Previous Updates to Blackboard SaaS

All updates older than 3 months are listed on this page.

January 2, 2024

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Grade Visible to Students when Item is Hidden by Release Conditions: Students can now see upcoming and past assignments in the gradebook, even when they’ve been hidden by date or user restrictions in the content stream. This will allow students the ability to see their grade and feedback after the item has been hidden.
    • Delegated Grading Improvements: Instructors can now allow delegated grading when using anonymous grading. Previously, instructors had to choose between delegating grading and anonymous grading.
    • Updates to Flexible Grading with Multiple Attempts: Previously, instructors would only see the most recent graded attempt and would have to make extra clicks to see the newest ungraded attempt. Now, if there is an ungraded attempt, regardless of the attempt grading option, instructors will see the newest ungraded attempt for the assignment.
    • Sorting Controls with Anonymous Grading: Instructors now have the option to sort attempts by newest or oldest attempt when grading via anonymous grading.
    • Enhanced Gradebook Grid View: Some changes have been made to the grid view layout in the gradebook to display more rows and columns while grading. These changes include: reducing size of icons and spacing for columns; hiding the course name and top part of the course while scrolling; group name display changes on group assignments; student IDs displaying under the student’s name; and displaying the student’s full name when hovering over it.
    • New Total Calculation Column: Instructors now have the option to create a “Total Calculation” column. This will allow you to use the weighted points, similar to a weighted column in Original. Total calculation columns can be included in the Overall Grade column setup.
    • Category listing on Gradebook List View: Instructors will now see the category listed for each item in the “Gradable Items” list view in the gradebook.
    • Attempt Logs for Assessments: Instructors can now see an attempt log for an assessment when grading. The attempt log for a test will include the event (“started”, “saved”, or “submitted”), the question number, and the time spent on each question. For an assignment, the log will show when the attempt was started and submitted, including if it had been saved as a draft. If anonymous grading is turned on, the attempt log will be visible once all attempts are posted and anonymous grading is turned off.
    • Unused File Management Tool: Instructors will now see an option called “Unused files” on the three dot menu on the Course Content page. This will show instructors all of the content that is in their course’s file storage, but is not in use. These files might have been copied from an old course, or added, then removed.
    • Batch Edit – Change Specific Date and/or Time: Instructors can now use the Batch Edit feature to change the due time on all assignments without editing the due date or visibility dates.
  • Original Courses: 
    • Updated Options when Emailing from Grade Center: Instructors now have new options when sending an email to students through the grade center, including adding an attachment and an option to include a list of recipients in the email to sender.

December 7, 2023

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Large Rubric Support: Rubrics can now have up to 15 performance levels for each criteria.
    • Group assessment exceptions: Instructors can now set a unique due date for each group when creating assignments, using the “Add or edit exceptions” feature.
    • Partial Credit on Multi-select Questions: Instructors can now choose to allow partial and/or negative credit on questions where multiple answers can be chosen. This can allow students to receive negative credit for selecting wrong answers, preventing them from selecting all available answers and receiving full credit.
    • New Sorting Controls in Grading Panels: When grading attempts, instructors can now sort the attempts list by submission date, last name, first name, or student ID.
    • Sorting Controls in Gradebook Grid View: Previously, instructors were only able to sort certain columns in the gradebook grid view by the grade earned. This ability has expanded to all columns in the gradebook grid view and now all columns can be sorted by grade.
  • Mobile App:
    • Changes to the Grades page: The mobile app now offers more information for both students and instructors when viewing the “Grades” page in the mobile app. Instructors can see items that need grading, with a shorter list and “show more” option. Students can see upcoming due dates within the next week, recently graded items, and a shorter list with a “show more” option.
    • Changes to Course Content pages: New changes to the course content pages inside of a course help the user navigate the mobile app better. These changes include nested items taking up less space; smaller icons for items, which provide more space for text; the full display of titles and descriptions; and for instructors, the ability to show or hide content to students on the content page instead of needing to open up the item.

