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What’s new in Blackboard March 2026

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment
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In the March update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:

  • Updates to tests:
    • Anonymous grading by question
    • Question title field relocated
    • Partial credit Multiple Choice Questions and Multiple Answer
  • AI Design Assistant Content Editor
  • Graded Discussions
  • Blackboard Assignment file limits

Anonymous Grading by Question in Blackboard Tests

Instructors can now grade anonymous by question in addition to grading anonymously by student.

When grading anonymous test submissions in Question View, the interface replaces the student’s name, avatar, and ID with an anonymous identifier and a blank avatar. All functionality available when grading non‑anonymous submissions by question is also available when grading anonymously. When anonymous grading is enabled, related APIs no longer return identifying information. This applies to the Essay Question.

Question Title field relocated

We moved the Question Title field from the beginning of the question authoring workflow to the bottom, underneath the Question metadata field. Moving this field ensures that titles remain an optional metadata element and reduces cognitive load during question creation.

Image 1: Before this enhancement, the Question Title field was at the top of the question authoring workflow.

Image 2: Now, the Question Title field is at the bottom of the question authoring workflow, underneath the Question Metadata field.

Partial credit limits removed for Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer

We updated the partial credit system for Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer questions to allow instructors to assign credit values without the requirement that all designated values sum to 100%. This change supports more flexible grading strategies and enables instructors to represent varying levels of conceptual understanding without adjusting values to meet a fixed total.

The system now allows instructors to enter any partial credit value for each option within a range of –100% to +100%. Validation continues to warn instructors if total values exceed 100%, but it no longer blocks question setup. Instructors may now also enter positive credit values for options that are not marked as the correct answer The total partial credit value for correct answers should be at least 100%, and it may exceed 100%. Negative marking continues to operate when enabled. Instructors can adjust credit values during regrading as well.

Image 1: Instructors can have answer options that do not sum to 100%.

Generate Knowledge Checks with AI

We expanded AI‑assisted authoring to support generating multiple choice Knowledge Checks within Documents. This enhancement allows instructors to create just‑in‑time formative assessments using AI‑generated questions based on the content of their Document and any selected course materials.

When inserting a Knowledge Check, instructors are now presented with two options: Enter my question or Auto generate question. Selecting Auto-generate question opens the Auto-Generate Question panel, which adapts the existing Question panel used in tests and question banks.

When using the Auto generate question option, instructors can define generation inputs with the following fields:

  • A description text field
  • A selector to choose course items to inform generation
  • A complexity level slider with a range from Low to High
  • Advanced options including an output language selector
  • An informational banner that states: “This is auto-generated content and needs to be checked for accuracy and bias.”

The system generates four multiple choice questions at a time. Each generated question displays with a radio button so that the instructor can select one question to add to the Document. The instructor can then modify the question, answer options, and feedback after insertion. If the instructor opens the Knowledge Check option but does not add a question, the placeholder block remains empty and behaves as other empty content blocks do.

All questions are generated using only text content from the Document. Consideration of additional media or files will be handled as part of a future release.

Image 1: Instructors can select Enter my question or Auto-generate question when creating a knowledge check.

Image 2: After the system generates questions, the instructor selects which question to add to the Document. After adding a question, instructors can edit the question, question options, and question settings.

Use the AI Design Assistant to suggest Document layouts

If you’re looking for ways in which you can make your Blackboard Documents more visually appealing, then use the AI Design Assistant to suggest Document layouts.

Go to your Document and click to edit the content. Then select the AI Design Assistant icon:

Image 1: AI Design Assistant icon highlighted.

You can provide further information to define the layout:

Image 2: Options available in the layout.

Select Apply layout to save the suggested layout.

Add a second participation requirement and due date in Discussions

Instructors can now add a second due date with participation requirements for Discussions. This update builds on recent enhancements for discussion participation requirements and gives instructors clearer ways to set expectations for discussion activity. Students get transparent guidance for discussion expectations and progress indicators for their participation.

