Release Notes for Learn SaaS
This page contains features and updates currently on Learn SaaS Test/Stage and Production environments. Visit Archived SaaS Release Notes to see features and updates in older versions. Visit In-Product Updates to learn more about in-product updates.
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More on Learn with the SaaS Deployment | Export the list of Known Issues | Access the latest API and database documentation | Blackboard Learn SaaS release notes archive | Learn Releases White Paper
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View the SaaS release schedule
Learn SaaS release 3900.80.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.80.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 November 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 7 December 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.80.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.80.0-rel.16+898bcdc to Test/Stage servers to take place on 5 December 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
Learn SaaS release 3900.78.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v3900.78.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 | Release to Production: Thursday, 2 November 2023
Original Experience, Ultra Experience
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details please review the corresponding notes for the Learn 3900.78.0 version included below on this page. Details can also be found on Behind the Blackboard.
Latest release: 3900.78.0-rel.23+5efc216 to Production servers to take place on 30 November 2023.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Behind the Blackboard.
December 2023 – 3900.80 Release
The December 2023 - 3900.80 is robust with features in 8 areas:
- Instructional design;
- Tests and assignments;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Integrations;
- Learn core and security;
- Mobile app; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Authentic Discussion and Journal prompts
- Large rubric support
- Group assessment due date exceptions
- Goal alignment to questions in banks
- Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit
- Sorting controls in Students and Questions tab
- Grid view sorting controls
- Automatic zero gradebook improvement
- Canvas conversion improvements: Support for Multiple Grade Schemes
Instructors and students:
All users:
Administrators:
Instructional Design
Authentic Discussion and Journal prompts – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
AI plagiarism is a growing concern among academics. Research indicates a variety of issues with a reliance on AI detection. Detection models cannot keep up with advancements in AI technologies. Our approach to combatting AI plagiarism is different. We empower instructors and lean on the effective practice of authentic assessment.
Learn more by reading our white paper about AI, Academic Integrity, and Authentic Assessment.
Now, instructors can generate discussion and journal prompts that encourage students to
- engage in higher-order thinking,
- apply their knowledge,
- justify or challenge their beliefs and ideas,
- and emulate real-world situations.
To ensure the instructor is in control, the generation process allows instructors to
- enter a discussion or journal description,
- select a desired cognitive process based on Bloom's Taxonomy,
- set the complexity,
- and generate a discussion or journal title.
The instructor can review the generated prompts and select one to add to the discussion or journal. After adding the prompt, the instructor can edit or further refine the prompt as appropriate.
Image 1. The auto-generate discussion option
Image 2. Three generated prompts; each includes a title, prompt, and cognitive process
Image 3. Instructors can describe the discussion, select the desired cognitive process and complexity, and then generate prompts
Image 4. Selected title and prompt added to a discussion
For administrators: To use this feature, enable the AI Features option in Ultra Experience Management. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate AI Design Assistant and Unsplash and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. Set Enable AI Design Assistant to on. Set Generate Discussions and Generate Journals to on. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privilege for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor): Use AI features.
Removal of First Time User Experience pop-ups – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
In the past, we provided in-context information pop-ups to support users when they used the system for the first time. These pop-ups, called First Time User Experiences (FTUEs), can be helpful to some users. At the same time, FTUEs can be distracting or unnecessary. Users who would like supportive information can locate that on our help pages. Some institutions want to provide their own support information across Ultra and choose to use tools such as Anthology Adopt.
Based on client feedback, we are removing the FTUEs across Learn Ultra. This improves the users' experience and supports a greater focus on the learning content. Approximately 60 FTUEs are being removed in this release. Examples of some of the FTUEs we removed are below.
Image 1. FTUE in an assessment that guides the instructor to name the assignment
Image 2. FTUE in the gradebook, highlighting the student list view
Image 3. FTUE on the base navigation courses page, highlighting course search
For administrators: This update is available for Base Navigation and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Additional image insertion and generate options – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Images enhance comprehension of and engagement with course content. Instructors and students want to use high-quality images in content and submissions. To help, we have added a new image button in the content editor in the following places:
- Announcements
- Assessment Questions
- Student answers on questions (local file upload only)
- Submission feedback (standard view)
- Journal entries and comments
Image 1. Instructor view - image button on content editor for Announcements
We also added the option for instructors to generate images in journal prompts and assessment questions.
