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Learn SaaS release 3900.76.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.76.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 12 September 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 5 October 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.76.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.76.0-rel.24+c0388a7 to Production servers to take place on 26 October 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
October 2023 – 3900.76 Release
The October 2023 - 3900.76 release is robust with features in eight (8) areas:
- Assignments and tests;
- Communication and collaboration;
- Gradebook;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Integrations;
- Learn core and security;
- Mobile; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- SafeAssign Direct Submit
- Delegated grading distribution by group membership
- Partial credit auto-distribution for correct answers for Multiple Choice questions
- Sorting controls for manually added gradable Items
- Last access course alert default set to 15 days
- Student Activity report for Assessments enhancements for small devices and the Mobile app
- Edit Settings for Partner Cloud Content Items
- Canvas conversion improvements: Removed unnecessary Content Item/Document
- Canvas conversion improvements: Preserving videos
Instructors and students:
- Send Reminder from Gradebook list and grid views
- Anonymous comments in Bb Annotate
- Copying grading schemas from course to course
Students:
- Deselect answer choice for Multiple Choice question
- Messages tool availability settings respected in Mobile App
All users:
Administrators:
Assignments & Tests
SafeAssign Direct Submit – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Direct Submit allows instructors to submit items to SafeAssign outside of the assessment context. Now, instructors can use the Direct Submit option in Ultra courses. SafeAssign appears as an instructor tool in Books & Tools.
Upon opening the Books & Tools section, SafeAssign is in the Instructor tools section. If it is missing, this means your administrator has not turned on SafeAssign for your institution.
Image 1. Access SafeAssign Direct Submit from Books & Course Tools
Using SafeAssign Direct Submit
There are two document submission methods:
- Upload File: Select this option to drag or upload files via a pop-up window. The standard SafeAssign document processing rules apply:
- Maximum support file size is 10 MB
- Supported file types: .zip, .doc, .docx, .docm, .ppt, .pptx, .odt, .txt, .pdf, .rtf, and .html.
- Copy/Paste Text: Select this option to enter a title for the submission and paste the text.
Image 2. Options to upload or copy/paste text
Image 3. Upload file options
Image 4. Copy/paste text options
Submission Options
As part of the submission process, instructors will have a few processing options:
- Check for Plagiarism (on by default):
- If on, SafeAssign processes the submission and generates an Originality Report.
- If off, SafeAssign does not produce an Originality Report. The submission is processed.
- Use case: The instructor uploads scripts or materials they suspect students might misuse. The instructor doesn't require a report for these specific materials and turns off the "Check for plagiarism" option. Submission is processed, but the Originality Report is not generated. The system will compare all future student submissions against these resources.
- Add to Institutional Database (on by default): When on, submissions are added to the institutional database.
Instructors cannot deactivate both 'Check for Plagiarism' and 'Add to Institutional Database' at once. If both options are turned off, it is not possible to proceed with file submission.
- Share option (deselected by default):
- All submissions are private by default. These submissions are only visible to the person who submitted the file across courses.
- If selected, the submission is visible to other course instructors within the course where the file was submitted.
Once a user submits the file, the submission panel closes, and a confirmation message appears. Users may see the information as it processes.
Image 5. Submission confirmation and processing is underway
Navigating the Direct Submit page
Instructors can use the Search Item field to locate submissions quickly. Instructors can filter entries based on Privacy (All, Shared, Private) or Database (All, Added, Not Added). The pagination at the bottom lets instructors view more submissions across several pages.
For each submission, instructors can view the following:
- Item name
- Processing status
- Link to the Originality Report
- Matching Score
- Database status
- Submission Date
- Privacy status
Instructors can organize the table entries by:
- Item Name (alphabetical order)
- Matching Score (from highest to lowest or vice versa)
- Submission Date (from newest to oldest)
Image 6. Direct Submit page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. Direct Submit for Original courses remains unchanged. SafeAssign Direct Submit is exclusively available to those with Instructor roles. Administrators must turn on SafeAssign for the Direct Submit option to appear in Books & Tools (Building Blocks, Installed Tools, SafeAssign).
Delegated grading distribution by group membership – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors sometimes distribute the grading workload for an assessment to multiple graders. This is a popular practice in larger classes. Instructors can assign graders to groups of students with the new delegated grading option. Each grader will only see the submissions made by students in the group(s) assigned to them.
Delegated Grading can be used with all available group types. This first release of Delegated Grading supports assignment submissions from individual students. Tests, group assessments, and anonymous submissions are not supported at this time.
After selecting the Delegated Grading option, select the appropriate Group Set. Instructors can assign one or more graders to each group in the group set. If multiple graders are assigned to the same group, they will share the grading responsibility for the group members.
Graders assigned to a group of students will only see submissions for those students on the assignment’s submission page. They can only post grades for their assigned group members. Any unassigned instructors enrolled in the course will see all student submissions on the assignment’s submission page. They also post grades for all students.
If you would like to delegate randomly to course graders, first set up a randomized Group Set.
At least one Group Set complete with Groups must be present in the course before using the Delegated Grading option.
Image 1. Instructor view of the assessment Settings panel with the Delegated Grading option enabled
Image 2. Instructor view of the Delegated Grading interface where the Group Set to be used for distributing the grading workload is selected
Image 3. Instructor view of the Delegated Grading interface with a Group Set selected
Image 4. Instructor view of how to align graders to a group to distribute the grading workload
Image 5. Instructor view of the completed delegated grading set up where all groups have been aligned to one or more graders
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Partial credit auto-distribution for correct answers for Multiple Choice questions – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple-choice questions with more than one correct answer are valuable assessment tools. Also known as multiple-answer or multiple-select questions, these questions assess comprehensive understanding. They also promote deeper learning and higher-order thinking skills.
Some instructors wish to award partial credit for these question types. This practice awards students who have a partial understanding. It also fosters a positive learning experience.
In the past, instructors had to enter a value for partial credit percentage for each option. Now, we auto-distribute partial credit across correct answer choices. This distribution provides efficiency and saves instructors’ time. If desired, instructors can edit the values if some correct answer options warrant more or less credit. Values for correct answers must sum to 100%.
Image 1. Question credit auto-distributes across correct answer options; values can be edited
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Deselect answer choice for Multiple Choice question – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
In the past, a student could select an answer choice for a multiple-choice question, change their mind, and mark another answer choice. However, the student wasn't able to deselect an answer choice to return the question to an unanswered state. Now, students can deselect an answer choice. Deselecting a choice is helpful when a student doesn't want to guess. Deselecting a choice also allows the student to skip the question and return to it using the unanswered questions filter.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Collaboration
Send Reminder from Gradebook list and grid views – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Part of effective teaching is student support. Instructors may want to send a reminder to students or groups who haven't yet made a submission for an assessment. To make this easy, we have added a "Send Reminder" option to items in the Gradebook.
Reminders is an option for all gradebook items, including LTI and third-party tools. Please note: Reminders can only be sent if you are enrolled in the course. The item must be visible to students and have no release conditions. Future updates will allow you to send reminders for items with release conditions.
From the Gradebook list view, this option is in the overflow menu.
Image 1. Send Reminder option from list view
Instructors may access the "Send Reminder" option in the grid view by selecting the gradebook column header.
Image 2. Send Reminder option from grid view
Reminders are sent as a blind carbon copy to non-submitting students or groups as a course message.
Instructors can view the sent message in their course messages. If messages are off and the reminder is sent as an email, the instructor will receive a copy of the email.
When sending the reminder, the instructor will need to confirm their intent to send the reminder. The confirmation displays a count of the number of non-submitting students or groups who will receive the reminder.
Image 3. Send Reminder confirmation
Image 4. Instructor view of the reminder as a course message
For anonymous grading, non-submitting students receive the reminder via e-mail. This ensures that anonymity is preserved.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Course/Organization Level Override option for Messages – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Messages
Some institutions want to allow instructors to set Messages options with a course or organization. In the past, administrators defined the default settings, but these couldn't be changed at the course or organization level. Now, administrators can choose to allow instructors to set the Messages options at the course or organization level.
Image 1. Administrator’s view of new Course and Organization Level Override option
When the administrator selects the override option, the Messages Options appear in the Settings area of the course or organization.
Image 2. Instructor's view of Message Options from Course Settings
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses and organizations. This setting can be managed from the Administrator Panel >Tools & Utilities module > Messages.
Administrators should enable the following privileges to use this feature:
- To allow a user to change the messages options at Course Settings using the API:
Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Edit messages option - To permit system roles to send messages without being enrolled in the course:
Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Create message
Note: This functionality will be available in December, but the privilege is included in this release
Gradebook
Anonymous comments in Bb Annotate – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In some grading scenarios, instructors prefer their students not to identify the individuals offering feedback on their submissions. To enhance anonymity, graders can now post Bb Annotate comments without disclosing their names. Instructors have the option to mark inline comments as anonymous when creating them or even after comments are added.
Image 1. Setting a comment as anonymous while editing the comment
Image 2. Anonymous comment as seen by the student
For administrators: A new configuration option, "Enables anonymous comments in Bb Annotate", appears on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel. The default state is "off.” The feature will have a phased release that may occur after the release date.
Sorting controls for manually added gradable Items – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Sorting controls help instructors organize and find the information in the gradebook. Instructors can now use sorting controls on the grades page for manually created items. The sorting controls enable sorting in both ascending and descending order. Instructors can sort the following information:
- Student name
- Grade
- Feedback
- Post status
The applied sorting order is temporary and resets when you leave the page.
Sorting controls can be applied to one column at a time. When you sort another column, items will order according to the selected column.
Image 1. Instructor view of sorting controls on the grades page for a manually added gradable item
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Copying grading schemas from course to course – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can now copy individual grading schemas from Ultra and Original courses to other Ultra courses. Previously, you had to copy all schemas from the Original course. From the new Grading Schemas folder on the Copy Items panel, you can select which schemas to copy.
A course may contain up to 100 grading schemas. If the number of selected schemas plus that already in the course exceeds this limit, the system will copy as many schemas as possible up to a total of 100. An informative banner alerts the instructor of this situation so they can take appropriate action.
Image 1. Grading Schema folder now appears as an option in Copy Items
Image 2. Selected Grading Schemas to copy
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Last access course alert default set to 15 days – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
User feedback is key. Users told us that the frequency of access to Ultra courses depends on several factors, such as workload or class meetings recurrence. Previously, the default value for the "Number of days a student is inactive" was 5. Now, the default is 15. The alert for overall grade percentage is blank by default and is unchanged.
As before, instructors can adjust or remove course alerts.
The new default value of 15 applies to new courses and courses that did not have values set for course alerts. Course alerts values set in existing courses are maintained.
Image 1. Alerts Settings panel
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. To view the Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports, the user role needs to have the “Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > View Grades” privilege.
Student Activity report for Assessments enhancements for small devices and the Mobile app – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Study Activity Details for Assessments
Instructors lead busy, on-the-go lives and access Learn from a variety of devices. To provide a better experience on small devices, we have added more capabilities for the Student Activity report for assessments. Instructors can access this report from their mobile devices with greater flexibility.
Now, in addition to a student’s name and grade, instructors can view student information on small screens:
- Late submission indicator
- Date opened
- Date started
- Attempts
Instructors can download the report in CSV format from small devices.
Image 1. Student Activity report for an assessment on a small screen
The “Time to open” metric is no longer available in the Student Activity report. This metric was deprecated based on user feedback. The activity timeline chart is not available on small devices due to space restrictions. The messaging option from this report is planned for a future release.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Edit Settings for Partner Cloud Content Items – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Partner Cloud tools provide flexibility in content and assessment creation. This release includes improvements to partner cloud settings in Learn Ultra. Instructors can now edit these settings from the Ultra Course page.
The edit settings include:
- Name/Title
- Description
- Visibility including Release Conditions
- Option to Launch to the tool
- Open in a New Window
- Enable Class Conversation
- Grade information if Partner Content is gradable
- Goals & Standards
Image 1 and 2. Partner Cloud Edit Settings
If the Partner content is gradable, the due date and grade maximum are read-only. These are only configurable within the Partner Cloud tool.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses and all Partner Cloud tools. There are no configurations needed.
REST API to track content copy history – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
Understanding the copy history of course content is crucial to improve version control. Now users can retrieve a detailed history of content copies across different courses.
Administrators can use the endpoint GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId} to access course content. To retrieve the content copy history, include the "expand=copyHistory" parameter.
The "copyHistory" attribute contains a list of Content Copy history objects, each with two attributes:
- contentId: Refers to the historical hierarchy of LTI content IDs
- courseUuid: Refers to the corresponding course IDs from which the content was copied
For administrators: The required entitlements for Course Content API remain unchanged.
REST API to access Gradebook dates – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
Users can now retrieve valuable date-related grading data. This provides a more effective experience when working with this API.
For the endpoint GET /learn/api/public/v2/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns, users will now have access to the following attributes:
- Created: This attribute allows you to find out when a grade or gradebook column was created.
- Modified: With this attribute, you can get the date when a grade or gradebook column was last modified.
For this, we have also introduced corresponding query parameters to allow filtering:
- ?date_created= date: Use this query parameter to filter the results based on the creation date.
- ?date_modified= date: This query parameter enables you to filter results based on the date of the last modification.
These query parameters allow users to tailor their API requests. This ensures that the data required for reporting or management purposes is obtained.
For administrators: These query parameters allow users to tailor their API requests. This ensures that the data required for reporting or management purposes is obtained. The required entitlements for Gradebook API remain unchanged.
Migration Tools (Kaltura Course Content) – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
We are committed to ensuring a smoother transition experience ahead of the removal of Building Blocks. To help, we've enhanced Building Block content migration related to converting Kaltura content in Original Courses. The conversion transforms Building Block links to LTI links.
Administrators can manage placements through intuitive drop-down menus, simplifying the Building Block transition process.
The Content Migration Tool service for Kaltura can be accessed through Administrator Tools.
Image 1. Content Migration Tool
Administrators will find a dedicated location for configuring settings.
Image 2. Migration Service Settings
Administrators can select the required IDs and leverage custom parameters for course details and migrated content.
Image 3. Migration settings for Kaltura
Once configurations are set, administrators can manage placements seamlessly. They can select the courses to migrate to and monitor the status of the migrated courses.
Image 4. Content Migration Tool
A course search function will display the courses (enabled or disabled) that contain the content links to be migrated. This has a designated time range for the search.
Image 5. Example – courses that contain Kaltura content links
Administrators can easily track the status of courses selected for content link migration. They can search for migration link statuses for each course based on a specified time range.
Image 6. Search options for identifying courses for migration
This tool has been designed to accommodate other B2s and to allow for future enhancements without major changes to the interface.
For administrators: For optimal performance, select a maximum of two semesters during content migration process.
Set allowed number of concurrent sessions – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users
Institutions may want to restrict access to Learn from several devices at the same time. In the past, administrators could restrict users from accessing Learn on more than one device at the same time. Now, we have updated the number of concurrent sessions to include options for 2 or 3 concurrent sessions.
When users surpass the limit at login, they receive a notification that they will be logged out from devices with the oldest sessions.
Image 1. Concurrent session notice when a user surpasses the limit
Image 2. Concurrent session notice for mobile users when a user surpasses the limit
Image 3. Administrator view - Concurrent Session controls
For administrators: Administrators may define their preference in the Administrator Tool Panel > Security module > Account Lock Settings option. We have updated the default value for the IL4/FedRAMP boundary to 2 sessions allowed. Every other institution continues to have "Unlimited" as a default value.
This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have turned off automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Mobile App
Messages tool availability settings respected in Mobile App – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
With this release, the mobile app aligns to the course settings for Messages. If Messages are "off" for the course, the Messages option is not displayed in the mobile app. This applies to both courses and organizations. When Messages are "on", the messages options for students are enforced on the app.
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Inactive session termination warning in Mobile App – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Terminating inactive sessions reduces the risk of unauthorized access to a user's account. When an administrator defines a timeout for inactive sessions, the auto-login option for the Mobile app does not renew the session. To improve the user experience, users are now alerted 6 minutes before the session expires. When the session expires, the user is logged out. If the app runs in the background, it counts as an inactive session.
Image 1. Notification appears 6 minutes before session termination
For administrators: Administrators can configure the time for inactive session termination from the Admin Panel > Security > Account Lock Settings. The default time a user can be inactive is 180 minutes (about 3 hours). The inactive time can be configured between 15 to 480 minutes. As before, session cleanup is a background task, so the ending of a session will be approximately the configured time, typically in a minute or two.
Upgrade to Ultra
Canvas conversion improvements: Removed unnecessary Content Item/Document – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Migrate from Canvas
Canvas Modules convert to Content Areas in the Original Course View. The conversion created a Content Item inside the Content Area using the same title as the Content Area. The content item didn't contain any content. This created more work for users as they now needed to delete the unnecessary Content Item.
Image 1. Unnecessary Content Item with the same title as the Content Area
Canvas Modules convert to Folders in the Ultra Course View. The conversion created a Document inside the Folder using the same title as the Folder. The Document didn't contain any content. This also created more work for users as they now needed to delete the unnecessary Document.
Image 2. Unnecessary Document with the same title as the Folder
Now the conversion process no longer creates unnecessary Content Items or Documents.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Canvas conversion improvements: Preserving videos – 3900.76
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Administrators
Related topic: Migrate from Canvas
In some cases, video files from Canvas were not coming over during conversion. We have resolved this issue for those converting to both Original and Ultra courses.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.74.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.74.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 15 August 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 7 September 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.74.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.74.0-rel.32+80961aa to Production servers to take place on 21 September 2023.
Since this release includes a Tomcat update, it is required that self-hosted clients have New Relic updated to its current version if New Relic is in use
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
September 2023 – 3900.74 Release
The September 2023 - 3900.74 release is robust with features in eight (8) areas:
- AI Design Assistant;
- Instructional design;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Integration;
- Learn core and security; and
- Mobile App
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Course structure suggestions
- Learning Module image integration options
- Rubric generation
- Test question generation
- Question Bank generation from Ultra Documents
- Course banner images from Unsplash
- Auto-captioning for video and audio feedback
- Batch Edit support for recursive actions
- Copying Announcements
- Flexible Grading support for tablets and other improvements
- TurnItIn support for Ultra Assignments (limited release)
- Turn off/on Class Collaborate per course
Instructors and students:
- Reminder improvements for anonymous grading
- Improved progress tracking for graded LTI content
- Updated wording for course alerts in the Activity Stream
- Google Workspace – Cloud File Collaboration
- Mobile App – Grades landing page improvement
All users:
Administrators:
- REST APIs to expand Rubric associations in Gradebook column endpoints
- REST APIs to REST API to track the origin of courses
- REST APIs to REST API to REST API to modify formulas for enhanced grading control
- Messages restrictions and update to email copy of announcement option
- Manage inactive session timeout
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Design Assistant
The potential uses of Artificial Intelligence are exciting. As we look to explore the benefits AI has to offer, we are prioritizing lawful, ethical, and responsible use. We have established our Trustworthy AI principles, where we commit to:
- humans in control,
- fairness,
- privacy,
- security and
- safety to name a few.
We recommend reviewing the documents linked below as you consider using AI within Learn Ultra. These documents are designed to support your implementation, training, and policy setting as it relates to AI usage.
- Our Trustworthy AI Principles can be found in our Trust Center.
- Further information on the AI Design Assistant can be found on our help pages.
- (Link on the item above still to be created, Legal is working on the content)
We chose to partner with Microsoft to provide this functionality for many reasons. A primary reason is that Microsoft has a long-standing commitment to the ethical use of AI. Please find helpful resources from Microsoft below:
- Microsoft’s Responsible AI page
- Microsoft’s Transparency Note for Azure Open AI Service
- Microsoft’s page on Data, privacy, and security for Azure OpenAI Service
Course structure suggestions – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: AI Design Assistant
Creating a course from the ground up can often feel like a daunting and time-intensive task. Some educators might find themselves without access to the necessary instructional design resources, leaving them in search of extra support.
Enter the AI Design Assistant—an innovative solution designed to tackle these very challenges. By harnessing the power of advanced AI, this assistant offers a helping hand in structuring your course. Drawing insights from the course's title, description, and contextual information, it effortlessly generates learning modules.
What sets the AI Design Assistant apart is its commitment to putting instructors in the driver's seat. Empowering educators, it allows for the provision of supplementary context, such as descriptive text or keywords. Instructors have the flexibility to add a title prefix—think "topic" or "unit"—infusing a personalized touch. Visual elements can also be seamlessly integrated, amplifying the learning experience.
In a testament to customization, instructors wield the ability to fine-tune the complexity of their content. Additionally, they can precisely dictate the quantity of learning modules to be generated, ensuring a tailored approach to their teaching journey.
Image 1: Option to auto-generate modules in an empty course
Image 2: Auto-generated modules with an option to select and add to the course
Image 3: Auto-generated modules added to the course
All learning module images are automatically marked as decorative by default. The instructor has the ability to edit each learning module and add a specific alternative description if this image context is required.
On August 15, 2023, we will release to test/stage environments the option to generate images with the AI Design Assistant. We expect this to be a highly adopted feature. Service interruptions may occur during this time as we monitor usage. To ensure reliable use of this service, the usage data we gather may alter or defer our planned September production release of generating images.
On September 11th, 2023, we will release to production environments the option to generate course structure suggestions with the AI Design Assistant. This will need to be enabled by your system administrator and you'll need to belong to a course role with the appropriate privilege assigned.
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Learning Module image integration options – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Create Learning Modules
Learning modules serve as a strategic tool for structuring and curating course content. Elevating both the visual allure of the learning modules and the ease of content discernment is important. To help, we plan to provide two more options for integrating images into learning modules.
- Search stock images from Unsplash. With this option, instructors can enter keywords to search for and select high-quality, royalty-free images. When enabled, the AI Design Assistant suggests keywords.
- Generate images with the AI Design Assistant. Image generation leverages insights from the learning module description and other contextual cues in the course. To further empower instructors, they can describe the ideal image and regenerate images.
