Blackboard Learn is usually updated monthly on the first Thursday of the month usually between 3 a.m.-5 a.m. CT. Please visit Blackboard Learn release schedule for specific dates.
Release 3900.74.0 - September 7, 2023
Auto-captioning for video and audio feedback - Blackboard Learn has implemented automatic captioning for audio and video content used in assessment feedback and announcements. This feature enhances accessibility and fosters inclusivity. For more information, please click here.
Copying Announcements - Instructors can now copy specific announcements or all announcements from another course. Instructors can copy Announcements from both Original and Ultra courses. For more information, please click here.
For Mobile App, Grades landing page improvement - With this update Students can now see their overall grade on the grades landing page and Instructors can now see the overall course grade on the landing page. These changes aim to enhance the user experience and provide a more streamlined way to access grade information. For more information, please click here.
Release 3900.71.0 - August 3, 2023
Course Banner image improvements
The course banner image provides a sense of identity for the course. The image establishes a connection between the content and the course participants. To provide a better user experience, Blackboard Learn has improved the image setting workflow. For more information, please click here.
Release 3900.69.0 - July 6, 2023
Mobile App Improvements to the Grades landing page
All users Mobile app users can now select the sorting criteria for their grades. Users can sort grades as follows:
- Course Order
- Last Activity (most recent grade posted)
- Due Date (latest or oldest first)
These sort options allow users to customize the Grades landing page to suit their preferences.
Release 3900.67.0 - June 1, 2023
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.65.0 - May 4, 2023
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.62.0 - April 6, 2023
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.60.0 - March 2, 2023
PDF version of the SafeAssign Originality Report - The SafeAssign Originality Report is a valuable teaching and learning tool. Instructors use the report to ensure students express original thoughts and cite sources. Some instructors allow students to view the report. This is helpful for teaching students how to cite their work.
In the past, users could download the report as PDF. However, users could not open the sources from the PDF. Now, users can open matched sources from the PDF.
Release 3900.58.0 - February 2, 2023
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.56.0 - January 5, 2023
Bb Annotate: Create categories inside the content library - When using Bb Annotate, instructors can use the content library to store comments across courses. Now instructors can also organize comments into categories. Categories helps instructors find the comments they want to use. The process of providing student is more efficient with the new option. Existing comments will be part of a general comments category until instructors decide to move them to a new one.
Now instructors will be able to:
- Create as many categories as needed
- Move comments to new or existing categories
- Collapse or expand the categories to easily locate the comments
Release 3900.54.0 - December 1, 2022
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.52.0 - November 3, 2022
Unread Messages indicator for Courses and Organizations - In the past it was difficult for users to know which courses and organizations contained unread messages. Now there is an unread messages indicator for courses and organizations on the Messages tab in the Ultra Base Navigation. This indicator helps users know where to direct their attention. More information HERE.
Release 3900.50.0 - October 6, 2022
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.48.0 - September 1, 2022
Richer Course and Content Design - Microsoft Immersive Reader for Anthology Ally for LMS - Many classrooms today, both physical and digital, include participants with diverse needs. To better support learning needs and preferences, alternative formats are key. Alternative formats let all participants access course content according to their preferences. Anthology Ally for LMS now includes a new alternative format: Microsoft Immersive Reader. Microsoft Immersive Reader helps students improve their reading, comprehension, and grammar skills. All course participants are empowered by Anthology Ally with Microsoft Immersive Reader. More information HERE.
Release 3900.46.0 - August 8, 2022
File Upload Indicator - Users sometimes upload large files or have slow upload speeds. It may not be clear to users that anything is happening. Some pages in Original Course View will now display a file upload indicator after users submit. We added this upload animation to four course tools where large file uploads are most common. Other pages stay the same. The upload indicator will now appear on these pages: Assignment Submission, Content Item, Discussion Board Thread, and Reply SCORM.
Bb Annotate undo/redo functionality - new capability that allows instructors to easily edit their annotations.
- Undo: Undo or revert the last thing you did.
- Redo: Repeat the last thing you did.