Instructors

Instructors can set how many posts and replies that students must complete across two due dates.

The option Grade discussion must be selected to add a due dates and participation requirements. Enter a time and date under Due Date and specify participation requirements. Selecting Second Due Date adds another due date with its own requirements.

Instructors can disallow student posts or replies after the final due date by selecting Stop discussion activity after last due date.

Image 1: Instructors can now add a second due date for Discussions. They can also specify the number and type of posts or replies that a student is required to make.

Students

When students open a discussion, they find two clear participation requirements with separate due dates. As they post and reply, progress indicators update in real time.

Students can complete requirements in any order, but contributions after a due date won’t count toward that requirement. Once all requirements are met, the discussion is marked complete and Progress Tracking updates.

Image 2: In a Discussion, a student can find due dates in the Details & Information section in the discussion assignment.

Blackboard Assignment file limits

We increased the maximum supported SafeAssign file size from 10 MB to 25 MB. This enhancement supports modern academic workflows in which students frequently submit large documents. The increased file size applies to assignments and tests. Direct Submit will be included in a later release.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via bbbstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Peer Assessment Tools available in our virtual learning environment

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, E-submission, Interactive Tools, Turnitin Leave a comment

We recently ran our E-learning Enhanced: Using Turnitin for Peer Assessment training session and wanted to highlight the different tools that are available for Peer Assessment across our Digital Education Platform.

Peer Assessment activities have several benefits to students:

  • Allow students to invest in and manage their own learning
  • Shared learning experiences
  • Reflect on learning
  • Consider communication and constructing feedback
  • Develop conversation and collaboration skills
  • Improve academic achievement
  • Share responsibility for learning
  • Develop employability skills around feedback
  • In group scenarios, identify participants’ contributions
  • Quick feedback
  • Building a learning community

For Liu & Carless (2006), “peer assessment and peer feedback … enables students to take an active role in the management of their own learning” (280). 

If you are interested in exploring this topic further, we recommend:

Liu, N.-F. & Carless, D. (2006) Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment. Teaching in higher education. [Online] 11 (3), 279–290.

Lynch, R., Mannix McNamara, P. & Seery, N. (2012) Promoting deep learning in a teacher education programme through self- and peer-assessment and feedback, European Journal of Teacher Education, 35:2, 179-197, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2011.643396

Zhu, Q. & Carless, D. (2018) Dialogue within peer feedback processes: clarification and negotiation of meaning. Higher education research and development. [Online] 37 (4), 883–897.

We have several peer assessment tools that are available:

Blackboard Assignment for Peer Assignments

You can add a Rubric to the assignment – student will see this as part of their submission.

Workflow

  1. Create Assignment and set Peer Settings (see Peer Review for Qualitative Peer Assessments)
  2. Students submit their work as normal (see Blackboard web site)
  3. After Due date and time has passed, students review submissions see Blackboard web site
  4. After the Peer Review Due Date, staff complete marking (see Blackboard web site)
  5. Student view staff feedback, peer feedback and final mark

Note that:

  1. Students won’t be allocated any reviews if not enough assignments are submitted.
  2. Late submissions will be allocated to students. Late submission is allowed automatically as part of the peer assessment process.
  3. Students do not see any names as part of the review process. You should advise all students not to include personal information on their documents.
  4. Students can provide written feedback in the review process but can’t assign a mark (unless this is included in the text feedback box)
  5. You can add a Rubric to the assignment – student will see this as part of their submission and can refer to it while reviewing. However, they can’t use it to mark work.
  6. You can hide peer reviews if you feel the content isn’t appropriate

Turnitin PeerMark

Workflow

  1. Create a Turnitin Assignment and enable PeerMark
  2. Go back into Turnitin Assignment to set up Peer Mark Settings
  3. Students submit to Turnitin submission point
  4. After PeerMark start date, students are able to view another student’s assignment and leave feedback / scores to questions
  5. PeerMark feedback is visible to students immediately
  6. Lecturer needs to allocate a final mark manually

Guidance:

Overview of PeerMark: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/instructor/peermark/about-peermark-assignments.htm

Creating a PeerMark Assignment: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/instructor/peermark/creating-a-peermark-assignment.htm

Student guidance on Using PeerMark: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/student-category.htm#peermark

Discussions

Discussions are available in every course in Blackboard – these are a great way for students to engage asynchronously with their peers; they can post comments and respond to each others’ posts.