To learn more about working with images, please visit the “Work with Text" page.
For administrators: The "Stock images from Unsplash" and "Generate images" options only appear for instructors when each tool is on. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate "AI Design Assistant and Unsplash" and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privileges for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor):
- Search for images using Unsplash
- Use AI features
Tests & Assignments
Large Rubric Support – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Rubrics serve as a well-organized and transparent framework for assessing student work. We now support an unlimited number of rubric criteria and performance levels, up from 15 each. This change empowers instructors to craft rubrics that support diverse assessment scenarios. Unbound rubrics are valuable where a higher number of criteria are needed. Larger rubrics also prove invaluable for rubrics employed in accreditation processes.
Image 1. Large rubric support with the potential for the addition of more rows
Image 2. Large rubric support with the potential for the addition of more columns
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Group assessment due date exceptions – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may want to set different due dates for each group working on a group assessment.
In the past, there was no way to assign varying due dates for each group working on a group assessment. Now, instructors can assign a unique due date to each group using the exceptions workflow.
On the group assessment Submissions page, the instructor may add or edit exceptions for a group.
Image 1: Instructor view – add or edit exceptions option on the group assessment Submissions page
The Exceptions panel displays relevant information such as the assignment name and selected group name. This helps ensure the accuracy of an exception. Instructors can select a due date for the group using the date and time picker.
Image 2: Instructor view - exceptions panel
Image 3: Instructor view - group assessment Submissions page displays the exceptions indicator for Project Group 1
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Goal alignment to questions in banks – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Institutions want to align goals to course content. Goal alignment ensures that the curriculum is designed to meet specific learning outcomes.
Instructors can currently align goals to the following course items:
- Assignments
- Tests, including individual questions
- Discussions
- Rubrics criterion
- Files
- Web links
- Teaching tools with LTI connection
- Documents
Now, instructors can also align goals to questions within a question bank. Question-level goal alignment ensures that assessment items measure the desired learning outcomes. This helps to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of evaluation and feedback practices.
Image 1: Instructor view of the “Align with goal’ menu option used to align a question to a goal
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Multi-select questions require students to select multiple correct answers from a list. This variation of a multiple choice question encourages critical thinking. Some instructors may award partial credit to students on these types of questions. Partial credit promotes a fairer and more accurate assessment of students' knowledge.
In the past, students received full credit when selecting all answer choices for a multi-select question with partial credit. This happened because there was no penalty or negative credit applied for wrong answer choices.
Now, when an instructor designs a multi-select question and allows partial and negative credit, the negative credit auto-distributes across wrong answer choices. An instructor can remove or edit the negative credit if desired.
Image 1: Partial and negative credit auto-distributed across correct and incorrect answer choices for a multi-select question
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Sorting controls on Students tab – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Grading large numbers of submissions without a way to organize them can be tedious. Now, instructors can apply various sorting options in flexible grading:
- Submission date (oldest - newest) of latest attempt
- Submission date (newest - oldest) of latest attempt
- Last Name (A - Z)
- Last Name (Z - A)
- First Name (A - Z)
- First Name (Z-A)
- Student ID (ascending)
- Student ID (descending)
The grading interface stores the most recently used sorting option. If an instructor stops grading an assessment and resumes grading later, the last sorting option is applied.
Also, if sorting the submissions by last name or grading status, the chosen sorting option carries over into the grading interface.
Image 1: Sorting options as shown from Students tab in flexible grading
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Gradebook
Grid view sorting controls – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Sorting options in the gradebook provide a more efficient grading experience.
We extended the sorting options to all remaining columns in the gradebook grid view:
- SCORM
- Journal
- Group Assessment
- Group Discussion
- LTI
- Calculations
- Attendance
- Discussion
Instructors can sort records in ascending or descending order and remove any applied sorting. A purple highlight in the column header indicates sorting is applied.
Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns in the gradebook grid view.
Image 1: Sorting controls on all grid view columns headers
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Automatic zero gradebook improvement – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can configure their gradebooks to assign automatic zeros to past due work. In the past, automatic zeros were assigned to past due work regardless of a student’s course enrollment status. For example, automatic zeros were applied to past due items for withdrawn students. This was problematic as, in some cases, it skewed course data.
Now automatic zeros are assigned to past due work only if the student has an enabled course enrollment. Automatic zeroes are no longer applied to past due items for withdrawn students. This helps to ensure that academic records are preserved as they are at the time of withdrawal.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Gradebook API: Accessing grading dates – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
In a previous release, we introduced a feature that allows users to retrieve date-related grading data. Now, we incorporate two more fields into the response of all gradebook APIs: first and last relevant dates.
"firstRelevantDate" determined as:
- The first recorded date when an attempt is scored.
- The most recent date in which a final score is overridden.
"lastRelevantDate" determined as:
- The date of the most recent modification of a grade when an attempt is scored.
- The most recent date in which a final score is overridden.
We also introduce the following query parameters:
- firstRelevantDateCompare
- lastRelevantDateCompare
These parameters allow users to filter and refine the results.
For administrators: The required entitlements for Gradebook API remain unchanged. First and Last relevant dates do not apply to calculated columns.
Enhanced user data retrieval with secondary IDs via REST API - 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
The option to retrieve user data is crucial for administrators and support roles. User data retrieval is important for a host of reasons. For example, it allows institutions to ensure access control, user support, and data security.
In the past, retrieving user data depended on a single ID. Now, we are expanding the capabilities of the users' REST APIs to support secondary IDs. This will provide more flexibility and control when accessing user information.
Users can now use a secondary ID:
- Contact Email: Users can now use the "contact.email" secondary ID to retrieve user data. This enhancement allows users to access their information by their institution/personal email address.
- Student IDs: The "studentId" secondary ID is now supported in the GET /users public endpoint. You can use this feature to access user data using their student ID.
- "Name" as New Attribute: Users can now retrieve user data based on attributes such as the user name. For this, we have the new query parameter "?name=". This will allow filtering by full names (first names, last names, middle names, or usernames).
These changes provide a significant improvement in the way users can manage user data via REST APIs.
For administrators: The required entitlements for User API remain unchanged.
REST API for accessing assessment passwords - 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
In Learn, assessments can be protected with access codes. Access codes help provide integrity and security for assessments.
To improve the integration with proctoring services, we extended the access code option via REST API.
Now, users can retrieve the access password configuration settings. The configuration setting is for both Ultra and Original courses. This information includes the following key fields:
- Enabled: Flag that indicates whether the assessment is password-protected or not.
- Password: This field contains the 6-digit passcode. The password is available in plain text, simplifying the integration process.
Furthermore, these fields will be accessible through the following Content endpoints:
- GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents
- GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}
For administrators: The required entitlements for Users API remain unchanged.
Converting Building Block content to LTI (Echo360 Course Content) - 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
In the past, some clients relied on building blocks to enhance course content. To help clients transition from building blocks to LTI tools, we created a Content Migration Tool. This tool focuses on helping clients migrate Kaltura content within Original courses.
We have now updated the migration tool to support the conversion of building blocks content to LTI. This change helps mitigate challenges with migrations from Original to Ultra courses.
Now, administrators can also convert Echo360 content from building blocks to LTI.
This conversion supports the Building Block content present within the iframe. This includes Mashup links within the content editor:
- wikis, journals, discussions, groups
- assessments, assignments, test questions, and question banks
- announcements
As before, administrators can access the Building Block to LTI content conversion service through Administrator Tools.
Image 1. Converting Building Block Content to LTI
Image 2. Migration Service Settings
Administrators can select from a drop-down menu the building block to be configured. The options are Echo360 and Kaltura.
Administrators can configure the required IDs and custom parameters for the conversion details.
Image 3. Migration settings for Echo 360 and Kaltura
Building blocks mappings are displayed. Administrators can select whether they want to edit, delete, or turn off the building block for the conversion tool.