Release 3900.44.0 - July 7, 2022
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.41.0 - June 2, 2022
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.39.0 - May 5, 2022
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.37.0 - April 21, 2022
Session timeout warning - With this release, users whose session is ending soon will receive a warning. This warning will appear at least six minutes before the session times out. If the user closes the warning before the session ends, the session will extend for three more hours. This is the primary scenario for this improvement. The goal is to help users who have been authoring for an exceptionally long time not to lose their work. A user away from the computer for an extended time will receive the warning. Yet the user will not be able to extend their session. When the user closes the warning, they will return to the current page instead of returning to the login page. This allows the user to copy anything authored before it is lost. A user in this situation will redirect to the login page when they select any link or button on the page.
Release 3900.34.0 - March 03, 2022
Automatic cleanup of user-created archive and export packages - Export and archive packages within a course will now have auto-delete settings. This automatic cleanup enables institutions to reduce storage space used. The auto-cleanup also allows administrators to control storage growth. This also saves time and reduces frustration for administrators. In the past, all packages remained in the course until the deletion of the packages or the course. The retention of the course packages resulted in extensive storage usage. Existing user-generated course packages will be set to expire in 90 days from the 3900.34 upgrade. This gives more time to copy packages to external storage if needed. In the course package list view, the expiry date for these packages will reflect a 90-day expiry. Packages are deleted on the expiry day. Course packages created after the upgrade to 3900.34 will expire and auto-delete 30 days after the creation date.
Release 3900.32.0 - February 10, 2022
Force Completion changes to better support Multiple Attempt Tests - Enabling Force Completion on a test or survey has new behaviors. The Force Completion option now requires a time limit and automatic submission. We made this change to enforce the submission of incomplete or abandoned attempts. This change is important so that instructors can access and grade these attempts. Instructors may also create a multiple attempt assessment with the Force Completion option. This change ensures that students can now start new attempts in this scenario.
Release 3900.30.0 - January 6, 2022
BB Annotations: Save preferences/Settings - Instructors, Teaching Assistants, and Graders will now be able to go through the inline grading process saving common preferences for Annotation tools, and having the possibility to save custom Stamps to add to the submissions. These new functionalities are user-defined, which means that user preferences and custom stamps will persist through all courses.
Release 3900.28.0 - December 2, 2021
Force completion now requires Timer and Auto-Submit - To ensure a secure testing environment and to support academic honesty and integrity, we have made an important update to the behavior of Force Completion to solve a specific issue found with core student assessments. Prior to 3900.28, the timer and force complete options were not strictly linked such that the Force Completion flow was triggered when a student accessed an in-progress test attempt. To both improve the workflow and resolve an outstanding issue, beginning with the 3900.28 release, we have linked the Timer option and Force Completion capabilities. This change now incorporates 2 updates:
- If the student attempts to open an in-progress test in a second window a message opens and informs the student that the assessment is already in progress and there is no option to continue or reopen the same test.
- The status of the test in the primary window remains unchanged and continues to progress until the time limit expires and the test auto-submits.
This change impacts only Original course assessments. Third-party remote proctoring solutions are not impacted. The Timer can still be used without Force Completion.
Release 3900.26.0 - November 4, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.23.0 - October 7, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.21.0 - September 2, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.19.0 - August 5, 2021
Tests, Surveys, and Pools: Support for media and files in more places - In Original Course View Tests, Surveys, and Pools, there are limits for which test question options support file attachments and embedded media. In this release, Blackboard has expanded the places where files and media can be embedded, allowing instructors and content authors to create more interactive and visual questions. These question types and fields now support attached files and media using the Add Content button in the editor:
- Calculated formula: Question text
- Essay: Answer text
- Matching: Question/Answer pairs
- Multiple Answer: Answer options
- Multiple Choice: Answer options
- Ordering: Answer options
- Short Answer: Answer text
Content Editor: Format consistency between edit and display - The Content Editor for Original Experience and Original Course View was last updated in November 2020 (3900.0.0). Since then, there have been inconsistencies in the way content is formatted when editing content and when viewing it.
With this release, settings like font, size, color, and spacing are more consistent. When existing content is selected, the editor tool bar updates to display its current font, size, and header settings. This creates a better WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) experience.
Release 3900.17.0 - July 1, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.15.0 - June 3, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.13.0 - May 6, 2021
Ultra messages: Unread message indication - We are pleased to announce the inclusion of Unread message indication for messages on the Ultra Base Navigation. This was a highly requested feature from our community, and we are excited to bring this capability to our clients. This solution will provide a clearly identifiable number count highlighting any new messages received for both Original and Ultra courses. When a user selects the Messages tool on the base navigation, the red number count will change to a red pill icon as to reduce distraction, but navigating away from this page will again show the unread message count. This capability will provide a greater level of transparency and engagement when new messages are sent and received for all users, and continues our commitment to enhancements for the Messages tool in Ultra.
