar, discussions, gradebook, announcements, materials, and groups. Course members can be granted this role to help maintain the pace of the course throughout the term or as needed.

This release includes two new privileges to grant a user the ability to create or delete a discussion in the Ultra Course View.

Additionally, the privileges list shows when certain entitlements are inherited by other privileges. For example, the Course/Organization (Content Areas) > Edit Material Availability privilege is automatically granted to a user who also has the Course/Organization (Content Areas) > Edit Materials privilege. We’ve made this association clearer in the user interface.

If your environment already contains a custom course role with FACILITATOR as the Role ID, you may notice errors after the 3600.0.0 update. We're working on addressing this issue before the release reaches Production servers. To troubleshoot, copy your custom role, rename it to eliminate FACILITATOR, apply it to the appropriate users, and remove the old custom role.

Improvements to how the Activity Stream shows external content

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Ultra Experience

The Activity Stream is the go-to place for instructors and students to understand what’s happening in a course. We’ve improved reporting behavior so third-party content due dates appear in the Activity Stream in a more dynamic way.

Previously, instructors and students could see an upcoming due date for this type of content. When the due date passed or the content status changed, the notification in the Activity Stream wouldn’t update. With this release, the Activity Stream more accurately reports on third-party content to keep everyone more up to date. Specifically, LTI and manual grade column notifications will update in the Activity Stream when:

The item transitions from due to overdue
The item’s due date is updated
The item is deleted
The item is graded
The item’s visibility is changed

More on how students navigate the Activity Stream

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

You can view maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3600.0.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

Self-service log download and removal of Kibana Building Block

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

We’ve added support for server log storage and access from within the Blackboard Learn user interface. Select Manage Content in the Administrator Panel to access logs.

Server logs are created once every hour and stored in the internal > logs folder. Logs are grouped by year, month, day, and hour. Logs are generated in the same format as those you’re used to viewing in Kibana as a JSON file.

The hour folder uses the Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) hour. Logs are transferred to the local file system once per hour, but on a four-hour delay. For example, if the current hour is 4 then during this hour logs from hour 0 will be transferred.

As part of the 3600.0.0 release, we will remove the Kibana Building Block and stop sending logs to Kibana. All logs will need to be accessed via the new workflow in the user interface.

More on how to download and reformat system logs in Blackboard Learn SaaS

Share calendar with external services

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Ultra Experience

Instructors and students often use calendars to organize and keep track of events. Access to a course calendar is crucial to meeting deadlines and overall success. Having access to all events—both personal and academic—in one place helps keep everyone on track. In this release, users can synchronize their Blackboard Learn Ultra calendars to external calendars.

Generate a URL to share course calendar details with an external service. Share the URL only with trusted sources. When you connect your Blackboard Learn calendar to an external calendar, all course events appear one year in the past and into the future.

More on how to share a Blackboard Learn calendar

Support for IMS Global’s Questions and Test Interoperability (QTI) specification

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Course View

Instructors and instructional designers use various technologies to develop assessments and need to be able to move assessment items such as questions from one system to another easily. To ensure compatibility and easy re-use, IMS Global developed the Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) standard so questions can be shared between learning management and assessment systems. In this release, instructors and course builders can add QTI packages to Blackboard Learn in the Original Course View.

Learn more about QTI at the IMS Global site

Additional details:

Blackboard Learn handles QTI 2.1 packages as pools for import and export. If a QTI import package contains multiple assessment objects, multiple pools are created.
Blackboard Learn supports the following question types for import/export in QTI 2.1 format: true/false, multiple choice, multiple answer, fill-in-the-blank, and essay.
For embedded media, Blackboard Learn will import HTML5 and HTML Object tags. It will export HTML5.
In scenarios where there is a mismatch in question configuration options, Blackboard Learn will prioritize fidelity of the question and answer text over settings. For example, some exam systems allow differing partial credit allocations to be set per possible answer response whereas Blackboard Learn maintains a list of correct answers. In this case, all answer options will be imported as correct so they can be reviewed for continued applicability in Blackboard Learn.
Question metadata such as tags, categories, and alignments are not exported or imported at this time.
Questions using the optional QTI response processing are skipped and not imported.
Because different assessment tools have different features and varying media/HTML/equation handling capabilities, you should always review and test questions after transfer between solutions.

