What’s new in Blackboard April 2025

3rd April 20253rd April 2025 WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Uncategorised Leave a comment

In the April update, we are particularly excited about a new feature called the Learning Object Repository. There is now the ability to print Blackboard Documents, and updates to the grading and feedback workflow for staff and students.

New: Learning Object Repository

The new Learning Object Repository is an institutional repository designed to centralise resources across courses and organisations.

We can upload items to the Learning Object Repository for instructors to copy into their courses. Note that items copied into courses cannot be edited.

This feature is available for Blackboard Documents at this stage but there are plans to develop options to include files in the future. We have also requested a folder level structure be developed so that we can organise content items for instructors to find.

Over the next couple of months, we will be working on developing the process for colleagues to request for items to be added to the Learning Object Repository. We aim to have this in place ready for your 2025-26 courses.

Some initial ideas from us include links to generic skills resources, generative AI policies, and optional health and safety statements.

If you have any ideas about how we might use the Learning Object Repository, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Content Designer: Print Document

We have seen some significant changes to the Documents feature in Blackboard over the past 6 months. Now colleagues and students can print these Documents or save to PDF so that they can review content offline.

The print function retains the Document layout. Note that for instructors, knowledge check blocks print with all the question and answer options. All other blocks print as displayed outside of editing mode.

Image 1. The new Print button for Documents is now available for students.

Grading and Feedback

There are some minor enhancements to Grading and Feedback this month.

Indicator to see if a student has reviewed their feedback

In the Gradebook, instructors now have enhanced ability to monitor student engagement with assessment feedback. An indicator on the individual student’s Overview page now displays whether a student has reviewed the feedback for a given assessment.

When a grade is posted, the indicator includes a label of Not reviewed with the existing Completed label in the Status column. When the student reviews the feedback, the status updates to Reviewed with a review timestamp.

If the new grade indicator is reset for the assessment, such as when a grade is updated or if the assessment has multiple attempts, the timestamp updates when the student reviews the feedback again. If all attempts are deleted, the Not reviewed or Reviewed label is removed.

Image 1: Instructor Gradebook view has Reviewed and Not Reviewed labels in the Status column.

To see whether a student has viewed their feedback:

Navigate to the Course
Select View everyone on your course and search for the individual student
Under the Mark screen you will see whether the student has reviewed their feedback

Enhanced grading experience for group submissions

Blackboard Assignment can manage group submissions where a student in a group submits a file, and marks and feedback can be allocated for all students.

In this month’s update the grading interface for group submissions has been updated to match that of individual submissions.

Replace Feedback column with actionable Results column in student Gradebook

The students’ Gradebook has changed to include:

A new Results column replaces the Feedback column
A View button in the new Results column replaces the Feedback column’s purple feedback icon

When a grade is posted and the new grade indicator (purple circle) is turned on, the View button displays for the assessment.

When students select the View button, the new grade indicator turns off, and students are redirected to their submission. If no submission is made, the side panels with feedback opens. The View button remains unless the instructor deletes the graded submission and all attempts.

Image 1: Previous view of the student Gradebook included Feedback column with feedback icon and new grade indicator when feedback is available for review.

Image 2: New view of the student Gradebook includes an actionable Results column, with the new grade indicator turning off after the student views the feedback.

Ideas Exchange:

This section aims to keep you updated on progress of enhancements requested on the Blackboard Ideas Exchange.

We are pleased to see the Feedback Indicator included in this month’s release. This is a feature that we requested and was important in our recent SafeAssign Pilot survey.

Greek has also been added as an output language for the AI Design Assistant. This was requested by a colleague in Lifelong Learning.

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 March 2025

7th March 20257th March 2025 WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Blackboard Discussion Boards, E-submission, Marking, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment

What’s new in Blackboard March 2025

In the March update, Blackboard has changed how release conditions work with due dates and included the ability to copy banners from one course to another. Other updates include enhancements to Tests, Assignments, & Gradebook, and Discussions.

