Category: Blackboard

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.

Blackboard User Group: Exemplary Course Award Presentation

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Events and Networks, Exemplary Course Award Leave a comment

We had the pleasure of recently presenting at the Blackboard User Group on the Exemplary Course Award that we run here at Aberystwyth University. Blackboard run their own Exemplary Course Programme which we use as the basis for our award.

The session title, Celebrating Excellence, Shaping Practice: Aberystwyth University’s Exemplary Course Award Programme, charted the history of the event here at AU.

We’ve been running the ECA since 2014. In that time, over 50 modules have submitted applications.

Since the start of the award, we’ve had applications from all sections of the University. Those that offer on campus teaching provision, Lifelong Learning Courses, Distance Learning Courses, Welsh language and English medium courses, large and small courses have all been recipients of the award.

In the presentation, we gave an overview of how we manage the process and discussed the impact of running the award over the last 12 years. The ethos of the process has always foregrounded reflection giving applicants the opportunity to enhance and refine their course before submitting.

We’ve looked at the ways in which we have marked success over the years, as well as the changes we have applied to streamline the process.

We also discussed how we might change this for the future. We are exploring ways in which the student voice can be brought into the nomination process. We’re also considering running smaller awards alongside the Exemplary Course Award – an award that focuses on each of the 4 criteria: Course Design, Assessment, Interaction and Collaboration, and Learner Support.

We were joined by previous award winners: Lauren Harvey (Law and Criminology) and Mari Dunning (Lifelong Learning).

Both Lauren and Mari spoke about their courses as well as their experience of engaging with the process.

Colleagues are welcome to submit a direct application to Blackboard’s Exemplary course Programme.

Slides from our presentation can be downloaded here:

PresentationDownload

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.

Measuring Course Engagement with Blackboard Tools

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard Leave a comment
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Now that semester 1 teaching has finished and we are moving towards the assessment period, we wanted to write a blogpost to highlight the analytical reports that are available in Blackboard.

These reports can be used to monitor Blackboard usage and engagement and help you to re-enforce messages to students.

Progress Summary

By default, the student progress summary is enabled on all content items in Blackboard courses.

This allows Blackboard to record when content has been opened, and students are able to mark tasks as complete.

To access the report, click on the … to the right of the content item and select Student Progress:

Image showing student progress for content.

There you’ll see the progress report:

Image showing Progress Summary page.

From this page, you can also filter students by those who have unopened the content, those who have started it, and those who have marked it as complete.

If you apply a filter, you can message the highlighted students using the message button.

Test question analysis

Using Blackboard tests? You can run a report to analyse the questions with:

  • Average score
  • Possible questions
  • Completed attempts
  • Average time spent on the course

In addition to this, it also allows you to re-examine questions with the Discrimination report. This indicates how well questions differentiate between students across all levels.

The difficulty report indicates which questions are easy, medium and hard.

To view the report (once the test has ended), navigate to the test and select Question Analysis:

Image showing Question Analysis menu item.

The report will run and you will receive an email once it has completed:

image showing test question analysis

Discussion analysis

Making use of Discussions in your Blackboard course? Then you can run a report for the overview which will give you the total number of active students, the average number of posts per students, as well as the average wordcount for blogposts.

You can click on Student Activity for the overview:

Image showing student activity overview

You can use the message feature to contact students who haven’t engaged, as well as see the top participants, and the responses with the most replies.

Course Analytics

The Course Analytics page allows you to flag alert settings for students based on the amount of time spent in the course and the dates since their last access.

Choose Analytics from the top menu:

image showing the top menu of the course with Analytics highlighted.

You have two views:

  • Student hours in the course against their overall mark
Image showing student hours in the course against their overall grade
  • Student list view showing overall mark against missed due dates, hours in course, and days since last access

For further information on using the Analytics feature, see Blackboard Help: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Ultra/Performance/Course_Reports/Course_Activity_Related_to_Grades

If you are interested in looking in more detail at course analytics, we are holding an online training session on Monday 9 February between 15:10-16:00. You can book your place online via the training booking page.

Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year from the Digital Education Team

WordPress User [jbw] Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2025, Blackboard, Conference, E-submission, Events and Networks, Exemplary Course Award, Generative AI, Mini Conference 2025 Generative AI, Panopto, Technical Updates, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment
Nadolig Llawen / Merry Christmas

We’ve had some fantastic experiences and milestones this year.

Back in March, we announced our 2025 Exemplary Course Award and highly commended recipients.

In April, we hosted a Mini Conference on Employability and the Inclusive Curriculum in collaboration with colleagues in Careers and Employability.

In July, we had our 13th Annual Education and Student Experience Conference with over 200 attendees across 3 days.

At this event, a new Education and Student Experience Award Fund was announced, and we confirmed the recipients of these in November.

In November, we took part in Blackboard Ally Fix your Content Day, making the content of our Virtual Learning Environment even more accessible. We placed 3rd in the UK and 60th on the international leaderboard. 

From a technical perspective, we’re really pleased with the introduction of automatic captions on lecture recordings, Blackboard’s Learning Object Repository, badges and achievements, and the e-submission review.

And we’re rounding the year off with a Mini Conference on Generative AI on Thursday 18 December. We’ve got a fantastic programme and there is still time to book your place.

We’re excited about what 2026 will bring in the Digital Education arena.

Some initial things that we’ll be working on and want to draw your attention to.

Applications for the Exemplary Course Award 2026 will close on Friday 30 January.

On January 8 there will be a minor update to the Blackboard interface.

We’re planning our next Mini Conference in collaboration with colleagues in Student Journey for April 2026. Further information will be made available soon.

And our 14th Education and Student Experience Conference will take place between 8-10 September 2026. Keep an eye out for updates, call for proposals, and external speaker announcements.

We’ve got our training programme available on the booking system for Semester 2 for colleagues to book onto.

We’re looking forward to working further with you in 2026.

We hope you have a restful break.

Kate, Keziah, & Jim

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.

Blackboard Interface Update, January 2026

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates Leave a comment
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On Thursday 8 January, there will be a 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:
new Blackboard main navigation menu
  • A new home button in a course to take you back to the landing page:
home button highlighted from the Course view
  • A quick link to navigate to your recently accessed courses
Courses button highlighted showing dropdown to recently accessed courses

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

If you have any issues, please contact the Digital Education Team on 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.