Workflow

  1. Instructor creates a Discussion
  2. Students contribute to the Discussion
  3. Students respond to other Discussion posts

For further advice on creating discussions, please see below for Blackboard guidance:

Journals

Workflow

  1. Instructor creates a Journal (private between instructor and student)
  2. Students reflect weekly on their contributions to project
  3. Instructor has overview and monitors
  4. Can be used for students to give an idea on group contributions throughout process of peers

Create Journals: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Ultra/Interact/Journals

Guidelines for students

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1469787416654794 – contains guidance for students. Suggests providing a session for students on how to write feedback.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2019.1697424

“For peer review in the classroom to be effective, there is clear evidence that the process needs structure, clear and accessible assessment criteria and appropriate scaffolding sessions for students (Mangelsdorf Citation1992).”

https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/peer-feedback – includes some useful questions and prompts that could be used to structure feedback.

Peer feedback has been used widely within group assessment work, for example, when it comes to ascertaining student participation, and factoring in group contributions. For an example of a group peer marksheet, see this sample template from Carnegie Mellon University.

Our Academy Forum handout on Peer Assessment provides further information and Aberystwyth University Case Studies.

What’s new in Blackboard February 2026

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment
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In the February update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:

  • Use automations to remind students to check their feedback
  • Stack blocks vertically in Documents
  • Enhanced achievement usability

Use automations to remind students to check their feedback

Automations are a relatively new feature in Blackboard. The latest feature allows you to automatically send a reminder message to students who have unread feedback after an instructor-defined number of days. This feature saves time by automatically encouraging students to review their feedback, promoting student engagement.

Instructors

This release adds the Send feedback reminder option to the Automation gallery. Go to Automations:

Image 1: View automations under Course Assistants highlighted

Image 2: The Automation gallery now includes Send feedback reminder.

For the automation trigger, instructors select how many days feedback must remain unread before the message is sent.

Image 3: The Automation trigger includes a dropdown menu for the number of unread days.

A default reminder message is provided, and instructors can fully customise it at this stage. The message is sent to the student when the rule is triggered.

Stack blocks vertically in Documents

instructors can stack blocks in a single column in Documents to create cleaner layouts and reduce whitespace. A new toggle in the block toolbar allows switching between column-level and block-level editing. In column mode, actions apply to the entire column. In block mode, instructors can resize, move, or delete individual blocks.

Columns can also be dropped into another block’s area for more flexible layouts. These changes work with existing features such as undo/redo, printing, and AI layout generation. This enhancement also includes accessibility improvements for screen readers.

Image 1: Instructors can stack blocks in a single column, such as next to an image in a column.

Enhanced achievement usability

For students, the Achievements tab displays a count of unread badges. The New pill appears consistently in Earned and To Earn sections. The Delete Badge dialog uses clearer wording. Instructors and students can more easily distinguish between Course Badges and Open Badges with improved labels, icons, and descriptions.

Accessibility updates include improved aria-labels and alt-text. Styling for OpenBadge images has been updated to remove forced round shapes.

Image 1: In the student view, the Achievements tab displays a count of unread badges, and the new badges have a New pill.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

What’s new in Blackboard January 2026

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Uncategorised Leave a comment
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Happy New Year! In the January update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:

  • Minor Update to the Blackboard Interface
  • Improvements to Document’s layouts
  • More options for true and false questions
  • Changes to multiple choice and multiple answer workflows

Minor Update to the Blackboard Interface

There is no downtime associated with this update, and Blackboard will continue to function normally during this period.