November 2, 2023

  • Ultra Courses:
    • Image Insertion in Ultra: A new image insertion option has been added to multiple textboxes for both students and instructors in Ultra courses. This includes Discussion Boards, Journals, Course Messages, and Ultra Documents.
    • Partial and Negative Credit for Test Questions: Negative Credit and better Partial Credit scoring is available, and on by default, for multiple choice and matching questions.
    • Late Submission Indicator in Submission Receipts: Students will now see an indicator if they submit their assignment or test late when viewing the submission receipt for the attempt.
    • Journal Tab Navigation for Instructors: When Instructors use the Journals tool, a new tab has been included at the top of the page to switch between the initial Journal prompt and Grades & Participation. This is similar to the Discussion Board view.
    • Updates to Flexible Grading: Anonymous Grading has now been added to the flexible grading experience within Blackboard Ultra.
    • Multiple Attachments in Grading: When a student submits multiple attachments for a graded item, the items will be listed at the top of the grading page for the instructor to tab through, instead of having to open a new screen for each attachment.
    • Edit/Regrade on Tests: When an instructor is grading by question, the “Edit/Regrade” menu is now available. Previously, this option was only available when grading by student.
    • More Sorting Controls: Instructors can now sort the gradebook based on student name, overall grade, as well as by individual assignments or tests, including manually created columns.
    • Self-Enrollment for Ultra Organizations: An update was added to make self-enrolling in Ultra Organizations easier for users.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Navigating to next group assignment attempt does not show correct information”.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “The ‘Grade Next Item’ Button does not work to grade the next discussion item”.

October 5, 2023

  • Ultra Courses:
    • SafeAssign Direct Submit: Instructors can now use the Direct Submit feature to run papers through SafeAssign in Ultra courses without needing to have an assignment that has SafeAssign enabled. Instructors can upload documents or copy/paste text for submission. This will work similar to the Direct Submit feature in Original courses.
    • Delegated Grading by Groups: Instructors can now set up the delegated grading option to allow graders to only grade students in certain groups, as opposed to having a random selection or manually assigning each student to a grader.
    • Multiple Choice Questions Partial Credit: When an instructor creates a multiple choice question on a test and uses the partial credit option, the partial credit percentage will automatically redistribute the percentage for each correct answer when a new answer is selected or a correct answer is removed.
    • Multiple Choice Answer Deselection: Students can now deselect an answer on a multiple choice question without needing to select a new answer first. This will allow students to leave a question unanswered without having to guess.
    • Sending Reminders from Gradebook: Instructors can now send reminders for individual assignments or tests through the gradebook. Select the three dots or the column name, then select “Send Reminder”. Students will receive a reminder with the course and assignment information, including the due date.
    • Bb Annotate Anonymous Comments: Instructors can now choose to have their comments shown as “anonymous” when grading via the Bb Annotate inline grading tools.
    • Sorting Controls for Manually Graded Items: Instructors can now sort using the headers when grading a column manually for items collected outside of Blackboard. The header options available to sort include name, grade, feedback, and whether the grade has been posted.
    • Copying Grading Schemas: Instructors can now individually select a grading schema when doing a course copy.
    • Course Alert Changes: Previously, the last course access alert was set to 5 days. This has been updated to the default of 15 days. Instructors can still go in and edit the number of days manually.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “LTI Icons Move Within the Gradebook”. Previously, when an instructor would scroll through the gradebook, the icons for items from an LTI Integration (i.e., McGraw Hill) would move and not stay with their respective columns. This has been resolved.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Discussion Feedback is not Displaying within Gradebook”. Previously, while grading and moving between students, the feedback for discussion posts would not cycle through for the right student as you moved between students. This has been resolved.
  • Original Courses:
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “‘Save and Next’ is not marking items as Graded”. Previously, when an instructor would enter a grade, then use the “Save and Next” item, the previous student would not be marked as graded. This has been resolved.

