What's new in Blackboard?
April 2024 updates
Fixes and updates to existing features
Default question points value changed from 10 to 1 (Ultra): The default point value for questions on tests have been changed from 10 points to 1 point.
Likert answer options expanded to include 4 and 6 (Ultra): Instructors can now create Likert scale questions with 4 or 6 answer options.
Auto-submitted indicator in attempt logs (Ultra): Instructors are now able to see if a submission was auto-submitted via the Attempt Logs area.
Fix - Overall grade information added to gradebook download (Ultra): Instructors are now able to see the Overall Grade when downloading the Gradebook. This is a fix as previously the Overall Grade was not always downloaded properly.
Fix - Long names visible and sorting controls for the Student Activity report for assessments on small devices and mobile app: Previously long names were not shown completely in the Student Activity report.
Individual date adjustments from Batch Edit (Ultra): It is now easier for instructors to edit due dates and availability via the Batch Edit tool by clicking on the calendar icon at the end of the row.
Student feedback remains visible to students regardless of release condition settings: Student feedback is no longer hidden when hiding content via the Release Conditions.
Usability improvements for flexible grading (Ultra): Improvements have been made to the flexible grading view including moving the attempt selector closer to the grading area and now only having one grade pill, thus preventing accidental grade overrides.
Fix - Calculations changed from using BigDecimal to BigFraction (Ultra): The software used to perform calculated columns and the overall grade has been changed. The previous software incorrectly performed calculations.
Persistent navigation for Learning Modules (Ultra): The navigation bar in learning modules are now sticky and will remain at the top when students scroll down.
Moodle Conversion Improvement: Gradebook Categories (Ultra): When importing Moodle packages, categories are now preserved.
Self-Enrollment Group Improvements (Ultra): The maximum members per self-enrollment group has been reduced from 2 to 1.
New features
AI Design Assistant – Context picker for Learning Modules, Assignments, Discussions, and Journals - under review (Ultra): Instructors can select course items such as Documents to help develop content for learning modules, assignments, discussions, and tests.
Duplicate questions in Assessments, Forms, and Question Banks (Ultra): Instructors can duplicate test questions that will allow them to quickly create similar questions.
Anonymous posts for Discussions (Ultra): Discussions now have an anonymous option for students. Once turned on, discussions cannot be gradable (even if turned off at a later time).
Add question feedback when grading by student in Flexible Grading (Ultra): Instructors can now give feedback for individual assessment questions when grading by student.
March 2024 updates
Artificial Intelligence - under review (Ultra):
AI Design Assistant – Context picker for test question generation - under review (Ultra): Instructors can select course items such as Documents to help develop questions for tests.
Grading and Assessment
No Due Date assessment setting (Ultra): The default due date time is now 11:59pm for Tests and Assignments. If you do not want a due date, there is a "No Due Date" option.
Last used view state of flexible grading side panels preserved (Ultra): In flexible grading, when instructors can collapse/expand the left panel (students and questions) and right panel (feedback and rubrics), the state is now preserved.
Gradebook item statistics (Ultra): Instructors can now view Gradebook item statistics such as minimum and maximum value, range, average, median, standard deviation, variance, and grade distribution.
Small Devices & Mobile App:
Send messages to students from the Student Activity report for assessments on small and medium devices and the mobile app (Ultra): Instructors can now send messages to students from the Student Activity report for assessments via the three dots (...) menu for each student.
Course Content
Announcement indicators and mark as read/unread (Ultra): There is now an indicator for the number of unread announcements. Users can also mark announcements as read or unread via the announcement pop-up or announcements page.
Moodle conversion improvements: The follow Moodle question types are now supported when converting to Blackboard: Multiple Choice (Single Answer), Multiple Choice (Multiple Answers), True/False, Matching, Short Answer, Numerical, Essay, Calculated, Calculated Multichoice (Single Answer), Calculated Multichoice (Multiple Answers), and Calculated Simple.
February 2024 updates
Course content
Forms (Ultra): Instructors can create a gradable or ungradable with items like Likert, essay, multiple choice, and true/false questions. Grades are manually added.
Likert question type (Ultra): Instructors can add Likert questions (with ranges of 3, 5, or 7) to gather quantitative measures of opinions and attitudes in forms.
Import Moodle packages: Instructors can now import Moodle packages into Ultra and Original view courses.
Grading and Assessment
Rubrics performance level descriptions (Ultra): Display choice persists: When navigating between submissions, the performance level descriptions for rubrics now persist. Instructors no longer have to turn on 'Show description' for every submission.
Send reminders from gradebook (Ultra): Improved student count for instructors: When sending reminders from the Gradebook, students who didn't submit AND who are available in the course, didn't receive an automatic zero, or didn't have an manually overridden posted score will receive a reminder.
Audio/Video Recording in feedback - Usability improvementsn (Ultra): Audio/video feedback is more visible in the feedback toolbar and the recording window now appears off to the said, allowing for better visibility of the submission.
