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 7, 2024

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Ultra Document Block Resizing Improvements: Improvements have been made to the vertical resizing of a block within an Ultra document. This will help for blocks that are too tall to fit on one screen at a time or have multiple blocks along one edge.
    • Ultra Document Empty Indicator: When an instructor creates a block on an Ultra document but does not add anything to the block, Blackboard will now provide a line of text, only visible to the instructor, that the block is empty and to click on the block to activate and add content.
    • Skip Link to Content: There is now a “Skip to course information” bar added to courses that have a large image header on the content page within the course. This will allow users to skip directly to the first piece of content without having to scroll, and is especially helpful for users who navigate with the keyboard or have assistive technology needs.
    • Print Tests with Question Pools: Instructors can now print tests that have questions from a question pool. When printing a test, it will generate a new question list and answer key for each version printed.
    • Improvements for Assignment File Submissions: When students upload a file for an assignment submission, there are now improvements in how Blackboard handles the files, including: managing multiple file uploads and waiting for one document to upload before attaching another; file size limit notifications; and corrupted file alerts.
    • Discussion Board Replies: A reply to a discussion post will now be indented to better distinguish between an initial response and any replies to the response.
    • Editing Discussion Board Topics: Instructors will no longer be able to delete the Discussion Topic instructions. The only option will be Edit.
    • Download Student Activity Log: Instructors will now be able to download a student’s activity log while viewing the log. The log will be downloaded as a CSV and will only include the first 1000 events. If there are more than 1000 rows, additional filters may be applied within Blackboard and will apply to the downloaded log.
    • Changes to Batch Edit: Since the “change dates to a specific date and/or time” is the most popular option while editing items within the Batch Edit menu, it has been set to the default option.
  • Mobile App:
    • Updates to the Blackboard App Theme: To reflect Anthology Inc.’s rebranding, the Blackboard Learn App will now be known simply as the Blackboard App. In addition, the app will now feature a new name and app description, as well as a new app icon and splash page shown while the app is loading.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Assignments with multiple attempts will not update when a new submission is made
      • When a student submits a new attempt for an assignment with multiple attempts, the gradebook will not automatically show the most recent attempt when the instructor opens the assignment.
    • Course settings menu does not work when on the groups tab
      • When an instructor is on the Groups page within a course, an clicks on the Course Settings menu in the top right, it will not open.
    • Journal feedback disappears upon grading submissions
      • When adding feedback to a journal entry and posting the grade, the feedback disappears when accessing the entry again.
    • Setting release conditions breaks when using scores with decimals
      • When an instructor creates a release condition rule based on a performance criteria, and the test selected for the criteria has a score containing decimals, the release condition rule breaks, and the instructor receives an “Oops!” error message.
    • Space added in front of content in tables during conversion process
      • When a course is converted from Original to Ultra, any table that has been created will have an additional space added before the content in each cell in the table during the conversion process.
    • Student activity report not showing student list
      • When an instructor views the student activity report, it will not load the list of students.
    • Student activity time in downloaded log shows in UTC
      • When an instructor downloads an activity report or access log for an assignment or tests, the time that is displayed in the downloaded log shows as UTC time.
    • Unable to add performance release conditions using overall grade
      • When setting a performance-based release condition, using the Overall Grade when it is displayed with points, an error messages will be displayed and the release conditions will not be set.
    • Undo button stops working in Assignment text editor
      • When an instructor is editing an Assignment and clicks outside of the text box, once they click back in, the Undo button on the text editor no longer works.

