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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Blackboard SaaS release 4000.1.0
Blackboard Learn SaaS Continuous Delivery v4000.1.0
Release to Test/Stage: Tuesday, 7 October 2025 | Release to Production: Thursday, 6 November 2025
Original Course View, Ultra Course View
For full feature details, please review the corresponding notes for the Blackboard 4000.1.0 version included below on this page. Details can be found on Anthology Global Support.
For more information on updates and bug fixes, please visit Anthology Global Support.
The November 2025 - 4000.1 release is robust with features in eight areas:
- Instructional design;
- Mastery learning and learning pathways;
- Tests and assignments;
- Gradebook;
- Learner progression and personalized experience;
- Integrations;
- Blackboard core; and
- Premium
These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.
Instructors:
- Bulk change question points in tests
- Improved navigation from Gradebook column headers
- Choose whether to include hidden items in Gradebook downloads
- Automations: Automatically send messages to students based on course-level rules
- Generate or upload custom Achievement badges
Administrators:
- Use name or ID to search object Associations in the Learning Object Repository
- Quick Enroll for Ultra Courses
- Node-Admin “Login As” Restriction
- Configure Grade Pill Decimal Display and Rounding
- Grade Export: Choose which grade value is displayed on the grade-level approval screen
- Group subjects into Programs for aggregated reporting
- Course Catalog: Duplicate existing offerings from the Offering Management screen
Instructional Design
Use name or ID to search object Associations in the Learning Object Repository – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: Learning Object Repository
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
You can now search courses and organizations by name or ID when reviewing the associations for an object in the Learning Object Repository. This improvement streamlines the process of locating relevant learning objects, making it faster and more intuitive to manage object associations.
Image 1: There is now a search box on the association page for objects in the Learning Object Repository.
Image 2: As characters are entered into the search box, the search results are narrowed.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Mastery Learning and Learning Pathways
Group subjects into Programs for aggregated reporting – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: Not applicable
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Institutions can now organize subjects into Programs—a new optional curricular structure within Blackboard. This enhancement allows subject and course offerings to be grouped under parent programs, enabling aggregated reporting and analytics across related courses.
This structure supports Anthology Outcomes with Blackboard and lays the foundation for future use in premium features such as TDM/Course Catalog, Milestone & Achievement Studio, Evaluate, and Illuminate.
Benefits include:
- Alignment between course subjects and multiple programs for improved data aggregation
- Aggregated insights into student performance and engagement across programs.
- Enhanced reporting flexibility by organizing data by Programs that allow courses to have a parent-child relationship with more than one Program.
- Actionable data for administrators, program directors, and instructional designers to improve curriculum effectiveness and support accreditation.
This update empowers institutions to make data-driven decisions and gain a comprehensive view of learning trends across academic structures.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: Admins can configure subjects and programs in the Communities section in Administrator tools.
Create custom Achievement images for more engaging badges – 4000.1
Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Topic: Not applicable
Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-6130
Instructors now have three new options for customizing Achievement badge: AI-generated images, choose from a selection of stock images from Unsplash, and manual image uploads.
- AI Badge Image Creator: Instructors can enter keywords to generate badge images using the AI Design Assistant. The system auto-generates an image based on the badge’s name and description to help guide image creation. Additionally, instructors can provide their own prompt to be used for image generation. Images are optimized for circular cropping to match the standard badge shape.
- Unsplash: Instructors can search from a section of stock images from Unsplash
- Badge Image Upload: Instructors can also upload custom-designed badge images for use in Achievements.
Students will see the badges selected or created by their instructors, enhancing personalization and recognition.
Image 1: Instructors can select or generate an image for the custom achievement.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: To enable this feature, administrators must activate the Achievements feature flag. This flag controls visibility and access to all Achievement-related functionality, except AI-generated content (see configuration note below).
Configuration: The AI Design Assistant must be turned on before it can be used for Achievement badge images. In the Administrator panel, go to Building Blocks. Select Installed Tools to access AI Design Assistant and Unsplash settings. Make sure that the AI Design Assistant is turned on, then set Generate Achievement Images to On.
Tests & Assignments
Bulk change question points in tests – 4000.1
Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Topic: Edit Tests and Questions
Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-247
Instructors can now efficiently update point values for multiple questions in tests using new bulk editing options. This enhancement supports:
- Selecting all questions at once, with the option to deselect specific questions if desired.