Release conditions panel: due dates now included

When instructors customise release conditions for a content item, the due date for the item is now included with the date and time fields.

Image 1: The due date of a content item now displays after the date and time fields

. Release condition rules, with the date/time section highlighted to show the red warning text about dates

This means that due dates must be between the release conditions of Date/Time that have been applied.

Copy banners between courses

Instructors now have the option to copy banners between courses. Banners can be copied from Ultra or Original courses.

Image 1: The Copy Items page now has the option to select the course banner under Settings

Follow the instructions on copying content for further information.

Tests, Assignments, and Gradebook

The following enhancements are grouped under tests, assignment, and gradebook activities.

New student submission review page for tests

A new and enhanced student-facing submission review page for tests has been developed.

The new layout means that all feedback is clearly laid out and easy for students to identify.

Image 1: The student view of the graded test submission includes a submission timestamp, submission receipt, and feedback for individual questions.

The student view of the graded test submission includes a submission timestamp, submission receipt, and feedback for individual questions.

If the test is visible and feedback has been posted, students can access the review page from:

The gradebook feedback button for the test
The small panel that displays when students access a test from the Course Content page

If a student submits multiple attempts, they can review each attempt on the submission review page. The instructor defines which attempt to grade in the test’s final grade calculation setting.

Please note that this does not affect online exams as we advise that the test is hidden from students to prevent them seeing their results.

Show/hide calculated columns in the gradebook

Instructors can now configure visibility for calculated columns from Items Management in the Gradebook by click on the associated calculation:

Image showing markable items in the Gradebook

Pop-out rubric with Blackboard Assignment

Grading rubrics on Blackboard Assignments can pop out into a separate window as part of the assignment workflow.

Image 1: Instructors can pop out the rubric by selecting the expand icon in the rubric panel.

When the pop-out rubric is open, the ability to add Overall Feedback and grade with the rubric in the main grading interface is inactive. This prevents an instructor from editing the same information in two separate places simultaneously.

We recommend using two screens with this enhancement.

Discussions

Usability improvements for Discussions

Several improvements have been made to Discussions:

Improved visibility: Posts now have a grey background to stand out better against the page.
Full post display: Long discussion posts are now fully visible without the need for scrolling, enhancing readability.

Image 1. A long discussion post displayed in its entirety with a grey background.

We made several changes to enhance the accessibility of key features on the discussion home page.

Participation metrics: The number of posts and replies is now listed directly on the discussion home page, replacing the total response counter. This change makes important information more immediately available.
Direct edit option: The Edit button is now directly accessible from the post, saving instructors time.

Image 2. The changes made to the discussion home page included the addition of an Edit button and a count of posts and replies.

Hidden Discussions tab from student course view

The Discussions page will only be available to students if any of the below conditions are met:

Students have permission to create new discussions
The instructor has created a discussion or discussion folder on the course

Anonymous discussions: New privilege to reveal author

System administrators can now reveal the identity of the author of an anonymous discussion post or reply. If you are running an anonymous Discussion and need to de-anonymise a comment, contact elearning@aber.ac.uk outlining the course, discussion, and post, as well as the rationale for requesting it be de-anonymised.

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 – February 2025

6th February 20256th February 2025 WordPress User [brr26] Blackboard, Monthly Update Leave a comment

AI Design Assistant, Assignments, Blackboard, Grades, Marking, Monthly updates, Tests, Ultra

In the February update, Blackboard has improved the workflows for Assignments and Tests and further enhanced the AI Design Assistant. Additionally, there are new options for managing and creating content and some improved accuracy when uploading grades and feedback.

Assignments, Tests, Marking and Grades

Conversion of existing assignments to new assignment workflow

The Create Test and Create Assignment workflows used to share the same content settings, but the workflows have been separated since last August. This month’s update will run an automatic bulk conversion of any assignments created before August 2024 to ensure that all assignments past and present will benefit from this new workflow. See the August 2024 Blog for details on the workflow differences.