More on how to use QTI packages in a course

Additional updates in the user interface

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3600.0.0 | Release to Production 4 April 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

If your institution uses the Turn It In Building Block, students will no longer receive a Past Due notification when they have submitted an assignment on time.
We’re building more and more content capabilities into the Ultra Course View. In this release, you’ll notice a redesigned menu to accommodate additional options in course content, gradebook, discussions, and documents.
Users who subscribe to email notifications will notice we’ve updated the message format. We’ve reduced Blackboard branding and optimized the format for better appearance on more devices and email clients.
We’ve updated the Global HTML filter to accept .txt files for student submissions
Push notifications in the Ultra experience support Ultra course discussions. Students can receive notifications when someone responds to their discussion, someone replies to their posts, an instructor creates a new discussion, or when participation deadlines are approaching. Instructors can receive notifications for replies to discussion threads or posts they authored.

Learn SaaS release 3500.11.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3500.11.0 (full release number 3500.11.0-rel.10+071f567) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 6:00AM EST on March 4, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

Participants in an Organization saw an "Oops! Something went wrong" message when clicking on Organizations in the Ultra base navigation. We've fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.
Users weren't able to log in to Blackboard Learn with the Ultra experience with Microsoft Edge browser versions 30-41. We've fixed the issue. More information on Behind the Blackboard.

Learn SaaS release 3500.11.0: Update to client Test/Staging environments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

As part of our commitment to release quality, we’re applying an updated version of 3500.11.0 (full release version 3500.11.0-rel.9+0b3fe2f) to client Test/Staging servers. Your instance may be updated starting at 6:00AM EST on February 22, 2019.

Updates in this version include:

In the Ultra Course View, students with accommodations and assessment exceptions can be granted additional time in timed assessments.
Users can access SCORM content in a copied course. More information on Behind the Blackboard.

Blackboard Learn achieves LTI Advantage certification

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is an initiative managed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium to seamlessly integrate learning applications used by instructors into their courses. It includes a standard protocol for establishing a trusted relationship between the tool provider and the Learning Management System (LMS), so that students and teachers can have a seamless, integrated experience of using the tool within the context of their course.

Blackboard Learn is now LTI Advantage certified. Blackboard is among the first edtech companies to meet the rigorous IMS certification requirements for all components of LTI Advantage. LTI Advantage builds on the latest set of IMS standards and provides educational institutions and edtech suppliers with a set of extensions that allow deeper integration and enhanced interoperability between IMS certified tools and LMSs. LTI Advantage also leverages a robust security framework that offers more advanced protection of sensitive student data and adds features to support the delivery of innovative learning tools and applications necessary for digital transformation within an institution.

Content lockdown: Expanded user privileges for course announcements control

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

3500.11.0 contains enhancements for granular entitlements in Original and Ultra course roles in support of the formalized facilitator role. Facilitation privileges have been long requested functionality in Blackboard Learn's Original Experience. We’re excited to bring this ability to both the Original and Ultra Experiences.

The set of privileges contained in this release relate to course announcements. Individuals with these privileges can create course announcements in both course views. Additional entitlements allow users to view draft announcements in addition to posted announcements.

Cross-origin resourcing tool for administrators

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Administrators may need to allow an external script or third-party application to make direct calls to their Blackboard Learn instance’s REST API. Previously, these requests would be blocked at the browser level. In this release, we introduce a Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) tool to allow your institution to leverage cloud-based or third-party extensions more fully. Administrators can also use the CORS tool to strictly define the allowed domains within an access control list and headers allowed as part of those requests. This secure, scalable tool lets you explore more integration possibilities using REST APIs.

From the Administrator Panel, select Cross-Origin Resource Sharing in the Integrations menu. Select Create Integration to get started.

More on the CORS tool for SaaS administrators

Enhanced discussion analysis metrics

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Ultra Course View

To better inform grading and provide additional insight in to the level of engagement in graded discussions, we've added three new metrics to the Discussion Analysis area of the Ultra Course View. Now, in addition to sentence complexity, critical thinking, and counts of responses and replies, graders can view statistics for the number of substantive posts, lexical classification (counts of content and functional words), and the percentage of word variation in a student’s posts for a given discussion. These market-leading analytics provide instructors a holistic overview of the level at which students are writing and may better inform differentiation in grading discussions.

Find discussion analytics on the Grades & Participation page for a discussion. Select a student’s name to view their responses and replies. Discussion Analysis appears next to the student’s discussion activity to give you an overview of their engagement.