Image 1: Add image option when editing an existing or creating a new learning module
Image 2: Enter keyword (s) and search stock images from Unsplash
Note that images will automatically appear if your administrator activates “Generate keywords for Unsplash.”
Image 3: Generate images using AI Design Assistant
Once the ideal image is selected, the instructor can choose the focal point of the image.
Image 4: Select focal point of the image
The image is marked as decorative by default. The instructor can untick ‘Mark the image as decorative’ and add specific alternative text.
Image 5: Image marked as decorative.
On August 15, 2023, we will release to test/stage environments the option to generate images with the AI Design Assistant. We expect this to be a highly adopted feature. Service interruptions may occur during this time as we monitor usage. To ensure reliable use of this service, the usage data we gather may alter or defer our planned September production release of generating images.
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Rubric generation – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: AI Design Assistant
Grading rubrics offer a structured framework to assess student work. They ensure both fairness and consistency in grading. Moreover, they furnish students with clear directives to meet desired learning outcomes. However, crafting rubrics can be a time-intensive task. The AI Design Assistant can take the helm in rubric creation, drawing cues from course context. While retaining human-centered authority, instructors can define the rubric. This includes specifying details like descriptions (learning objectives or topics), rubric type (percentage, points, or range), complexity, and dimensions. The rubric remains open to review and refine, guaranteeing the instructor's input at every step.
Rubric generation is an option everywhere we support rubric creation.
Image 1: Generate rubric from a discussion
Image 2: Define the rubric
Image 3: Name and otherwise edit rubric to add rows, columns, or edit cell descriptions
Image 4: Add generated rubric to a discussion
On September 11th, 2023, we will release to production environments the option to generate rubrics with the AI Design Assistant. This will need to be enabled by your system administrator and you'll need to belong to a course role with the appropriate privilege assigned.
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Test question generation – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: AI Design Assistant
Crafting test questions from the ground up demands a significant amount of time. The AI Design Assistant steps in to offer test question suggestions, helping instructors reclaim valuable time. This resource is beneficial for both formative and summative assessments.
Image 1: Auto-generate question option in assessments
Instructors can refine the suggested questions by adding a description. The description might be learning objectives or topics. Furthermore, instructors can handpick preferred question types. The innovative "Inspire me!" question type suggests a variety of question types that an instructor might not typically consider. The instructor can specify the desired level of complexity and number of questions.
Image 2: Define, select, and add questions to an assessment
Image 3: Questions added to an assessment; instructors can edit as desired
On September 11th, 2023, we will release to production environments the option to generate test questions with the AI Design Assistant. This will need to be enabled by your system administrator and you'll need to belong to a course role with the appropriate privilege assigned.
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Question Bank generation from Ultra Documents – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: AI Design Assistant
The Ultra Document is a valuable way to present content. It seamlessly blends text and media components, enriching content presentation. With the aid of the AI Design Assistant, instructors can build question banks to gauge comprehension of the text-based elements within an Ultra Document. This streamlined process saves significant time. It also stands as a robust aid in shaping both formative and summative assessments.
Image 1: Generate a question bank from the text content of an Ultra Document
Instructors can select preferred question types or use the “Inspire me!” option. The instructor can specify the desired level of complexity and number of questions. After reviewing the questions, it’s a single click to publish the questions to the question bank.
Image 2: Define, select, and add questions to a question bank
Image 3: Confirmation that the question bank creation with an option to navigate to the bank
From the question bank, the instructor can filter, search, and edit questions as desired.
Image 4: Generated question bank, with options to filter, search, and edit questions
On September 11th, 2023, we will release to production environments the option to generate question banks from Ultra Documents with the AI Design Assistant. This will need to be enabled by your system administrator and you'll need to belong to a course role with the appropriate privilege assigned.
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Course banner images from Unsplash – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Course Banner
The course banner image provides an important sense of identity for the course. We are expanding the image options for the course banner by introducing Stock Images from Unsplash. Instructors can enter keywords to search for high-quality, royalty-free images.
Image 1: Add image option when editing the display settings
Image 2: Enter keyword(s) and search stock images from Unsplash
Images will automatically appear if your administrator has activated "Generate keywords for Unsplash." Once the ideal image is selected, the instructor can choose the focal point of the image.
Image 3: Select focal point of the image
The image is marked as decorative by default. The course banner toggle is turned on. The instructor can untick ‘Mark the image as decorative’ and add specific alternative text.
Image 4: Image marked as decorative and course banner toggle set to on
For administrators: A new Building Block, AI Design Assistant and Unsplash, will be available after test/stage sites are updated to 3900.74. In Installed Tools, select Settings for AI Design Assistant and Unsplash. The default state is 'off.' When this feature is ‘on,’ the privilege will need to be assigned to course roles as necessary, i.e. Instructor. The privileges that need assigning are ‘Search for images using Unsplash’ and ‘Use AI features’.
Instructional Design
Auto-captioning for video and audio feedback – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Ensuring accessible and inclusive experiences for our students is of paramount importance. We have taken a significant step forward by implementing automatic captioning for audio and video content used in assessment feedback and announcements. This feature enhances accessibility and fosters inclusivity. Auto-captioning also supports diverse language preferences, aligning with the user's chosen language in Learn.
Image 1: Auto-captioning within Learn Ultra Assessments
For administrators: This solution is available as part of your existing Learn license and will be on by default with no additional settings required.
Batch Edit support for recursive actions – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Batch editing offers value by streamlining and expediting repetitive tasks. We have updated batch edit to now support recursion. Batch edit actions now apply to all items inside of Folders and Learning Modules.
Image 1: Items inside of Folders and Learning Modules are now included in selections
With this change, all items are now visible on a single page. We have added the ability to expand and collapse Folders and Learning Modules.
Instructors can now perform the following tasks much faster:
- Shift Dates: Select all items and shift the dates forward before you adjust the dates for each item. This is helpful when needing to make sweeping date adjustments.
- Adjust Visibility: Select all items and set them to visible or hidden. This is helpful after course copies, imports, or conversions. In some copy cases, items are hidden by default. Instructors may want to make them visible.
- Remove date/time release conditions: Select all items and set them to visible or hidden. This is helpful when having trouble updating due dates. Due dates must be after the Show On date and before the Hide After date.
We have also made a couple of usability improvements:
- Truncated Long Titles: Items with long titles would overlap with dates and times. Long titles are now truncated to prevent that from happening.
- Fixed Table Header: Batch Edit was difficult to use with courses that had a lot of items. Users would need to scroll to the top of the page to see the column title. The table header now follows the user as they scroll down the page.
- Replaced Dropdown: The batch edit actions available were not obvious. We have replaced the dropdown with individual buttons. The buttons do not become active until a user has selected items.
Users can select up to 100 items when performing a batch edit action.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Copying Announcements – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Reusing content eliminates the need to create everything from scratch. This saves time and effort in the content development processes. To support reuse, instructors can now copy specific announcements or all announcements from another course. Instructors can copy Announcements from both Original and Ultra courses. When copied, each announcement will be set to draft.
Image 1: Instructors now have the option to copy announcements from Original and Ultra courses
This change improves the course rollover process. Instructors no longer need to reschedule or delete announcements immediately after copying. Instructors can take their time reviewing announcements and adjusting as needed.
Image 2: Copied announcements are set to draft
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Flexible Grading support for tablets and other improvements – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Flexible Grading is a new, efficient assessment grading experience introduced in the August 3900.71 release. We are happy to now support Flexible Grading for instructors using tablet devices. When grading using the Flexible Grading experience from a table, only one of the side panels will be open at any time. Accessing another panel will collapse the other.
Image 1: Flexible grading view on a tablet
Image 2: Tablet view – Students and Questions tabs
Image 3: Flexible Grading view of an essay question on a tablet
We have also made changes to the on-hover and on-select states in the Students list. Now when an instructor selects a student card, the card is outlined in purple. When an instructor hovers over a student card, the card is outlined in grey. These changes help to reduce confusion about which student submission is in view on the main panel.
Image 4: Instructor hovers over student card when another student submission is in view (on-hover state with grey outline)
Flexible Grading is best performant on large and medium screens using a browser.
For administrators: This feature is available in Ultra Experience Management from the 3900.71 release. The feature is on by default to ensure the Flexible Grading interface is available to users. You can turn off the Flexible Grading interface by setting this feature to Off.
Gradebook
Reminder improvements for anonymous grading – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Students may sometimes complete an assessment but fail to submit it. Instructors can send email reminders to non-submitters. In the past, it was unclear if all students received the emailed reminder. Now a banner informs instructors of the number of students who received the email reminder. Information for any student who did not receive the email due to an invalid or missing email address is also included.
Image 1: Instructor view - banner displays the number of students for whom the reminder was sent; the banner also notes the number of students who did not receive the email
Image 2: Student view - email reminder now includes the due date
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Improved progress tracking for graded LTI content- 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topics: Progress Tracking for Students
Accurate course progress tracking is key for both students and instructors. Some instructors include graded LTI content in their course. In the past, progress tracking for graded LTI content was only updated manually by the student. Now when a student submits their work, their progress status updates to "complete." This change ensures better reporting for instructors and accurate progress tracking for students.
Image 1: Graded LTI content is marked as complete after the student submits their work
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Updated wording for course alerts in the Activity Stream - 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Consistency is key. In the past, we used different wording for course alerts on the Activity Stream versus the Course Activity report. Now activity stream notifications use the same wording as the course activity report.
Before, Activity Stream notifications used the following wording to count course alerts:
- # Students are falling behind, # Falling, # Absent
Now, the wording for Activity Stream notifications is consistent with the wording on the Course Activity report:
- Student alerts: # with low overall grade, # with last access alert
Image 1: Consistent wording for alerts in the Activity Stream
For administrators: To view the Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports, the user’s role needs to have “Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > View Grades” privilege.
Integrations
Google Workspace - Cloud File Collaboration - 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topics: Google Workspace (Administrator),
Google Workspace (Instructor)
Collaborative documents foster active engagement and dynamic interaction among participants. Instructors can now create a Google Workspace collaborative document.
Supported file types include:
- Google Docs
- Google Sheets
- Google Slides
Ultra Course View
In the Ultra Course View, Google Collaborate Document appears in the Create Item menu.
Image 1: Create a Google Collaborative Document
Instructors may need to sign into a Google Workspace account to continue. Instructors can select an existing file or create a new file for collaboration.
Image 2: Create a new collaboration
All student members of the course can access the file with permission to edit.
Image 3: Students can view the file inline and edit
Original Course View
In the Original Course View, a link appears in the Build Content menu and/or the add content button (+) in the content editor. The system administrator can decide the specific name in the Original Course View.
Image 4: Add Google Workspace Cloud Collaboration
An instructor can choose to create an item or edit an existing item and select the + symbol from the content editor. Select the “Google Cloud Collaboration document” to continue.
Image 5: Start a new Collaboration
Instructors may need to sign into a Google account to continue. Instructors can select an existing document or create a new file for collaboration. All student members of the course can access the file with permission to edit.
Image 6: Students can view the file inline and edit
For administrators: Please register the LTI Tool Provider in the Administrator panel. Only users in the same Google Workspace tenant can collaborate on documents.
Turnitin support for Ultra Assignments (limited release) – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
For some clients, Turnitin plays a vital role in promoting ethical academic practices. Turnitin currently integrates with Ultra courses through their LTI 1.3 integration. By deepening the integration further, Turnitin can now be enabled directly on Ultra assignments. This allows student submissions to be matched against the Turnitin database.
Note: This is a limited release. Clients signed up and approved by Turnitin will gain access to the feature. Flexible Grading must be enabled to access the Originality Report scores.
A new option appears in the Assessment Settings panel to enable Turnitin.
Image 1: Instructor enables TurnItIn in Assessment Settings
Image 2: Student view - Originality Report in progress
Image 3: Instructor view - originality score
For administrators: This feature is available in the Ultra Experience Management settings as “Asset Processor in Institution.”. The feature is off by default. Turn on the Turnitin Integration by setting this feature to On.
Anthology Adopt powered by Pendo – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Related topic: Anthology Adopt
It's important that we help institutions drive digital adoption of Learn Ultra. That's why we've created Anthology Adopt. Anthology Adopt allows institutions to create their own in-app messages and digital walkthrough guides in Learn. Institutions can segment these guides to targeted audiences for greater adoption. Anthology Adopt comes with a host of pre-created and defined guides that are updated each month based on each Learn release.
Institutions can analyze users' interactions of the guides. This supports customizations to further support adoption. Anthology Adopt is an additional license for Learn.
Image 1: Guides built in Anthology Adopt
Anthology Adopt provides users with different templates to build custom guidance in Learn. Font, colors and buttons are customizable. Users with Anthology Adopt permissions can access the Default Layouts page and create guides.
Image 2: Templates for building guides
Anthology Adopt also includes the following:
- Option to segment pop-up messages to specific audience
- Ability to analyze the users' interactions of the message prompted
- Get support from our expert team
For administrators: Only users with a license will be able to create and publish guides in Learn. Institutions can acquire a license under the name of Anthology Adopt by contacting their account team for more information or requesting more information at https://www.anthology.com/contact-us/sales
REST APIs to expand Rubric associations in Gradebook column endpoints – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
We aim to bring greater clarity and control to the grading process. As such, we have updated the Rubric API, which extends the capabilities of our Gradebook Columns API. This API includes rubric association information.
Now, when retrieving information about gradebook columns using the endpoints below, users gain insights into the rubric associations linked to each column:
- GET /learn/api/public/v2/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns
- GET /learn/api/public/v2/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns/{columnId}
By including the query parameter ‘?expand=rubricAssociations’ in the API requests, the user receives an enriched payload that includes rubric association information.
This enhancement contributes to better-informed decisions and improved assessment management for our users.
For administrators: To make use of the new endpoints, the REST integration user must have the following privileges: “Course/Organization Control Panel (Tools) > Rubrics > View Rubric”
REST APIs to REST API to track the origin of courses – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
To provide greater clarity and increased control of your grading process, we have expanded our Courses Public API. Now this API includes a new ‘copyHistory’ field.
Using the following endpoints, users are able to trace the origin of content in cloned courses.
- GET /public/v3/courses
- GET /public/v3/courses/{courseId}
This read-only attribute will provide UuIds, offering a complete content history.
For administrators: To make use of the new endpoints, the REST integration user must have the following privileges: “Administrator Panel (Courses) > Courses”
REST APIs to REST API to REST API to modify formulas for enhanced grading control – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
We have extended the capabilities of our Gradebook Columns API to provide greater flexibility in grading. Users can now change the formulas used in the grade calculations for the "Overall Grade" column. Users can update the formula by making a request to the following endpoint:
- PATCH /public/v2/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns
This update ensures that the grading process aligns with specific institutional grading policies. This allows instructors to provide a more accurate representation of student performance.
For administrators: To make use of the new endpoints, the REST integration user must have the following privileges: “Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > Full Control”.
It is mandatory that the sum of weighted overall values for calculated grading items must equate to exactly 100%.
Learn Core & Security
Messages restrictions and update to email copy of announcement option – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Messages
Institutions want control over the way Messages function in Courses and Organizations. To better support institutional policy and preferences, institutions can now determine messaging options:
- Students can message anyone in their course
- Students can only send a message to staff and students in their groups
- Students can only send a message to staff
- Students can only reply to messages
We also decoupled the Ultra Course Message Settings. Now an admin can configure the option to always send a copy of messages by email for Courses separately from Organizations. This option provides institutions with greater flexibility and control. This option is deselected by default.
Image 1. Administrator’s view of Ultra Course Message Settings
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses and organizations. This setting can be managed in the Administrator Tool Panel | Messages module. If in the Overall Message settings, the option “Students and participants can't create or reply to course and organization messages.” is selected, both Course & Organizations Messages options will not apply.
Manage inactive session timeout – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience and/or Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Session Management
In the past, administrators could not configure the inactive session time-out option from the Administrator Panel. Instead, administrators had to request changes through a support request. Now, administrators can configure the maximum time a user’s session can be inactive before they are logged out.
Image 1. Inactive session time-out configuration from the Administrator Tool Panel
For administrators: This setting can be managed in the Administrator Tool Panel | Security module | Account Lock Settings option. The default time a user can be inactive is 180 minutes (about 3 hours). The inactive time can be configured between 15 to 480 minutes. As before, session cleanup is a background task, so the ending of a session will be approximately the configured time, typically within a minute or two. Compatibility with the Blackboard Mobile App is planned for a future release.
Mobile App
Grades landing page improvement – 3900.74
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and/or Original Experience
Ultra Course View and/or Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Grade information is one of the most important data points for instructors and students. The latest update to our mobile app brings an improvement to the grades landing page. With this update:
- Students can now see their overall grade on the grades landing page.
- Instructors can now see the overall course grade on the landing page.
These changes aim to enhance the user experience and provide a more streamlined way to access grade information.
Image 1. Grades landing page that allows both instructor and students see the overall grade for a course
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App version 8.8. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Learn SaaS release 3900.71.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.71.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 11 July 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 3 August 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.71.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.71.0-rel.35+2d54bde to Production servers to take place on 17 August 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
August 2023 – 3900.71 Release
The August 2023 - 3900.71 release is replete with features in seven areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Richer course and content;
- Data and analytics;
- Groups;
- Communications & social engagement;
- Mobile app; and
- Integration, extension, and management
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Flexible Grading
- Gradebook: New default cell status in grid view
- Increased visibility of Gradebook ‘Move Item’ icon
- Bulk download of anonymous submissions
- Rubrics: Editing improvements
- Course Banner image improvements
- Learning Module image
- Replace files in course content
- Students with alert flags in the Course Activity report
- Ultra Accessibility Checker
Instructors and students:
- Assessment Submission Receipt improvements
- Groups in the top navigation bar and Group Spaces
- Unread Message indicator
- Group Messaging improvements
- Google Integration: Google Workspace files
- Replacement of Connect SMS notification service
- Course status and date improvements
All users:
- Removal of Welcome guidance for first-time login and attendance user experience pop-ups
- Course status indicators
- Messages Off indicator
- Active Session Termination
- Concurrent Session Control
Administrators and Instructors:
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Flexible Grading – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topics: Flex Grading Assignments, Flex Grading Tests
Flexible Grading is a new, efficient assessment grading experience. The new experience:
- provides intuitive and streamlined navigation,
- eliminates artificial barriers,
- saves time and effort when navigating from student to student or question to question.
Flexible Grading capabilities:
- Grade by question or student
- Filter on grading status of choice
- Navigate between students and multiple submission attempts
- Keep track of your grading process
- View both the attempt and the final grade for each assessment
- Provide meaningful feedback with or without a rubric
- Grade inline using Blackboard Annotate
- Collapse side panels to view more of the student submission
- Post all grades when ready
Supported assessment grading configurations:
- Individual student test and assignment submissions
- Single and multiple attempts
- Grading with rubrics
- SafeAssign
Other assessment configurations will continue to route through to the current grading experience. There is no loss of grading functionality for these configurations:
- Anonymous submissions
- Group submissions
- 2 graders per student
- Peer review
Flexible Grading will come to these assessment configurations in future releases.
For more information and to download a copy of the Flexible Grading adoption resource, please refer to the Community site blog post: https://community.anthology.com/blogs/8/1242
Image 1: Instructor view of grading a test by question; the Needs Grading filter is applied to filter out any automatically graded questions
Image 2: Instructor view of grading a test by question
Image 3: Instructor view of grading an assignment with a rubric
For administrators: This feature is available in Ultra Experience Management. We will turn on the feature for test/stage sites between 9-10 am EST on July 12, 2023. The feature will go to production on August 4, but we will not turn on the feature until Monday, August 7. The feature is on by default to ensure that the Flexible Grading interface is available to users at launch. You can turn off the Flexible Grading interface by setting this feature to Off.
Gradebook: New default cell status in grid view – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topics: Assign Grades
Instructors have varying preferences of the gradebook view. Some prefer the gradebook grid view to get an overview of student performance or locate new submissions. In the past, the gradebook grid view displayed "Grade Now" in each cell even when no submission had been made. This was confusing.
To remove confusion, the default state of a given cell in the gradebook grid view has changed from “Grade now” to “-” (a single dash). This change reduces the cognitive load on users working in the gradebook. This change also makes new submissions more obvious.
There is no change in gradebook functionality. Instructors can still select a given cell and enter an override grade.
Image 1: Instructor view of the gradebook grid view where cells without submissions are displaying “-” (a single dash); cells where there are new submissions still display the New Submission label
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Increased visibility of Gradebook ‘Move Item’ button– 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Navigate Grading
Instructors may need to reorder items in their online gradebooks to align with the sequencing and structure of their course. Instructors can reorder items in their gradebook from the gradebook list view. In the past, this option was not obvious to instructors. Instructors had to hover over the option for it to become visible.
Now, the option to move an item in the gradebook list view is always visible.
To move an item in the gradebook, select the Move button for the item you want to move. Drag the item to the new location and release. The order you choose is also reflected in the gradebook grid view and in students' view of the gradebook.
Image 1: Instructor view of the gradebook list view with the Move option visible
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Bulk download of anonymous submissions – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topics: Anonymous Grading, Download Assignments, Grade History
Sometimes instructors and graders want to download students' assessment submissions for offline viewing. Downloading submissions for offline viewing provides flexibility and convenience. In the past, this option was not available for anonymously graded assessments.
Now, the Download Submissions option is available for anonymously graded assessments. Download submissions from the item's menu in the gradebook grid view.
Image 1: Instructor view of the Download Submission option for anonymous assessments
Image 2: Selecting the Download Submissions menu option generates a ZIP file with all students’ submissions.
When the ZIP file is ready, the system sends a message with a link to the instructor. Instructors can access the message from Messages and select the link to download the ZIP file.
Image 3: Message with a link to the ZIP file
To preserve anonymity, the system renames the downloaded files based on the submission receipt number. To map a submission back to a given student attempt, use the Submission Receipt lookup option in the gradebook.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Assessment Submission Receipt improvements – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topics: Submissions Receipts (students) Submissions Receipts (instructors)
Assessments can be stressful for students. Some instructors require students to submit attachments as part of the assessment requirements. Students need reassurance that they have attached the correct file for the right assessment. Students also desire confirmation that their submission was successful.
