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.

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.

August 7, 2025

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Increase Accessibility in Gradebook: Updates to the HTML coding of the gradebook provides an improved gradebook structure for students using screen readers or keyboard navigation. This change was done to both the student gradebook, as well as the student Overview page in the instructor gradebook.
    • Table of Contents in Learning Modules: Students will now see a full table of contents in each Learning Module. This panel is collapsible by the student. Additionally, assessments within a Learning Module now open within a full panel, instead of on the right-hand side.
    • LTI Display updates: When viewing an LTI content item within a course, such as an embedded video from Panopto, the content now takes up 100% of the width of the screen. Previously, it would not take up the entire screen, causing the content to be small and issues with the page around it.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Feedback panel affects view of documents on group submissions with rubrics
      • When viewing group attempts, the inline view of submitted files collapses after expanding the feedback panel if the assignment is using a grading rubric.
    • Feedback text disappears from group submission when clicking grade pill
      • When text is entered into the overall feedback box without saving the changes, then a grade is entered, the page will refresh and the feedback in the overall feedback box is lost.
    • Folder names and descriptions appear to update without saving
      • When editing folders in Ultra courses, the name and description update in real time on the Course Content page as changes are made. However, if the Edit panel is closed without saving, the updated values still appear on the Content page until the course is refreshed.
    • Forced sequence modules cause Cengage LTI links to appear broken
      • In a module when force sequence has been activated, then a Cengage link is placed inside the module, the link will appear with the label “The link is broken. The corresponding placement has been deleted.”
    • Incorrect rubric headers after copy
      • When copying a rubric from an Original course to an Ultra course, the rubric’s row and column names are altered and replaced with values such as “grid.column1.label.”
    • Safari Browser – long question text prevents drag and drop reordering
      • In Safari, the drag-and-drop reordering of questions cannot scroll beyond the currently displayed content on the page. If a question is too long, other questions cannot be moved above it because the drop zone becomes unreachable.
    • Tests with future date release conditions hidden in gradebook
      • When creating a test with a future date release condition and selecting the “Show” option, the test does not show in the gradebook.

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.

November 6, 2025
December 4, 2025
January 8, 2026
February 5, 2026
March 5, 2026