What do the metrics mean?

Grant students exceptions in specific assessments

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Ultra Course View

This feature is included in the 3500.11.0 release, but wasn't enabled in time for the push to client Test servers. It will be available when the release reaches client Production servers.

There are times when unforeseen circumstances lead an instructor to grant a student extended access or additional attempts for a specific assessment. With the introduction of assessment exceptions, instructors are no longer forced to create copies of an assessment for individual students, create and remove accommodations, or use other cumbersome workarounds.

Instructors can grant individual students additional time to access an assessment, even if it is hidden to other students. Additional attempts may also be configured, again for an individual student on an individual assessment. In the future, we hope to introduce due date exceptions so that students who are granted extended access will not be marked late for submissions made after the original due date.

On the Submissions page, you can add an exception for an individual student. You can adjust the number of attempts or the assessment’s availability.

Granular Activity Stream settings

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Ultra Experience

In this release, Activity Stream notification settings are more granular for students and instructors, giving them the option to choose which information they wish to receive.

Settings have been reformatted so users can select to receive all notifications at a high level, like notifications for new discussions. Users can also choose to see updates about specific events or activity in their Activity Streams. For example, an instructor can choose to be notified when a blog entry is edited.

Existing settings are carried over and saved in the new format. Visual cues display if all, some, or none of the notification types are selected.

More on notification settings for instructors

Kaltura integration in the Ultra Course View

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Ultra Course View

This feature was previously announced as part of 3500.5.0

Instructors can now use Kaltura in the Ultra Course View. Specifically, instructors can use Kaltura in these ways when configured in Blackboard Learn:

Add a link to the Kaltura My Media (personal video storage repository) and the Kaltura Media Gallery (course shared media repository). An instructor can add these links to their Course Content page from within Books & Tools and Content Market.
Embed video content directly from Kaltura into the editor using the Insert/Edit LTI Item option. This allows instructors to embed videos in documents, assessments, discussions, conversations, and messages.

Administrators can leverage LTI tools and placements to create these access points for instructors.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

You can view maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3500.11.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

Miscellaneous updates

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Instructors at institutions based in the EU/UK will be able to use the recording feature in assessment feedback. This feature will be enabled in the eu-central-1 region when this release reaches Production servers. More on recording creation for administrators.
A word count appears when drafting responses and replies in discussions in the Ultra Course View.
The Messages page in the Ultra Course View wasn’t responsive for users on mobile devices. We’ve made it responsive.
Instructors can now rename an LTI link from the gradebook in the Ultra Course View.
Users enrolled in a demo environment may have noticed their SMS notifications were overwritten when upgrading to the 3500.9.0 release. We fixed this issue before the release reached Production servers.
In a previous release, some institutions may have noticed the CAS authentication provider threw errors. We fixed the issue.
When an administrator sought to delete all users not enrolled in a course, the system didn’t correctly list the number of users it would remove in the operation. We’ve fixed the issue.
When copying an Ultra course using SIS, the new course duration was overwritten by the source course. We’ve fixed the issue by excluding a duration on the course copy.
Users may have received an error message when attempting to connect to OneDrive for Business through Blackboard Learn. The vendor has fixed the issue.
Group submissions in the Ultra Course View weren’t appearing consistently in the gradebook. We’ve fixed the issue.
Instructors may have received an error message when saving course reports to the Content Collection. We’ve fixed the issue.
A synchronization issue caused unexpected behavior in custom language packs. We’ve fixed the issue.
Course messages with attachments sometimes resulted in an error message asking the user to contact their system administrator. We fixed the issue.
SafeAssign Originality Reports weren’t loading correctly for users with Korean language packs enabled. We’ve fixed the issue.
SafeAssign Originality Reports weren’t loading for users after a system update to the 3500.7.0 release. We’ve fixed the issue.
Unenrolled users can view announcements in unavailable courses.

Regrade questions in the Ultra Course View

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.11.0 | Release to Production 7 March 2019
Ultra Course View

Without the ability to edit and regrade test questions after they have been delivered to students, instructors were forced to open each student’s submission and update scores one-by-one. With this release, test questions can be edited in one place. These edits, along with any score adjustments, are automatically performed for all submissions that contain the updated question.

The top right-hand side menu lets you edit or regrade a question, or align question with your goals.