- Selecting specific questions (e.g., question 1, 4, 9, 15, 16, 27, and 32) for targeted point value adjustments.
- Selecting questions by type (e.g., all True/False questions) to apply consistent point value changes across that question type.
- Selecting questions by type AND specific questions.
Instructors
After students open the assessment or make submissions, instructors can make these changes:
- Edit the text of questions and answers
- Edit the point value
- New grades are recalculated for all previously submitted assessments
- Give everyone full credit for a question
- Change which answers are correct
- Change the scoring options for Multiple Choice and Matching questions
- Align questions with goals, from the assessment only
After students open the assessment, instructors can't make these changes:
- Add new questions and answers
- Delete a question
- Delete answers in Matching and Multiple Choice questions
- Change the number of blanks in a Fill in the Blanks question
- Move the content, such as switch the order of questions, answers, or additional content
- Add or remove questions from a question pool or delete a pool from an assessment
Image 1: Instructors select Bulk edit points.
Image 2: Instructors can select the questions that they want included in the bulk edit.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Gradebook
Configure Grade Pill Decimal Display and Rounding – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: Default Settings for Courses
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Administrators can now configure how grade pills display numeric values across the system. Previously, grade pills defaulted to showing a maximum of two decimal places with truncation. With this update, admins can choose between 0, 1, or 2 decimal places and select whether values are truncated or rounded half up.
These settings are available in Admin > Course Settings > Grade Pill Settings (formerly Grade Pill Colors). The configuration affects grade pill display only and does not alter stored grade values or calculations.
Options include:
- Decimal precision: 0, 1, or 2 (default: 2)
- Rounding mode:
- Truncate: RoundingMode.DOWN (default)
- Round: RoundingMode.HALF_UP
- Values 0 to <5: round down
- Values 5 to <10: round up
Image 1: How rounded grades display in the Gradebook.
Image 2: How truncated grades display in the Gradebook.
Image 3: Configuration for Decimal Handling, where admins can select the number of decimals to display in grade pills and if the grades should be rounded.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: Admins can configure this setting in Admin > Course Settings > Grade Pill Settings (formerly Grade Pill Colors).
Improved navigation from Gradebook column headers – 4000.1
Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Topic: Not applicable
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
We enhanced the gradebook grid view to streamline access to submission pages from column headers on the Grades page. These updates improve clarity and consistency across item types.
Changes include:
- Assignments, Tests, Forms, Discussions, Journals:
- Replaced the Edit option with a View Submissions option using the eye icon.
- Renamed the grade cell menu option from View to View Submission.
- Manual Items, Calculations, Total Calculations:
- Added a View option to the column header that routes to the submission page.
- SCORM Items:
- Added a View Submissions option with the eye icon.
- Renamed the grade cell menu option to View Submission.
- Removed Edit and Preview SCORM options from the column header menu.
- Attendance:
- Replaced the Edit option with a View option using the eye icon.
- Navigation behavior remains unchanged, with users being routed to the attendance page.
Image 1: Improved navigation in the Gradebook column headers.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Choose whether to include hidden items in Gradebook downloads – 4000.1
Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Topic: Work Offline with Grade Data
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Instructors now have more flexibility when downloading the gradebook for offline use. Previously, downloads included only the columns visible to instructors. With this update, instructors can choose whether to include hidden items in the download file. This enhancement builds on prior improvements to the Item Management view, which introduced bulk show/hide controls.
Instructors
A new Include Hidden Items option appears when selecting Full Gradebook in Download Options. When selected, the download will contain all gradebook columns, including those hidden from instructor view.
Image 1: Include Hidden Items toggle switch in the Download Grades panel.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Learner Progression & Personalized Experience
Automations: Automatically send messages to students based on course-level rules – 4000.1
Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Topic: Automations
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Instructors can now create automations that send congratulatory or supportive messages to students based on custom rules set at the course level. Instructors define the score thresholds and write the messages. These automations help instructors deliver timely, personalized feedback throughout the course, boosting student engagement and saving time.
Instructors
On the Course Content page, instructors select View Automations under Automations to manage their automations.