Image 4. Building block mappings
Once configurations are set, administrators can manage the placements. They can select for the specific Building Block the courses to which they want to convert the content.
Image 5. Migrate courses with building block content
Finally, at Migration Run Status, users can monitor the status of the conversion process for each course.
Image 6. Migration run status
For administrators: If the same course contains content from both Kaltura and Echo360 building blocks, the conversion process must be performed once for each building block.
Learn Core & Security
Building Block Management page displays support details – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Manage Learn SaaS Building Blocks
Three years ago, we announced the end of support for third-party integrations using Building Blocks. Starting in January 2024, most third-party Building Blocks will no longer be supported. Some Building Blocks have been granted extensions for limited continued support.
To help administrators understand what third-party tools will no longer work in January, we've updated the Building Block management page. Now, each Building Block will have a support indicator. These appear under the header “Support Status” on the Building Block management page.
- ONGOING: These Building Blocks are part of Blackboard Learn and are not third-party. Anthology continues to support these.
- EXTENDED: These are third-party Building Blocks with approved extended support. Support will end sometime in the future. This includes Building Blocks with both announced and unknown support end dates, such as:
- Exceptions, or currently no known end of support date.
- Extended support to specific dates as published on Behind the Blackboard. We will provide updates to support statuses for these Building Blocks in future releases of Blackboard Learn.
- ENDS JAN 2024: These third-party Building Blocks can no longer be used starting with the January 2024 release (3900.82).
Image 1. The Support Status column indicates if support is ongoing or when it will end
This functionality was not included in the Nov. 7 Test/Stage release. It will be included in the Nov. 14, 3900.80 SaaS Test/Stage release.
For administrators: This feature will be available for all Learn environments. There are no configurations needed. These changes won't impact tools integrated with other methods, such as LTI and REST. You can access the Building Block list in Administrator Panel > Building Blocks > Installed Tools.
If you believe the status of a third-party Building Block isn’t correct, please contact Anthology Product Support.
Mobile App
Enhancements to Grades – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
In response to user feedback, we've made improvements to the Grades page. The Grades page now offers more comprehensive information for students and instructors. We enhanced both the appearance and functionality.
For Instructors:
- Upcoming Grading
- Upon expansion, instructors find items that need grading.
- Concise View
- We've limited the display to only three items at a time.
- A Show More link is available, leading to the gradebook for that course.
- Efficient Navigation
- Instructors can access grading tasks by selecting the respective item.
- In the past, grade pills were black. Now grade pills display corresponding grade colors.
Image 1. Instructor view of Grades
For Students:
- Upcoming Due Items
- When expanding the section, students now find items that are due within a week.
- Recently Graded
- Expanded sections display items that have been recently graded.
- Concise View
- To avoid clutter, we've limited the display to only three items at a time.
- A Show more link is available, leading to the gradebook for that course.
- Quick Access
- By selecting any item, users can navigate to the specific assessment or activity.
- In the past, grade pills were black. Now grade pills display corresponding grade colors.
Image 2. Student view of Grades
For administrators: No additional settings are required for this feature.
Improved mobile experience for Course Content page – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
The Course Content page had several issues on mobile devices. We have made the following improvements:
- Anthology Ally icons no longer overlap with other elements on the page.
- Items nested in learning modules and folders no longer occupy as much space.
- Icons on the content page are smaller, providing more space for titles and descriptions.
- Titles and descriptions are no longer truncated. The full title and description are always visible now.
- The button to make an item visible to students or hidden from students no longer goes off the page.
Image 1. The course content page before improvements.
Image 2. The course content page after improvements.
For administrators: This update is available for Base Navigation and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Canvas conversion improvements: Support for Multiple Grade Schemes – 3900.80
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Canvas Learning Management System allows instructors to create Grade Schemes. Grade schemes can use point or percentage ranges. Each point or percentage range has a name value.