These changes include:

  • Change in order of menu items on the main navigation menu:
  • A new home button in a course to take you back to the landing page:
  • A quick link to navigate to your recently accessed courses

In addition to this, to maximise screen space, Blackboard will remove the nested folder view.

Improvements to Document’s layouts

To improve usability and accessibility, we restructured the menu for document block layout. Previously, all options for changing the row, size, or position of a block were in a single dropdown list. Now, these options are organized by type of change (row, size, and position).

Selecting the edit icon for a block prompts a menu with three options: Change row, Change [block/column] size, and Change [block/column] position. Each of these options have a sub-menu, with the related actions.

  • Change row
    • Move to row above
    • Move to row below
    • New row above
  • Change [block/column] size
    • Expand to the left
    • Expand to the right
    • Shrink from the left
    • Shrink from the right
  • Change [block/column] position
    • Move to the left
    • Move to the right

Image 1: How document block styling options displayed before

Image 2: How document block styling options display now

More options for true and false questions

We expanded the display options for true/false questions to include:

  • True/False
  • Yes/No
  • Right/Wrong
  • Agree/Disagree

These additional answer options display when:

  • Instructors create or edit this question type when building a test or in a question bank
  • Students answer the question
  • Instructors grade the question
  • Students review their submission or graded question

Image 1: True/false questions now include additional options.

Changes to multiple choice and multiple answer workflows

 ow students interact with questions. These changes support greater flexibility in assessment design and an improved experience for students.

Instructors

To reduce setup time when creating a multiple choice question, we changed the default number of answer options from three to four. Instructors can add or remove answer options.

Instructors can now define the number of answer selections that a student can make for each multiple choice question. When the student takes the assessment, the system enforces the instructor’s selection limit.

The default is:

  • 4 answer options
  • partial/negative credit is off (no additional changes made to partial/negative credit for this release)
  • students can select up to 4 answers
    • if additional answers are added, selection limit remains at 4
    • if answers are removed, instructor must select the selection limit

Image 1: Instructors can define the number of answer selections for each multiple choice question.

Students

For questions where students can select only one answer, the selection mechanism is radio buttons. For questions where students can select more than one answer, the selection mechanism is checkboxes.

Image 2: The student’s selection mechanism of checkbox or radio button is determined by how many answers they can select.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

What’s new in Blackboard December 2025

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update Leave a comment
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In the December update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:

  • Specify participation requirements for Discussions 
  • Support Inline and Display Formulas in MathJax 
  • Learning Module Table of Contents 
  • Set release conditions for open or started and for non-assessment content items 
  • Improved handling of group membership changes for group assignments
  • Improved Automations experience 

Specify participation requirements for Discussions

Instructors now have greater flexibility when managing student participation in  graded Discussions.

With this update, instructors can specify required student responses for a Discussion topic.

Instructors  

Instructors can now make clear participation requirements to students. The initial release adds participation requirements to the existing due date(s) for discussions. Instructors can set requirements on the number of required posts and/or replies for a student to fulfil the requirement.

The status of participation requirements is updated through to completion, giving a student a clear understanding of progress made. Participation requirements are linked to progress tracking, so that will be accurately displayed for the student to monitor.

This update does not affect grading workflows or Gradebook structure.

Image 1: Instructors being able to set participation requirements in discussion settings.

Students

The new participation requirements in Discussions give students a clearer understanding of instructor expectations in an assigned Discussions topic. Students can monitor their progress both in the assigned Discussions topic as well as in Progress Tracking.

Image 2: Showing the complete state when all the requirements have been met.

Support Inline and Display Formulas in MathJax

MathJax support in the Content Editor now includes additional LaTeX delimiters for rendering mathematical formulas. This update improves compatibility with standard STEM workflows and simplifies uploading exam content without changing source files.