Assignments following the conversion: There will be no option to add questions to assignments and attempts will only be created with students interact with the assignment, such as submitting a file or adding content. Clicking on the assignment will not create an attempt.

Tests following the conversion: Tests with questions will remain the same. Any tests without questions will be set to Hidden from students. When you copy tests over from previous modules, they will also be set to Hidden from students. Some assignment-specific options have been removed from the test settings menu:

Collect submissions offline
Use grading rubric
Maximum points
2 grades per student
Peer review

Additionally, the functionality for student visibility options and release conditions for tests have been updated. Now, instructors must add one or more questions to their test to make it visible to students or to add release conditions. This ensures that students only see assessments that they can actively engage with.

Image 1: Settings panel with assignment-specific options removed.

Masking access codes for Tests

In the past, when an exam invigilator entered an access code for an online exam using Blackboard Tests, the code was visible on the screen when entered. This compromised the security of the testing environment. Now, the code is masked (******) to ensure enhanced security. An option to view the code is available but the default state keeps it hidden which provides better privacy and protection during exams.
Image 2: Masked Access Code.

Improved accuracy when uploading grades and feedback

Instructors can now upload grades and feedback for assignments, journals, and discussions with improved accuracy. Previously, uploaded grades were always stored at the override level, which left any underlying attempts or submissions ungraded. This caused the Needs Grading and New Submission flags to remain visible, even when grading had been completed offline. Uploaded grades and feedback are now correctly mapped to the corresponding attempt or submission which reduces confusion and provides better clarity for instructors. See guidance on Working Offline with Grade Data for further information.

AI Design Assistant

Managing and Creating Content

New image block on Document creator

Blackboard have added a new image block to Documents. Image blocks are used to upload your own images, use the AI Design Assistant to generate images, or select images from Unsplash. Image blocks can be moved throughout a Document, just like other block types. You have the option to resize images, set height, and maintain aspect ratios in image blocks.

Image 4: The new image block option in Documents.

A screenshot of the new image block option in Documents.

A dedicated image block makes adding images more apparent. Adding images via the image block also reduces white space around images and provides greater control over content design. For more information on using Documents in Blackboard see Enhancements to Documents.

Changing Folders to Learning Modules

Instructors can now change a folder to a learning module or a learning module to a folder. Benefits of changing a folder to a learning module include:

Thumbnail images: Learning modules come with thumbnail images, which provide a visually appealing course experience.
Forced sequencing: Instructors can force students to navigate learning modules in linear paths.
Progress bar: Learning modules have a progress bar for students that highlights the number of items that they need to complete and their progression on those items.
Previous and next navigation: Students can quickly navigate to the next or previous item in a learning module.

It is also possible to convert a learning module to a folder, though we would not recommend this, as it will remove the added benefits of using learning modules as listed above.

Image 5: The new option to change a folder to a learning module in the dropdown menu.

Screenshot of the new option to change a folder to a learning module in the dropdown menu.

Idea Exchange

This section aims to keep you updated on progress of enhancements requested on the Blackboard Anthology Idea Exchange. The following three items have changed their status to ‘Planning to implement’:

Support for a Dark Mode in Ultra Courses
Ability to add metadata to questions in tests and banks
Organising Pools

If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with the Digital Education Group.

What’s new in Blackboard – January 2025

10th January 202516th January 2025 WordPress User [brr26] Blackboard, Uncategorised Leave a comment

AI Design Assistant, Blackboard, Documents, Monthly updates

In the January update, Blackboard has improved the AI Design Assistant by adding more languages and enhancing the Auto-generation features. Additionally, there are new features for Creating Documents and Release Conditions.

AI Design Assistant Outputs

Blackboard have improved the auto-generation features within the AI Design Assistant to have faster and more complex outputs. When auto-generating Learning Modules for example, all you need is a few sentences to describe the Modules, and the AI Design Assistant creates longer descriptions and deeper focus on the topic:

Image 1: Auto-generated Learning modules with latest improvements (see right) for comparison.

