SaaS Monthly Updates

Blackboard SaaS will be updated on the first Thursday of each month, unless otherwise stated. Check back here for new features and updates.

November 6, 2025

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Custom Achievement Badge Images: Instructors can now use the Unsplash image database when creating images for badges.
    • Bulk Change Question Points: Instructors can now change the point value for multiple questions in a test at one time. Instructors can change points based on a specific question type, selecting a specific list of questions, or selecting all questions. Any questions that already have answers will automatically regrade to the new point value.
    • Grade Pill Rounding: Instructors will now see students grades with decimal points in the Overall Grade column. The grade pill will display the points, including up to 2 decimal places, without rounding.
    • Gradebook Column Heading Navigation: Updates to the gradebook column headers were made, including changing the “Edit” option to “View Submissions” when clicking on a column header for an assessment (i.e., test, discussion board, etc.) submitted in Blackboard. When clicking on an individual student’s cell, the option now says “View Submission” instead of “View”.
    • Gradebook Download Changes: Instructors can now choose whether to include any hidden gradebook columns when downloading the gradebook for offline work. This option is only available when selecting the “Full Grade” download setting.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Calendar in mobile app does not share to iCal on iPhones
      • When attempting to share a calendar from the Mobile App to the native Calendar app on an iPhone, the file does not share properly and will not load in the Calendar app.
    • JAWS not correctly identifying available content in forced sequence learning module
      • When JAQS is used with force sequence enabled, the screen reader incorrectly announces that certain content is unavailable, even though it is available and functioning as intended. This issue is specific to learning modules with force sequence enforced.
    • Keyboard navigation does not work for option menu items within gradebook
      • While trying to use the keyboard on a Windows operating system to navigate the gradebook options menu, the cursor focus does not change.
    • Question tags require a page refresh to display
      • When instructors create and apply tags to a question in the test, the newly created tags do not immediately appear in other questions or question banks.
    • Replies in gradable discussions do not always load for instructors
      • When instructors view student posts in a gradable discussion, some replies may not appear and are hidden behind a visual indicator.
    • Tests with “no category” show incorrect header when student takes test
      • When a test does not have a category assigned, by selecting the “No Category” option in the grading settings, students will see “components.directives.attempt-canvas.header” above the first question. They can still take the test like normal.
    • Ungraded forms incorrectly add 100 points to overall grade
      • Ungraded forms, set to be worth 0 points, are incorrectly contributing 100 points to the overall grade calculation under the “Points” tab. It will also have a different percentage listed on the “Weighted” tab if there are other graded forms in the course.

October 2, 2025

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Message Interface Changes: The Course Messages interface has changed, providing a more modern and sleek experience. Messages are now shown in chat-like bubbles, similar to other messaging apps. Users will also see the person’s avatar next to the respective messages, indicating who sent it. Time and date stamps are now included directly above each message sent, and group conversations are separated visually.
    • Save and Cancel Actions: Blackboard has standardized the Save and Cancel action across several assessments. This included replacing words like “Close” with “Cancel” and “Continue” with “Save”.
    • Tagged Questions: Instructors can now add metadata using the “Enter question tags” option while creating a question. This allows for easier searching in the Reuse Question panel, listing each tag under the “Categories” filter.
    • Requiring Questions before a Form is Visible: Instructors now must enter at least 1 question in a Blackboard Form before it can be made available to students or apply Release Conditions. Previously, instructors could make Forms available without questions.
    • Improved Student Experience in Fill in the Blank Questions: Students now have a cleaner view when answering a Fill in the Blank question on a test. They will now see the blanks inline with the question text, allowing them to enter the answer directly into the question text. Screen reader accessibility has also been improved for Fill in the Blank questions.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Close button in expanded image is not keyboard accessible
      • When navigating to images within a document using keyboard navigation, the user can open the image. However, the keyboard navigation remains focused on the background content and the user is unable to close the image with keyboard navigation.
    • Discussion filter will not clear
      • When viewing a discussion, clicking on a student’s name will filter to show only their posts. However, clicking on their name again will not clear the filter.
    • Discussion text box does not wrap when long strings or long URLs are added to a reply
      • When users enter an extremely long unbroken string of characters or a long URL, the box expands horizontally instead of wrapping the text. This causes the input field to move outside the visible screen, preventing users from easily reading their reply.
    • Group messages sent via email are not delivered to students
      • When the “send an email copy to recipients” option is enabled for group messages, students in the group do not receive a corresponding email.
    • Instructor view of overall grade pill is inaccurate if some grades remain unposted
      • When viewing the gradebook and looking at the Overall Grade pill, some overall grades display inaccurately if students have unposted grades.

September 4, 2025

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Ultra Document Block Styling: Instructors can now use the block styling when creating or editing Ultra Documents. This can help provide more structured documents for students to view.
    • Question Titles: Instructors can now add, view, edit, and delete question titles wherever they are working on a question: in a test, on a form, or in a question bank. Words used in titles will also be searchable in the “Reuse Question” panel.
    • Time Limit and Extra Time Displays: All users will now see the time limit and any extra time presented in a consistent format. Previously, students would see the entire time they had, with any additional time added in. Now, all users will see, as an example, “Time limit: 20 minutes + 10 minutes extra time”.
    • Announcement Creation Page Updates: The “send to all course members” drop down has been removed from the New Announcement page.
    • Pop-out Rubric for Group Submissions: When grading a group submission, instructors now have the ability to pop-out the rubric while grading, similar to grading individual assignments.
    • Per-question Feedback on Group Submissions: Students can now view per-question feedback on group test submissions. The feedback provided by instructors was not visible previously to students, but they will now be able to see it, similar to an individual test submission.
    • “See more” Functionality in Question Pools: When adding a question pool, the filter by panel now has the “see more” functionality listed when a filter has more than 10 options to select from. This option is available for the Sources, Question Types, and Tags filters.
    • Improved Accessibility on Submissions List: Updates to the Submissions list in the gradebook has added better accessibility for moving throughout this page for users with both screen readers or keyboard navigation.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • JAWS Screen reader reads a multiple choice question option twice
      • In a test, when a student attempts a multiple choice question using the JAWS screen reader, each answer option is announced twice.
    • Removing a group set causes group submissions to be lost
      • When an instructor removes a group set that has assignment submissions, all of those submissions are lost. The grade will remain, but will only be visible to students.
    • Time limit inconsistencies when extra time is allowed in tests
      • When Extra Time is set for the time limit for the test itself, the test time is displayed as the entire time (time limit + additional time), instead of displaying the time limit plus any additional time granted separately.

Previous Updates

Tentative Future Updates

Blackboard Inc. has released the following dates for updates to Blackboard. Please note that Towson University has no control over these dates and that they are subject to change.

December 4, 2025
January 8, 2026
February 5, 2026
March 5, 2026