Based on direct feedback from students, we added the new information to the existing submission receipts:
- Course name and ID
- Assessment name
- Submission size - only included for file-based assessments and tests with essay questions
- Auto submit indicator - this indicator is present only if the assessment is automatically submitted by Learn as part of a timed assessment or the Prevent Late Submission assessment setting
Students can view the additional submission receipt information in:
- The confirmation modal displayed upon a successful submission
- The text file students can download from the confirmation modal
- The automatic email confirmation
Image 1: Student assessment submission receipt confirmation
Image 2: Student assessment submission receipt confirmation text file
Image 3: Student assessment submission receipt email confirmation
The additional information in submissions receipts is also helpful to instructors. Instructors can look up a submission for a given student in the gradebook. The auto submit indicator reminds instructors that an assessment was auto-submitted as part of a timed assessment or because of the Prevent Late Submission assessment option.
Image 4: Instructor view of the submission receipt lookup; receipt displays the auto submit indicator on the student’s attempt
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Rubrics: Editing improvements – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
A grading rubric provides a clear and transparent framework for evaluating student work. Rubrics ensure consistency and fairness in grading. Rubrics also provide a means for giving effective feedback.
Instructors can edit any rubric not yet used for grading. In the past, selecting outside of an editable area would save edits and automatically exit out of edit mode. This made selecting text and editing rubrics difficult. Now, if users select text inside the rubric edit box and drag out of the edit box, the edit mode does not close.
Image 1: Instructor view of editing a rubric
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content
Removal of Welcome guidance for first-time login and attendance user experience pop-ups – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
First-time user experience guidance provides users with instructions and tips. This guidance shows users how an application works so they can start using it right away. To provide a better user experience, we are updating some of the guidance in Learn Ultra. Some guidance that is no longer needed is being removed. We'll be making these updates over a series of releases.
In this release, we are removing the Welcome guidance for first-time login. This is a series of three scrolled screens before a user reaches the base navigation. This guidance is no longer applicable. Its removal provides immediate access to the base navigation after users log in.
Image 1: First-time user experience guidance that will be removed from the welcome screens
To streamline marking attendance, we are removing first-time user experience messages from the attendance tool.
Image 2: First-time user experience guidance that will be removed from the attendance
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Course Banner image improvements – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Course Banners
The course banner image provides a sense of identity for the course. The image establishes a connection between the content and the course participants. To provide a better user experience, we have improved the image setting workflow:
Image 1: Before (left) and after (right) - the panel is renamed, and the default course image is now clearly marked as such
To add a course image, select the Image button.
Image 2: Select image source – drag and drop or select ‘Upload file”
The image appears in preview. This helps the instructor ensure that the desired image is selected.
Image 3: Image preview
Instructors can drag the image and modify the zoom to select the image's focal point.
Image 4: Drag or zoom the image to select the focal point
The instructor can mark the image as decorative or provide appropriate alternative text.
Image 5: Image accessibility settings
For administrators: There are no configurations needed. This feature is available for all Ultra and Original courses.
Learning Module image – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Create Learning Modules
Learning Modules provide a way to organize and structure content. To enhance the visual aesthetics of a course and to aid in content identification, we now support the option to add images to Learning Modules.
To add an image to a Learning Module, instructors can edit the module.
Image 1: To edit the Learning Module, select edit from the Learning Module ellipsis menu
Image 2: The instructor can select ‘Add image’ or the image button
Instructors can drag and drop an image of their choice or upload one from their device.
Image 3: Drag and drop the image or select 'Upload file’
The image appears in preview. This helps the instructor ensure that the desired image is selected.
Image 4: Image preview
Instructors can drag the image and modify the zoom to select the focal point of the image.
Image 5: Drag or zoom the image to select the focal point
Instructors can mark the image as decorative or provide appropriate alternative text.
Image 6: Accessibility settings for Learning Module image
Image 7: Learning Module image on Course Content page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Replace files in course content – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topics: Add Files, Images, Audio, and Video,
Edit and Manage Content
Responsible use of storage space matters to institutions. Before, when an instructor replaced a file in the course, the system created a new file version. Now, the system replaces the file. The system no longer creates new versions, freeing up storage space.
Image 1: Replace Options for files
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Data & Analytics
Students with alerts flags in the Course Activity Report – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topic: Course Activity Report
Identifying students at risk is challenging. This challenge is compounded when teaching multiple courses and large numbers of students.
Now, a flag appears for students with alerts in the Course Activity Report. Instructors can customize their course alerts based on the following:
- Number of days a student is inactive in the course
- A student’s overall grade in the course is below a specific percentage
Image 1: Define alert settings
The instructor may hover over a flag to view the alert type.
Image 2: Course Activity report for all students; students with alerts have the flag indicators
Instructors can filter alerts for:
- All students
- Students with alerts
- Students without alerts
Instructors can identify students with alerts in other views of the Course Activity Report.
- In the chart, purple dots indicate students with at least one (1) alert. Instructors can select the dot to display student information. An alerts section explains the applicable alerts for the student.
- In the CSV download, the Low overall grade and Last access alert columns indicate when a student has an alert.
- As before, activity stream notifications summarize students with alerts per course. Instructors may select these notifications to open the Course Activity Report. When accessing the report via notifications, the filter “Students with alerts” is auto-applied.
Image 3: Students with alerts highlighted in the course activity chart
Image 4: Students with alerts identified in the CSV download
Image 5: Students with alerts activity stream notification
Key considerations:
- Instructors define Alerts Settings at a course level so that each course can have its own alerts values
- Five is the default value for the number of days a student is inactive alert; there is no default setting for overall grade alert
- Course alerts can be added, edited, and deleted at any time
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Groups
Groups in the top navigation bar and Group Spaces – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topic: Group Spaces for Instructors, Groups for Students
Groups are essential for fostering collaboration, promoting active learning, and deepening understanding of course material. In the past, instructors could define groups and group sets. Instructors could also create group assessments. This release includes improvements aimed at helping all users make better use of groups.
We've moved Groups from the Details & Actions menu to the top navigation bar. This improves the visibility and prominence of Groups.
Image 1: Groups in the top navigation bar of a course
This release also introduces a new feature for Groups: Group Spaces. This first milestone of Group Spaces provides a list of all assessments by group.
From Manage groups, instructors still have access to:
- Group lists
- Show Members
- Group management options
To access a Group Space, instructors should select Enter Group Space from the group’s three-dot menu.
Image 2: Instructor view - Access to Group Spaces from Group Management
Instructors can access Group Spaces from the three-dot menu from Manage Groups.
Image 3: Instructor view - Group Space for a group with a list of assessments
Students can access their assigned groups on the Groups landing page. From there, students can view all student members of their group.
Image 4: Student view - Group list, showing members of the Futures Group
To access a Group Space, students should select the group's name. Once in Group Spaces, students can access all assessments aligned to their Group.
Image 5: Student view – view of a group assessment from Group Spaces
Future milestones will include synchronous communication and project management tools for students.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Social Engagement
Unread Message indicator – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topic: Messages for Instructors, Messages for Students
Messages are an important means for course communication. The Message tab on the Base Navigation now displays courses with unread messages first. We removed the terms feature from the Message tab because users often missed messages from other terms. This experience is more aligned with how other messaging applications work. Users can now clearly identify courses with unread messages.
We have also increased the visibility of unread messages within Ultra Courses. The Messages tab now includes an unread message indicator. On the Messages tab, messages are displayed with the newest messages at the top. Unread messages are clearly marked.
Image 1: Messages tab in Base Navigation, courses with unread messages listed first
Image 2: Messages tabs in a course – messages are sorted with the newest messages at the top, and unread messages are clearly indicated; a new message indicator also appears on the Messages tab
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Group Messaging improvements – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topic: Messages for Instructors, Messages for Students
Communication and collaboration between group members is key. An instructor can now send a message to any group or group set. Instructors can also select more than one group as recipients of a message. Students can select their groups as message recipients.
Those in the message can view the groups or group sets that received the message. Recipients can view who sent the message.
The Groups page now includes a message icon that provides an easy means for messaging a group. The message auto-populates the recipient with the selected group. Users can change the recipients as appropriate.
Image 1: Instructor view - button to draft/send a message to specific groups
Image 2: Student view - button to draft/send a message to specific groups
Image 3: New Message page with a group in the recipient list
Image 4: Group message thread, with the group name in the recipients' list
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Mobile App
Course status indicators – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Related topic: Courses and Organizations (Mobile)
The Blackboard Learn mobile app provides easy access to course material whilst on the go. We have enhanced the course list with status indicators for each course. These indicators help users to identify the status of each course.
Course status indicators include:
- Private (the student cannot access the course)
- Open
- Complete
Image 1: Course landing page enhanced by the course status indicator
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Messages Off indicator – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users
Related topic: Course Messages (Mobile)
Administrators can now turn off Messages for individual courses. When an administrator turns Messages off, the app displays 'Messages off' as appropriate.
Image 1: Messages landing page with ‘Messages off’ indicator for the applicable course(s)
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Course status and date improvements– 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
The Courses page is a popular entry point to courses for instructors and students. For both list and tile views of Courses, we've added course start dates or start now prompts. These indicators help users understand what's happening with each course.
Now the course status appears both in the image on the course and as text beneath the course title. When a course is Private and has a start date defined in the future, the date also displays.
Image 1: Course tile view – before (left) and after (right): private course with a start date in the future
If a student has not yet accessed, and Open course with a start date in the past, a Start Now indicator appears. Once the student accesses the course, the Start Now indicator disappears.
Image 2: Course tile view of an Open course that a student has not yet accessed
For administrators: This feature is available for all courses. There are no configurations needed.
Ultra Accessibility Checker – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Related topics: Ultra Accessibility Checker (Instructor),
Anthology Ally (Administrator)
Accessible content ensures inclusivity and meaningful engagement for diverse learners. To help instructors create accessible content, instructors can now use the Ultra Accessibility Checker (Powered by Ally). The Ultra Accessibility Checker scans content in the content editor for Ultra Documents. This helps instructors identify and fix accessibility issues.
Image 1: Instructor view - Ultra Document content editor with Score Gauge indicator
The Score Gauge indicator is visible when instructors are active in the content editor of Ultra Documents. Instructors can select the Score Gauge to view the Instructor Feedback panel. This panel provides suggestions to fix accessibility issues at scale. Instructors can also view the content editor in a preview. The Score Gauge provides a live score and flags accessibility issues during content creation and editing.
The Score Gauge displays only while an instructor is actively creating or editing content in the content editor for the Ultra Document. The Ultra Accessibility Checker does not provide any additional checking or guidance for files, reporting, or alternative formats.
Image 2: Instructor View - Score Gauge and suggestions for fixing accessibility issues
Image 3: Administrator view – Ally Integration Settings
For administrators: If your institution does not have an Ally license, the Ultra Accessibility Checker Powered by Ally will be on by default.
If your institution has an active Ally license, note that the Ultra Accessibility Checker Powered by Ally is a new configuration and is off by default. You don't need to turn this setting on. If you turn on this new setting, your Ally Service Availability will turn off. To avoid issues, we recommend not turning on Ultra Accessibility Checker Powered by Ally.
Supporting LTI deep-linking from the Calendar - 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View Calendar
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
The Calendar tool is important for displaying due dates and tasks in a course. Today Calendar items auto-populate in Learn or via the REST API framework. Administrators can use the Calendar REST API to populate calendar entries from third-party solutions.
To deepen a seamless user experience, we've enhanced the Learn Calendar REST API. Now third-party applications can add LTI deep-linking requests to calendar entries. LTI deep linking is important for third-party applications that require user authentication. The Calendar will display links in the course. Links will also be displayed in the Calendar accessed from the Ultra base navigation. This is specific to Ultra courses only.
Image 1: Calendar Link shown in Ultra Course Calendar
Image 2: Calendar Link shown from Activity Stream
Image 3: LTI launch from Calendar link
For administrators: The REST integration user must have these privileges: “course/organization Control Panel (Tools) > Calendar > Create Entry” and "course/organization Control Panel (Tools) > Calendar > Edit Entry.” The REST integration user must also be enrolled in the course. These improvements are available for Ultra courses only.
Google Integration: Google Workspace files - 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Related topic: Google Workspace for Instructors, Types of Course Content
We have partnered with Google to create a new LTI integration for Google Workspace tools in Learn. This new intuitive workflow allows instructors to add Google Workspace files to:
- The course content area
- Learning Modules
- Folders
File linking for Google Workspace is important for many reasons:
- File linking provides a link to a Google Workspace file. Linking reduces duplicate copies of a file in courses. This helps to reduce on-screen clutter and storage space usage.
- Linking allows instructors to edit the file, with all links to the file reflecting the most current version. This approach provides greater efficiency and saves the instructor time.
- Google Workspace files can be edited inline, improving the user experience.
- File linking enhances the student experience since access to the file is in context.
The instructor may need to sign into their Google Workspace account to view and select their files. After adding the Google file, the instructor can allow Class conversations to the file and align Goals and Standards. The instructor can also add a description before saving. Instructors can view and edit the Google file inline. The instructor can rename the file and control the student visibility.
When the instructor makes the file(s) visible to the student, their view is read-only.
Image 1: Add a Google Workspace file to the Course Content
Image 2: Select the Google Workspace file
Image 3: Define the file settings
Image 4: Define student visibility settings
Image 5: Editing Google Workspace file inline
For administrators: Please register the LTI Tool Provider in the Administrator Panel.
Manage Messages at the Course level – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators, Instructors
Institutions often have policies about how students communicate with others in their courses. We strive for Learn to have the flexibility to support institutional policies and decisions. As such, Administrators can now configure instructor control of the visibility of the Messages tool at the course level. When permitted, instructors can configure the Messages tool in the Course Settings.
Image 1: Instructors can manage the Messages tool in the Course Settings option
When instructors are not permitted to configure settings, the settings appear in view-only mode
Image 2: View-only mode for Messages in Course Settings
Learn more about how Messages function when the tool is off
For administrators: The Ultra Base Navigation must be enabled to control the Messages tool at the Course or Organization level. Course Messages are ON as Course and Organization tools by default. Administrators can modify the availability and Scope of Change settings by unlocking the padlock.
Active Session Termination – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Related topics: Session Management
We have upgraded our security measures to enforce user re-authentication, enhancing data security. Users are now required to log in again during their session, regardless of activity. After a time specified by the administrator, the session expires, logging out the user. Before the session ends, users receive a warning and have the option to save their work.
Image 1: Session expiration message
Image 2: Session expiration message for mobile users
Image 3: Administrator view - Active Session Termination settings
For administrators: The feature is enabled by default for FedRAMP institutions and disabled for others. This setting can be managed in the Administrator Tool Panel > Security module > Account Lock Settings option. The maximum amount of time a user session can be active has a default value of 12 hours. This timeout can be configured between 3 to 24 hours.
This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have turned off automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Concurrent Session Control – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users
Related topics: Session Management
We have updated our system to enhance security and meet IL4 certification requirements. Administrators can now restrict users from accessing Learn on more than one device at the same time. At login, users receive a notification that they will be logged out from any other devices.
This feature can benefit institutions that would like to increase academic honesty during assessments by restricting the number of devices used by a single user.
Image 1: Concurrent session notice
Image 2: Concurrent session notice for mobile users
Image 3: Administrator view - Concurrent Session Control
For administrators: The default value is unlimited for every institution. Administrators may define their preference in the Administrator Tool Panel > Security module > Account Lock Settings option.
This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have turned off automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
REST APIs to read Gradebook Logs – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
We are excited to introduce two public API endpoints for the Gradebook. These new endpoints provide access to historical Gradebook information. These endpoints offer enhanced visibility and analysis for grading history and specific Gradebook columns.
The first endpoint retrieves the complete Gradebook Log history for the specified course. With this endpoint, users can access a comprehensive record of grading events such as:
- grade modifications
- updates,
- and other relevant activities.
By leveraging this endpoint, educators can perform audits and track changes.
The second endpoint retrieves all the log entries related to the specified Gradebook column in a course. This provides a detailed view of the Gradebook actions specific to the selected column, such as:
- changes made to ratings,
- comments,
- or any other modifications.
This detailed log history enhances transparency and accountability and helps ensure that users have a robust and reliable grading system.
For administrators: To make use of the new endpoints, the REST integration user must have the following privileges:
"Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > View Grades,”
“Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > Full Control,” and
“Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > All Grading.”
Replacement of Connect SMS notification service (from Finalsite) to Anthology SMS Microservice – 3900.71
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Clients who leverage the Connect SMS notification service
Blackboard divested the Connect SMS Service to Finalsite in 2021. Our agreed service continuation contract with Finalsite is expiring in the coming months. Some North American Blackboard Learn clients continue to use the Connect SMS Service provided through Finalsite.
We have implemented a microservice and partnered with an SMS provider to provide those clients with continuity. This will allow us to continue supporting clients who use SMS notifications in Learn today.
SMS notifications are now provided through the new microservice.
- Self-hosted instances are not supported on the new microservice.
- Managed-hosted instances are not supported on the new microservice.
- Text-to-voice is not supported in the new microservice.
Learn more in the Behind the Blackboard article No. 000077570
Existing user SMS notification settings will remain in place for students and instructors. Text-to-voice options will be removed for Original navigation environments. We have updated the SMS notification setting screen wording to reflect where the messages originate. We have also simplified the administrator settings to reflect the new microservice.
Image 1. Example of end-user SMS notification settings
Image 2. Example of the administrator settings for SMS notifications
For administrators: The new microservice is included in the 3900.71 release and is available on your test/stage environment while we finalize work with the new SMS provider. While we don’t anticipate any delays, we will communicate any changes as we approach the production release scheduled for August 3, 2023.
Learn SaaS release 3900.69.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.69.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 6 June 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 6 July 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.69.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.69.0-rel.35+f94c281 to Production servers to take place on 27 July 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
July 2023 – 3900.69 Release
The July 2023 - 3900.69 release is replete with features in six areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Richer course and content;
- Data and analytics;
- Mobile app;
- Integration, extension, and management; and
- Course upgrading
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Partial and negative credit improvements for the Multiple Choice / Multiple Select question type
- Tab navigation for Assessments
- Add exceptions for anonymously graded assessments
- Exceptions panel updates
- Delete Grade Schemas
- File deletion in the course also removes the file from the Content Collection
- Manage Course Duration in Course Settings Panel
- Import Instructure Canvas course packages
- Improved flattening logic
Instructors and students:
- Formative label and Gradebook filter
- Complete/incomplete grade schema
- Send reminders to non-submitters for anonymously graded assessments
Students:
- Start, Continue, and View Assessment options and file submission updates
- Progress Tracking and Start / Continue / Completed options for Learning Modules
All users:
- Updated Learn Favicon Icon
- Resizing media
- Improvements to the Grades landing page
- Manage Messages at institutional level
- Self-enroll for Ultra Courses and Organizations
Administrators:
- System administrators not enrolled in a course can access Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports
- REST APIs to read Rubrics evaluations
- LTI admin launches from Books and Tools, Content Market
- LTI Tool Dynamic Registration
- Ultra Adoption Toolkit: Learn SSO Login
- Partner Integrations: Allow JavaScript Support
Assessment and Grading
Formative label and Gradebook filter – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Formative assessment is an essential component of the teaching and learning process. Formative assessment provides ongoing feedback to both instructors and students. Its primary value is that it informs and shapes instruction, guides learning, and supports student progress.
You, our clients, shared in the Idea Exchange an idea to have a way to identify formative assessments more easily. When work on this feature began, it was the number one idea in the formative assessment area. Now instructors can apply a formative label to assessments.
When selected, this label serves as an indicator and appears to instructors in the following areas:
- Course Content page - on assessments set as formative
- Test and Assignment settings
- Gradebook list and grid views
- Question Analysis table view of assessments
- Student Overview
- Student Activity Overview
Learn more about excluding grades from grade calculations
Image 1: Instructor view – Assessment settings panel – Formative Tools section
Instructors may choose to display this label to students. This helps to inform students that an assessment is formative in its purpose. When displayed to students, the label appears in these areas:
- Course Content page - on assessments set as formative
- Assessment panel before starting an attempt
- Assessment Details & Information panel during and after an assessment
- Assessment header when viewing a submission
- Gradebook
Image 2: Student View – assessment labeled as formative on course content page
In the Gradebook grid view, instructors can filter assessments by formative or summative type. Formative assessments are those with the formative setting selected. Summative assessments are those that do not have the formative setting selected.
Image 3: Gradebook grid view – filter option with formative assessment type selected
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Partial and negative credit improvements for the Multiple Choice / Multiple Select question type – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer questions are graded automatically. Answers are scored based on the instructor-selected scoring option.
In the past, instructors could select from the following scoring options:
- All or nothing. A student must select all the correct answer choices to receive credit. If a student selects one or more incorrect answer choices, they earn no points.
- Allow partial credit. A student receives partial credit if they correctly answer part of the question.
- Subtract points for incorrect answers. A student will have points subtracted for incorrect answer choices. This option discourages guessing. The overall question score is not less than zero.
With the partial credit and subtract points options, all answer choices were equally weighted. Instructors could not control how much partial and negative credit is awarded for each correct and incorrect answer.
To provide instructors with more control, we have made some changes. Now instructors can turn on partial and negative credit. This option allows instructors to:
- Define a positive percentage value to award credit for a correct answer(s)
- Enter a negative percentage value to subtract for an incorrect answer(s)
- Allow a negative overall score for the question
Image 1: Instructor view of the improved partial and negative credit scoring options
This improvement reduced the number of default answer options from 4 to 3. Instructors can still add additional answer options if required.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Tab navigation for Assessments – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We have simplified the navigation for Assessments. Instructors now have convenient access to different sections using tabs:
- Content and Settings
- Submissions
- Student Activity
- Question Analysis
This improvement is designed to optimize instructor efficiency. It provides a more streamlined assessment management experience for instructors.