Image 1. A Grade Scheme in Canvas
In the past, Grade Schemes in Canvas did not convert. We have updated the conversion so that Grade Schemes from Canvas are now preserved. Instructors no longer need to rebuild Grade Schemes when converting a course from Canvas.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original and Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
November 2023 – 3900.78 Release
The November 2023 - 3900.78 release contains features and improvements in eight (8) areas:
- Instructional design;
- Tests and assignments;
- Communication and collaboration;
- Flexible grading;
- Gradebook;
- Integrations;
- Learn core and security; and
- Upgrade to Ultra
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Matching question updates: partial credit auto-distribution and other updates
- Tab navigation for Journals
- Anonymous grading in Flexible Grading view
- Grading optimization for file-based Assignment submissions in Flexible Grading
- Edit/Regrade in Questions view
- Sorting controls for Student Name, Overall Grade, Assessments, and Manual Columns in grid view
- Gradebook grid view performance improvements
- Canvas conversion improvements: Support for equations
Instructors and students:
Students:
All users:
Administrators:
- Data state management from Administrator Panel
- Multiple LTI Deployments
- Content management: Blank page handler supported via REST API
- Institutional Hierarchy: Move child nodes to new parent node via REST API
- Calendar REST API: Enable non-3LO users to manage personal, course/organization, and institution calendars
Instructional Design
Image insertion option for Ultra Documents, Journals, Discussions, Assessment attempts, and Course Messages – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Images play an important role in a student's education experience. Images help to enhance comprehension of and engagement with course content. To help instructors more easily identify high-quality images, we have added a new image button in the content editor in the following places:
- Ultra Documents
- Journal prompts
- Discussions
- Course Messages
Image 1. Instructor view - New image button on content editor for Ultra Documents
When selected, the instructor has the following options:
- Upload an image through selection or drag and drop
- Select a royalty-free, high-quality image from Unsplash.
- Generate images using AI (initially, only for Ultra documents)
Image 2. Instructor view - Image source options
Students can also access the new image button on the content editor in the following areas:
- Discussion responses
- Assessments and test question inputs
- Course Messages
Image 3. Student view - New image button on content editor for discussion response
Image 4. Student view – Drag and drop or upload an image file
After selecting the image, instructors and students can reposition the focus and zoom of the image. There's also an option to alter the aspect ratio of the image.
Image 5. Modify the zoom and focus of the image; set the aspect ratio.
Users can rename the image. It is important always to consider the accessibility of course content. The user should mark the image as decorative or provide suitable alternative text.
Instructors can also set the view and download file options for the image. After the image is inserted, the user can resize the image.
For administrators: The "Stock images from Unsplash" and "Generate images" options only appear for instructors when each tool is on. Select Building Blocks from the Administrator Panel, then select Installed Tools. Locate "AI Design Assistant and Unsplash" and select Settings from the drop-down. The default state is off. You must also activate privileges. Assign the following privileges for the appropriate Course Roles (e.g., Instructor):
- Search for images using Unsplash.
- Use AI features.
Tests & Assignments
Matching question updates: partial credit auto-distribution and other updates – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Matching questions are useful for testing a student's skill in making accurate connections between related concepts. This question type also checks students' understanding in a structured format.
To reward students who show partial understanding, some instructors wish to award partial and/or negative credit for matching questions.
In the past, instructors selected a scoring option:
- allow partial credit,
- all or nothing,
- subtract points for incorrect matches, but question score can't be negative
- or allow negative question scores.
These options were exclusive and, at times, created confusion for instructors. We removed these options.
Now, partial and negative credit is turned on by default. We auto-distribute partial credit as a percentage across the matching pairs. The auto-distribution of credit saves instructors time. Instructors can edit the partial credit values if needed to grant some pairs more or less credit. Values for partial credit must sum to 100%.
If desired, instructors may also specify a negative credit percentage to any pair. Negative credit is only assessed when applied and when a student mismatches a pair. If desired, instructors may choose to allow an overall negative score for the question.
We also made a few other improvements to this question:
- We re-worded the question construction guidance and moved it to an info bubble.
- In the past, the "reuse an answer" and "delete pair" options were behind the three-dot menu. Now, these options appear on the right side of the answer for each pair.
