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.

January 8, 2026

  • Update to Ultra Navigation and Course Layout:
    • Users will now see a shortened Ultra Navigation layout on the left-hand pane when logging into Blackboard. This layout change allows Blackboard to utilize screen space more effectively.
    • Additionally, when opening a course, users will no longer see the X button in the top left, along with a small amount of the home page. Courses and Organizations will now take up the whole screen.
    • When a user needs to leave the course, they can use the Home button in the top right to go back to the Blackboard home page.
    • Users will also be able to click on the word “Courses” on the top bar to view their previously opened courses to jump between them without having to return to the homepage each time.
  • Ultra Courses:
    • Usability Improvements for Document Block Layout: Instructors now have more options when moving blocks around on an Ultra document. New options include: change row, change block/column size, and change block/column position.
    • Expanded Options for True/False Questions: Instructors can now use the true/false question type to create questions with other 2 choice answers, such as True/False, Yes/No, Right/Wrong, and Agree/Disagree.
    • Enhanced Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer Question: When creating a multiple choice or multiple answer question, it will now default to 4 answer options instead of three. Additionally, instructors are able to choose the maximum amount of options a student can select. If students can only select one option, they will see a radio button instead of a check box.
    • Improved Load Performance for Large Tests: If a test has more than 200 questions, it will now load significantly faster than it did previously.
    • Improved Gradebook Download Options: When an instructor is downloading a gradebook to Excel, they will only see the option to include hidden items from the download if there are hidden items. Previously, this would be available regardless of whether or not there were hidden gradebook items.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • AI Generated multiple choice question answers reordered during student attempts
      • When instructors create multiple choice questions in a test using the AI Generator, the order of the answer choices appears differently when students attempt the test. Although the randomization setting is disabled, the answer options are still displayed in a different sequence than originally generated.
    • Cursor defaults to message body when creating new announcement
      • When instructors create a new announcement, the initial cursor focus is automatically set in the message body field, instead of in the title field.
    • Drop-down menus and checkbox visibility issues in High Contrast mode
      • When using High Contrast mode on Windows devices, drop-down menus and checkboxes are barely visible.
    • File option setting changes to “download only” after saving an Ultra document with multiple files
      • When multiple files are uploaded to a document, the default file options setting is “view and download”. However, after saving the document, the setting changes to “download only”.
    • Text with forward slash fails to appear when searching for content
      • When using the Search feature inside the course, and searching for text that contains a forward slash ( / ), no results are returned.
    • “View Announcement” link in email leads to blank page
      • When clicking on the “View Announcement” link within an emailed announcement, instructors are taken to a page that displays the announcement subject, with a white announcement page and no text.

December 4, 2025

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Release Condition Updates: Instructors can now add a release condition based on whether a student has opened a piece of content that is not graded, such as a document or course link.
    • Participation Count for Discussions: Instructors can now specify the number of participation events that a student needs to complete on a Discussion. Instructors can choose between the number of posts, the number of replies, or a combined number of posts and replies. Students will see this information when viewing the grade settings for the discussions.
    • Removal of Originality Report on AI Conversations: Instructors no longer have the option to turn on Originality Report (SafeAssign) for AI Conversation assignments. SafeAssign is not an AI Detection tool, so any content returned on the report may be misconstrued or cause confusion.
    • Complete/Incomplete Grade Status Changes: When grading a complete/incomplete column, previously, instructors would need to leave an “Incomplete” grade blank for Blackboard to register that it was incomplete. Blackboard has now added a new grade pill icon that will display until the item has been completed, and then will change to the green checkmark. 0’s assigned for the Automatic Zero setting will also use the incomplete grade pill.
    • Group Membership Changes during Grading: To promote better understanding of group membership for assignments, improvements have been made to the Group Membership list. If users have been removed from a group, the group will still be listed, but a tag saying “No Members” will be displayed. For groups that have changed, the grading interface will only show current group members for each attempt.
    • Flexible Grading Improvements: All items that can open to the flexible grading menu will now have a consistent tabbed interface. Previously, tabs were only shown for file-based submissions. Now, instructors will always see the Instructions tab, along with the Submission or File tabs.
    • Learning Module Table of Contents: Instructors can now see a collapsible table of contents when viewing learning modules. This mirrors what students see when viewing a learning module, without needing to access student preview mode.
  • Mobile App/Browser:
    • Default App Timeout Changed: Previously, the default Session Timeout for the mobile app was 3 hours. This means that users would be automatically logged out after 3 inactive hours. That has now been changed to match Towson’s auto-timeout for single-sign on using your email login.
  • Bb Annotate Updates and Fixes: (released on December 16, 2025)
    • Improved highlighting behavior – fixed an issue where selecting the last character of a paragraph prevented proper text highlighting for comments.
    • Stable text color in text boxes – resolved an issue where text color reverted to black when moving the cursor within a text box
    • Comment stability when changing text color – fixed a problem where the comment box disappeared when selecting a text color in “fit width” view
    • Apostrophe typing issue – eliminated a bug where typing apostrophes quickly caused the cursor to jump to the top of the page
    • Automatic cursor focus for comments – improved workflow by ensuring the cursor automatically focuses in the comment box when adding annotations
    • Preserved formatting when pasting from external sources – fixed issues with text pasted from Word, removing extra spaces
    • Improved document viewer panel adjustment – enhanced usability by allowing keyboard navigation for resizing thumbnail previews, reducing reliance on drag-only adjustments
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Answers to multiple choice questions created with math editor are illegible
      • When students are reviewing their test submissions, multiple choice question answers that were created using the Math Editor are illegible because the background color and font color are similar.
    • Audio feedback does not play on Safari on iPad
      • Students using Safari on an iPad who check the feedback left by the instructor will see any audio feedback files. However, when they attempt to play the files, they will not play, and instead say “loading” indefinitely.
    • Block styling button is inaccessible via keyboard navigation
      • When navigating via a keyboard, the block styling button is not available. This prevents users from accessing the Edit, Move, Style, and Delete buttons.
    • Deleting a form from the gradebook displays the wrong text
      • When attempting to delete a Form from the Grades tab in the gradebook, the pop-up displays the text as code instead of the words “Delete” and “Cancel”.
    • Enrolled instructors are unable to access journal submissions
      • When an instructor tries to access the student submissions from a journal, the instructor gets a session debug error.
    • Instructors are not able to scroll up or down while leaving audio feedback
      • When students include lengthy text in their submissions, and instructors go to grade them using audio feedback, instructors are unable to scroll up or down on the submission while recording.
    • Large tests (20+ questions) take longer than expected to load
      • When opening a test that has more than 20 questions, there is a pause without any questions being shown. The page appears frozen. Then the questions will appear. The delay increases as the number of questions increases.
    • Rounding of student answers in calculated numeric questions
      • When students answer a calculated numeric question with precise values (e.g., 0.00005), the system rounds the input to 0.0001 during grading and display.

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.

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.

February 5, 2026
March 5, 2026