In some cases, a question may be beyond repair and it is more appropriate to give all students full credit for the question, regardless of their answers. To support this scenario, full credit can be given to all students for a specific question. Instructors can trigger question regrading from the assessment canvas or from any student’s submission – the result is the same. When an instructor edits a question, the update appears in all submissions for that assessment and students’ grades adjust automatically based on the new correct answer or selection of the Give full credit for question option.

To edit or regrade a question, go to the assessment. Point to the question's menu and select Edit/Regrade to modify the question.

Cumulative Update 4 for FDO Q4 2018 (release 3500.0.4)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2018
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 4 for the Q4 2018 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Collaborate Attendance Integration with Blackboard Learn

Continuous Delivery Collaborate February 2019 | Release to Production 6-7 February 2019
Blackboard Learn 9.1 Q2 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
New features, Original Course View, Ultra Course View, Building Block

This will be available with the Collaborate February release scheduled 6-7 February 2019.

Let Collaborate take attendance for you. In this Collaborate release, Blackboard Learn instructors can host a Collaborate session without tracking attendance manually.

Based on criteria you can set, Collaborate tracks if a student is present, late, or absent from a session. Collaborate then sends that information directly to the Attendance page in your Blackboard Learn course.

Attendance from the Collaborate session is counted in each student's average attendance in the course, which can also be used in calculating student grades.

More on Collaborate attendance reporting in Blackboard Learn 9.1

More on Collaborate attendance reporting in Blackboard Learn SaaS

Example of Collaborate session attendance in the attendance page

Content lockdown: Expanded user privileges for course calendar control

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

3500.9.0 marks the third release containing enhancements for granular entitlements in Original and Ultra course roles. Our next and final release of this feature will include the formalized facilitator role. Facilitation privileges have been long requested functionality in Blackboard Learn's Original Experience. We’re excited to bring this ability to both the Original and Ultra Experiences.

The set of privileges contained in this release relate to course calendar events. Individuals with these privileges can add, edit, and delete course calendar events in both course views. In the Ultra Course View, individuals with these privileges can also add, edit, and delete office hours and course schedules.

Gradebook improvements: Search gradebook columns and categories

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Ultra Course View

There are times when an instructor needs to check on the status for a single gradebook column or create a simple, filtered view of a specific gradebook category across all students. Building on the student search we built for the gradebook grid view in an earlier release, instructors can search using column and category criteria. These additional search options reduce the scrolling and visual scanning required to quickly verify or filter.

Begin typing the title of a column or category in to the gradebook grid view search field. Search results include any columns, categories, or even students who match the search term or phrase. We've included a label within the search results to help distinguish among these three types of results.

Search field in the Gradebook grid view.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

You can view maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3500.9.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

Miscellaneous updates

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

To improve performance times and user experience, course messages no longer appear in the activity stream.
Instructors are now prompted to name content they create in the Ultra Course View.
We’ve made several AX improvements in Ultra:
- Improved the color contrast ratio for reorder and move icons on the Course Content page.
- Added a stroke around the panel close button to comply with color contrast ratios.
- Improved the hover and keyboard states for active elements to be more visually significant.
We’ve updated gradebook entitlements to address security concerns. Visit Behind the Blackboard for more information and guidance. The solution listed in the article will be included in 3500.9 when it reaches Production servers.
In the Original Course View, we’ve updated the color key in the Course Coverage report to match the legend more accurately.
When an instructor attached a file as feedback on a graded discussion, students encountered errors trying to download it. We’ve fixed the issue.
When an unread discussion post appeared as a link in the What’s New module, users encountered errors when opening it. We’ve fixed the issue.
Calculated questions using exponents in answers in the Original Course View were marked incorrect when students input an acceptable answer. We’ve fixed the issue.
Instructors encountered an error when trying to use anonymous grading for attempts still in progress. We’ve fixed the issue.
We’ve improved the logic for grading multiple choice questions when a student selects both correct and incorrect answers in the Ultra Course View.
We’ve removed the ability for students to edit graded group discussion forum titles and descriptions.
We’ve fixed a CSS error that caused text tagged with <em> HTML to appear on separate lines.
We’ve improved the course import feature to preserve the content package’s folder structure.