- Before reused answers appeared as "Reused answer from pair #" in the answer field. Now, the answer itself is displayed in the answer field. "Reused answer" appears beneath the answer for the pair.
- We renamed "Additional answers" to "Distractors."
Image 1. Before – Matching question
Image 2. After - Matching question
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Late submission indicator in submission receipts – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students
Students lead busy lives and sometimes submit assessments late. Some instructors and institutions use penalties or deduct points for late submissions. Based on direct feedback from instructors, we added a new ‘late indicator’ to the submission receipt. This indicator is present only if a student submits the assessment late.
Students can view the late submission indicator in:
- the confirmation modal displayed upon a successful submission,
- the downloaded version of the submission receipt, and
- the emailed submission confirmation.
Image 1. Student assessment submission receipt confirmation with ‘late’ indicator
Image 2. Late submission indicator in downloaded submission receipt
Image 3. Late submission indicator in email submission confirmation
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Communication & Collaboration
Tab navigation for Journals – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
To improve navigation for journals, we have introduced a new tab navigation. Now, instructors can switch between the Journal and the Participation page. When an instructor sets up a journal for grading, the Participation is replaced by Grades & Participation. This update improves the usability of the journal. It also provides consistency of navigation with discussions and assessments.
Image 1. Tab navigation for a graded journal
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Flexible Grading
Anonymous Grading in Flexible Grading view – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors can reduce grading bias for high-stakes assessments by enabling anonymous grading. Many consider it an important grading approach.
Anonymous grading is now available in the new Flexible Grading experience. Instructors can now complete the following tasks and actions:
- Grade test and assignment submissions by student
- Filter on grading status of choice
- Navigate between students and multiple submission attempts
- Keep track of grading progress
- 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
- Show an originality score if SafeAssign is used
We plan to support anonymous grading for tests by question in a future release.
Image 1. Instructor uses a rubric to grade an anonymous submission
For administrators: This feature is available in Ultra Experience Management and 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."
Grading optimization for file-based Assignment submissions in Flexible Grading – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Some instructors design assignments that require students to attach one or more files.
In the past, if a student attached multiple files to their assignment submission, the Bb Annotate inline grader displayed for each submitted file. This behavior introduced usability issues:
- It was difficult for the instructor to know how many files the student had submitted easily.
- Multiple stacked Bb Annotate instances, one for each attachment. This caused multiple scroll bars on the grading page, making navigation difficult.
Now, when grading file-based submissions, a tabbed interface appears. The first tab displays the assessment instructions. After that, there is one tab for each submitted file. The first attached file displays by default.
This new tab-based navigation has several benefits:
- More of the student submission is visible to the grader without scrolling.
- Navigating file-based submissions is more transparent and easy by removing multiple scroll bars.
- The option to download the student-submitted file(s) is more apparent.
- The number of files the student attached to their submission is clear.
- Graders can switch between the assessment instructions and the submitted file(s).
- Graders can easily navigate across the submitted files.
Image 1. A submission with two files attached, with the first file attachment is open in Bb Annotate
Image 2. Tab navigation supports switching between the assessment content and attachments
For administrators: This feature is available in Ultra Experience Management and 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."
Edit/Regrade in Questions view – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Instructors may spot a mistake in a test question when grading a test submission. For example, instructors may have found a typo, chosen a wrong answer, or want to adjust points.
In the past, the "Edit/Regrade Questions" option was only available when grading submissions by "Student." Now, instructors can also access the Edit/Regrade workflow when grading by question.
Image 1. Instructor view - Edit/Regrade option when grading a test by question
Image 2. Instructor view - editing a question using the Edit/Regrade option
For administrators: This feature is available in Ultra Experience Management and 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
Sorting controls for Student Name, Overall Grade, Assessments, and Manual Columns in grid view – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Sorting options in the gradebook provide a more efficient grading experience.
Now instructors can sort the following gradebook grid view columns:
- Student Name
- Overall Grade
- Tests and Assignments
- Manual columns
Instructors can sort records in ascending or descending and remove any applied sorting. A purple highlight in the column header helps instructors identify where sorting is applied.