Instructors and students can now use:

  • \(…\) for inline equations
  • \[…\] for display equations

These options are in addition to the existing $ delimiters. Expanded support improves the experience of working with mathematical notation in Ultra courses and enhances visual clarity for complex expressions such as integrals, sums, and products.

Learning Module Table of Contents

Instructors now have access to a collapsible Table of Contents panel in Learning Modules. This update mirrors the student experience and supports consistent navigation across roles.

The Table of Contents panel includes all items in a learning module. Select Contents to open or collapse the panel. Instructors can navigate the full module structure and align course design with the student experience.

Image 1: Instructor view of a Learning Module with the Table of Contents panel open.

For smaller screen sizes, when an instructor sets up an assignment within a learning module, the settings panel moves from the right-hand side into the header bar. This is signified by a settings cog.

The change has been made to allow more space on the screen with the left-handed table of contents available. Users accessing that board on smaller screens, you will notice that the settings cog has moved to the header bar for that particular piece of assessment.

Set release conditions for open or started and for non-assessment content items

We expanded release conditions to include activity on items including non-assessment content. This enhancement allows conditions to be based on whether a student has opened or started content items such as documents, media, or course links. Instructors can now control access based on whether a student has opened or started a prerequisite content item.

Key options for release conditions:

  • Unopened: The student has not accessed the item.
  • Opened or Started: The student has accessed the item.

For example, an instructor can require students to open a reading or watch a video before an assessment becomes available. 

Improved handling of group membership changes for group assessments   

We’ve enhanced Flexible Grading and the Submissions page for group assessments to better handle changes in group memberships. These improvements ensure grading accuracy and reduce confusion when groups are modified after submissions: 

  • On the Submissions page, if all members are removed from a group:
  • The group avatar displays a ? icon.
  • A No members label appears.
  • The group name becomes non-selectable.
  • For active groups, the Flexible Grading interface always shows the current group members for each attempt.

Image 1: On the Submissions page, a No Members label appears in groups with no members.

Image 2: The Flexible Grading interface shows the current group members for each attempt.

Improved Automations experience 

Back in October we launched automations – an automated messaging tool to contact students based on marks in the gradebook.

Several enhancements have been made to automations in this month’s updated:

Instructors

  • Better visibility of Automations actions
  • Users can now check the status of each automation directly from the list.
  • Each automation now displays who executed it, increasing transparency in multi-instructor courses.
  • Cleaner interface and more intuitive interactions, including:
  • Pagination on the automation list for smoother navigation.
  • Improved error messaging and validation when configuring numeric inputs.
  • Minor layout and usability improvements for the automation rules panel.
  • String and localisation improvements.

Image 1: There is an indicator of the status of each automation in the list (active or inactive). The last person to execute the action is stated under each automation, and an error message is displayed for an automation that is incorrectly configured.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Fix Your Content Day – Thank You

WordPress User [ksg2] Accessibility, Blackboard Leave a comment
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A huge thank you to all the staff who we’re involved in Fix Your Content Day on 18th and 19th November. This was the first time that AU signed up to the Day, and we’re pleased to announce that we placed 60th in the official leader board.

120 institutions took part from across the world. There were 13 institutions from the UK and Aberystwyth placed 3rd in the UK.

AU staff made 125 changes to content through Blackboard Ally in the 24 hours of the competition. During our drop-in afternoon, we were able to provide guidance on headings and styles, font colours and contrast, as well as handwritten documents and PDFs. Each of those 125 changes make it easier for students to engage with their learning materials.

We’re also pleased to announce that the overall Ally score for 2025-26 courses on 19th November was 74.9% – an increase of 5.3% from the previous year.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait until the next Fix Your Content Day to use Ally. You can use Ally any time you like – it’s quick and easy to use for both existing and new content.

A big thanks to all staff who have taken the time to check on the accessibility of their course materials and made changes to them.

Why take part in Fix Your Content Day?

