{"id":8680,"date":"2025-01-10T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/?p=8680"},"modified":"2025-01-16T09:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:29:31","slug":"whats-new-in-blackboard-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/2025\/01\/10\/whats-new-in-blackboard-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new in Blackboard – January 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
AI Design Assistant<\/a>, <\/span>Blackboard<\/a>, <\/span>Documents<\/a>, <\/span>Monthly updates<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI Design Assistant Outputs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image 1: Auto-generated Learning modules with latest improvements (see right) for comparison.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

More languages in AI Design Assistant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> page. See below for how to change the language:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image 2. Changing the output language is available as an advanced option in the AI Design Assistant.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Direct grade entry from the Grid view<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instructors can now enter assignment grades directly in the Grid view (selected by choosing the Marks <\/strong>tab in the Gradebook) with improved accuracy and consistency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image 3: Screenshot of the Marks tab in the Gradebook.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Content blocks for designing Documents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong> when you collapse the menu in the editor. Also, the editor no longer closes<\/strong> when editing table setting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on documents see: Blackboard Learn Ultra: Enhancements to Documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

File uploads for Documents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019ve uploaded an incorrect file to your document, you can just click the \u2018undo\u2019 feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image 4: New \u2018Undo\u2019 and \u2018Redo\u2019 functions highlighted below<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Submission attempts for Release Conditions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image 5: The new Attempt submitted<\/strong> option is in the dropdown menu for a gradable item in the Release Conditions panel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,1],"tags":[1243,59,1245,1240],"class_list":["post-8680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackboard","category-uncategorised","tag-ai-design-assistant","tag-blackboard","tag-documents","tag-monthly-updates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XLJV-2g0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8680"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8747,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8680\/revisions\/8747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}