September 7, 2023

  • Auto-captioning for video and audio feedback: All feedback that is recorded as audio or video feedback will automatically have captions created for the feedback. This will help ensure accessibility for all students.
  • Updated wording for course alerts in Activity Stream: The Activity Stream wording for course alerts has been updated to use the same wording as the Course Activity report. This will help prevent confusion when looking at the Activity Stream.
  • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Announcement Email gives Invalid Link Preventing Users Access to an Announcement”. Previously, when the announcement would be sent via email, the link would not work properly due to unnecessary text being added to the URL. This has been resolved.
  • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Erratic Selection of Text in Bb Annotate”. Previously, using Bb Annotate, instructors would see erratic highlighting or be unable to highlight text in the student submission. This has been resolved.
  • Ultra Courses:
    • Batch Edit for Actions: Instructors can now batch edit items inside an Ultra course to shift dates, adjust visibility, or remove date or time release conditions.
    • Copying Announcements Updates: Instructors can now choose which announcements to copy when performing a course copy, or to select all announcements from the old course. Copied announcements will show up in the new course as drafts and will need to be posted once the copy is complete.
    • Flexible grading updates: When grading items, instructors can now have only one of the two side panels open using the new grading page. If the instructor opens one of the panels, the other panel will automatically close to retain as much of the screen as possible for the student submission. Instructors can also choose to view by student or by question when grading a test or assignment.
    • Anonymous Grading Reminders: Instructors can now send a reminder to students who have not submitted an attempt on an anonymously graded assignment. Names will still be withheld from the instructor view and only the number of students who it was sent to will be visible.
    • Progress Tracking for Integrations: When student progress tracking is turned on, LTI content will automatically be updated to “complete” when the student submits the work. This will help ensure better reporting for instructors and for students.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “In Ultra, Time Picker Changes the Date”. Previously, the date would change when the time was changed. This has been resolved.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Navigating to the Next Attempt in the ‘Needs Grading’ Page Marks the Previous Attempt as Graded”. Previously, when moving between attempts without grading them, the attempts would be labeled as graded. This has been resolved.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “In Ultra Disabled Students Show in Student Progress for Assignment Items”. Previously, students who had dropped the course and were listed as disabled would show in the Student Progress list which would cause confusion. This has been resolved.
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Date Management Fails to Update Content with Previous Availability Exceptions”. Previously, when copying content with the availability exceptions, the Date Management tools would be unable to change the dates or remove the exceptions. This has been resolved.
  • Original Courses:
    • A patch was added to fix the known issue “Grade Center Report is not being Generated when Course Information is Selected from the Header Information Section”. Previously, when an instructor attempted to create a report in the grade center, the report would fail if the option “course information” was checked to be included in the header. This has been resolved.
  • Mobile App:
    • Grades landing page improvement: When looking at the Grades tab on the mobile app, students can now see their overall grade in all of their listed courses, and instructors can see the overall course grade average for their courses.

August 3, 2023

  • Messages tab updates: Courses with unread messages will now show up first on the Messages tab in Ultra Base Navigation.
  • Course status updates: On the Courses tab, more information is listed on the course card to indicate whether a course is available for students or not. If the course is open and has not yet been accessed by the student, they will see “Open – start now” listed.
  • Ultra Courses:
    • New flexible grading options and gradebook changes are available to instructors. These include:
      • Tests: grade by question or by student
      • Rubrics: better integration and viewpoint of the rubric during grading
      • Better grouping of filters or questions during the grading process
      • Updates to the gradebook, including removing “Grade Now” text from cells where the student has no attempt for the corresponding column. Cells without an attempt will now show a ” – ” instead of “Grade Now”.
      • The Move option when viewing the column list is now more visible to allow for easier reordering.
      • Bulk download submission options have been updated to include downloaded submissions for anonymous grading assignments.
    • Updates to the submission receipt pop up window and email for students. The new information included is the course name and ID, the assessment name, submission size (if a file was uploaded), and an auto-submit indicator.
    • Updates to the rubrics area, including editing rubrics that have not been used for grading and how text is selected to be edited.
    • Course Banner improvements: Instructors can now choose whether the course banner image is shown inside of the course, on the course card, or both. They can also drag and modify which area of the image is shown and provide alternative text.
    • Learning module images: Instructors can now add a cover image for a learning module inside the course. Each module can have a different image, and instructors can mark the image as decorative or add alternative text.
    • Course activity report improvements: Instructors can now see flags for students in the Course Activity Report. These include the number of days a student is inactive and if a student’s overall grade drops below a specific percentage. These flags can also be customized for each course.
    • The Groups page and settings can now be accessed from the top bar of the course page, instead of under the Course Details menu. Improvements to Group Messages have also been made, including the ability to send to multiple groups and replying within your group.
    • Ultra Document Accessibility Checker: The Ally Accessibility checker is now listed in the top right corner of all Ultra Documents. Instructors can click on the gauge to see the accessibility score and make improvements if needed.
    • Resolved several known issues:
      • Hyperlinks disappear when copying a bulleted list from Microsoft Word – hyperlinks now remain when copying text
      • SafeAssign toggle not staying enabled when turned on in test settings – SafeAssign toggle will now stay on
      • Test access code turns off automatically after settings are saved – the access code now remains on
      • Trash can button does not remove uploaded files in assignments in Chrome and Edge – the trash can button will now remove files properly
      • False success message displayed when test file is imported as pool – the correct message is displayed after importing.
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