WordPress User [ksg2] Accessibility, Blackboard, Ultra, Uncategorised Leave a comment
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On November 18, Aberystwyth University will join institutions worldwide for Fix Your Content Day 2025, hosted by Anthology. If you are wondering about what this means, or whether to take part, then here are a few reasons to get involved.

Every change – big or small – makes a difference to our students. Making Blackboard content as accessible as possible benefits all our students.  Having materials in a format that students can use easily means that they can focus on their learning rather than struggling with inaccessible formats. The choices that staff make to design accessible materials, as well as the Ally Alternative Format tools, help us to make sure that all students can engage with their studies. 

It’s particularly important here at AU, as the latest HERA data show that over 28% of our students have a declared disability (compared to 16.7% nationally).  

Drop-in session open to all. Although our e-learning staff are always willing to help you with accessibility, we’ll have dedicated support available in B23 Llandinam during the afternoon of 18th. Come along and we can show you how to use Ally or discuss any particular issues you have with your course materials. And tea and biscuits will be available!

And finally, taking part in Fix Your Content Day is part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring that all students can engage with learning materials.

What’s new in Blackboard November 2025

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In the November update, we want to draw your attention to a new feature: generate and upload custom Achievements badge.

In addition to this, we have also got an automated option to generate messages to students based on their assignment scores. There is an update to tests with the functionality to bulk amend test question scores, as well as some improved navigation to Gradebook column headers.

New! Generate or upload custom Achievement Badges

Blackboard previously announced achievements – instructors having the option to award badges to students based on scores received in Gradebook columns. This was a great way to incentivise student engagement, and we are seeing more colleagues use this: DLS are piloting badges as part of their Skills Passport, and Library and Learning Services are making use of Achievements for the AI Literacy Course. Colleagues have requested this enhancement, so we are pleased to see this available on Blackboard.

Instructors now have three new options for customising Achievement badge: AI-generated images, choose from a selection of stock images from Unsplash, and manual image uploads.

  • AI Badge Image Creator: Instructors can enter keywords to generate badge images using the AI Design Assistant. The system auto-generates an image based on the badge’s name and description to help guide image creation. Additionally, instructors can provide their own prompt to be used for image generation. Images are optimized for circular cropping to match the standard badge shape.
  • Unsplash: Instructors can search from a section of stock images from Unsplash
  • Badge Image Upload: Instructors can also upload custom-designed badge images for use in Achievements.

Image 1: Instructors can select or generate an image for the custom achievement.

Automatically send messages to students based on course-level rules 

Lecturers can now create automations that send congratulatory or supportive messages to students based on custom rules set at the course level. Instructors define the score thresholds and write the messages.

On the Course Content page, instructors select View Automations under Automations to manage their automations.

In this initial release, two automations are available. Instructors choose to either Send congratulatory message or Send supportive message. Congratulatory messages are sent when a student earns a high score; supportive messages are sent when a student does not achieve a specified score. Instructors select the grade item, set the score threshold as a percentage, and enter the message text.

Image 2: In the Action to be taken section, the instructor writes the message that will be sent to students when the rule is triggered.

Please note that the automation needs to be created before marks are posted. This means that the messaging won’t work on any retrospective grades.

Bulk change question points in tests 

Lecturers can now update point values for multiple questions in tests using new bulk editing options. This enhancement supports:

  • Selecting all questions at once, with the option to deselect specific questions if desired.
  • Selecting specific questions (e.g., question 1, 4, 9, 15, 16, 27, and 32) for targeted point value adjustments.
  • Selecting questions by type (e.g., all True/False questions) to apply consistent point value changes across that question type.
  • Selecting questions by type AND specific questions.