Proctoring service using Respondus Lockdown Browser

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Ultra Course View

Respondus LockDown Browser is the top choice of educators for securing online exams in classrooms or proctored environments. The LockDown Browser is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard Learn, which means that students are unable to copy, print, access other applications, or visit other websites during an online exam. It works seamlessly with Blackboard Learn and is built in to the assessment settings. When instructors configure an assessment to require the LockDown Browser, students will only be able to begin their attempts if they access the assessment with the LockDown Browser.

Secure assessments are delivered using tools provided by Respondus. If this integration is available at your institution, you can access the Respondus Dashboard in the Settings area of both assignments and tests in the Ultra Course View. On the dashboard, choose to deliver the assessment using Respondus LockDown Browser alone, or include the Webcam.

More on Respondus integration with Blackboard Learn SaaS

Assessment security options such as Access code and Respondus lockdown browser dashboard.

Push notifications to Blackboard App

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Ultra Experience

Many students use push notifications on their devices to check and engage with content. Push notifications for Learn Ultra will allow students to gain direct insight via this notification modal. Notifications may help students stay on top of new content added to their courses, new grades and feedback that have been created for assessed items, and due date reminders for upcoming assessments that need to be completed and submitted.

Push notifications further the integration between the Blackboard Learn Ultra experience and the Blackboard mobile app for students. In this release, users on the Ultra experience can select which push notifications they’d like to receive. In the app, they’ll see notifications for due date reminders and new grades and feedback. Push notifications for new content will be available in the app in the coming months.

SCORM advanced settings and reporting

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Ultra Course View

Over the past year, Blackboard has been focusing development attention on incorporating SCORM functionality into the Ultra Course View. This release includes the advanced settings functionality as well as reporting analytics for instructors.

Advanced settings options appear for instructors when they add a SCORM package to their course. After students submit SCORM attempts, instructors can view detailed reporting on time spent, average score, and attempts completed.

This marks the final milestone for SCORM’s foundation. Our next focus will be on xAPI and partnering with a Learner Record Store to use the deeper reporting functionality of the xAPI format.

Select theme colors

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Ultra Experience

Institution branding is an easy way for institutions to differentiate their learning management system and adds an element of personalization at an institution level. Many institutions have requested to move away from the default purple in Ultra to express institution colors as part of their user experience. This functionality covers three highly used areas but will be expanded to further the institution’s color schema to more locations over time.

To customize the theme color, go to the Institution Page. Select the gear icon to open the settings panel. Enter a hex code to find your precise color or use the color picker. A preview appears to show you how the new color would look to all users. Don’t like what you see? You can revert your choice back to the default.

Blackboard SOAP Web Services deprecation

Blackboard Learn 9.1 Q2 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.9.0 | Release to Production 31 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

With the release of Blackboard Learn Q2 2019, Blackboard is deprecating our SOAP APIs. We recommend that if you use Blackboard's SOAP APIs as an external application or as part of a Building Block, you should immediately refactor your integration using our Blackboard REST APIs.

Blackboard SOAP APIs will become unavailable with the release of Blackboard Learn 9.1 Q2 2020.

Visit Behind the Blackboard for more information on SOAP web services deprecation and guidance on migrating to REST APIs.

Cumulative Update 2 for FDO Q4 2018 (release 3500.0.2)

Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q4 2018
Original Experience

Cumulative Update (CU) 2 for the Q4 2018 Flexible Deployment Option (FDO) release of Blackboard Learn SaaS is available.

More information available on Behind the Blackboard

Caliper 1.1 update for Blackboard Learn Telemetry Service

Blackboard Learn 9.1
Blackboard Learn SaaS | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

Blackboard is pleased to announce updated support for the Caliper Analytics® standard in Blackboard Learn. Caliper is a specification from the IMS Global Learning Consortium® that defines a standard for the exchange of user activity information. Blackboard Learn supports this standard, giving institutions the option to emit near-real-time and batch user event data to an event store system for further analytics and reporting.

The centralized service that processes the Learn telemetry stream into Caliper events data currently uses the Caliper 1.0 specification. On January 3, 2019 this service will change to use the Caliper 1.1 specification.

For more information about how this update affects your Blackboard Learn environment, visit Behind the Blackboard

More on Caliper event configuration is available on the Developer Community

Gradebook improvements: Search submission list and pagination

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Ultra Course View

There are times when an instructor needs to find a specific submission or submission status for a specific student. To address this need, we’ve expanded gradebook search capabilities. Previously, we added the ability to search for students in the grade book grid view. This release brings that capability to the submission list view.