Image 1: Assessment with Content and Settings, Submissions, Student Activity, and Question Analysis tabs
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Add exceptions for anonymously graded assessments – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We all live complicated lives and special circumstances often arise. When this happens, instructors may need to grant an exception to a student for specific tests or assignments. These exceptions may include the following:
- Granting additional attempts
- Rescheduling submission deadlines
- Allowing extended access
Now instructors can grant student exemptions for anonymously graded assessments. Instructors can access the exceptions options for all assessments from the Student Overview page in the gradebook.
Image 1: Add exception for an anonymously graded assessment via the Student Overview page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Exceptions panel updates – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Exceptions are important for supporting students who experience unforeseen situations. Instructors can:
- Grant additional attempts
- Reschedule submission deadlines
- Allow extended access
We've updated the exceptions panel to display more information. The exceptions panel now features course, assessment, and student names. This improvement helps instructors to ensure the accuracy of the exception.
Image 1: Exceptions peek panel with course, assessment and student information
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Complete/incomplete grade schema – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
The complete/incomplete grade schema is now available for the Ultra Course View. This grade schema helps to shift the focus from points earned to student effort and completion of tasks. It offers a more holistic approach to assessing student progress.
Instructors can select the schema in the settings panel from the Grade using section. When a grade is assigned, a checkmark is displayed on that item for the student in the gradebook. An incomplete is displayed as a dash in a grey-colored pill.
Assessments that use automatic zeros and the complete/incomplete will mark non-submitting students as incomplete.
Image 1: Instructors may select the Complete/Incomplete grade schema Grade using section of the Assessment Settings panel
Image 2: Assessment using the Complete/Incomplete grade schema
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Delete Grade Schemas – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, instructors could only create and edit grade schemas. Now, instructors can also delete grade schemas that are not used in the course. The option to delete helps instructors maintain the grade schema list.
A Delete button now appears on schemas that are not in use. Schemas that are in use will only display the option to copy.
Image 1: Option to delete a grade schema that is not in use
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Send reminders to non-submitters for anonymously graded assessments – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
During an assessment, instructors may need to communicate with students. To support this need, instructors can filter and select the students they would like to message from the Submissions page. Instructors can craft a message appropriate to the audience and circumstances.
In the past, the instructors couldn't message students for assessments that are anonymously graded. This is because instructors do not know which students had submitted.
Now we have introduced a Send Reminder option. This allows instructors to send reminders to students who have yet to make a submission for an anonymously graded assessment.
With the "Send Reminder" button on the Submissions page for anonymously graded assessments, instructors have the chance to confirm their desire to send the reminder along with the number of students who will receive it.
Image 1: An instructor can select Send Reminder to send an automatic reminder to students who have yet to make a submission
Image 2: Student view of the reminder
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Start, Continue, and View Assessment options and file submission update – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
To increase clarity for students before they begin an assessment, we have made changes to the user interface. In the past, when a student selected an assessment, the Details & Information panel included an option labeled View assessment. Now this option is labeled as Start attempt. Additionally, the button displays different states based on the student's progress:
If the student is eligible to make a new attempt, the button displays Start attempt alongside the next attempt number.
If the student has saved a draft, the button displays Continue attempt along with the current attempt number.
Once the student has exhausted all possible attempts, the button displays View submissions. This indicates that students can review their completed submissions.
These modifications aim to provide a more intuitive and informative experience for students. These changes ensure that students have a clear understanding of their progress and available options throughout the assessment process.
Image 1: Start attempt
Image 2: Continue attempt
Image 3: View submissions
To clarify how a student can attach files or add content to their submissions, we have updated the instructions in the Submission section. The instructions now read as follows: Drag and drop files here or select (click) to add text.
Image 4: Student view of the assignment Submission area
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content
Progress Tracking and Start / Continue / Completed options for Learning Modules - 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Progress Tracking provides students with clear visibility of their progress throughout a course. In the past, students would need to expand the module to view progress for the contents of a learning module. To save time and provide greater clarity, a progress summary for learning lodules is now displayed at the top level.
Image 1: The progress indicator displays at the top level of the learning module and includes the total number of items in the learning module
Hovering over the progress bar informs the student of how much content they have completed, started or yet to start.
Image 2: Student hovers over the progress bar for more details
Now there are options for students to Start or Continue progress in a learning module with a single selection. This option is dynamic based on the student's progress in the learning module. Selecting the option takes the student to the first item, or next incomplete item. Students no longer need to expand the learning module to browse the content items.
The Start and Continue options appear only for learning modules with a forced sequence applied.
Image 3: Start and Continue options change based on the student’s progress; when complete, the status changes to Completed
When a student progresses through the contents or otherwise marks content as complete, the learning module displays a Completed status. This provides a clear sign to the student that they have completed that module. If an instructor adds content to the learning module or the student marks the work from completed to started, the progress bar updates accordingly. The button text reflects the status change as Continue. This reminds the student to re-engage with the content.
Learn more about Progress Tracking for students.
For administrators: Please note that the system administrator must enable progress tracking at the institution, node, or course level for these updates to display to students.
Updated Learn Favicon Icon - 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All Users
To provide a consistent experience for Blackboard Learn within the wider Anthology portfolio of solutions, we have updated the Learn Favicon browser Icon. This also solved the issue with Favicon icons that were not configurable when Ultra was enabled, and aligns with the changes and updates made since the consolidation of the Blackboard Learn Mobile applications in 2022.
From the July release, users will see an updated Favicon icon in their browser, replacing the old pencil icon with an updated Anthology icon:
For administrators: This update is available for all Ultra enabled Learn environments. There are no configurations needed.
Resizing media – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All Users
Instructors often strive to include media in their course design to help create an engaging course. Students may desire to include media in their discussions or assessment responses. When inserting media, users expect an easy way to control the size of the included media. In the past, this wasn't easy to do. Users would have to size media before uploading it in the course.
Now media items have handles in each corner. Users can resize the media by dragging a corner handle. Users can also resize media via keyboard navigation. Media types available for resizing include images, videos, and media inserted via URL.
This enhancement provides users with a seamless and intuitive way to resize media.
Image 1: Resize media corner handles
Image 2: Resize media by dragging corner handle
Based on client feedback, we made several additional changes:
- We removed the gray background of the media
- We relocated the delete icon to the top right corner of the media
- All media attached or inserted via URL maintains aspect ratio
- All media has center alignment (future milestones will permit other justification options)
- The maximum size of the media (100%) is the maximum width allowed by the content editor
- The minimum size limit for all media is 200 pixels
- We redesigned Image Settings to include the alternative text box and an option to force users to download the media
- When inserting a video in edit mode, a new icon displays in the top right corner to play the video from edit mode; this icon appears regardless of how media is inserted
Image 3: Resize media delete icon
Image 4: Image Settings includes the display name, alternative text, an option to mark an image as decorative, and an option to force users to download the media
Image 5: Resize media video play icon in edit mode
Resizing media is not supported on mobile devices.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
File deletion in the course also removes the file from the Content Collection – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Content Collection is a valuable tool for organizing files and to support content reuse. In the past, if an instructor deleted a file from an Ultra course, the file remained in the Content Collection. This was the case even if the file was not used in other courses. Removing this file required additional steps from the instructor and was often overlooked.
Now, when a file is deleted from the course, it is also deleted from the Content Collection when it is not used in other courses or another place in the same course. This workflow simplifies file management and helps with responsible use of storage space.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Data & Analytics
System administrators not enrolled in a course can access Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
In the past, system administrators not enrolled in a course could not access the Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports. To access the reports, administrators would have to enroll in the course. This extra step was cumbersome and problematic. Now system administrators who are not enrolled in a course can see these reports.
System administrators can now better inform instructors about these reports, answer instructors' questions, and troubleshoot user issues.
Image 1: A system administrator can see now the Course Activity report under the Analytics tab
Image 2: A system administrator can see now the Student Activity Details report
For administrators: To view the Course Activity and Student Activity Details reports the user’s role needs to have “Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > View Grades” privilege permitted.
Mobile App
Improvements to the Grades landing page – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra and Original Experience
Impact: All users
Mobile app users can now select the sorting criteria for their grades. Users can sort grades as follows:
- course order
- last activity (most recent grade posted)
- due date (latest or oldest first)
These sort options allow users to customize the Grades landing page to suit their preferences.
Images 1 and 2: Users may order their grades based on Course Order, Last Activity or the Due Date
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Ultra Adoption Toolkit: Learn SSO Login – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: Administrators
The Learn Ultra Adoption Toolkit is a comprehensive online tool. This resource provides resources to support Blackboard Learn Ultra adoption. The toolkit includes valuable tools, resources, and best practices.
Previous to this release, the toolkit required a separate login. Now, we are introducing the Single Sign-On (SSO) Login with Blackboard credentials. With this feature, the toolkit launches from the Base Navigation Administrator panel. This feature enhancement streamlines the user experience, providing direct access to adoption resources.
Image 1: Ultra Adoption Toolkit in the Ultra Experience configuration options.
Image 2: Select Review to access the LTI tool settings
Image 3: Global Settings within the LTI Tool
For administrators: This feature is available on the administrator panel. For the LTI to successfully link to the Adoption Toolkit Global Settings, the LTI Tool will need to be set. Navigate to Admin panel | LTI Tool Providers. Search for Learn Ultra Upgrade Live and select the Review option. This allows you to ensure that all user fields to send grade service access and membership service access are enabled. Be sure to select Submit to save edits to settings.
Manage Messages at institutional level – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
Institutions often have policies about how students communicate with others in their courses. To support institutional policy, system administrators can now manage Messages tool visibility. When Base Navigation is enabled, this level of control is available for both the Ultra and Original experiences at the institution and node levels.
Administrators can define Messages visibility for both courses and organizations. Messages are not displayed on the Ultra Base Navigation when it is hidden at institutional level. If an institution has different configurations at node level, Messages will display on the Ultra Base Navigation according to the Messages policy applied for each course. The Course Messages option does not display for courses where the Messages tool is off.
Image 1: The Messages tool doesn’t appear in the Ultra Base Navigation when it is turned off for all courses where a user is enrolled.
Image 2: The Messages policy applied displays for each course and organization in the Ultra Base Navigation
Image 3: The Course Messages option is hidden when the tool is off
If the Messages tool is off, users may still send messages as emails using the Messages icons. This gives instructors the ability to easily communicate with students from contextual locations in their Ultra courses. It also allows students to connect with their instructor. The following are behaviors in Ultra courses when the Messages tool is off:
- The message will be sent as an email. Recipients must have an email configured in their profiles.
- The sender will receive a copy of the message as an email.
- Replies aren't allowed.
- Instructors can edit recipients.
- Students are not allowed to edit recipients and only can send messages to instructors.
- There are no changes to attachments.
- Daily notifications will not include information about a new message created from courses where the Messages tool is off.
Image 4: The Messages icon is available for instructors to send messages as emails when Messages tool is off
Image 5: Instructors may edit recipients when sending a message as an email and the Messages tool is off
Image 6: The Messages icon is available to students in the Course Faculty section; messages are sent to instructors as emails
Image 7: Students cannot edit recipients when sending a message as an email to an instructor and the Messages tool is off
Image 8: Messages visibility controls from the Administrator Tools Panel
For administrators: Administrators can configure the Messages availability at the institutional level from the Administrator Tool Panel. Configurations at node level are always allowed and the Scope of Change is for ALL courses (new and existing ones). In a future release we will support additional configuration options.
Partner Integrations: Allow JavaScript Support – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
In this release, a new column called 'Allow JavaScript Injection' is available. The column is visible on the LTI Tool Providers page. This serves as an indicator to administrators (Yes or No) that an LTI tool supports JavaScript injection. Administrators can identify these tools in the application.
Image 1: New JavaScript Column in LTI Tool Providers Admin Page
When an administrator enables an LTI application that supports JavaScript injection, a security warning is displayed. The admin can accept or deny the security warning. Accepting the warning enables the LTI application. Denying the warning message will not enable the application.
Image 2: JavaScript Injection Terms of Use Warning Message
For administrators: There are select partners only that have the required permissions to support custom JavaScript in Ultra. This is managed and approved on a per-partner basis by Anthology and supported only in the developer portal. The Allow JavaScript Injection column is read-only and can’t be edited from in the user interface.
Manage Course Duration in Course Settings Panel – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, users with privileges
Students are always allowed to access some courses. Other courses have restrictions so students can only access them for a specific time. This is determined by course duration settings. In the past, only administrators or a data integration process could manage the course duration settings for Ultra courses. Even when instructors had the correct privileges, they couldn’t manage this themselves.
Now, course users with the correct privileges can modify the course duration settings for their Ultra courses.
A new Course Settings option appears at the top of an Ultra course if the user has privileges to view or manage settings. The course duration settings are managed here. The course duration can be set to the following:
- Ongoing – no access restriction
- Restrict by Dates—set dates and times for student access to begin, end, or both
- Restrict by number of days from enrollment
- Restricted by the start and end dates of the associated Term - this option only appears when a Term is defined for the course
You can also manage the Roster tool availability in this panel if allowed. Instructors can continue to manage student access to the Roster tool in the Roster panel itself. In future releases, we’ll move more settings to the Course Settings panel.
Image 1: The new Course Settings option appears at the top of the course when the user has appropriate privileges
Image 2: A privileged user can manage the course duration and student access to the roster in the Course Settings panel
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. Users must have appropriate System Role or Course Role privileges to manage course duration and the Roster tool. The Roster tool can only be managed in a course if allowed by settings in the Administrator Panel > Tools.
- Privilege to access the Course Settings panel: Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Properties
- Privilege to modify the Course Duration: Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Properties, Duration
- Privilege to modify course tools: Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Tool Availability
Self-enroll for Ultra Courses and Organizations– 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Base Navigation
Impact: All users
In the past, the course and organization catalogs only showed Original courses and Original organizations. We’ve updated both catalogs so they also display Ultra courses and Ultra organizations.
As with Original courses and organizations, Ultra courses and organizations must be associated with the catalog in the administrator panel or through data integration processes. The self-enrollment setting for Ultra courses and organizations must be managed in the administrator panel or through data integration. At this time, instructors can’t enable self-enrollment in Ultra courses and Organizations.
Learn more about the Course Catalog
Learn more about SIS integration types and the SIS Course Categories object's Learn fields
For administrators: Administrators must manage catalog associations and self-enrollment settings for Ultra courses and organizations to use these features. To define the catalog structure, admins must define categories. For courses to display in the catalog, they must be associated with those categories.
Import Instructure Canvas course packages – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Administrators
An instructor may move between institutions or teach at more than one place. That could mean the instructor has course packages they built in Instructure Canvas. Some institutions adopting Blackboard Learn Ultra are moving over from Canvas.
Now instructors and administrators can import Canvas packages directly in Learn courses. This can save significant time preparing a course for teaching in Learn. Canvas packages can be imported into either Learn Original or Learn Ultra courses by users with course import privileges.
All course import and restore workflows support Canvas packages:
- Course import in an Ultra course
- Course import in an Original course
- Administrator course import
- Administrator course restore—only course contents will be imported with this action, user data is not restored
Canvas exports courses in a proprietary format. This proprietary format shares elements with the interoperable standard Common Cartridge. For example, both have the file extension .imscc. When importing a package with this file extension, Learn will automatically determine if a package should be processed as a Common Cartridge package or a proprietary Canvas package.
Note: Course structure and tools differ between Canvas and Learn. After import, instructors or course designers should review all contents and settings. This is to adjust the content so is suited for use in Learn. Not all course elements are converted.
Image 1: Import Canvas packages using the standard course content import tools
For administrators: This feature is available only in Learn SaaS environments. It works with both Original and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed, but only users with privileges to import course packages can use the feature. If you need to convert many courses in bulk, Anthology Product Support can assist with this request. Due to a dependency on a web service, the feature will start to function a few days after release.
Instructure and Canvas are registered trademarks of Instructure, Inc.
REST APIs to read Rubrics Evaluations – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
With the Rubric Evaluations Public API, users can now retrieve comprehensive data on student attempts that were graded using a rubric. The Rubric Evaluations Public API includes three new GET endpoints:
- Retrieve Rubric Evaluations from a Student Attempt: This endpoint allows users to retrieve detailed rubric evaluations from a specific student attempt.
- Retrieve All Rubric Evaluations from a Rubric Association: This endpoint provides users with the ability to retrieve all rubric evaluations associated with a particular rubric.
- Retrieve a Single Rubric Evaluation with Cell Expansion: This endpoint enables users to retrieve a single rubric evaluation while having the flexibility to expand its cells.
This new API showcases our commitment to empowering educators and institutions with advanced assessment capabilities.
For administrators: The REST integration user must have the entitlement “Course/Organization Control Panel (Grade Center) > Full Control” to make use of the new endpoints.
LTI admin launches from Books and Tools, Content Market – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators, other support users
Administrators and other support users access courses without being enrolled. Sometimes they need to access 3rd-party content integrated using LTI, the Learning Tools Interoperability standard. In the past, admins could launch LTI links in the Course Outline of Ultra courses. Admins couldn’t access LTI links in other areas of the course. Now, administrators can access and launch LTI tools in the following additional areas:
- The Books and Tools panel
- The Content Market
This change will make it easier for admins to support courses when they are not an enrolled course member.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. For these LTI link launches, Learn will send the role of “administrator” for both the LTI context and institution roles. A tool must be compliant with this aspect of the standard for the launch to work.
LTI Tool Dynamic Registration – 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
LTI Advantage, including LTI 1.3, is a standard for integrating tools into learning environments. This standard from 1EdTech is based on the highly secure three-legged OAuth2 method. This security method requires a secured key registration process and supports key rotation. For Blackboard Learn, this key registration and rotation procedure is managed in the Anthology Developer Portal.
Tool providers can register their applications in the Developer Portal so that clients don’t have to. This lets the tool provider define things like icons and tool placements in Blackboard Learn, saving administrators time. This is Anthology’s preferred LTI tool adoption workflow because it reduces the burden on administrators.
Some tool providers require adopting clients to register applications themselves and manually configure all aspects of the tool in both the Anthology Developer Portal and in Blackboard Learn. This is usually because they don’t support multiple deployments for a single application as they are defined in the LTI specification. There are many steps to this registration process.
Recently the LTI standards committee defined a new service called LTI Dynamic Registration. This helps tools and learning platforms simplify the registration process in an interoperable way. The Anthology Developer Portal now supports this standard. For tools that support this standard but require administrators to register the application themselves, this will reduce the number of steps to configure the LTI tool.
Learn administrators given a registration URL should add the application in the Developer Portal using the Dynamic Registration option. After this step, the administrator should complete any other steps as required by the tool provider.
Image 1: An administrator or developer chooses to add a new application using Dynamic Registration
Image 2: An administrator or developer enters the tool registration URL
Improved flattening logic– 3900.69
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Items can move when copied, imported, or converted into Ultra courses. We call this the flattening process. The process moves items with a depth greater than two to the lowest supported level in Ultra courses. For institutions that have opted in to a third level of depth, items with a depth greater than three move to the lowest supported level. We received feedback from instructors calling for improvements to this process.
One issue was that items were not retained in their parent folder. As a result, a course could have many empty folders at the lowest supported level. The items that used to be in those folders would also be at the lowest supported level. This made it difficult for instructors to understand where items used to be. They had to spend a lot of time finding and moving items.
The second issue was with Learning Modules. Learning Modules could become nested inside other Learning Modules or Folders. Nested Learning Modules are not supported in Ultra courses. These nested Learning Modules set the wrong expectation for new users. This also broke the user interface.
With this update, we implemented new logic:
- Learning Modules are always brought to the highest level on the Course Content page.
- Folders are now brought to the highest level necessary to ensure that child items don't move.
This change should help instructors organize their moved content.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.67.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.67.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 9 May 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 1 June 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.67.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.67.0-rel.38+6532b86 to Production servers to take place on 22 Jun 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
June 2023 – 3900.67 Release
The June 2023 - 3900.67 release is robust with features in six areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Richer course and content;
- Data and analytics;
- Communication and social engagement;
- Integration, extension, and management; and
- Course upgrading
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Features with this icon are controlled by a client facing feature flag:
Instructors:
- Add Exemptions for Anonymous Assessments
- Add Exceptions from Gradebook Grid View and Student Overview page
- ‘Base calculation on points earned out of total graded points’ support for Custom Calculations
- Upload questions from a file to tests
- Support for anonymous grading of tests
- Journals Grades & Participation list filters
Instructors and students:
- Course Links improvements
- Announcements in the top navigation
- Course Term display logic improvements
Students:
All users:
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Add Exemptions for Anonymous Assessments 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The use of anonymous grading helps to reduce grading bias. Many consider it an important grading approach. To further support instructors and improve their ability to manage student exemptions, we have introduced a way for instructors to set exemptions for anonymously graded assessments. Instructors can now access the exemptions option for an anonymous assessment from the Student Overview page. This will make it easier for instructors to manage exemptions and ensure a fair and accurate grading process for all students.
Image 1: Instructor view – “Essay: Sun proximity effects – Milky Way” assignment is anonymously graded; the instructor can access the “Add or edit exemption” option from the overflow menu
Image 2: The exemption icon is not visible in the gradebook grid view until all grades have been posted to help ensure student anonymity
Image 3: The exemption icon is not visible on an assessment submissions page until all grades have been posted; this helps to ensure student anonymity
For administrators: The exemption feature is enabled by default. Administrators can turn it off at the institution level in the Ultra Experience configuration page.
‘Base calculation on points earned out of total graded points’ support for Custom Calculations – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Calculating course grades can vary depending on instructor practice. To offer greater flexibility in gradebook calculations, instructors can now opt to use the 'Base calculation on points earned out of total graded points' option for any gradebook calculation, regardless of whether it contains operators with functions and variables. Previously, this option was only available for Average, Total, Minimum, and Maximum calculations.