As well as learning modules, they include improvements for auto-generating: Assignments, Discussions, Journals, Test questions and AI Conversation avatars. See our webpages for further information on the AI Design Assistant and training sessions are also available to book here.

More languages in AI Design Assistant

The AI Design Assistant now includes expanded language outputs. AI workflows now work in Greek, Catalan, Croatian, Irish, and Slovenian. For a complete list of languages available for AI outputs, see Blackboard’s AI Design Assistant for Instructors page. See below for how to change the language:

Image 2. Changing the output language is available as an advanced option in the AI Design Assistant.

Direct grade entry from the Grid view

Instructors can now enter assignment grades directly in the Grid view (selected by choosing the Marks tab in the Gradebook) with improved accuracy and consistency.

Image 3: Screenshot of the Marks tab in the Gradebook.

Previously, grades entered in these views were stored at the override level, which caused confusion as underlying attempts remained ungraded and continued to display the Needs Grading and New Submission flags. This latest update ensures that grades entered this way are properly mapped to the underlying attempt or submission when applicable.

NOTE: This feature is only applicable in the Marks view, grades continue to be shown as override if you are in the Markable Items view. Also, grades entered via file upload continue to be stored as override grades.

Content blocks for designing Documents

Blackboard have improved the content designer when creating documents which makes it much easier to use. When instructors create or edit a document, the content block no longer closes when you collapse the menu in the editor. Also, the editor no longer closes when editing table setting

For more information on documents see: Blackboard Learn Ultra: Enhancements to Documents.

File uploads for Documents

This latest update has updated the default file option when instructors upload files to documents. The default file option is now View and Download file. Also, it is now possible to use the Undo and Redo functions for file uploads. This is very useful if you’ve uploaded an incorrect file to your document, you can just click the ‘undo’ feature.

Image 4: New ‘Undo’ and ‘Redo’ functions highlighted below.

Submission attempts for Release Conditions

You can now use item submission status for a release condition. For example, an instructor who wants students to access a document only after submitting a quiz would use a release condition. Students can access content items without needing to wait for a grade to be posted.

Image 5: The new Attempt submitted option is in the dropdown menu for a gradable item in the Release Conditions panel.

What’s New in Blackboard December 2024

6th December 20249th December 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Blackboard Discussion Boards, Monthly Update, Ultra Leave a comment

This December Blackboard has made it easier to see new posts in Discussions and late submissions in Blackboard Assignments (not Turnitin). Additionally, we highlight the release of AI Conversations in Blackboard and the Online Mini Conference on 18 December.

Discussion Enhancement: New Post Indicator

Related Blackboard Topic: Discussions

Blackboard have added a “New” indicator that displays next to posts and replies that a user has not yet accessed. This helps direct engagement by making new discussion activity easier to find and access.

Image 1. The “New” indicator alongside a post and a reply

Please also see the section on the Ability to ‘Follow’ Discussions for Enhanced Engagement from the August 2024 Update

Improvements for late submissions

Related Blackboard Topic: Grade Assignments with Flexible Grading

To help instructors quickly identify late submissions in the attempt banner, late submissions now have a Late indicator. Blackboard also updated the wording from Submitted late <date> to Submitted <date>.

Also of note this month:

We released the AI Conversations in Blackboard which is a chat bot for students to interact with and test their knowledge as part of a learning activity which Instructors can give a persona. It uses both Socratic questioning and role play.

We will be showcasing AI Conversations and Exemplary Blackboard Practice at our forthcoming Online Mini Conference on 18 December. You can book your place online and we hope to see you there.

What’s New in Blackboard November 2024

11th November 202411th November 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Ultra, Ultra Leave a comment

The November Blackboard Update includes improvements to printing Tests, Documents and Batch Editing.

Print Tests with questions from Question Pools

Related Blackboard Help topic: Question Pools

Instructors can now print tests that include questions from Question Pools. An answer key will also be printed with the corresponding test. This ensures that Instructors always have an answer key that matches the test. Blackboard generates the answer key and prints it ahead of the test. The answer key is also clearly labelled to ensure awareness.

