{"id":9999,"date":"2026-01-09T09:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/?p=9999"},"modified":"2026-01-09T09:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:07:02","slug":"whats-new-in-blackboard-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/2026\/01\/09\/whats-new-in-blackboard-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new in Blackboard January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Happy New Year! In the January update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Minor Update to the Blackboard Interface<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improvements to Document\u2019s layouts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>More options for true and false questions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changes to multiple choice and multiple answer workflows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Minor Update to the Blackboard Interface<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no downtime associated with this update, and Blackboard will continue to function normally during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These changes include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Change in order of menu items on the main navigation menu:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"281\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10029\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new home button in a course to take you back to the landing page:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"446\" height=\"190\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10030\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A quick link to navigate to your recently accessed courses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10031\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to this, to maximise screen space, Blackboard will remove the nested folder view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Improvements to Document\u2019s layouts<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Change row\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Move to row above<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Move to row below<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New row above<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change [block\/column] size\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Expand to the left<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expand to the right<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shrink from the left<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shrink from the right<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change [block\/column] position\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Move to the left<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Move to the right<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Image 1: How document block styling options displayed before<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"208\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10032\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Image 2: How document block styling options display now<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"237\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10033\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More options for true and false questions<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>We expanded the display options for true\/false questions to include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>True\/False<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yes\/No<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Right\/Wrong<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Agree\/Disagree<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These additional answer options display when:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Instructors create or edit this question type when building a test or in a question bank<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students answer the question<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instructors grade the question<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students review their submission or graded question<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Image 1: True\/false questions now include additional options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"387\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10034\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changes to multiple choice and multiple answer workflows<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;ow students interact with questions. These changes support greater flexibility in assessment design and an improved experience for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Instructors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s selection limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The default is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4 answer options<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>partial\/negative credit is off (no additional changes made to partial\/negative credit for this release)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>students can select up to 4 answers\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>if additional answers are added, selection limit remains at 4<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>if answers are removed, instructor must select the selection limit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Image 1: Instructors can define the number of answer selections for each multiple choice question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"367\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10035\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Students<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image 2: The student&#8217;s selection mechanism of checkbox or radio button is determined by how many answers they can select.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"347\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2026\/01\/BB-Update-4000.6-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10036\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have any enhancements to request from Blackboard, please get in touch with us via <a href=\"mailto:elearning@aber.ac.uk\">elearning@aber.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year! In the January update, we want to draw your attention to the following Blackboard enhancements: 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: In addition to this, to maximise screen space, Blackboard will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55903,"featured_media":9451,"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":[94,1198,1],"tags":[59,1245,1538,1240,1542,1381,1262,1540,1267],"class_list":["post-9999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blackboard","category-montly-update","category-uncategorised","tag-blackboard","tag-documents","tag-interface-update","tag-monthly-updates","tag-multiple-answers","tag-questions","tag-tests","tag-true-false","tag-ultra-en"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/files\/2025\/06\/BB-update-Banner.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XLJV-2Bh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9999","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\/55903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10037,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9999\/revisions\/10037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.aber.ac.uk\/e-learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}