Image 1: Option to include 'Base calculation on points earned out of total graded points' option for any gradebook calculation
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Upload questions from a file to tests and assignments – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Besides course content, assessment questions are one of the most valuable teaching artifacts. Up until now, instructors could only create new questions in tests, assignments, or question banks. This process could be time-consuming and inefficient.
Now instructors can author questions offline in a text file. Instructors can upload the file into a test for a more streamlined test building workflow. Each question file must be a tab-delimited TXT file. The file should not exceed 250 records to avoid time-out restrictions. For more details on formatting requirements, please review the related Help pages for Original and Ultra platforms.
Instructors can easily edit and use the uploaded questions as they would a question created in a test. Uploading questions saves instructors valuable time and effort.
Supported question types include:
- Multiple choice / multiple answer
- True / False
- Essay
- Fill in the Blank
- Fill in Multiple Blanks
- Numeric response
- Matching
Image 1: Instructor view – ‘Upload questions from file’ option in tests; this same option exists for assignments
Image 2: An instructor can edit uploaded questions as they would a manually added question
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Support for anonymous grading of tests – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can reduce grading bias for high-stakes assignments by enabling anonymous grading. Until now, this option was only available for assignments. Instructors can now also turn on anonymous grading on tests. This adds an additional layer of fairness and impartiality to the grading process.
The anonymous grading option for tests is not available when grades are automatically posted.
Image 1: Turn on “Hide student names” for anonymous grading in Test Settings
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Original Course View: Improved Assignment Submission page – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Students
Students submitting an Assignment in Original Course View have several possible actions. They can upload files, author a submission, and attach a note to their instructor. Previously, these actions could be confusing for students. The option to add comments always displayed. The option to author a submission required selecting a button that was easy to miss.
We redesigned the Assignment submission page to be less confusing and easier for students to use.
Students have three distinct actions they can take. Each section can be opened independently. Students can open more than one. The page will retain added content when a student closes a section.
- Create Submission
- Upload Files
- Add Comments
All Assignment information has been grouped together:
- Due date
- Points possible
- Grading rubric
- Group membership and update statuses
- SafeAssign disclosure
Image 1. The new student Assignment submission page has three sections: instructions, submission, and assignment information
Image 2. The “Create Submission” section opened
Image 3. The “Upload Files” section opened
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content
Course Links improvements – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To provide a better experience, we’ve made a series of improvements for Course Links:
- Instructors have the option to add course links to folders and learning modules on the Course Content page. The option to add course links to folders and learning modules is hidden for nested content containers.
- Instructors cannot move into another folder or learning module a course link to a folder or learning module. A warning message displays if an instructor tries to move a course link in this way.
Image 1. Warning message alerting an instructor that a course link to a folder cannot be moved into another learning module
- Instructors cannot copy into another folder or learning module a course link to a folder or learning module. The option to copy course links to folders and LMs is hidden if an instructor selects the Copy Content option from the + menu while inside a folder or learning module.
- To help users identify course links to folders and learning modules, we have made a new icon. This icon displays a link at the top left corner of the icon for a folder or learning module. In the past, the learning module did not have an icon. Learning modules now have an icon, which is the same one displayed for learning modules on the Create Item panel.
Image 2. Learning module iconography on both Create Item panel and learning module (as shown in the background on the Course Content area)
- The context menu for a course link to a folder or a learning module now provides these options:
- Edit Course Link
- Edit Linked Folder or Learning Module
- Delete Course Link
- Users can expand a course link to a folder or learning module as they would a folder or learning module. This allows the user to view the nested contents of the target folder or learning module. The contents displayed are read only. An instructor cannot modify the nested contents displayed for the course link. An instructor cannot move additional content into the folder or learning module course link.
Image 3. Course Link to a folder is shown as expanded, revealing the contents of the course link in a read-only view
- When an instructor makes changes to the nested contents of a folder or learning module, the changes will appear for any related, expanded course link. These changes include:
- Adding/deleting nested contents
- Re-order nested contents
- Moving additional contents into the target folder or learning module
- Editing the names of nested contents
- Modifying the visibility or release conditions of nested contents
- In the past, if an instructor copied a course link to an Ultra Document, some of the contents added via "Add Content" did not copy. This has been fixed. Now the Ultra Document and its contents, along with the course link, are copied as expected.
- When creating a Course Link, an instructor can now select a folder and/or learning module from the Category section of Search Criteria. Additionally, instructors can expand the folders and learning modules in the search results to select one of its contents.
Image 4. Instructor may search categorically for folders and learning modules to create a course link to content in a folder or learning module
- When upgrading an Original course to the Ultra course view, course links to folders and learning modules are not retained. The conversion report includes an exception for course links and explains their removal.
For administrators: These improvements are available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Add Exceptions from the Gradebook Grid View and the Student Overview page – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
We all live complicated lives and special circumstances often arise. When this happens, instructors may need to grant an exception to a student for specific tests or assignments. These exceptions may include the following:
- providing additional attempts
- rescheduling due dates, or
- granting extended access.
These exceptions are available even if the assessment is hidden from other students. Until now, exceptions were only accessible from the submissions page for an assessment. Now, instructors can access the exceptions workflow from the gradebook grid view and Student Overview page.
Image 1: Add or edit exceptions from the gradebook grid view
Image 2: Add or edit exceptions from the student overview page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Additional Level of Content Nesting – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
At present, Blackboard Ultra supports up to three levels of hierarchy for content nesting on the course content page. We have received consistent feedback from students indicating that they prefer this structure. Many have shared that it improves course navigation. Instructors have shared the same and cited it helps them easily design and layout their courses.
Image 1. Before – Content nested in three levels of hierarchy
We have also heard that some institutions need more than three levels of content nesting to structure their course content. To address this feedback, we have added an option to use one additional level of content nesting. This extra level provides instructors with greater flexibility to organize content in ways that better suit their needs. The option to use one more level of content nesting improves the overall usability of the platform for some of our users. Opting for the extra level of content nesting also reduces the flattening effect of content when upgrading courses from the Original to Ultra course view.
Image 2. After - Content nested in four levels of hierarchy
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses once enabled. Administrators should discuss with internal stakeholders before enabling. Some consider an extra layer of depths as a more negative experience for students and mobile users. Once enabled, it cannot be turned off.
This feature is off by default. You can access the setting by selecting the Configure button in ‘The Ultra Experience is here!’ module on the Administrator Panel. The ‘Activate an Additional Level of Nested Items’ is listed among the General Settings on the Ultra Experience Management page.
Data & Analytics
Journal Grades & Participation list filters – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To help instructors manage journal entries and provide effective feedback to students, we have added new Student and Grading Status filters to the Grades & Participation view in Journals. These filters allow instructors to view student journal entries based on their status. This can help streamline the grading and feedback process. These filters are consistent with filters in other areas of Ultra. This consistency provides a unified and intuitive experience for instructors.
Image 1. Journal Grades & Participation page with filters
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Progress tracking management– 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Progress tracking provides students, instructors, and administrators with an efficient way to track and measure student progress. Now administrators can control progress tracking at the institution and node levels. This option is on the Administrator Panel | Tools & Utilities module | Tools option. An administrator may select from the following setting combinations:
- On and unlocked in Ultra courses
- On and locked in Ultra courses
- Off and unlocked in Ultra organizations
- Off and locked in Ultra organizations
The lock option prevents instructors from changing the administrator-defined default within their courses. Administrators should lock the setting to ensure consistent use of progress tracking.
Administrators can control the scope of the availability changes. This allows administrators to choose to apply changes to only new or new and existing Ultra courses/organizations.
Note: With this release, progress tracking availability remains unchanged. With the August release, progress tracking will be turned on for all Ultra courses and organizations. Administrators can change this setting to meet the specific needs of their institution as needed.
Image 1. Progress tracking tool management
For administrators: This feature removes the progress tracking setting from the Ultra Experience Configuration page. After this release, the configuration option may remain visible for a couple of days, but it will not be functional.
If you are a United States federal entity hosted in GovCloud, you can turn on Progress Tracking in this release. Turn it on in the Administrator Panel > Tools. You can set the policy institution-wide or by Institutional Hierarchy node. You can enforce a policy or set a default that can be changed by end users.
Communication & Social Engagement
Announcements in the top navigation bar – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
To provide a better user experience, we moved Announcements from the Details & Actions menu to the top navigation bar. This reduces the number of items within the Details & Actions menu. This change also improves visibility and prominence of Announcements.
Users will be able to access announcements anywhere from within a course. All existing announcements functionality remains the same.
Image 1. Announcements top navigation bar of a course
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Prevent passwords exposed in data breaches – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users allowed to change passwords in Learn
Some institutions use an identity provider, such as Azure Active Directory, to authenticate users. Others manage passwords within Learn. In recent releases, we have prioritized improvements to the security of passwords managed in Learn.
Now institutions can also restrict users from selecting passwords exposed in a data breach. This is an important security measure since passwords like "123456," "qwerty," or "password123" are frequently targeted by hackers.
When a user attempts to change their password within Learn, we check it against a global database of breached passwords. If the chosen password is among passwords in the database, we notify the user and require them to select a different password. This helps to ensure that users' passwords are strong and secure, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access to their account.
Image 1. A user is informed that their proposed password was exposed in a security breach
Image 2. An administrator configures the exposed password protection policy
For administrators: For most institutions, this feature is off by default. It must be enabled by an administrator.
For United States government clients in FedRAMP boundaries: This feature is on by default. If your compliance boundary changes, you should confirm your configuration.
Courses Term display logic improvements - 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
In the past, when a course was not associated to a term and occurred in the past, Learn would sometimes create a term based on the duration of the course. In other cases, Learn would assign the course to a term based on institutional-defined criteria that matched the duration of a course. This assignment method often led to confusion for students and instructors. To remove confusion and provide accurate term and course alignment, we have implemented improvements to the course term display logic.
| Course Duration | Term Alignment |
|---|---|
| Continuous | Current term |
|
Select dates: Current date is equal to or between start and end date Current date occurs before the start date Current date occurs after the end date |
Current term Future term Past term |
|
Days from the end of enrollment Student and guest users with remaining days Student and guest users with no remaining days Non-student, non-guest users |
Current term Past term Current term unless associated with a term in the past of future |
|
Course Duration - Use Term Duration Continuous Select Dates Current date is equal to or between the Term start and end date Current date occurs before the Term start date Current date occurs after the Term end date Days from end of enrollment Student and guest users with remaining days Student and guest users with no remaining days Non-student, non-guest users |
Current term Future term Past term
Current term Past term Current term |
For administrators: We did not introduce any additional settings or tools with this change. Adjustments to course settings can be made from the Edit Course interface in the administrator panel. Adjusting Course Duration and/or Term Duration will impact the term display logic.
Managed privilege to view System Roles – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators, Developers
Developers create applications that expand the functionality of Blackboard Learn. Some of these apps integrate using REST APIs. Administrators manage the privileges for integrated apps. As a best practice, an integration should only have the minimum privileges necessary to function.
In the past, if an integration needed to read System Role information, the integration user had to be set as a full System Administrator. Now administrators can configure an integration user with fewer privileges and still grant access to view System Role information.
In the System Role privileges manager, administrators can now grant a new privilege called Administrator Panel (Users) > System Roles. No System Roles have this privilege by default. An Administrator must always grant the privilege to any System Role. It isn’t possible to grant this privilege to a Course Role.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Learn environments. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level. To improve security, admins should reduce privileges for a REST application if System Administrator privileges were granted previously as a workaround.
Course Upgrading
Bulk Conversion options – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Institutions now have an easier way to convert a large number of courses to the Ultra Course View. Administrators can use Bulk Convert and/or Bulk Copy and Convert.
- Bulk Convert: Converts selected courses from the Original to Ultra course view
- Bulk Copy and Convert: Copies selected courses using the Original course view and converts them to the Ultra course view; this is the option we recommend for most institutions
Both options save time and effort when converting large numbers of courses.
Image 1. Bulk Convert Actions
Please review the Help documentation for Bulk Convert and Bulk Copy and Convert before using them. You may want to enable the extra level of content nesting on the Course Content page before using either option. Having the extra level can help with conversion.
For administrators: Administrators should discuss the above options with their account executive and client experience manager before using. Having conversations ahead of time can help to ensure a smooth transition to the Ultra Course View.
This feature is on by default. You can turn off the feature by selecting the Configure button in ‘The Ultra Experience is here!’ module on the Administrator Panel. ‘Course bulk conversion’ is included in the list of Available Features.
Prevent renaming of items when moved during a copy, import, and/or conversion – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Items copied, imported, or converted into the Ultra Course View sometimes move. Items move when they are nested more than the Ultra Course View allows. Items that move are placed at the lowest supported level in the Ultra Course View.
When moved, the title of these items would change to reflect their original location path. While helpful, the change added extra work for users. As a result, users had to change the title of each moved item and remove the pathing. With this release, we will no longer change the title of items.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Preserve "Open in New Window” behavior for Flickr Mashups as Web Links – 3900.67
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the May release, we added a new setting to Web Links on the Course Content page. Instructors can choose whether the web link opens in a new window or within the Ultra Course View. With this change, converted Flickr Mashups would not load unless users opened the Web Link in a new window. We have updated the conversion process so that when a Flickr Mashup is converted to a Web Link, the "Open in a new window" option is auto selected.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.65.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.65.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 11 April 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 4 May 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.65.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.65.0-rel.17+fc3b8f5 to Production servers to take place on 18 May 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
May 2023 – 3900.65 Release
The May 2023 - 3900.65 release is robust with features in five areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Richer course and content;
- Data and analytics;
- Integration, extension, and management; and
- Course upgrading
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Grading attempt selector improvements
- Question Banks - Reuse Questions option
- Add Exemptions via the gradebook grid view
- Rubrics improvements
- Send Messages from the Submission page
- Remove category assignment requirement when editing LTI items via the gradebook
- Hotspot question zoom in / out
- Drag and drop desktop folders to upload to the Course Content page
- Instructor’s Notes on Student Overview
- Improved conversion for Flickr Mashups
- Improved conversion for Discussion Forums and Threads
Instructors and students:
All users:
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Grading attempt selector improvements – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple attempt assessments can be a beneficial assessment option. Multiple attempts allow students to learn from their mistakes. It may also help students improve their understanding of the material.
At the same time, managing multiple submissions introduces some complexity for instructors. To help, we have added an attempt selector on the grading page. By default, the grading page displays the most appropriate attempt based on the “grade attempts” setting:
Table 1. Attempt displayed based on Grade Attempt Setting and Grading Status
| Grade Attempts setting | Grading completion status | Default attempt displayed |
|---|---|---|
| Last attempt with a grade | Any | Most recent attempt |
| First attempt with a grade | Any | Fist attempt |
| Attempt with the highest grade | All attempts are graded | Attempt with the highest grade |
| Attempt with the lowest grade | All attempts are graded | Attempt with the lowest grade |
| Average of all attempts | All attempts are graded | Most recent attempt |
| Attempt with the highest grade | There are ungraded attempts | Oldest ungraded attempt |
| Attempt with the lowest grade | There are ungraded attempts | Oldest ungraded attempt |
| Average of all attempts | There are ungraded attempts | Oldest ungraded attempt |
This allows instructors to quickly evaluate and grade student work. When the grade calculation method requires additional grading tasks, the instructor is taken to that task. If not, the most appropriate graded attempt is displayed.
Image 1. Instructor view of the attempt selector on the grading page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Question Banks - Reuse Questions option– 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Aside from course content, test questions are some of the most valuable resources in a course. Instructors invest significant time and effort creating and refining banks of test questions. Instructors use these banks to easily reuse questions across various assessments.
Now instructors can copy questions between question banks. To copy a question, an instructor can select the new Reuse Questions option. Additionally, instructors can copy questions from existing assessments directly into their question banks. This process makes it easier to build and expand question libraries.
Image 1. Instructor view of the Reuse Questions option in the drop-down menu when working in a question bank
Image 2. Instructor selects four questions from another question bank and chooses to copy them into the current bank
Image 3. Instructor receives a notification that the four questions successfully copied
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Prevent backtracking in tests with page breaks – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Effective assessment settings are essential for accommodating various instructional scenarios. For example, instructors can insert page breaks into an assessment to create sections. Now instructors may prevent backtracking in paged tests. This option ensures that students progress through the pages of an assessment in a predetermined sequence. This option will be helpful when upcoming questions provide hints or reveal answers to questions on previous pages.
Instructors can activate this setting in assessments that contain questions.
Image 1. Assessment Settings panel with prohibit backtracking for a test using page breaks
Once a student answers the question on a page and proceeds to the next page, the student cannot go back. If a student skips a question, an alert informs the student that they cannot go back to the question on the previous page.
Image 2. Student view of a paged assessment with backtracking prohibited
Image 3. Alert if a student tries to skip a question
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Add Exemptions via the gradebook grid view – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may need to excuse specific students from assessments or activities in a course. In the past, instructors could apply an exemption from the submissions page and student detail view. Now instructors can also access the option to exempt students from the gradebook grid view.
When an instructor exempts an assessment or activity:
- The exempted item is not factored into the Overall Grade calculation.
- The exempted item is not marked late for students who do not submit.
- The students with an exemption will not receive an automatic zero.
Students can still submit work for exempted items. Instructors can assess and provide feedback on these submissions for exempted items.
Image 1. Add or edit exemption from the gradebook grid view
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Rubrics improvements – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Rubrics play a critical role in the grading process for many educators. We've made significant enhancements to the rubric-based grading experience.
Performance level descriptions are now hidden by default. This change streamlines grading when instructors are familiar with the performance level requirements. Instructors can choose to display the performance descriptions if needed for grading.
Sometimes instructors change their minds when grading. Now it’s possible to deselect a performance level if choosing another level of performance isn’t appropriate. Criterion feedback is also collapsible, allowing for a more streamlined view of the grading panel.
Making Blackboard Learn inclusive and accessible is important to us, so we’ve improved keyboard navigation of rubrics. Navigate between rubric criteria with tab and use up/down arrows to select a performance level.
Image 1. Option to show criterion descriptions
Image 2. Option to collapse criterion feedback
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Send Messages from the Submission page – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
During an assessment, instructors may need to communicate with students. For example, an instructor may wish to send reminders to non-submitters. Or an instructor may want to notify students about their grades. To support this need, now instructors can message students from the Submissions page.
To get started, instructors can search or filter to find and select recipients. Then, select the "Send Message" button to open the messaging interface to craft the message.
We understand that student confidentiality is important. Thus, when an instructor selects more than one student as a recipient of a message, the recipients will be on BCC. This ensures that students’ identity and contact information remain confidential.
Image 1. Instructor view - Submission page filtered by “No Submission;” the instructor may select desired students to send a message
Image 2. Instructor view of the messaging page with selected recipients
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Remove category assignment requirement when editing LTI items via the gradebook – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may need to adjust the due dates for third-party activities in their courses. In the past, when making such changes, instructors also had to assign these activities to a specific category within the gradebook.
Now instructors can edit gradebook columns for LTI-based activities without assigning them to a category. This change streamlines the process without forcing category selection.
Image 1. Instructor view of editing the grade column of a LTI item
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Hotspot question zoom in / out – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
When assessing a student's knowledge of visual content, the hotspot question type is a popular choice. To further enhance this question type, we have added two new features: Zoom In/Out and Full-Screen view. These controls enable instructors to define hotspots more precisely. These new controls are also accessible using convenient keyboard shortcuts.
Image 1. Instructor view – Zoom In / Out and Full-Screen controls
Image 2. Instructor view – Full-Screen view
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content
Control where Web Links open – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Opening links in a new window is generally considered best practice, especially for external websites. This avoids browser security features blocking content from loading. There may be situations when an instructor or course author prefers linked content to open in a panel in the Ultra course.
When content is hosted on the Learn environment or on the institution’s website, the content is less likely to be blocked. In this example, opening content in a panel in the Ultra course is a better experience for students.
We understand that instructors need to have control over this aspect of their course design. Now instructors may specify where linked content should open - in a panel in the Ultra course or a new window. This option gives instructors and authors greater flexibility in designing their course content. Opening content in a panel in the Ultra course can be particularly beneficial for content authored with tools like Articulate Storyline, Articulate Rise, Adobe Captivate, and Adobe Dreamweaver.
Image 1. Instructor view – Option to control where the web link opens; default is new window
Image 2. Student view – link opened in new window
Image 3. Student view – link opened in a panel in the Ultra course with banner with option to open content in a new window/tab
Some content will not display on a panel in the Ultra course. A banner appears warning the student that some content may not be displayed unless opened in a new window. The student can choose to open the content in a new window or close the banner.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Drag and drop desktop folders to upload to the Course Content page – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Efficiency is key for instructors when creating course content. To assist with this, we've added a drag and drop support for uploading folders with files to the course content page. Instructors may drag and drop a folder from their computer to the course content page.
If an instructor drags and drops more than 25 files at the same time, a warning message appears. This message does not restrict the upload, but it informs the user that it may take a few minutes to complete. During the upload process, the instructor can cancel at any time. If the upload is canceled, the files are deleted.
Image 1. Locating folder on computer to drag and drop on the Course Content page
Image 2. Dragging folder from computer to Course Content page
Image 3. Dropped folder and files uploading to the Course Content page
Image 4. Folder added to the Course Content page
Image 5. Files inside folder displayed after being dragged and dropped on the Course Content page
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Symbol font removed in Original Course View – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All Users
Unicode is a standard encoding system that allows popular fonts to support characters across various languages. In the past, specialized mapped fonts were used, which replaced one character for another. However, both the author and viewer had to have the exact same font installed on their device, making communication difficult.
In the Original Course View Content Editor, the Symbol font is an example of a mapped font for Greek. Some browsers and operating systems no longer support the Symbol font. This can result in students seeing Latin characters when authoring and instructors seeing Greek ones when reading. This has caused confusion for instructors trying to grade student work.
To avoid this confusion, we removed the Symbol font from the Content Editor in Original Course View. Instead, users can choose other common fonts that support Greek characters. To type in Greek, add the Greek language and keyboard layout to your device's operation settings. This feature is supported in Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Existing content formatted to use the Symbol font will remain in that font if the browser supports it.