An instructor can go to the submission list and quickly locate a particular student to check the status of submissions or access the submission itself. Additionally, we’ve added pagination to the submission list. The default view is for 25 students, but instructors may also set the page to display 50 or 100 users. This setting is sticky, so a selection of 50 or 100 is retained when instructors leave the submission list and return later.

Learning modules supported in conversion from Original to Ultra

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Ultra Course View

In an earlier release, we brought the learning modules capability to the Ultra Course View. Starting with this release, learning modules are preserved in course copy, export, import, and restore operations.

When converting a learning module from the Original Course View to the Ultra Course View, the force sequence requirement is unchecked by default. Additionally, the file and folder structure may be flattened because the Course Content page only supports nested content two folders deep.

Student activity in a learning module is removed when converting to Ultra. However, instructors and administrators can choose to keep student progress in learning modules when exporting and copying an Ultra course.

Maintenance items

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Ultra Experience, Original Experience

You can view maintenance items in Behind the Blackboard. Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. View the 3500.7.0 maintenance issues on Behind the Blackboard.

Miscellaneous updates

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Original Experience, Ultra Experience

This release resolves an issue where the Blackboard app and Blackboard Instructor app weren’t compatible with Session Fingerprint settings. Session fingerprint settings to Create New Session When Fingerprint Changes are now compatible with the mobile apps’ mBaaS architecture.
When you access individual students' attendance record in the Ultra Course View, the date column has been renamed Meeting and now appears first.
An updated version of the Vital Source Building Block (v3.101.2018040483) is bundled with this release.
To accommodate Microsoft Azure SAML requirements, we’ve added the option to keep the SAML session age unlimited.
When viewing assessments that were graded using a rubric more than a year ago, users may have noticed a discrepancy between rubric totals and the grade displayed in the Grade Center. Raw data was not affected. We fixed the issue.
Grade Journey wasn’t consistently displaying optional data when the extraction was initiated from merged courses. We fixed the issue.
Users may have encountered an error when attempting to download a file package in the Content Collection. We fixed the issue.
When a student submission was deleted, attached files were orphaned and retained in storage, sometimes unnecessarily. We fixed the issue.
When an Ultra assessment was set to assign automatic zeros, the system wouldn’t log a zero score in the gradebook when a student had saved a draft but not submitted work. We fixed the issue.
Importing a Canvas course to the Ultra Course View resulted in missing content. We fixed the issue.

New Originality Report available for SafeAssign integration

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Blackboard Learn SaaS Flexible Deployment Option Q2 2019
Ultra Course View, Original Course View

We've updated the design of the SafeAssign Originality Report in Blackboard Learn SaaS environments. The new Originality Report uses Blackboard's Ultra design philosophy and includes some new information about a submission's overall risk for being copied from another source. This new report interface is also more responsive for mobile devices and more accessible to screen readers than the old design; we will be seeking VPAT compliance for this new design soon!

This release also allows the SafeAssign team to be more iterative and provide updates to the new report design on a more regular basis and without requiring an update to the LMS platform. We'll still be communicating changes on the SafeAssign help pages, so make sure to follow those pages as well for new information!

Users can switch back to the old Originality Report design for a little while longer to help ease the transition. Blackboard Learn 9.1 users should expect to receive the new Originality Report design with the Q2 2019 release next year.

More on how to read the new Originality Report

Question analysis and report download

Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3500.7.0 | Release to Production 3 January 2019
Ultra Course View

Instructors who make use of Item Analysis in Original courses recognize the benefit this report provides, specifically for reviewing the quality of assessment questions and improving assessments from one term to the next. However, many instructors are either unaware that this report is available or are not familiar with the term “item analysis” and don’t open the report.

In the Ultra Course View, we’ve updated the title to Question Analysis as a way to raise awareness of this powerful report and encourage its use. We’ve also made the help content more accessible and added helpful explanatory text to help instructors understand the statistics within the report.

Question analysis provides statistics on overall performance, assessment quality, and individual questions. This data helps you recognize questions that might be poor discriminators of student performance. Question analysis is for assessments with questions. You can also download the report with raw question data to analyze it or keep it for future uses.

Instructors can use question analysis in these ways:

Improve questions for future assessment administrations or to adjust credit on current attempts
Discuss assessment results with your class
Provide a basis for remedial work
Improve classroom instruction

Explore question analysis in the Ultra Course View