Instructors

After students open the assessment or make submissions, instructors can make these changes:

  • Edit the text of questions and answers
  • Edit the point value
  • New grades are recalculated for all previously submitted assessments
  • Give everyone full credit for a question
  • Change which answers are correct
  • Change the scoring options for Multiple Choice and Matching questions
  • Align questions with goals, from the assessment only

After students open the assessment, instructors can’t make these changes:

  • Add new questions and answers
  • Delete a question
  • Delete answers in Matching and Multiple Choice questions
  • Change the number of blanks in a Fill in the Blanks question
  • Move the content, such as switch the order of questions, answers, or additional content
  • Add or remove questions from a question pool or delete a pool from an assessment 

Image 1: Instructors select Bulk edit points.

Image 2: Instructors can select the questions that they want included in the bulk edit.

Improved navigation from Gradebook column headers

We enhanced the gradebook grid view to streamline access to submission pages from column headers on the Grades page. These updates improve clarity and consistency across item types.

Changes include:

  • Assignments, Tests, Forms, Discussions, Journals:
    • Replaced the Edit option with a View Submissions option using the eye icon.
    • Renamed the grade cell menu option from View to View Submission.
  • Manual Items, Calculations, Total Calculations:
    • Added a View option to the column header that routes to the submission page.
  • SCORM Items:
    • Added a View Submissions option with the eye icon.
    • Renamed the grade cell menu option to View Submission.
    • Removed Edit and Preview SCORM options from the column header menu.
  • Attendance:
    • Replaced the Edit option with a View option using the eye icon.
    • Navigation behavior remains unchanged, with users being routed to the attendance page.

Image 1: Improved navigation in the Gradebook column headers.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Vevox Update: October 2025 

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There are some new features available in the latest Vevox (Polling Tool) update that we wanted to draw your attention to. 

For those unfamiliar with Vevox, the polling software can be used to ask students questions and for them to respond live using their mobile devices. For information on how to use Vevox, see our webpage. 

The update includes: 

  • Scheduled Surveys and Quizzes. You can make surveys and quizzes available outside of lecture rooms with automatic start and end times (note that the session needs to be started in Vevox for this to work).  
  • AI Question Helper. The AI tools will now suggest answer options based on your questions as well as creating a wider range of questions.  
  • Spin the wheel. A fun way of selecting a random option from a list, for example a list of revision topics, or group names for delivering presentations. Note that the person running the poll controls the wheel (not participants).  

Take a look at Vevox’s latest product update: October 2025 for the full update. 

If you have any questions on using Vevox please contact us (elearning@aber.ac.uk). 

What’s new in Blackboard October 2025

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment
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In the October update, we want to draw your attention to a new feature with the Learning Object Repository. There is also an important and highly requested update to Fill in the Blank style question, and tagging questions in question banks to help colleagues with question organisation.

Updates to the Learning Object Repository

We were very excited about the launch of the Learning Object Repository. We have already made use of it for the Blackboard standardised template and for Generative AI statements.

This month’s update sees the ability for us to upload files to the Learning Object Repository which colleagues can then copy into their courses.

We can stipulate the availability of the content, so that it can be available or unavailable to students.

See our webpage on the Learning Object Repository for further information.

Updates to the Fill in the Blank Question for Students

The way that Fill in the Blank Questions displays has been updated. This is an enhancement that colleagues have requested so we are pleased to this available.

 Fill in the blank questions now display the blanks inline with the surrounding text, whether the question is presented as a sentence, paragraph, or table. We also added hidden ARIA labels to blanks to improve screen reader accessibility.

Image 1: Before this update, the blanks appeared below the question.

Image 2: After this update, the blanks appear in-line with the question.

Tag questions with metadata in tests and question banks

Instructors can now tag questions with metadata when creating or editing questions in tests, forms, and banks. 

Instructors

Questions can have multiple tags of the same type. Metadata is visible during question creation/editing and can be used to filter questions when reusing or adding to pools. Metadata is not visible to students during test-taking or review.

Supported metadata types include:

  • Category
  • Topics
  • Levels of Difficulty
  • Keywords

Image 1: Instructors can create and apply a tag to questions.

Image 2: Tags appear as filters in the question bank.

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via elearning@aber.ac.uk.