The system generates a different version of the answer key and test each time a test is printed when the test:

Randomizes questions or answer options
Includes Question Pools
Instructors can use the print option to save the answer key and test as a PDF.

Image 1. Printing a test

Improvement to Resizing Blocks in Documents

Related Blackboard Help Topic: Create Documents 

To help with resizing blocks that are vertically tall, Blackboard have modified the resize handle. Now, instructors can resize a block by selecting the vertical edge of a block. It is not necessary to place the mouse directly over the handle.

Image 1. Resize handle in a Document

For more information on Blackboard Documents see our previous blogpost on Enhancements to Blackboard Documents.

Batch Edit: Usability Improvement

Related Blackboard Help Topic: Batch Edit

“Change dates to a specific date and/or time” is the most popular option used in Batch Edit to change dates in a batch, so it is now the default option. This change simplifies the process for users and helps instructors to prepare courses for teaching and learning even faster.

Image 1. Edit Dates option in Batch Edit

What’s New in Blackboard October 2024

16th October 202416th October 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Monthly Update, Ultra, Uncategorised Leave a comment

The October Blackboard Update includes generating question banks from course materials and more customisation options for email notifications.

Generate question banks from course materials

Related Blackboard Guidance Topic: Question Banks 

Creating questions is time consuming. Instructors now have the option to generate questions in a question bank. Generating question banks from course materials provides inspiration and saves time. 

To generate a question bank, select the Auto-generate option from the + on the Question Banks page. 

Image 1. Auto-generate a question bank

Question bank main screen with the dropdown selected and Auto-generated appearing

From the menu, instructors can select content items. These content items provide context for the questions. Instructors can further refine the questions they ask by entering a description of the learning objectives or topic. 

Image 2. The context picker for creating new questions

Instructors can select the type of question to generate, such as multiple choice or fill in the blank. The complexity of the questions can also be adjusted. Instructors choose which questions to include in the question bank. 

Image 3. The Auto-Generate Question Bank page

Question bank generation page, showing options on the left and questions on the right

Email notifications for followed discussions

Related Blackboard Guidance Topic: Discussions 

To encourage participation in discussions, Blackboard have expanded notifications to include email. Emails are sent when users opt for Email me right away notifications. 

Key Enhancements:  

User Notification Settings: New notification options allow users to manage their emails for discussions they follow. To help with consistency, these settings align with the user’s settings for their activity stream. 

Activity on my responses

Activity on responses I have replied to

Responses from instructors

Responses for followed discussions

Replies for followed discussions

How to access your Email notification settings:

In Blackboard go into your Profile

Under Global Notification Settings click on Email notifications

Email notifications highlighted under Global Notification settings

Adjust your settings as you prefer

Image 2. An example of an email for discussion activity

Example email notification of discussion activity

What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra April 2024

16th April 202416th April 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Blackboard Discussion Boards, Blackboard Tests, Ultra, Uncategorised Leave a comment

The April update to Blackboard Learn Ultra includes a much-requested feature; Anonymous posts for discussions. Additionally, there are improvements to feedback and Gradebook calculations.

Anonymous posts for Discussions

Discussions play a pivotal role in nurturing peer-to-peer interaction and critical thinking. Students need to feel free to express their ideas and opinions without fear of judgement. To support this, Blackboard have added an option for instructors to allow anonymous posts in ungraded discussions. This feature provides flexibility for instructors. They can toggle anonymity on or off as the discussion progresses. Any existing anonymous posts keep their anonymity.

Image below: Setting to turn on anonymous posts

Note: When intending to post anonymously a student must tick Post anonymously.

Image below: A student making an anonymous post with Post anonymously ticked (highlighted)

Image below: An anonymous post in a discussion

Add question feedback when grading by student

Instructors can now provide contextual feedback by student on all question types. Question level feedback promotes deeper understanding and personal growth among students. Question level feedback complements the existing capabilities of overall submission feedback and automated feedback for auto-graded questions.