For administrators: This change is for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Data & Analytics
Instructor’s Notes on Student Overview – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Teaching many courses is challenging. Keeping track of student details can be even harder. To help, we've created a dedicated space for instructors to take notes about students in each course. These notes are private. Only instructors, administrators, and higher roles can access them.
To access the notes, instructors may select the Notes tab on the Student Overview page. From there, an instructor can add notes and review any other notes for a student in that course. They can also review notes added by other instructors in the same course.
The text editor for notes includes basic formatting options such as bold, italics, colors, styles, and font size.
The most recent notes appear at the top of the list.
Image 1. An instructor adds a note using different formatting options
Image 2. Notes taken about a particular student by an instructor and a teaching assistant
These notes have many possible uses:
- Tracking the evolution of a student's progress over time.
- Noting agreements with a student, such as extensions on assignments or meeting times.
- Noting students with behavioral issues or a history of academic dishonesty.
- Recording considerations for grading, such as student athletes.
Key considerations:
- Each note includes the author's name and a timestamp with its creation date. If a note is edited, a separate timestamp for the latest edition is added. This helps instructors keep track of changes.
- Authors can edit and delete their own notes. Instructors in the course cannot edit or delete another instructor's notes.
- Instructors, teaching assistants, facilitators, and grader roles can view all notes in their course and create, edit, and delete self-authored notes.
- Administrators may delete any note. Administrators may also assign the privilege to delete notes to other roles. An administrator can grant view only privileges.
Image 3. An administrator gives the delete notes privilege to a role in the administrator panel
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. We recommend reviewing which roles are granted the ability to view, author, and delete notes to align to institutional policies.
Option to turn off “How Am I Doing?” Report for Students– 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Students, Instructors, Administrators
The “How am I Doing” report allows students to see how they perform in comparison to the class.
Certain institutions may prohibit the sharing of this information with students. To support institutions' preferences, administrators can now control the visibility of this report.
Image 1. An administrator toggles the “How Am I Doing?” report for students to “Off”
When report availability is set to "Off" the following changes occur for students:
- The pie chart icon in Grades tab in base navigation no longer appears.
- Prior notifications from the “How Am I Doing?” report are removed in the Activity Stream. No new notifications related to this report are sent.
- The “My grades and activity” section in the Activity Stream notifications settings panel is removed for students.
Image 2. When the “How am I doing?” report is available to students, the pie chart icon in the Grades tab of the base navigation is visible
Image 3. When “How am I doing?” is set to “Off,” the pie chart icon in the Grades tab of the base navigation is removed
Image 4. When the report is "On,” students receive Activity Stream notifications related to the “How am I doing?” report; students can access links to the report. When the report is not available, these options do not appear to students.
When the report is turned off, instructors and administrators also experience changes. The option to notify students related to the "How Am I Doing" report no longer display. Instructors will not be able to notify students based on these course alerts in the Course Activity report or Gradebook.
Administrators will no longer see options related to the report in the Notification Settings page.
- No Recent Activity
- Grade Low or at Risk
- Grade Dropped
- Low Class Activity
- Grade Increased
- Grade in Top 10%
- Class Activity in Top 10%
- Grade Below Threshold
Key considerations:
- It may take up to 15 minutes to hide all stream notifications after an administrator turns the report off.
- If an admin turns off the report and then turns it back on, prior data and notifications will reappear after several minutes.
For administrators: Administrators can find this setting on the Ultra Experience Management page in the Administrator Panel. The default setting is "on" to maintain consistency with existing behavior. This feature requires a cloud service update, which administrators can expect within a week of the 3900.65 release (on or before May 11).
Integration, Extension, and Management
Login As Permission Improvements - 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
In the February release, administrators gained the ability to impersonate end users. This is helpful for troubleshooting purposes. Now we are improving the permissions structure to offer better controls. Some of these improvements include: When using the institutional hierarchy, node administrators with login as permissions cannot impersonate users from a different node. No user can ever impersonate a full administrator (z) role.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Learn environments. The privilege “Administrator Panel (Users) -> Users -> Login As” can be assigned to system roles. These roles can be applied to system and node administrators.
Reduced email notifications when purging data sources – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
In the past, when an administrator purged data in the Data Sources page, they would receive an email for each deleted record. When purging hundreds or thousands of records, the administrator would receive an overwhelming number of emails.
To improve the user experience, administrators will now receive only one email when purging a Data Source. This change simplifies the email notification process and reduces the clutter in the administrator's inbox.
For administrators: This feature is available for Learn environments. There are no configurations needed.
REST APIs to read Goals alignments – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Learn courses offer a unique opportunity to see how institutional objectives align with each other and how the objectives relate to internal or external goals. This information can be invaluable to educators and administrators who wish to measure the effectiveness of their curriculum and ensure that their goals are being met.
To make it even easier for institutions to access this important data, we are pleased to announce the release of our new Goal Alignments Public API. This API includes a set of GET endpoints that allow users to retrieve goal alignments data for their courses.
The endpoints included in this API cover two main use cases:
- retrieving all goal alignments from a course
- retrieving all alignments for a specific goal across all courses
By providing access to this data in a simple and easy-to-use format, we are empowering educators and administrators to make data-driven decisions. This helps to improve the overall effectiveness of our clients' curriculum.
For administrators: The REST integration user must have the privileges “Course/Organization > Goals Alignments, View” and “Administrator Panel (Tools and Utilities) > Goals” to make use of the new endpoints.
Personal information restricted in passwords – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users allowed to reset their passwords in Learn
Some institutions use an identity provider, such as Azure Active Directory, to manage and authenticate users. Sometimes, user accounts are created in Learn. These users can set their own passwords. To bolster security, we are now restricting the use of personal information in user passwords.
Personal information includes fields such as first name, middle name, last name, username, and student ID. Users will now be unable to incorporate this information when creating a password. The system will notify users if they attempt to use profile information as part of their password.
Image 1. User is informed about not using profile information when changing a password
For administrators: This feature is always on, and it doesn’t require any configuration. Administrators should also avoid using personal information when setting a password for another user.
Toggle records between enabled and disabled states – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Various record types have different states. For example, an enrollment can be unavailable. This allows instructors to continue to grade student work and submit a final grade even when the student can no longer access the course. An enrollment can also be set to disabled. In this state, the enrollment is locked and hidden from users. A student information system (SIS) might disable an enrollment when a student drops the course.
Previously, administrators had to rely on data integration processes to change a record’s enablement state. This could require processing a file through the integration framework.
Now administrators can toggle the enablement state in the administrator panel. They can modify user, course, organization, and enrollment records. This allows administrators to temporarily re-enable a course or user to access information. It can also allow a help desk representative to grant access to a user waiting on an institutional data process.
When a user first enables or disables a record in the user interface, they must accept a disclaimer. It must only be accepted one time. Manual record changes are captured in the system logs.
Image 1. Administrator manually disables a course
Image 2. Administrator re-enables an enrollment record
For administrators: By default, only a full System Administrator (role Z) can use this feature. There are 5 new privileges that can be configured to distribute this privilege to others at the user or node level. This allows granting access specifically to the types of records one should manage.
- Administrator Panel (Courses) > Courses > Edit > Enrollments > Enable/Disable
- Administrator Panel (Courses) > Courses > Enable/Disable
- Administrator Panel (Organizations) > Organizations > Edit > Enrollments > Enable/Disable
- Administrator Panel (Organizations) > Organizations > Enable/Disable
- Administrator Panel (Users) > Users > Enable/Disable
Course Upgrading
Improved conversion for Flickr Mashups – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, Flickr Mashups conversions resulted in unexpected outputs. The description of the mashup was not transferred correctly. Instead, the image metadata took its place. The link associated with the image directed users to the wrong page. This made it difficult to find the intended image.
Image 1. Flickr Mashup in Original Course View
To provide a better experience, we updated the conversion process of Flickr Mashups. The description of the Flickr Mashup is now transferred as expected. We also corrected the link issue so users go to the correct page.
Image 2. Flickr Mashup converted as a Web Link in Ultra Course View
Image 3. Web Link displaying the correct Flickr Image
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Improved conversion for Discussion Forums and Threads – 3900.65
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Discussion Forums in the Original Course View are an essential feature. Instructors often create discussion prompts as threads within a forum. Students respond by creating a thread or replying to existing threads in the forum.
In other cases, Discussion Forums serve as containers. Instructors create a thread for each discussion prompt within the forum. Students respond to the discussion prompt by replying to the thread.
To better support each of these use cases, we have updated our conversion process.
Now, when the "allow members to create new threads" setting is selected, the Discussion Forum converts to a Discussion in the Ultra Course View. If this setting is not selected, the Discussion Forum will become a folder in the Ultra Course View. All threads within the forum convert to Discussions inside the folder.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Learn SaaS release 3900.62.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.62.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 March 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 6 April 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.62.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.62.0-rel.42+3609815 to Production servers to take place on 27 April 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
April 2023 – 3900.62 Release
The April 2023 - 3900.62 release is robust with features in five areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Richer course and content;
- Data and analytics;
- Integration, extension, and management; and
- Course upgrading
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Multiple Grading Schemas: Add, Edit, Copy
- Submission page sorting controls
- Gradable Items View usability improvements
- Discussion navigation improvements
- Deactivated students no longer show in student progress reports
- New access points to Student Overview
- Course Activity Report accessibility improvements
Instructors and students:
- Hotspot question: Circle Shape and Usability Improvements
- Bb Annotate: Enhanced comments
- Cloud document “Refresh” button improvement
All users:
- Course Content Title Search
- Primary Instructor improvements
- Course Upgrading: Remove HTML for plain text fields
- Updated Text for Copies and Imports
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Hotspot question: Circle Shape and Usability Improvements – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors may want to assess a student’s knowledge of visual content. The hotspot question type is popular for this type of assessment. This question type is also good for reducing the potential of cueing or guessing.
Hotspot questions present an image without any answer options for students to choose. Students must mark a certain area of the image that is within the area the instructor defined as correct.
We continue to improve this question type:
- Instructors may now use a circle-shape selector to draw a circle to mark the hotspot.
- Now when students select the image, a pin is automatically placed on the selection.
- The polygon shape selector and selected pins have improved color contrast.
Image 1. Instructor view - Add circle hotspots to an image
Image 2. Instructor view – Color change for first point in polygon shape
Image 3. Student view – Color change when student selects a pin
For administrators:The feature flag for this feature has been removed. Hotspot questions are now always available.
Multiple Grading Schemas: Add, Edit, Copy – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, Ultra courses allowed only one grading schema per course. Now instructors can add, copy, and edit up to 100 grading schemas per course. Items copied from other courses will keep their grading schemas. When copying, any configured schemas copy even if not aligned to gradable items.
Instructors can now choose the best grading schema for each assessment in a course.
Image 1. Grading schema creation
Image 2. Instructor view - Grading schema gradebook grid view
Image 3. Student View - grading schema
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Submission page sorting controls – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Record sorting provides a more efficient grade review experience. Instructors may wish to sort students by grade to identify submissions at a grade boundary. This helps instructors make any changes necessary before posting grades.
Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns on the Submissions page.
Instructor view – sorting students by name
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Gradable Items View usability improvements – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
It is important for the gradebook to support efficient workflows. We have made several improvements to improve the Gradable Items View:
- Instructors can now sort the records of any column on this page. Sorting helps instructors more easily find the desired information. For example, instructors may sort on Grading Status to locate assessments that need grading.
- Selecting the assessment name now navigates the instructor to the selected assessment.
- Selecting '# to grade’ now navigates to a Needs Grading filtered Submissions page. This provides instructors with quick entry into the grading process.
- The new Post column provides instructors with status information for an assessment. This also simplifies the action to post all grades for the assessment.
Image 1. Instructor view – Sorting by Grading Status
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Bb Annotate: Enhanced comments – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
It is important for instructors to provide rich and meaningful feedback for students. We have improved formatting and editing options for instructors.
- Instructors can now include richer formatting in comments. This includes font colors, bold, underline, and hyperlinks.
- Instructors can now edit already placed comments.
This feature won't be available at the same time the release takes place, nor on April 13th as previously planned, but soon. The deployment information will be updated on status.blackboard.com.
Course Content Title Search – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
It is sometimes difficult to remember the location of a course item. In the past, locating an item was a time-intensive task and unintuitive. Searching for the item would involve opening every folder or learning module to find the item.
You can now search course content titles to find these items on the course content page. The course search icon, a magnifying glass, is easy to find at the top of the course content page. When a user types a few letters, the course search function displays a list of matching items by title. A user may expand the search results to view more information related to the course item(s).
Image 1. Course content with course search icon in top right
Image 2. Course Search Text Box
Image 3. Course Search findings
Image 4. “Show all item results” window
Image 5. “Clear search” option
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Discussion navigation improvements – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors often review various aspects of course discussions to assess and engage students. To improve navigation and increase visibility, we have introduced a new tab navigation:
- Discussion
- Student Activity
- Grading & Participation
The Grading & Participation appears only when the discussion is marked for grading.
Image 1. Discussion tab
Image 2. Student Activity tab
Image 3. Grades & Participation tab
Image 4. Tab options when a discussion is not marked for grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Data & Analytics
Deactivated students no longer show in the student progress reports – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors want to know their students’ engagement with course material. The per item progress report offers the information needed, such as if a student has started or if an item is unopened. Now this report excludes deactivated students. This may happen when a student drops the course. The numbers in the report are aligned with the actual number of active students in the course. Students who cannot access the course but are not deactivated will continue to display. These students who cannot access are identified in the report.
Image 1. Progress report before and after students have been deactivated.
Before:
After:
For administrators: You must enable progress tracking to see this report. A deactivated student is one where the Student Information System sets the row status of either the user or enrollment record to the disabled state.
New access points to Student Overview – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Quick access to student information is helpful during the grading and feedback process. The Student Overview page provides the most important information for each student.
Image 1. Student Overview
Now instructors can access the Student Overview page in 3 locations:
- Roster
- Messages
- Discussions
These additional access points provide instructors with convenient access to this student information. As before, instructors can continue to reach this page by selecting a student in the Gradebook.
Image 2. An instructor may access the Student Overview by selecting a student from the Roster
Image 3. An instructor may access the Student Overview by selecting a student in the conversation participants section of a Message or in a Message thread
Image 4. An instructor may access the Student Overview by selecting a student in a discussion response or reply
Most of the time when closing the Student Overview, the instructor will return to the point of access. However, if navigating deeply and opening many panels, there may be times when navigation varies. An instructor may return to the student list in the Gradebook when closing the Student Overview. This navigation is designed to avoid circular referencing.
For administrators: This feature is available for all courses and organizations. There are no configurations needed to allow instructors to use these access points to the Student Overview. To view the Progress tracking tab in the Student Overview progress tracking should be enabled.
Course Activity Report accessibility improvements – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
We commit to providing accessible and inclusive solutions for all users. Many users navigate Ultra using assistive technologies. To better support instructors using assistive technology, we have made several accessibility improvements to the Course Activity Report:
- The description of the Course Activity Report includes a “Learn more” link. Now the screen reader states this link, directing the instructor to the related Help documentation.
- Instructors can sort data on any column. Now screen readers indicate if column sorting is in ascending or descending order.
- Instructors can select many students to send messages. Now screen readers state the number of students selected.
- Screen readers now state when an instructor selects or deselects all students.
- In medium and small screens some options of the Course Activity Report combine in a single drop-down menu. Now screen readers state that the 3-dot menu contains more options.
Image 1. The screen reader indicates the “Learn more” link directs the user to the related help page
Image 2. The screen reader indicates that sorting is applied to the Overall Grade in descending order
Image 3. The screen reader indicates that 2 students are selected
Image 4. The screen reader indicates that the 3-dots button displayed in medium and small screens contains more options
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. To experience these improvements, users need to turn on a screen reader tool using the assistive technology installed on their personal devices.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Cloud document “Refresh” button improvement – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
User experience in Ultra is of utmost importance to us. To help users better focus on interacting with Microsoft OneDrive Cloud Documents, we removed a banner.
Image 1. Before - Informative banner for the Microsoft OneDrive Cloud Document
We retained the "Refresh" button for student and instructor users.
We made this change to both embedded cloud documents and cloud collaborations.
Image 2. After – Refresh button for a Microsoft OneDrive Cloud Document
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Sort Courses and Organizations by Course View – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Administrators often search for courses and organizations in the administrator panel. The search results show the course or organization view as Ultra, Original, Undecided, or Preview. Now administrators can sort search results on this column. Sorting helps administrators better find the desired courses or organizations. Sorting may also help administrators better understand adoption of the Ultra Course View.
A course designated as Undecided is in the Original Course View, but an instructor may change it to Ultra Course View. A course designated as Preview uses the Ultra Course View, but an instructor can revert to Original Course View.
Image 1. Course search results sorted by Course View
For administrators: This feature is available for all courses and organizations. There are no configurations needed.
View Enrollment Data Source Keys – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Data source keys allow administrators to segment data sets. They help to limit changes to records except by an appropriate data authority. To change some aspects of a record, you must know the data source key. In the past, administrators could view the data source key for user, course, organization, and term records. Data source keys for course and organizations enrollments were not displayed in the administrator panel.
If an administrator needed to update aspects of an enrollment record, they had to know the data source key because it was not displayed. Now the courses and organizations enrollments list pages, display the data source key for each enrollment. Administrators can also sort by the Data Source Key column.
Image 1. Listed enrollments for a course, displaying the data source key
For administrators: This feature is available for all courses and organizations. There are no configurations needed.
LTI Tool Content: Standardize default icons – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Content icons are an important aspect of identifying content types in the course. In the past, when LTI tool icons were not defined the iconography was inconsistent. Now, all LTI tool icons that are not defined will display the default rocket icon.
These icons appear in these locations in the base navigation and Ultra course:
- Content Outline
- Gradebook grid view
- Gradebook list view
- Gradable Items tab
- Students Grades Overview
- Grades tab on Base Navigation
- Course Calendar Day Schedule
- Course Calendar Day Due Dates
- Base Nav Calendar Day Schedule
- Base Nav Calendar Day Due Dates
- Books & Tools
- Base Nav Calendar
- Overall Calculations
Image 1. LTI Tools default icon as shown on the Course Content page
For administrators: We recommend administrators review LTI placement configurations. When the tool provider manages their icons, those are always used and cannot be changed. When the tool provider does not supply an icon, the administrator can add one. When no icon is defined, a default icon is used.
Configure decimal and number separators in locale– 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
People use different number formatting around the world. Larger numbers are grouped in different ways, and different punctuations are used for decimals. In Learn, these behaviors are included in the locale settings, so this is done automatically. A number would appear as 1,095.5 in the United States and 1.095,5 in Germany.
For some language selections, however, there can be variance from one country to another. In Spanish-speaking countries, for example, the decimal point is used in Mexico, but the decimal comma is used in Colombia.
Previously, custom configurations could be applied for Original courses. Now, these same custom settings will also apply to Ultra courses.
In Ultra courses, there are two places that will still display decimal point when the locale uses decimal commas:
- Numeric questions
- The Overall Grade configuration. Final calculations are not affected.
We plan to fix these in an upcoming release.
The Attendance tool always uses decimal points regardless of locale.
Image 1. The Spanish locale has been edited to use decimal points instead of decimal commas
For administrators: The improvement in this release is limited to left-to-right languages. Action is only necessary if your local number handling doesn’t match what is coded into your selected locale. To change the number handling:
- Export the appropriate language pack
- Manually edit the locale settings
- Upload the language pack and make it available
Primary Instructor improvements – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
The Ultra Course View supports the designation of a primary instructor. In the past, when a course contained more than one instructor any instructor could change the primary instructor setting. To support diverse needs regarding changes to this designation, now administrators may grant this as a privilege for system and course roles:
"Course/Organization Control Panel (Users and Groups) > Users > Set instructor as primary in Ultra Course View"
Administrators can now manage primary instructor designations SIS integration and REST API integration frameworks. The SIS integration framework supports the primary instructor indicator on course memberships through the flat file and XML formats.
The primary instructor designation impacts how course instructors display for a course.
- When no instructor is selected as primary, the first two instructors display based on alphabetical order in Ultra courses.
- When there is more than one instructor and only one is designated as primary, only one instructor displays in Ultra courses. The other instructors display when users select "Show more."
- When there is more than one instructor and two or more are designated as primary, at most two instructors display in Ultra courses.
- Course cards in the Base Navigation course timeline display primary instructors first for both Ultra and Original courses. Original courses do not have a user interface to set primary instructor so these must be set through integration.
To better support enrollment state management for archive/restore and course copy, we made a change. Now, when membership records are stored/retrieved, the primary instructor indicator is also stored/retrieved. Primary instructor designations are reflected as expected.
Image 1. In the course faculty only one instructor of many displays if only one is indicated as primary
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses and organizations. A user that needs to modify the Primary instructor flag will need this new Privilege: “Course/Organization Control Panel (Users and Groups) > Users > Set instructor as primary in Ultra Course View.” The primary instructor flag can be set for Original courses using data integration only. This will impact name order in Base Navigation.
Course Upgrading
Remove HTML for plain text fields – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Sometimes users may add HTML to fields in the Original Course View to change styling. For example, users cannot change the color of web link objects like they can for other items. Users worked-around this by adding HTML into the text field to change the color of the web link.
Image 1. HTML in a Web Link Name Field to change its color to red
When converted to the Ultra course view, the same fields no longer support HTML, and the HTML becomes exposed. Users then must rename the objects and remove the exposed HTML.
Image 2. HTML code is now exposed
Now we remove any HTML that is no longer supported during conversion. Conversion preserves the text-based content within the HTML tags.
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Updated Text for Copies and Imports – 3900.62
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
When copying entire courses or individual items from courses, instructors may have seen the following message: "Oops! An error occurred copying your content". The message has created concerns when copying materials from Original courses. The text gives the impression that there are a lot of errors with copy and conversion. Yet, most exceptions are notifying instructors of changes during conversion.