Feedback on override and automatic zero grades for Tests and Assignments (Ultra): Instructors can give students feedback directly in the Gradebook for overridden tests, assignment grades and automatic zeros.
Student performance and Analytics
Better control over "Student Alerts" notifications for instructors (Ultra): Instructors can now control what student alerts they receive in their activity stream. These include low overall grade, missed due date alert, and last access alert.
Missed due dates included in the Course Activity report (Ultra): Instructors can view the number of missed due dates for students in the Course Activity Report. They are customized in Alert Settings.
Long student names visibility in the Course Activity report (Ultra): Long student names are now visible in the Course Activity Report.
January 2024 updates
Artificial Intelligence - under review - (Ultra)
AI Design Assistant – Authentic Assessment prompt generation - under review (Ultra): Instructors can generate assignment prompts using a description.
AI Design Assistant - Generate Rubric Improvements - under review (Ultra): The column and row labels as well as the distribution of percentages/points for criteria have been improved.
Course content
Unused files management (Ultra): Instructors are able to find and delete unused course files from the three dots in the Course Content page. You are not able to delete deployed files.
Batch Edit: Change to specific date and/or time (Ultra): Instructors can batch edit items to specific dates and times.
Grading and Assessment
Grade visible to students in Gradebook when item is hidden by release conditions (Ultra): When instructors hide assessments via release conditions, the grade is no longer hidden as a result.
Delegated Grading improvements (Ultra): Delegated grading is now available for anonymous submissions and tests.
Improved attempt display in Flexible Grading (Ultra) - not working properly yet: Attempts displayed in flexible grading is now based on the grading status and attempt aggregation model selected.
Attempt Aggregation Model | Grading Status and Attempt Displayed |
|---|---|
Average of all attempts | If all attempts are graded, the most recently submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent, ungraded attempt displays. |
First attempt with a grade | If all attempts are graded, the first submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the oldest ungraded attempt displays. |
Attempt with highest grade | If all attempts are graded, the attempt with the highest grade displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent, ungraded attempt displays. |
Last attempt with a grade | If all attempts are graded, the most recently submitted attempt displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent ungraded attempt displays. |
Attempt with lowest grade | If all attempts are graded, the attempt with lowest grade displays. If ungraded attempts exist, the most recent ungraded attempt displays. |
Sorting controls in Students view for assessments graded anonymously (Ultra): There are now sorting options for anonymous assessments in flexible grading to show submissions by date.
Enhanced grid view (Ultra): The view has been improved so that more rows are visible as well as improved student identification including full names upon hovering and student IDs.
Total & Weighted Calculations (Ultra): Instructors can add a total calculation to their Gradebook which can be set up like the Overall Grade.
Category information on the Gradable Items page (Ultra): Categories are now displayed in the Gradable items list in the Gradebook.
Attempt logs for enhanced assessment integrity (Ultra): Attempt logs provide information on attempts such as time per question and start date/time for each question. For anonymous assessments, you are able to access attempt logs when grades are posted and identities are revealed.
Communication
Original Course View - Updated options display when sending email from the Grade Center: The options displayed for sending email from the Grade Center are more clear to show that a copy of the email will always be sent to the sender.
Mobile App
Mobile: Help Center and About sections added to More menu (Ultra and Original): The "More" menu now has a "Help Center" and "About" sections, which provides users with essential information about the app
December 2023 updates
Artificial Intelligence (AI - under review) (Ultra)
Authentic Discussion and Journal prompts: Instructors can generate discussion and journal prompts generated by AI technology.
Grading and Assessment
Large rubric support (Ultra): Rubric criteria and performance levels are now unrestricted. Previously these were both limited to 15 each.
Group assessment due date exceptions (Ultra): Instructors can give a unique due date to groups via the exceptions tool in Groups.
Prevent students from earning full credit when selecting all answers choices on a multi-select question with partial credit (Ultra): Negative credit for multi-select questions now auto-distributes among wrong answers.
Sorting controls in Students and Questions tab (Ultra): Instructors can now sort by submission date, last name, first name, and student grading in flexible grading.
Grid view sorting controls (Ultra): Sorting options are now available for all columns in the gradebook grid view.
Automatic zero gradebook improvement (Ultra): Automatic zeros are now only assigned to past work if a student has enabled course enrollment.
Canvas conversion improvements - Support for Multiple Grade Schemes: Grade schemas from Canvas LMS courses no longer need to be rebuilt when converted.
Course Content
Additional image insertion and generate options (Ultra): Instructors can add Unsplash images with the option to zoom, focus and change the aspect ratio of images in announcements, assessment questions, submission feedback, and journal comments. Students can only alter image settings for uploaded images for journal entries and assessment responses where a text box is available.
Mobile App
Mobile App - Enhancements to Grades: The Grades page in the App is not easier to find items that need grading and the Gradebook. Students can find upcoming and recently graded assessments.
Improved mobile experience for Course Content page (Ultra): The visibility of items on the course content page has been improved for the Mobile app.
Other
Removal of First Time User Experience pop-ups (Ultra): First Time User Experience pop-ups have been removed in Ultra.