In this initial release, two automations are available. Instructors choose to either Send congratulatory message or Send supportive message. Congratulatory messages are sent when a student earns a high score; supportive messages are sent when a student does not achieve a specified score. Instructors select the grade item, set the score threshold as a percentage, and enter the message text.
Image 1: In the Automation trigger section, instructors set the conditions that will trigger the message to be sent.
Image 2: In the Action to be taken section, the instructor writes the message that will be sent to students when the rule is triggered.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: No additional license is required for Automations.
Configuration: This feature is off by default. Administrators can turn it on by going to the Administrator Panel. Select Configure in The Ultra Experience is Here! module. Select Automations to turn automations on or off.
Integrations
Grade Export: Choose which grade value is displayed on the grade-level approval screen – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: Configure the Grade Extract
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Administrators can now choose which grade value appears on the grade-level approval screen. This update helps ensure the value instructors see during grade approval matches what appears in their gradebooks, reducing confusion.
Available grade display options include:
- Grade Letter: Returns a letter grade if the schema value is a letter; otherwise, returns an empty string.
- Schema Value: Returns the grade column Primary display.
- Percentage Score: Returns the calculated percentage score.
- Secondary Schema Value: Returns the grade column Secondary display (applies only to Original courses).
- Score Value: Returns the score value.
Image 1: Administrators now have the option to choose the Grade Display Value Configuration.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra and Original courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Blackboard Core
Quick Enroll for Ultra Courses – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: Enroll Users
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Administrators can now use Quick Enroll in Ultra Course Settings to temporarily join a course as an instructor. This feature streamlines troubleshooting and content updates by allowing admins to enroll in courses, make changes, and then unenroll—all within the course UI.
Image 1. The Details and Actions panel on the Course Content page allowing administrator users to quickly enroll in an Ultra Course to make necessary changes.
When an administrator selects Quick Enroll within a course, a confirmation modal appears. Upon confirmation, the admin is enrolled as an instructor and can perform necessary actions. Once finished, selecting Quick Unenroll removes the role and any participation data (e.g., discussion posts or submissions) created during the session.
Image 2. An administrator user, once they have enrolled into a course to make necessary changes, can also unenroll in the course by selecting the option in the Details and Actions panel.
This feature is designed to reduce friction in support workflows while maintaining auditability and accessibility standards.
Administrators
Availability: Available for Ultra courses only. Visible to users in the Support Admin group.
Activation: Feature flag “Enable Support Quick Enroll” (opt-in, off by default).
Configuration: Required privilege: Course/Organization Control Panel > Quick Enroll.
Node-Admin “Login As” Restriction – 4000.1
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: "Login As" Tool
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
This update enhances security for institutions using Blackboard’s Institutional Hierarchy by restricting the “Login As” privilege for Node Administrators. Previously, a Node Admin could use “Login As” to access nodes in the hierarchy they should not have access to, potentially exposing sensitive information across multiple campuses or institutions within the same Blackboard system.
This feature is especially critical for institutions with multiple colleges or universities under one Blackboard instance, where each node represents a separate entity.
The feature behavior includes:
- The “Login As” privilege is now restricted so that Node Admins cannot log in as users or admins in other nodes where they do not have appropriate access.
- System Administrators retain full “Login As” privileges at the system level.
- Node Admins can only use “Login As” within their assigned node(s); attempts to access other nodes are blocked.
- The restriction prevents cross-node access, ensuring that admins cannot view or manage users, data, or settings outside their designated scope.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra and Original courses using Institutional Hierarchy.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Premium
Course Catalog: Duplicate existing offerings from the Offering Management screen
Test/Stage: week of 20 October 2025; Production: week of 20 October 2025
Impact: Administrators
Updated Help Topic: The Offering Management Screen
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
Offering managers can now duplicate existing offerings directly from the Offering Management screen. This feature helps managers quickly create new offerings that share most characteristics with an existing one, while updating only the details that need to change. New offerings are set to be unavailable by default to avoid confusion while they are configured. Duplicating offerings reduces the time and effort needed to create new offerings based on existing ones.
Image 1: The menu on the Offering Management screen now includes a Duplicate Offering option for original offerings.
Image 2: The manager can specify the Offering ID of the new offering, then selects the Duplicate button.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Course Catalog courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: None needed.
Looking for older release notes?
Check out the Blackboard Learn Release Notes Archive for more information on past releases.