Any sorting applied yields a temporary change to the sort order of all columns in the gradebook grid view.
Image 1. Sorting an assessment in the grid view with filters applied
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses.
A new configuration option called "Grid view record sorting" has been added to the Ultra configuration page in the Administrator Panel. The default state is "On." Administrators can opt out of using the sorting controls by setting the option to "Off."
Gradebook grid view performance improvements– 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Some instructors prefer to work in the gradebook grid view. To improve the user experience, we made several improvements to this view. These improvements address overall performance and reduce the load time.
Performance tested scenarios:
- 25K student enrollments and 400 gradable items:
Load time reduced from 108 s (about 2 minutes) to 14s (87% performance improvement) - 2000 student enrollments and 400 gradable items:
Load time reduced from 19s to 8s (57% performance improvement) - 40 students and 400 gradable items:
Load time reduced from 8s to 6.8s (14.75% performance improvement)
For administrators: These improvements are available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integrations
Data state management from Administrator Panel – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Data Source Key Overview
In the past, the York DSK tool allowed users to change record row status and the data source key for records. This was helpful because users could make these changes without using the SIS Framework or REST API calls.
Now, users can change data integration one at a time or in bulk in the LMS. This functionality is critical since the York DSK tool is no longer available.
Learn administrators can change the Data Source Key and enable or disable by bulk the following items:
- Users
- Courses
- Organizations
- Enrollments
Users with permission can modify the data source key or change the status from the administrator panel by selecting the “Integration” button
Image 1. Change Row Status or Data Source Key by batch
Image 2. Data Source Key by item
Each time the administrator changes the row status or data source key, the administrator is asked to confirm the change.
Image 3. Confirmation of change to row status or data source
When the administrator disables a user, course, or enrollment, no changes are applied to it. The administrator needs to enable the item first so that changes can be made.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra and Original courses/organizations, users, and enrollments' administrator pages. There are no configurations needed.
Multiple LTI Deployments – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience and Original Experience
Ultra Course View and Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Managing LTIs
Some instructors like to integrate content tools so they have more options in their courses. Institutions can integrate third-party tools through LTI. Blackboard Learn had a model of one deployment of a tool to a single domain. Administrators managed that single domain when a tool provider was registered.
Now, administrators can register third-party integrations. After that, they can create multiple deployments of the same tool. These deployments create unique deployment IDs for managing different access credentials. Institutions can now license multiple versions of the same third-party tool. This provides benefits allowing integration for distinct parts of an organization.
Image 1. The Manage Deployments option in tool provider menus
Administrators can assign Deployments IDs to nodes based on the organization hierarchy and its integrations.
Image 2. Create a Deployment ID
After submitting the form, the new deployment IDs display on the “Manage Deployments” page.
Image 3. Deployment ID created
Multiple LTI Deployments are available for item creation for course content. LTI links can be added to the course content page. This implementation applies to deep linking and cloud documents. We are planning support for multiple LTI deployments for Books and Tools and the content editor in an upcoming release.
This implementation will be available for LTI 1.3 Tools.
For administrators: This feature is available for System Administrator and System Support. There are no configurations needed.
Content management: Blank page handler supported via REST API – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
The blank page content type is a versatile tool. With this tool, educators can create engaging and interactive teaching materials. In Original courses, the blank page can incorporate files, images, and text as links. But we had no supported integration with REST APIs, creating inefficiencies in content management.
Now, users create and organize blank pages directly from the Content REST API. We have added support for the blank page handler (resource/x-bb-blankpage). This streamlines the content management process.
Users can perform the following content operations using the blank page handler:
- GET for the following endpoints:
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/attachments
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/attachments/{attachmentId}
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/attachments/{attachmentId}/download
- POST for the following endpoints:
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/children
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/attachments
- PATCH for the following endpoints:
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}
- DELETE for the following endpoints:
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}
- /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents/{contentId}/attachments/{attachmentId}
For administrators: The required entitlements for Content API remain unchanged.
Institutional Hierarchy: Move child nodes to a new parent node via REST API – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
Institutional hierarchy is a valuable tool for some institutions. It provides a framework that reflects the institution's structure. This helps administrators to manage schools, departments, or academic programs in Learn.