Image 1. Misleading Error Message
We have updated the message to reduce the association of exceptions with errors. Exceptions are for the most part changes to content during conversion. Our hope is that this change will reduce fear when copying from Original courses.
Image 2. Updated Error Message
Another example of where we have made a change is with the results from a copy, import, or conversion. Before, instructors would see this message under each category: "# items were not copied". The message gave the impression that each exception message was a failure to copy, which is not true.
Image 3. Misleading Text on Copy Results
We have updated the message to inform users that they have exceptions to review.
Image 4. Updated Text on Copy Results
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Learn SaaS release 3900.60.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.60.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 February 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 2 March 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.60.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.60.0-rel.41+9d324a9 to Production servers to take place on 30 March 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
March 2023 – 3900.60 Release
The March 2023 - 3900.60 release is robust with features in six areas:
- Assessment and grading;
- Data and analytics;
- Mobile app;
- Integration, extension, and management;
- Communication and social engagement; and
- Course upgrading.
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Improved attempt switching when grading student submissions with multiple attempts
- Sorting Controls on the Anonymous Submissions Page
- Sorting on Overall Grade in the Gradebook Student List View
- Course Activity Report Table Enhancements
- Unsupported Course Cartridge and ePack Features Removed
- Support for concurrent course copies
- Preserve empty content areas
- Preserve font families
- Reschedule announcements
Instructors and students:
All users:
- PDF version of the SafeAssign Originality Report
- Improvements to the user profile
- Password age, re-use, and expiration policies
- Blackboard Assist (K12 availability)
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Improved attempt switching when grading student submissions with multiple attempts – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple-attempt assessments can be more complicated for instructors because there are more submissions. To switch between attempts for a student in the past, an instructor would have to close an attempt then select a different attempt. This wasn’t intuitive and required extra clicks. Now instructors can navigate directly between a student’s attempts. If a student has multiple attempts for an assessment, an instructor will see an option to switch attempts. This is more efficient.
Image 1. Instructor view of the attempt drop-down menu on the grading page
When the instructor clicks a student name in the Submissions list, the most recent submitted attempt will be loaded.
The attempt selector displays information to help instructors select the desired attempt:
- Attempt number
- Submission time stamp
- File size
- Grade (if graded)
- Late indicator (if applicable)
Image 2. Navigating between student attempts using the attempt drop-down menu
For administrators:As part of the March release, this feature will be available by default. It will be possible to opt out of using this feature. At that time, you can set the feature to unavailable on the Ultra Experience Management page in the administrator panel. The feature flag will be removed in the May release and this feature will become permanent.
Sorting Controls on the Anonymous Submissions Page – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Record sorting provides a more efficient grade review experience. Instructors need to sort students by grade to identify submissions at a grade boundary. This helps instructors make any changes necessary before posting grades.
Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns on the Anonymous Submissions page.
Image 1. Instructor view - students sorted by highest to lowest grade
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Sorting on Overall Grade column in the Gradebook Student List View – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors need sorting controls in the Gradebook. These sorting options are helpful for organizing the Gradebook data for various contexts:
- identifying students with grades at a grade boundary
- ordering students from highest to lowest grade, or vice versa
Now instructors can sort the Gradebook Students list view on the Overall Grade column. Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns.
Image 1. Instructor view - students sorted by highest to lowest Overall Grade
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
PDF version of the SafeAssign Originality Report – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Managed and Self-Hosting
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: All users
The SafeAssign Originality Report is a valuable teaching and learning tool. Instructors use the report to ensure students express original thoughts and cite sources. Some instructors allow students to view the report. This is helpful for teaching students how to cite their work.
In the past, users could download the report as PDF. However, users could not open the sources from the PDF.
Now, users can open matched sources from the PDF. We also made some usability improvements to the PDF, such as text alignment and font adjustments. To better support peak usage, we made infrastructure improvements.
Image 1. Improved PDF version of the SafeAssign Originality Report
For administrators: Managed and Self-Hosting clients must upgrade to the newest version of the SafeAssign Building Block for these improvements.
Data & Analytics
Course Activity Report Table Enhancements – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
The course activity page helps instructors understand students' performance. With this information, instructors can:
- Identify struggling or high performing students based on their grade, hours in course, or days of inactivity.
- Message students who have a low grade and/or have not accessed the course recently.
- Receive alerts when a student has not accessed their course in a while or if a student's grade has dropped.
With this update, we have made the following improvements:
- New Table - Updated to be more consistent with other features. Those who use progress tracking will find the feel of the new table should be familiar. The new table makes it easier to select and message students.
- New Days of Inactivity Column - the number of days since a student last accessed your course. Instructors can use this information to identify students that might be falling behind.
- Access Student Overview - click or tap a student's name to see their grades, progress, and activity over the weeks. Instructors can use the Student Overview to get a full picture of a student's performance and engagement in a course.
- More Student Information. Accommodations, name pronunciation, and pronouns are now visible. Instructors can use this information when drafting messages to students.
Image 1. Course Activity Report - new table capabilities and metrics
For administrators: This feature is available for all courses. There are no configurations needed.
Mobile App
Improvements to the user profile – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Users expect to have a congruent experience on the mobile app and desktop experience. In the January 2023 - 5900.56 release, we updated the mobile app design for the user profile page. Now the profile page experience on the mobile app corresponds with the desktop experience.
From the app, users can:
- enter/edit address information
- enter/edit phone and fax numbers
- edit prefix and name details
- record, edit, and/or delete their name pronunciation
- select preferred pronouns or create their own
- change their profile picture
- view profile card
Image 1. Users may update profile information from the mobile app
Image 2. Users may record the pronunciation of their name
For administrators: This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Administrator Login As Tool: Permissions Extended – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators and users with permissions
End user support is critical for system administrators and other support staff in varying roles. Administrators can now enable the Login As feature for roles other than the full administrator role. This ensures that institutions can enable additional support personnel without giving them full administrative privileges.
When using Login As, your activity will be logged against the impersonated user, and may result in false positives for activity that could impact institutional or external reporting.
Image 1. Manage Login As privileges in the Administrator Panel
For administrators: To enable the Login As entitlement, access System Roles > Privileges. Mark the two privileges for Login As. Select Permit Privileges in the Privileges dropdown.
REST APIs to read Rubrics associations – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Providing access to Rubric associations within our REST API framework offers many benefits:
- additional administrative control for assessments
- flexibility for external third-party integrations
- supports instructor-student communication about performance expectations
In this release we are glad to make available a new Rubrics Associations API. This public API includes a set of GET endpoints. This helps to inform users about existing rubric associations in a course:
- Rubrics associations
- Rubrics associations by rubrics ID
- Rubrics associations by associations ID
For administrators: The REST integration user must have the entitlement “course.rubrics.VIEW” to make use of the new endpoints.
LTI Tool Content Icons on Calendar – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Base Navigation, Calendar View
Ultra Course Calendar
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past, LTI content icons did not appear in the calendar on the base navigation or in the course. The icons help users identify and distinguish between content types. Now, the LTI content icons used in the course will display as follows:
- Course Calendar: Schedule Day
- Course Calendar: Due Dates Day
- Base Navigation Calendar: Schedule Day
- Base Navigation Calendar: Due Date Day
This improvement applies to icons for LTI tools.
Image 1. Instructor view - LTI Tool with default icon in the Calendar
Image 2. Student view - LTI Tool with default icon in the Calendar
For administrators: We recommend administrators review LTI placement configurations since icons can help users differentiate content. Icons for LTI Tools are displayed in the places mentioned above, as well as in other areas. Only LTI content icons in the Calendar are affected in this release. When the tool provider manages their icons, those are always used can cannot be changed. When the tool provider does not supply an icon, the administrator can add one. When no icon is defined, a default icon is used.
Manage Roster - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Institutions often have policies about hiding students' personal information. Institutions can now manage Roster visibility. This level of control is for both Ultra and Original Course Views when Base Navigation is enabled.
Administrators can define the Roster visibility at the institution and node levels for both courses and organizations. When permitted, instructors can define the Roster visibility setting at course/organization level.
The Details & Actions menu in Ultra Course View will not display the Roster to students when it is hidden. Instructors can manage the Student Roster visibility in Original Courses when allowed by the administrator.
For instructors: your institution may enforce a policy and not allow you to change this setting.
Image 1. Instructor view - Roster visibility control
Image 2. Student view - Roster does not appear in the Details & Actions menu when the Roster is hidden
Image 3. Roster visibility controls from the Administrator Tools Panel
Instructors, Teaching Assistants, and Course Builders roles have the privilege to view and edit the Roster by default. For other roles, the following privileges must be configured:
- View Roster: Administrator Panel (Courses) > Courses > Edit > Enrollments or Course/Organization Control Panel (Users and Groups) > Users
- Edit Roster visibility: Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > Tool Availability
For administrators: Administrators can configure the Roster visibility from the Administrator Panel > Tools and Utilities > Tools.
Open the padlock to allow individual instructors to edit their Roster tool availability. Lock the padlock to enforce the institutional policy for Roster availability.
Password age, re-use, and expiration policies – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users who are allowed to reset their passwords in Learn
Most institutions use an identity provider (e.g. Azure Active Directory) to manage and authenticate users. There are cases when administrators create users in Learn. These users may set their own passwords in Learn. In support of security requirements for passwords, users may be prompted to:
- Change their passwords after a certain number of days have elapsed since their last password change. After expiry, users can log in with their old password, but are prompted to change it immediately before continuing.
- Wait a span of time between password changes. When a user tries to change a password before a certain span of time, they are informed that they cannot change the password. We recommend contacting the helpdesk in this case.
- Avoid re-using previous passwords.
Image 1. A user is prompted create a new password after password expiration
Image 2. A user is informed when a password cannot be changed because of the password Minimum Age Policy Violation
Image 3. A user is informed that previous passwords may not be reused
Image 4. An administrator configures the Password Age and History policies
If necessary, an administrator can require users to change their passwords to meet password policies updates instead of waiting for an automatic expiry. The “Expire Password” option appears in the Administrator Panel on Users page. Select one or multiple users at a time. Full System Administrators can use this new feature by default. Administrators may grant this privilege to other roles if desired: “Administrator Panel (Users) > Users > Edit > Expire Password”. If an administrator chooses to expire a user’s password and the Minimum Password Age Policy is turned on, users will not have to wait to change their password.
Image 5. An administrator expires users’ passwords
Finally, for security measures, passwords are no longer stored in archive packages.
Image 6. An administrator downloads archive package
For administrators: For administrators: When changing passwords for another users, ensure you meet password length and complexity rules.
Administrators can determine the age and reuse policies. These new settings appear in the Administrator Panel on the Password Settings page. Only a full System Administrator can access the configuration page. The default settings enforce the following policies:
- Password Age Policy: This option is off by default. The following rules may be turned on independently:
- The minimum age default value is 24 hours. Define a value between 1 and 720 hours. New users will not have to wait for this period to change their passwords the first time.
- The maximum age default value is 90 days. Define a value between 29 and 360 days.
- Password History Policy: This option is off by default. If turned on, administrators can specify the number of recently used passwords for the system to check. The default value is 10. Define a value between 1 and 24.
Unsupported Course Cartridge and ePack Features Removed – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past for Original Course View, there were two older methods for adding licensed publisher content. These are no longer supported:
- Course Cartridges, a server-based method to download licensed publisher content using one-time keys
- ePack licensed content importing when converting WebCT courses
While we have not supported these for years, users still see options to add Course Cartridges download keys. APIs for ePack conversion are still part of the course import process. In this release, we have removed these. Instructors and admins will no longer see options to enter a Course Cartridge download key.
Image 1. An instructor viewing the “Import Course Cartridge” page in the Original Course View Control Panel—this option will be removed in 3900.60
There are no changes for existing content. Course Cartridge materials that required ongoing license validation have not worked for years. Course Cartridge materials that became standard Learn items—students do not have to enter license keys to access them the first time—will continue to work.
This change is unrelated to other methods to import content or access licensed publisher materials. These other methods are not impacted by this change:
- Partner Cloud
- Importing or exporting a Learn course package
- Importing or exporting a Common Cartridge (an exchange format standard from 1EdTech, formerly IMS Global)
- Course auto-archive
For administrators: This change is for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Security: Registration of all domains required– 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Various methods of verifying users help to make the Blackboard Learn application more secure. One method is to confirm all requests come to authorized domains. Administrators manage this in the Administrator Panel > Hostname Configuration.
In the past, requests from some parts of the application would work even if the requester domain wasn’t registered. In the near future, this will no longer be allowed. This improves security of Blackboard Learn.
Image 1. The hostname configuration page allows administrators to register all domains used to access the Learn application
For administrators: If your institution created alternate domains for your Learn environment, you must register all of them.
Blackboard Assist (K12 availability) – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Blackboard App
Impact: All users
Assist offers learners one central hub within Blackboard Learn to find and access the services they need to flourish. In the past, Blackboard Assist was not available to clients with K12 licenses. From March 2, 2023, K12 clients will also have the chance to enable Assist.
Enable Blackboard Assist within Blackboard Learn to:
- Give learners one place to find vital support services. The prominent placement of Blackboard Assist in Blackboard Learn helps make learners increasingly aware of all connected support resources.
- Get learners to take advantage of available services. Blackboard Assist is available around-the-clock from the desktop and Blackboard mobile app. This means that learners can access these support resources whenever and wherever they need them. Featuring services this way provides an additional means to capture your learners’ attention.
- Gain access to Ally File Transformer: The Blackboard Ally File Transformer helps learners to personalize their learning experience. It can convert files into alternative formats that better fit their needs, devices, and learning preferences.
For administrators: Assist must be enabled for use. Learn more: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/SaaS/Tools_Management/Blackboard_Assist
Communication & Social Engagement
Discussions - Deactivate post activity – 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Blackboard App
Impact: All users
Before this release, the only way to prevent posts in a discussion was by defining a due date. Instructors now have a checkbox option in the Discussion Settings panel. When checked, participants cannot edit or delete posts in a discussion.
Image 1. Instructor view - Deactivate Post Activity in the Discussion Settings panel
Image 2. Student view – Discussion view after the instructor has elected to prevent editing
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Course Upgrading
Support for concurrent course copies - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Administrators
Copies are a queued task in Blackboard Learn. In the past, when copies were initiated by an SIS, Learn could process two copies in parallel at any given time. The same was not true for copies initiated by end users. Copies initiated by end users process one at a time.
With this update, we have increased the limit to four for both SIS and end user-initiated copies. The limit will now allow a total of 8 copies to process at any given time: 4 copies from the SIS and 4 copies from end users. Increasing the limit reduces the wait time associated with copies.
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Preserve empty content areas - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Administrators
Institutions use empty content areas to create the initial structure in a course. They are often used for templates to help instructors know where to place items. In the past, empty content areas were not brought over during copy, import, and conversion processes.
We now preserve empty content areas during the copy, import, and conversion process.
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Default Menu settings no longer apply to new courses and organizations using the Ultra view - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Administrators
Blackboard administrators can configure a default menu for new courses and organizations. The default menu is a great way to create the initial structure of a course. Having a default structure can help instructors know where they should put items.
Unfortunately, the default menu settings were being applied to new Ultra courses. They should have only applied to courses using the original course view. The way Original and Ultra courses display and structure content is different. Because of this, the default menu settings created an undesired structure for new Ultra courses.
Institutions also use different structures for Original and Ultra courses and organizations. Having the default menu applied to new Ultra courses and organizations created work. The Ultra courses needed to have the default menu removed before faculty could use them.
Now new Ultra courses and organizations will not inherit the default menu settings. New Ultra courses and organizations can still leverage templates by copying a template from another course.
For administrators: To review the existing default menu settings navigate to Admin > Course/Organization Settings > Default Course/Organization Menu.
Preserve Font Families - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, we would set all fonts to Arial during the conversion process. The Ultra course view did not always support different font families.
We now preserve font families during the conversion process using the following logic:
- If font family is Arial in Original Course View, set to Arial in the Ultra Course View.
- If font family is Comic Sans MS in Original Course View, set to Comic Sans MS in the Ultra Course View.
- If font family is Courier New in Original Course View, set to Courier New in the Ultra Course View.
- If font family is Times New Roman in Original Course View, set to Times New Roman in the Ultra Course View.
- If font family is Verdana in Original Course View, set to Verdana in the Ultra Course View.
- If font family is anything else or not defined in the Original Course View, set to Open Sans in the Ultra Course View.
The font families in the Original course view are different from those in the Ultra course view. The above logic tries to preserve font families as best as possible to reduce cleanup.
Font families are preserved when converting text associated with the following items:
- Announcements
- Discussions
- Assignments
- Documents
- Journals
- Groups and Group Sets
- Tests and Question Types
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Reschedule Announcements - 3900.60
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors have not had the ability to reschedule announcements. If the show on and hide after date fields were set for the future, a pop-up window would not generate. Instructors prefer a pop-up window because it helps students see the announcement. If there is no pop-up, a student may not know there is an announcement for them to view.
Some instructors were recreating announcements from scratch to generate these pop-ups. With this update, instructors can now reschedule announcements without having to recreate them. They can do this by changing the show on and hide after fields to a future date.
When users first enter a course, the rescheduled announcement will trigger a pop-up.
For administrators: There are no administrative configurations required.
Learn SaaS release 3900.58.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.58.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 10 January 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 2 February 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.58.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.58.0-rel.36+3daac77 to Production servers to take place on 16 Ferburary 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
February 2023 – 3900.58 Release
The February 2023 - 3900.58 release is robust with features in five areas:
- assessment and grading;
- data and analytics;
- groups;
- mobile app; and
- integration, extension, and management.
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Technical Preview: Improved attempt switching when grading student submissions with multiple attempts
- Gradebook List View – Gradable items sorting
- Progress Tracking: visibility filters for the Student Progress tab
Instructors and students:
- Exemptions
- Extra credit questions in assessments
- Hot spot question type – polygon shapes
- Show Course Group Members
- Progress Tracking: Ally alternative format views count towards progress
- Attendance tool available in GovCloud
Students:
All users:
Administrators:
Assessment and Grading
Technical Preview: Improved attempt switching when grading student submissions with multiple attempts – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multiple-attempt assessments can be more complicated for instructors because there are more submissions. To switch between attempts for a student in the past, an instructor would have to close an attempt then select a different attempt. This wasn’t intuitive and required extra clicks. Now instructors can navigate directly between a student’s attempts. If a student has multiple attempts for an assessment, an instructor will see an option to switch attempts. This is more efficient.
Image 1. Instructor view of the attempt drop-down menu on the grading page
When the instructor clicks a student name in the Submissions list, the most recent submitted attempt will be loaded.
The attempt selector displays information to help instructors select the desired attempt:
- Attempt number
- Submission time stamp
- File size
- Grade (if graded)
- Late indicator (if applicable)
Image 2. Navigating between student attempts using the attempt drop-down menu
For administrators:In the February release, this feature can only be enabled in test/stage environments for testing. In the March release, this feature will be available by default. In March, it will be possible to opt out of using this feature. At that time, you can set the feature to unavailable on the Ultra Experience Management page in the administrator panel. The feature flag will be removed in the May release and this feature will become permanent.
Exemptions – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
There are times that instructors need to exempt students from assessments or activities in the course. Now instructors can provide exemptions. Students can view exempted items. A student is not expected to complete an exempted task. When exempted, a student’s overall calculation will adjust for them. The overall points possible or weighting for a student with exemptions may change compared to other students.
Instructors may exempt any gradebook item in two ways:
- From the submission list view, select the ellipsis menu of a student and choose to add or edit the exemption.
- From the student detail view, select the ellipsis menu of the item and choose to add or edit the exemption.
When exempting an item, the item will not be:
- included in the overall grade calculation,
- marked late for students who do not make a submission, or
- assigned an automatic zero.
Students can still supply submissions for exempted items. Instructors can grade and provide feedback for these submissions.
Image 1. Add or edit exceptions from the submission list view
Image 2. Add or edit exemptions from the student detail view
For administrators:This feature is enabled by default behind a feature flag. Administrators will have the possibility to turn it off at the institution level.
Extra credit questions in assessments – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
There are times when instructors allow students to overachieve on an assessment. Some instructors may allow students to earn back points lost on other assessments or activities.
Now instructors can assign one or more questions as extra credit in an assessment. A correct answer results in adding the extra credit question points to the points earned for the assessment. Students are not penalized for incorrect answers to an extra credit question. In other words, points are not deducted because the question is excluded from the assessment’s possible points. If a student answers extra credit questions correctly, it may be possible for the student to earn a score greater than 100% on the assessment.
Students can discern how many extra credit points are available on the assessment. While students are taking an assessment, they can identify questions designated as extra credit. Students can also filter the test to find extra credit questions if present.
Image 1. Instructor view – assign one or more questions in an assessment as Extra Credit
Image 2. Student view – students can identify which questions are extra credit and the total amount of extra credit available on the assessment
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Hotspot question – polygon shapes – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors may want to assess a student’s knowledge of visual content. The hotspot question type is popular for this type of assessment. This question type is also good for reducing the potential of cueing or guessing.
Hotspot questions present an image without any answer options for students to choose. Students must mark a certain area of the image that is within the area the instructor defined as correct.
Building on the initial hotspot question introduced in the 3900.52.0 release, we are adding two enhancements to this question type:
- A new polygon shape selector can be used to draw more complex shapes.
- Improved keyboard controls. Instructors can now create and place new hotspot shapes on the image canvas directly via the keyboard.
Image 1. Instructor view - Add one or more polygon hotspots to an image
Image 2. Student view – students may add a pin to the image to mark their selection
In Original Course View, instructors can only create hotspot questions using a mouse. In the Ultra Course View, instructors can create the hotspot question using a mouse or keyboard. Students may answer hotspot questions via a mouse or keyboard.
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook List View – Gradable items sorting – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may want to sort the items in the Gradable Items view of the Gradebook. Sorting provides a more efficient grading experience. For example, instructors may want to sort by grading status to quickly locate items that need grading.