Note: Blackboard are targeting the May release for per-question feedback when grading tests by questions rather than by student.

Image below: Instructor view of adding per question feedback

Image below: Instructor view of question with saved feedback

Once students have submitted their tests and scores are posted, students can access the feedback. Students can access both overall feedback and question-specific feedback.

Image below: Student view of feedback added to an essay question

Student feedback remains visible to students regardless of release condition settings

Instructors may want to control access to course content using release conditions. This is helpful for providing custom learning paths through course content. The release conditions include an option to show or hide content to/from students before they meet release conditions. Blackboard have modified how these settings impact the students’ view of feedback from instructors. Now instructors can set release conditions without any impact to feedback to students.

In the past, when an instructor selected the option to hide content, students could view associated grades but not the feedback. Blackboard have corrected this to ensure that students can always review feedback.

Image below: Instructor view of release conditions settings with date/time release condition set in combination with Hide state in “When will content appear?”

Instructor view of release conditions settings with date/time release condition set in combination with Hide state in “When will content appear?”

Image below: Student gradebook view with display of student’s feedback and grade regardless of the release condition setting in the above image.

Persistent navigation for Learning Modules

To improve students’ navigation in a learning module, Blackboard have updated the navigation bar. Now the navigation bar is sticky and remains visible as students vertically scroll through content. Students no longer need to scroll back up to the top of content to access the navigation tools.

Image below: The navigation bar is always visible

Calculations changed from using BigDecimal to BigFraction

Instructors need a gradebook that supports diverse grading scenarios. Blackboard are changing the software library used to perform calculations in calculated columns and the overall course grade.

Example: A course contains 3 assignments worth 22 points each. The student scores 13/22 on the first assignment, 14/22 on the second assignment, and 15/22 on the third assignment. An instructor creates a calculated column to calculate the average of these assignments.

Using the new software library, BigFraction, the average will calculate as 14/22.

With the former software library, BigDecimal, the average would incorrectly calculate to 13.99/22. The new software library ensures calculations compute as expected.

What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – March 2024

21st March 202421st March 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment

This month Blackboard brings us the ability to see Gradebook item statistics, being able to set assessments with no due date and some tweaks to message notifications.

Gradebook item statistics

Item statistics give insight to course members’ overall performance on a graded content. Now, instructors can select a column in the gradebook to access summary statistics for any graded item. The statistics page displays key metrics such as:

Minimum and maximum value
Range
Average
Median
Standard deviation
Variance

The number of submissions requiring grading and the distribution of grades also displays.

Image below: Access to item statistics from the Grid view.

Image below: Access to item statistics from the Gradeable Items view.

Access to item statistics from the Gradable Items view

Image below: Item Statistics page.

No Due Date assessment option

Due dates are an important aspect of the teaching and learning process. In some scenarios, such as self-paced learning, an instructor may not want to apply a due date. To make the option for not having a due date more evident, we’ve added a “No due date” option for Tests and Assignments.

Image below: Test Settings panel showing the new “No due date” option.

We also updated the default due date and time to tomorrow’s date at 11:59 pm.

Image below: Test Settings panel displaying the new default due date and time.

There may be cases when the “No due date” selection conflicts with the Assessment Results settings. When this occurs, the instructor is prompted to review the settings.

Image below: A warning banner appears when the “No due date” selection conflicts with Assessment Results settings.

Instructors can navigate to the Assessment Results section in the Settings via the link in the banner.

Image below: Assessment results timing options when there is no due date.

Please note that for summative and high stakes assessment, we still advise having a due date and time. To discuss your requirements for test settings, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Announcement indicators and mark announcements as read/unread

Announcements are an important communications channel within a course. It is important to help create awareness of new announcements and read/unread controls.

Now, there is a number indicator next to the announcement tab in the course. The indicator signals the number of unread announcements available.