October 3, 2024

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Ultra Document updates: New updates to the Ultra Document item were added, including: returning the default file option to View and Download; keyboard navigation options when resizing blocks; and redo button and cursor function updates.
    • Knowledge Check updates: An update to the new Knowledge Check feature has been released that modifies the default difficulty metric to display as “–” until there is at least one attempt. Additionally, answer instruction text now reads “choose one or more correct answers” to align with the instructor’s ability to select more than one correct answer for the question.
    • Student Submission Review Page updates: New updates to the submission review page for students have been added, including: the ability for preview user accounts to view the submission review page; the ability for students to access offline submissions from this page; additional labels and other indicators for ease of access; and a “read more” option when viewing overall or attempt feedback.
    • Followed Discussion Emails: Users can now choose to have an email notification when using the “Follow Discussion” option.
    • Flexible Grading performance improvements: Improvements were made to the flexible grading panels, including faster load times when scrolling through the student list, posting grades, or viewing the rubrics.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Unable to launch Cengage on iOS devices
      • When accessing a Cengage link on an iOS device using the Blackboard mobile app, the Cengage link won’t load.
    • Group discussions do not show new post icon except for group 1
      • When an instructor has group discussions, only group 1 (or the first group in the list) will show an icon for a new submission. Any other groups will not show the new post icon, even if there are new posts to read.
    • Screen Reader not reading attachment titles
      • When a user is using a screen reader, the title of an attachment will not be read as they navigate the page.
    • Screen Reader not reading sub-menus on homepage
      • When a user is using a screen reader, sometimes the screen reader will not read the three dot sub-menu when navigating through the homepage.
    • Sorting announcements by status column causes error
      • When sorting the announcements by the “status” column, an error message appears and the announcements are no longer accessible.
    • Ultra document content not visible when copying learning modules with force sequence enabled
      • When copying a Learning Module with force sequence enabled, the Ultra Document content is not visible to students, even if the document itself is visible.

September 5, 2024

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Knowledge Check in Ultra Documents: Instructors can now add a knowledge check when creating an Ultra Document. This can contain multiple choice and multiple answer, with automatic feedback. Instructors can also see metrics once students have completed the Knowledge Check.
    • Content Page Enhancements: The course content page has now flipped. The content for the course is aligned to the left, while the Instructor information and Details & Action tab is listed on the right. This also created greater content depth and structure when viewing content items.
    • Review Instructor Feedback: Students now have a new view when looking at their submission and reviewing instructor feedback. This provides information on the grade, any feedback or rubric items, and for assignments, any Annotate comments on their submission.
    • Assignment Feedback when Assignment is Hidden: Students can also now see feedback on assignments that are hidden by a release condition. This is currently only available for assignments.
    • Exclude Attempt when Grading: Instructors can now choose to exclude an attempt while grading student attempts for a test or assignment. These attempts will be labeled “Excluded” and will not appear on the Needs Grade panel.
    • Grading Overview Tab: Instructors can now see a new Overview tab within the Gradebook. This tab includes a list of what needs to be graded and what needs to be posted to students, and will allow quick access to any of these items for instructors to do their grading tasks.
    • Late Submissions that Need Grading: When a student has submitted a late assignment or test that has automatic zeros enabled, the indication that there is a new submission is clearer for instructors, and the 0 has been removed.
    • Student Activity Log: Instructors can now view a Student Activity Log when viewing an individual student in the gradebook. Activity items included are starting, saving, or submitting an assessment or discussion and accessing the course.
  • Resolved Known Issues:
    • Calculated formula answer range rounds to 3 decimal places
      • When calculated formula questions are used, the answer range always rounds to 3 decimal places, regardless of the chosen decimal places under the options for the answer set.
    • Editing a learning module takes more time to load than expected
      • When trying to edit a learning module, the page takes longer to load than expected.
    • Select All button in grade center messages feature does not work as expected
      • When an instructor is viewing an assignment and has sorted by “No Submission” and uses the “Select All” option to send a message reminder to students have not submitted, the message will show all students, regardless of submission status.
    • Submission fails to load on Bb Annotate
      • When an instructor attempts to view a submission that includes an uploaded document, the document will not load in Annotate for several days.
    • Trash can icon disappears in release conditions when item title is too long
      • When creating a release condition on an item with a title more than 35 characters long, the trash can icon is not visible.

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 5, 2024
January 2, 2025
February 6, 2025

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