The sorting controls provide temporary changes to the sort order for all columns in the Gradable Items view. We have also moved the grade post status to a dedicated column.
Image 1. Gradable Items view with sorting controls; here items are sorted in descending order by Grading Status
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Student Gradebook sorting – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Students may want to sort the information in their Gradebook. Sorting may help students locate information more efficiently. For example, sorting by due date helps students discern items that are due next.
Now students can use sorting controls to temporarily change the order for all columns in the Gradebook.
Image 1. Student gradebook view with sorting controls; items are sorted in descending order by grade
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Attendance tool available in GovCloud – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course Viw
Original Experience, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Attendance can be an important factor in determining a student’s level of participation. Sometimes this is used for part of a student’s grade. Previously, the Attendance tool was unavailable to United States government clients hosted in GovCloud. Now government clients can enable this tool.
For each class meeting, instructors can mark whether a student is present, late, absent, or excused. The attendance records for each student appear in a single column next to other grades. On the Attendance page, profile pictures appear. The profile pictures help instructors identify students. Instructors can use attendance as part of grade calculations the same as assignment grade columns.
Image 1. An instructor accessing the Attendance tool in Ultra Course View
Image 2. An instructor accessing the Attendance tool in the Original Course View Control Panel
Image 3. An instructor marks attendance for today’s class session
For administrators: The Attendance tool is not verified for use under FedRAMP certification. If you comply with that security standard, you might choose not to adopt Attendance. In GovCloud, the Attendance tool is off by default. An administrator must enable it with these steps:
- Go to Admin Panel > Building Blocks > Installed Tools.
- In the context menu for Attendance, choose “Set Available.”
- Accept the notice about FedRAMP compliance.
- Go to Admin Panel > Tools.
- Enable Attendance for courses and organizations as appropriate.
Groups
Show Course Group Members – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors and students need to see group memberships. In the past, there was not an obvious way for instructors and students to see the members in a group.
From the Course Groups page, users may expand a group set to see a list of groups. Now each group has a "Show Members" option. Group members are listed alphanumerically in a panel. Users may search for a specific group member. A future release will provide profile cards and options for messaging group members from the search results.
Note: Students see only the groups and members for groups where they have membership.
Image 1. Show Members option
Image 2. Group Membership panel with search option
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level.
Data & Analytics
Progress Tracking: visibility filters for the Student Progress tab – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Student Progress tab helps instructors track individual student progress in a course. An instructor can see completed and outstanding tasks for each student. Now instructors can change the Student Progress view to see a student’s progress against everything on the Course Content page. This view includes the items not visible to the student. This helps instructors better understand students’ progress considering all course content.
Viewing with the “Visible to Students” filter:
- This is the default filter for the Student Progress tab.
- The view displays only items visible to the student.
- The display indicates items that the student cannot yet access because they do not meet release conditions.
Viewing with the “All” filter:
- This filter is new in this release.
- The entire Course Content page is displayed.
- Items the student cannot see are indicated with a not visible icon.
- An item can be hidden from a student’s view for two reasons:
- It is not available to students.
- Settings indicate the item should be hidden when release conditions are not met.
Image 1. Student Progress tab with the “Visible to students” content availability filter applied; the instructor only sees content visible to this student
Image 2. When the “All” content availability filter is applied, the instructor sees all Course Outline items; the view indicates the items that are not visible to the student
For administrators:Progress Tracking is available behind a feature flag. Administrators need to enable it first.
Progress Tracking: Ally alternative format views count towards progress– 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
An accurate representation of course progress is key for both instructors and students. With this latest addition, any Ally alternative format accessed by a student will reflect in their presented course progress.
Students will:
- See the progress indicator updated to “started” as they download an alternative format using Ally.
- Be able to mark an item as complete after accessing any alternative format.
Instructors will see the progress made by each one of their students based on access to the original file or an alternative format.
Image 1. Student view - a PDF in the course content with no progress indicated
Image 2. Student view - selects an Ally alternative format
Image 3. Student view – after downloading the alternative format, the PDF in the course content indicates progress
For administrators: Progress Tracking is available behind a feature flag. Administrators need to enable it first.
Mobile App
User Profile Card – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Mobile App
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
In the Blackboard Learn mobile app, we now provide expanded options when viewing the user profile. Users will be able to view their information to the full extent, see the profile card, and play name pronunciation.
This is applicable to SaaS environments with Base Navigation enabled. This first iteration of profile improvements does not allow editing profile data in the mobile application. In a future release we plan to add editing options when allowed.
Image 1. Profile Card preview
Image 2. User Profile
For administrators:This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Administrator Login As Tool – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Institutions want a way to maximize support to their end users. This needs to happen without sharing or exchanging login credentials. In the past, Blackboard Learn administrators might have used a community-created Building Block (B2)—LoginAs and Impersonate are two examples. These allowed an administrator to impersonate an end user for troubleshooting purposes. This category of third-party add-ons had the highest adoption volume in our global client base. The request to add this feature to Learn was ranked #1 in our Idea Exchange for more than 12 weeks in 2022.
We prioritized client feedback and are happy to share that the ability for an admin to log in as a user is now available.
Administrators can:
- Search and select a user to login as.
- Add in a reason for logging in as that user for institutional audit purposes.
- This is optional. Institutions may wish to determine a policy for the use of this feature.
- Start the session as that user.
To login as a user:
- Search for a user in Administrator Panel > Users.
- Open the dropdown menu for the user.
- Select the “Login As” option.
- When done, logout.
Image 1. Search for a user and select the Login As option
Image 2. End user acknowledgement and Session Start
For administrators: This release has certain constraints:
- “Login as” is available only for the full System Administrator (Z) role. We have plans to support permissions that can be assigned to other support roles.
- Administrators can access log data, including who logged in as whom and reasons for login, using the Learn “Sessions” public API. Documentation is at https://developer.anthology.com/portal/displayApi . We have plans to provide access to this data in the admin user interface.
Course Auto-Archive Retention Policy Change – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
This change is part of a series of ongoing policy and product changes for automatic course archives in Learn SaaS.
Background on Automatic Course Archives
Learn SaaS creates archives for active courses every day. This process is automatic and lets administrators retrieve data deleted by accident. To align to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Anthology has always required a minimum 30 days of archives since we released this feature.
In the past, administrators could choose to keep archives longer than 30 days. On large environments, setting a policy longer then 30 days could prevent the automatic backup process from running properly.
Also in the past, clients had to pay for storage for all course archives. We heard from clients that it was unfair to charge storage for the archives we required for the SLA. In response to this feedback, we stopped charging for course archive storage in April 2022. For storage use, we couldn’t distinguish between older archives and the 30-day archives we require for the SLA. Since April 2022, Anthology has also covered storage costs for archives older than 30 days. However, this situation is temporary pending product improvements.
We also found clients relying on older auto-archive packages for long-term, legally required data backups of learner activity. This was not intended and is not recommended. The auto-archive process creates new archives when there is new course activity. Changes to a course will overwrite prior archives after 30 days.
- Example: An instructor completes a course in 2022. The course is archived automatically. In preparing for teaching that same course again in 2023, the instructor accidentally deletes the student submissions in the 2022 course. In 30 days, the new archive for the 2022 version of the course will overwrite the backup made a year earlier. The student data is gone. Therefore, we recommend storing long-term course archives in a location not associated with daily backup overwrites.
Changes in this release:
- We removed the archive retention policy configuration in Admin Panel > Course Settings > Automatic Archive Settings. Now the behavior will be consistent on all SaaS environments.
- If a course still exists in Learn, the process always removes archives older than 30 days.
- If a course no longer exists in Learn, the process will retain the final archive. This behavior will change in a future release. Administrators should move older archives to another location for long-term storage.
- If a course is deleted, the process will still create and retain an archive. This behavior will change in a future release. For now, administrators should move these archives to another location for long-term storage. Once copied elsewhere, administrators should delete these older archives.
Future plans:
We plan to continue to improve the auto-archive process. In the next phases, we will make it easier for administrators to manage archives and move them to external storage. We will also require older archives to be removed or they will count against storage use. These changes will be announced before they happen.
Retain third-party app icons defined in the Developer Portal – 3900.58
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
LTI icons help users better differentiate between third-party app content (LTI tools). In the December 2022 release (3900.54), we began displaying icons selected by the third-party app provider or configured by the administrator.
Now, when a tool provider or an administrator sets an icon in the Developer Portal, administrators cannot change it.
For administrators: Administrators may continue to configure icons for LTI tools that do not have default icons configured.
Learn SaaS release 3900.56.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.56.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 6 December 2022 | Release to Production: Thursday, 5 January 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.56.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.56.0-rel.31+e33c6d6 to Production servers to take place on 26 January 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
January 2023 – 3900.56 Release
The January 2023 - 3900.56 release is complete with features in five areas:
- assessment and grading;
- richer course and content design;
- mobile app;
- integration, extension, and management; and
- course upgrading;
These improvements primarily impact instructors and students. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- See and edit grades for anonymous submissions prior to posting
- Essay Question Model Answer
- Non-posted grades included in Grade History
- Test Question and Page Randomization
- Progress Tracking: Status and filters for group submissions
- Original Course View: “Needs Grading” flow kept when AWS auto-scales
- User Interface Improvement-Microsoft OneDrive Integration
- Course Upgrading: Convert Test Passwords to Passcodes
- Course Upgrading: Remove Unsupported Text Colors
- Course Upgrading: Preserve Text Sizes
- Base Navigation: Activity Stream New Submission link improvement
- Bb Annotate: Create categories inside the content library
- Assist banner update
Instructors and students:
- Show icons for Third-Party app content (LTI) in Gradebook and Grades
- Discussions – No Activity After Due Date
- Improvements to Messages recipient types by course role
All users:
- Expand and Collapse Course Faculty, Details & Actions, and Course Content sections
- Custom HTML/CSS content blocks in Institution Pages
- Base Navigation: Visibility controls for the Course and Organization Catalog; Hide Organizations tab
Other - Support roles:
Bb Annotate
Bb Annotate: Create categories inside the content library - 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Original Experience, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Creating and reusing comments is a useful practice for instructors. When using Bb Annotate, instructors can use the content library to store comments across courses. Now instructors can also organize comments into categories. Categories helps instructors find the comments they want to use. The process of providing student is more efficient with the new option. Existing comments will be part of a general comments category until instructors decide to move them to a new one.
Now instructors will be able to:
- Create as many categories as needed
- Move comments to new or existing categories
- Collapse or expand the categories to easily locate the comments
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Assessment and Grading
See and edit grades for anonymous submissions prior to posting – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Anonymous grading is an important practice to ensure fair and consistent grading. In the past when anonymously grading, instructors could view grades on the Submissions page only after posting grades. This prevented instructors from editing grades before students could view grades.
Now instructors can view grades on the Submission page before they post grades. Student anonymity is still preserved until the grades are posted. To edit a grade, an instructor can open the attempt.
Image 1. Grades are viewable on grading submissions page when anonymously grading
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Essay Question Model Answer – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Instructors want to ensure that they grade students’ work fairly and consistently. This can be especially challenging when evaluating student responses to essay questions. Instructors like to have a reference while grading. Now instructors can include a model answer for essay questions. Instructors and graders can see this when grading.
Image 1. Model answer when authoring essay questions
Students can see the model answer when reviewing their results if the test is configured to show correct answers. Students do not see the model answer when they take a test.
Image 2. Student viewing the model answer along with their own response
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Non-posted grades included in Grade History – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Grade history provides a log of changes to grades in a course. This is important in situations such as grade challenges and ensuring grading errors were not made. The grade history now includes non-posted grades. Including non-posted grades supplies greater insight into grade changes in the course.
Image 1. Grade history download file with non-posted grade information
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Test Question and Page Randomization – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors randomize test question to improve academic integrity. In the past, instructors couldn’t randomize questions if the test contained text blocks, files, or images.
Now instructors can enable randomization when the test has text blocks, files, or images. The non-question elements are locked in place. The test randomizes questions between those non-question elements.
Image 1. Instructor sets randomize option for a test with non-question elements
Instructors can also randomize questions in a test that contains page breaks. Questions randomize within their assigned page. If a page contains non-question elements, the questions randomize between those elements.
When there are pages for the test, instructors can also randomize page order. If instructors randomize the page order, they can also lock the first page into position. This is useful when the first page is a cover page or contains test instructions.
Image 2. Instructor selects to randomize both questions and pages
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Progress tracking: Status and filters for group submissions– 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors need clear information about the status of group progress on an assessment. In the past, the submission view of assessments and discussions included two status columns:
- Student status
- Grading status
Now we also show both in the group submission page. This gives instructors greater clarity into group work status. We also separated the filter to allow compound filtering of student and grading statuses. The default filter shows everything. The filter resets every time an instructor accesses the submission view.
Image 1. Group submission filters
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Original Course View: “Needs Grading” retains tasks when AWS auto-scales – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
Because Learn SaaS is in the cloud, the application scales on demand. When more users are on Learn, the cloud provides more resources. In the past in Original Course View, this cloud scaling could disrupt instructors grading student work. Instructors navigating to their next task in “needs grading” would see an error.
Now instructors can navigate to their next task even when the application scales. In some cases, instructors can’t return to completed tasks. If this happens, instructors receive clear instructions to return to the Grade Center where they can review these submissions.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Richer Course and Content Design
Improvements to Messages recipient types by course role - 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past an “all course members” recipient type appeared for all course users. Students could send messages to all course users, on accident or on purpose.
Now students can only send messages to:
- all instructors
- selected course members
Instructors can send messages to:
- all course members
- all instructors
- all students
- selected course members
Image 1. Instructors can send messages to all course members, all instructors, all students, or selected users
Image 2. Students can send to all instructors or selected users
Image 3. Selected recipients appear to the author of a Message
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Discussions - No Activity After Due Date – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past students could continue posting in Discussions after the due date had passed. This created problems for instructors when grading discussions. Now instructors may lock the discussion after the due date has passed. When selected, students can’t create, reply to, or edit posts after the due date. Students with a due date accommodation can continue to create, reply to, and edit posts after the due date.
Image 1. Instructor view of the “Stop discussion activity after due date” setting
Image 2. Student view of Discussion once the due date has passed
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Assist Banner update - 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Base Navigation
Ultra Assist View
Impact: Instructors
To better align with feedback and needs from clients, we updated the Assist banner. We have made the following changes:
- Removed Space Dog Banner banner image
- Removed "Blackboard" from the title
- Modified the Assist page to have greater visual consistency with other aspects of the base navigation
Image 1. Blackboard Assist banner
For administrators:This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Show icons for Third-Party app content (LTI) in Gradebook and Grades – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In the past, it has been difficult for users to differentiate between third-party app content (LTI tools). In the December 2022 release (3900.54), we began displaying icons selected by the third-party app provider or an administrator. Now we display icons in the following additional areas:
- Gradebook grid view
- Gradebook list view
- Gradable Items tab
- Students Grades Overview
- Grades tab on Base Navigation
Image 1. Third-party app icon added by a System Administrator
Image 2. Third-party app icon in Gradebook grid view
Image 3. Third-party app icon in Gradebook list view, Gradable Items tab
Image 4. Third-party app icon in Student Grades Overview
Image 5. Third-party app icon Grades tab on Ultra Base Navigation
For administrators:We recommend Administrators review LTI placement configurations after this release because icons will now display to users in more places. Icons set for the placement type Deep Linking Content Tools will display in the Course Content and Gradebook areas. Other placement types will continue to display generic icons. Tool providers may also set the icons. An administrator can retrieve icons set by tool providers using the “Synchronize placements” action. When the provider sets icons, they will replace and override institutional icon choices because they are the owner of their branding.
Blackboard Learn Mobile App
Expand and Collapse Course Faculty, Details & Actions, and Course Content sections – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Mobile App
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
In the past users on a mobile device had to scroll through the Course Faculty and Details & Actions sections to see course content. Now users can collapse these sections, making it easier and faster to access course content.
Image 1. Collapsible sections
For administrators:This feature is available for all users of the Mobile App. No action is needed from users who have enabled automatic updates on their devices. Users who have disabled automatic updates on their devices must download the update.
Integration, Extension, and Management
User Interface Improvement - Microsoft OneDrive Integration – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can embed OneDrive files in a course. These files may be read-only for students or allow collaboration for students and instructors. In the past, instructors accessed the option to create these files under Cloud Document in the Create Item panel.
We heard from users that these options were not obvious. Acting on client feedback, we updated the user interface. Now instructors will find two options as separate items in the “Create Item” panel:
- Embedded Cloud Document – this creates a link to a read-only file
- Cloud Collaboration – this creates a document that students and instructors can edit together
Image 1. Before improvements to the user interface
Image 2. After improvements to the user interface: Access the two items in one click
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. For clients who have already enabled the Microsoft OneDrive integration, you will need to resynchronize the LTI 1.3 tool and LTI tool placements for this enhancement to take effect. This can be done by following these steps:
1. Administrator Panel – Integrations - LTI Tool Providers
2. Select Synchronize LTI 1.3 Tools
3. Search for Microsoft OneDrive LTI Tool in the main tool list
4. Select Manage Placements – Synchronize Placements
Custom HTML/CSS content blocks in Institution Pages – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Institutions can target personalized content to users with Institution Pages. Now administrators can create custom HTML/CSS content blocks in Institution Pages for even greater flexibility. Content blocks will size automatically for better display. Content blocks are served in an iframe from a separate domain to keep Blackboard Learn secure.
Image 1. Custom HTML content type in Institution Pages
Image 2. HTML module authoring page for Institution Pages
For administrators:
- You’ll see the Add HTML option in Institution Pages if an alternate domain configured.
- Contact product support for help if an alternate domain isn’t configured. Browser security can prevent external links from opening in an iframe. We recommend configuring your HTML to open links in a new browser window.
Base Navigation: Visibility controls for the Course and Organization Catalog, Hide Organizations tab – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Institutions have different policies and use different tools. Some institutions do not use Organizations. Previously, administrators couldn’t hide the Organizations tab in Base Navigation. This could confuse users. Now, the availability of the Course Catalog and Organization Catalog can be configured independently. This lets administrators configure how Organizations are used at the institution:
- If an institution doesn’t want to use Organizations, they should turn off the Organization Catalog and not enroll users in Organizations. This will hide the Organizations tab in Base Navigation from all users.
- If an institution wants to use Organizations for some users but hide the Organizations tab from others, they should turn off the Organization Catalog. Administrators would then enroll appropriate users into Organizations. When a user has an active enrollment in an Organization, they see the Organizations tab in Base Navigation. Users without an Organization will not see the Organizations tab in Base navigation.
- If an institution wants all users to see the Organizations tab in Base Navigation, they should turn on the Organization Catalog. This is the default setting.
Image 1. Ultra Experience Management panel: options to display links for Course and Organization Catalogs
Image 2. Ultra Base Navigation without Organizations Tab
For administrators: Set your preferences for displaying links to the Organization or Course Catalog on the Ultra Experience Management page in the administrator panel. Users always see the Courses tab in Base Navigation even if the Course Catalog is not available.
Activity Stream new submission notification improvement – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
For instructors, the Activity Stream includes notifications for new submissions from students. In the past, these links directed the instructor to the Submissions List View of that assessment in Ultra Course View. Now these links direct the instructor to the Submissions List View with the "Needs Grading" filter already applied. This improves grading efficiency.
Additionally, the instructor can add a browser bookmark for the Submission List filter views. This provides faster access to the instructor's preferred filtered view.
Image 1. Submissions view filtered by Needs Grading
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Privileges: Support role can access Course Content page without progress setting privilege - 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Support roles
Users with system role privileges may be configured to access courses. In the past, these support users couldn’t access the Course Content page if they were missing the privilege Course/Organization Control Panel (Customization) > View Progress Tracking Configuration. These users would see an error and the course page would close.
Now support users without this privilege who have the privilege Course/Organization (Content Areas) > View Material Settings can view the Course Content page.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Course Upgrading
Convert Test Passwords to Passcodes – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Original Course View allows instructors to add passwords to Tests. In the past when an instructor converted an Original test to Ultra, the passwords were lost. Now a generated passcode replaces passwords when the Test is copied. Instructors can view the new access code in Test settings. They may need to update references to passwords in the course.
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Additional Improvements to Unsupported Text Color Removal – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Original Course View allows instructors to choose any color for text. This content may be difficult to read or not accessible. Ultra Course View has a curated set of text colors to ensure readability: black, gray, purple, blue, and green. During conversion, we remove unsupported text colors. This text becomes black. This release adds several areas where text colors are corrected for readability:
- Journals
- Groups within group sets
- Tests
We remove unsupported text colors during conversion from the following:
- Announcements
- Discussions
- Assignments
- Documents
- Journals
- Groups and Group Sets
- Tests and Question Types
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Preserve Text Sizes – 3900.56
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
In the past, the text copied from Original to Ultra Course View did not support different text sizes. During the conversion process, text would be set to size 14 pixels. Now we preserve text sizes during the conversion process using the following logic:
- If text size is less than or equal to 10, set to 10 pixels.
- If text size is 11 or 12, set to 12 pixels.
- If text size is 13 or 14, set to 14 pixels.
- If text size is less than 17, set to 14 pixels.
- If text size is greater than or equal to 17, set to 18 pixels.
- If text size is less than 22, set to 18 pixels.
- If text size is greater than or equal to 22, set to 24 pixels.
- If text size is less than 31, set to 24 pixels.
- If text size is greater than or equal to 31, set to 36 pixels.
- If text size is less than 43, set to 36 pixels.
- If text size is greater than or equal to 43, set to 48 pixels.
Text sizes are different in the Original and Ultra Content Editors. The conversion logic preserves similar text sizes to reduce cleanup.
Sizes are preserved when converting text associated with the following items:
- Announcements
- Discussions
- Assignments
- Documents
- Journals
- Groups and Group Sets
- Tests and Question Types
For administrators: There are no configurations needed.
Release notes for earlier versions
Release notes for earlier versions available in English only:
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