Additionally, students can now mark announcements as read or unread. On the New Course Announcement pop-up, users have the option to mark the read state. Students can also mark announcements as read or unread from the Announcement page.

Image below: Number of unread Announcements next to the Announcement tab

Image below: Announcements pop-up with the option to mark as read/unread

Image below: Announcements page with the option to mark as read/unread.

Image below: Matching announcement and messages indicators for consistency

Reminder: Access the Course Activity Report and message students from within it.

The Course Activity report helps you understand how well your students are performing and how much they are interacting with your course. The Course Activity Report enables Instructors to:

Message students who are falling behind and encourage them to increase their course activity
Identify struggling students based on their overall grade, missed due dates, the number of hours they spend in your course, and the number of days since their last access
Congratulate students performing well in your course and ask them to be mentors
Customize your course alerts to identify struggling students when their overall grade drops below a specific value, they’ve missed due dates, or they haven’t accessed the course for a certain number of days
Download the table view to a CSV (comma-separated values) file to analyse the data with other tools
Download the scatter plot as a PDF or image to share information with other instructors or mentors of the course

To access the Course Activity Report select Course Activity in your course’s Analytics tab.

Image below: Accessing the Course Activity Report from the Analytics tab

The table view of the Course Activity report on the Analytics tab, with a blue box around Analytics and Course Activity.

Sending Messages

Instructors can select students and send them messages from Course Activity by selecting the Send message button. When you send a message to multiple students, each student will receive an individual message and will not know which other students were included.

Image below: A student selected to be contacted and the Send message button highlighted

The table view of the Course Activity report on the Analytics tab, with a blue box around a student selection and Send message.

For more information on the Course Activity Report see the Blackboard Help Page on the Course Activity Report.

Reminder: Grading Tests with Flexible Grading

It is possible to grade tests either by student or by question —making it easy to compare answers across the course and ensure fairness and consistency in grading. Marking by student is currently limited to non-anonymous submissions. Marking anonymous submissions will be included in a future update

For more information on Flexible Grading see the Blackboard Help Page on Flexible Grading.

What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – February 2024

16th February 202416th February 2024 WordPress User [rsf09] Blackboard, Ultra, Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) Leave a comment

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is excited to share with you details of the new Forms and the new Linkert question type which were introduced in the February update.

Forms

Instructors frequently need to survey their class to gauge student interests or opinions on a range of topics from field excursions to course feedback. Now, instructors can create a Form for these use cases.

The following items are supported in a Form:

Essay question
Likert question
Multiple choice question
True/false question
Text
Local file
File from cloud storage
Page break

By default, a Form is not graded. Questions in a form don’t have correct or incorrect answers. Forms are currently not anonymous, this functionality will be included in a future update.

Image below: An example ungraded Form used for a clinical teaching placement

Example of ungraded Form used for clinical teaching placement

Some instructors may choose to grade a Form to encourage participation. When this is the case, instructors must manually enter a grade for each submission.

Instructors may view Form submissions by student or by question in the new grading view.

Image below: Ungraded Form submissions by question

Image below: Graded Form submission by student

Instructors may download the Form results from the Gradebook and Submissions page as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.

Image below: Download Form results from Gradable Items view

Image below: Download Form results for Submissions page

In the Gradebook grid view, student submissions for an ungraded Form appear as “Submitted.” Graded Forms display the manually entered grade or appropriate grading status.

Likert question type

Likert questions help provide a quantitative measure of opinions and attitudes. The responses often range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. This question type is now available in the Form assessment type.

Image below: Set up a Likert question

The scale range defaults to three options, with suggested labelling for options one and three as strongly disagree and strongly agree. Instructors may select a range of three, five, or seven options and label the poles as desired. Instructors may also choose to include a “not applicable” option.

Image below. Example Likert question in an end of unit survey

Note: A Likert question in a survey created in the Learn Original course view converts/copies to a Form in the Learn Ultra course view. The scale range default is three.