We have improved the hierarchy management experience in Institutional Hierarchy. Users can move a child node to a new parent node via REST API.
Now, users can restructure their institutional hierarchy using the following endpoint:
- PATCH /public/v1/institutionalHierarchy/nodes/{nodeId}
This feature helps users streamline the organization of courses, organizations, and users.
For administrators: Nodes cannot be moved into themselves, their child node, or parent nodes. The required entitlements for Course Content API remain unchanged.
Calendar REST API: Enable non-3LO users to manage personal, course/organization, and institution calendars – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Related topic: Learn APIs
Calendars play a vital role in helping users manage academic schedules and deadlines. With calendar integration, users gain greater control and flexibility in managing their events.
In the past, the Three-Legged OAuth (3LO) access rule caused limitations. This affected users who wanted to integrate external calendaring systems with Blackboard Learn. It was also difficult to develop integrations via API that synchronize calendar events.
Now, with the latest enhancements for Calendar API, non-3LO users can:
- retrieve
- create
- update, and
- delete calendar events in Learn.
Moreover, users can integrate external calendar systems with the Learn Calendars. This includes Personal, Course/Organization, and System calendars.
For administrators: To use the endpoints, the REST integration user must have full calendar privileges. To enable integration with Learn calendars, users do not have to be enrolled in a course. When users attempt to create a Course Schedule or Office Hours event, course membership will be checked for that event type.
Learn Core & Security
Accessibility link before and after authentication – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Impact: All users
Related topic: Accessibility Overview
In the past, when clients turned on the Base Navigation, there was no link to the accessibility information. Now, all users can access the accessibility link for Blackboard Learn on the login page and anytime after logging in. The links direct users to our Help Center. On the Help site, users can find the following information about the accessibility statement, standard, and information needed to best navigate key features of Blackboard Learn Ultra:
- Accessibility statement
- Accessibility standards in use
- Navigating key features and tools using assistive technologies
On the default login page, the Accessibility link appears below the login area. After logging in, the Accessibility link appears at the bottom of the Base Navigation menu.
Image 1. The link for accessibility information on the login page
Image 2. The link for accessibility information in the Base Navigation after logging in
Legacy Navigation already includes an accessibility disclosure link on the login page. There is no change with this release.
For administrators: This feature is available for all environments with Base Navigation enabled. If a custom login page is used, it may be necessary to update it. The updated login page template can be downloaded in “Admin Panel > Brands.” Create or edit a brand and select the button "Download Template."
Self-enrollment via URL – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
Related topic: Enroll Users
Self-enrollment empowers learners and provides them with control over their educational journey. Self-enrollment also streamlines administrative tasks for instructors and learning administrators.
Now, users can self-enroll in Ultra courses through the course URL. Instructors can copy the course URL and share it with anyone they'd like to invite to enroll. Link recipients select the link, which takes them to the self-enrollment page. From there, students can join the course.
Image 1. Self-enrollment page when user selects a link to access a course where self-enroll is turned on
Administrators must select the self-enroll option for courses before instructors share the course URL. Administrators may also select the "require access code to enroll" option as desired.
Image 2. Self-enrollment page for a course that has the “require access code to enroll” setting applied
For administrators: This feature is available for Ultra courses that have the self-enrollment option selected. Administrators may select this setting when creating or editing a course.
Upgrade to Ultra
Canvas conversion improvements: Support for equations – 3900.78
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors
The Canvas Learning Management System provides instructors with a LaTeX Math Editor. The Math Editor is accessible from the content editor. Instructors can use the Math Editor to create equations and expressions.
Image 1. The Math Editor in Canvas
In the past, equations created using the Math Editor in Canvas did not convert. We have updated conversion so that equations from Canvas are now preserved. Instructors no longer need to rebuild equations when converting a course from Canvas.
For administrators: This feature is available for all Original and Ultra courses. There are no additional configurations needed.
Looking for older release notes?
Check out the Blackboard Learn Release Notes Archive for more information on past releases.