Release 3900.10.0 - April 22, 2021
Rich Text Editor improvements - In the Ultra Experience, the Rich Text Editor improvements contemplated for this release are related to paragraph format change and allow the creation of more rich and customizable pages. They include:
- Clear formatting
- Text alignment
- Line height
- Undo
Release 3900.8.0 - March 4, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.6.0 - February 4, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.4.0 - January 7, 2021
No major changes or upgrades
Release 3900.2.0 - December 3, 2020
Content Editor Fix - In the Original Course View, response feedback for the Grade Questions feature of the Grade Center was missing in the new content editor, and text entered into the box there wouldn’t save. We’ve fixed the issue. More information can be found at: https://elearning.uni.edu/new-content-editor-bb-learn
Release 3900.0.0 - November 5, 2020
A new Content Editor - More information can be found at: https://elearning.uni.edu/new-content-editor-bb-learn
Release 3800.9.0 - May 11, 2020
The following software bugs affecting Instructors have been fixed:
- Course Reports: Overall Summary of User Activity report only listed the Guest user in the Access/Date graphic.
- Adaptive Release: Course content that used adaptive release with groups created an unwanted membership criterion that blocked student access to the content.
Release 3800.6.0 - April 2, 2020
Adjust first day of the week in the calendar - Different global regions have different calendar conventions, including which day displays as the first day of the week. With this release, Blackboard calendars will display the most common convention for the first day of the week based on a user's selected language. Users will be able to see the change in the month and day views of both their overall and individual course calendars.
Release 3800.4.0 - March 5, 2020
Course ID displays with Course Name - In this release, a Course ID now appears with the Course Name in key areas when Ultra base navigation is enabled. Now, users can find their Course IDs on the Courses page of base navigation, in the Calendar, and when copying course content.
Right-to-left language support for Original Courses and Organizations - In this release, we've added right-to-left language support in Courses and Organizations using the Original Course View with Ultra base navigation. This feature has been highly requested by users in the Middle East.
Edit course image option moved to overflow menu - In this release, we moved the Edit course image option in the tile view on the Courses page. Now, it can be found in the overflow menu at the top-right corner of the course tile.
Release 3800.2.0 - February 3, 2020
'Needs Grading' setting changed again, but will stick - With this release, Blackboard Learn will remember instructors’ preferences for the "Show attempts that don't contribute to user's grade" filter on the 'Needs Grading' page. By default, the checkbox is unselected and student attempts that don’t affect grades won’t show on the 'Needs Grading' list. When an instructor changes the setting, Learn will remember the preference across that user’s sessions and courses.
Release 3700.14.0 - November 7, 2019
'Needs Grading' setting changed - In the 'Needs Grading' tool, there is a setting called "Show attempts that don't contribute to user's grade". Prior to this November 7, 2019 upgrade, that setting's checkbox was "unchecked". This 3700.14.0 release changed that setting to now be "checked" by default. If you allow multiple attempts that require manually grading, you may now see more items listed in the 'Needs Grading' tool. Please visit the Grading multiple attempts help page for more information about this feature.
Release 3700.7.0 - August 12, 2019
Updates in the user interface:
- When students open an assessment, the Submit button is disabled until they add content or answer at least one question.
- When a student or instructor uses Box View in an assignment, it opens by default and displays using more screen space.
Release 3700.3.0 - June 6, 2019
New option to view Course List - Grid View - All users can now view the Courses page as either a list or a grid. The grid view display 'Course Cards' which contain an image that can be customized by the Instructor. Please visit our FAQ for more information.
Order of Course List flipped - newest courses listed first - Previously, the Courses page listed a user's oldest courses first. The order has been flipped and now the newest courses are listed first. If a user designates any courses as favorites, those courses still appear first in the list.
Release 3800.4.0 - March 5, 2020
Course ID displays with Course Name - In this release, a Course ID now appears with the Course Name in key areas when Ultra base navigation is enabled. Now, users can find their Course IDs on the Courses page of base navigation, in the Calendar, and when copying course content.
If interested, visit Blackboard Learn's Support Page for complete Release Notes.