Information: Update to client Production environments (Published August 1, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.93+e583816) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday August 1, 2024.

We have fixed this issue:

• Announcements Triggered for Users that are Enrolled After the Announcement Date- Article #78842

____________________________

Update to client Production environments (Published July 25, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.87+930dd1b) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday July 25, 2024.

We have fixed this issue:

• Unable to Perform Successful Connection via Buggy WebDav Programs Using the Alternate Domain- Article #78775

____________________________

Update to client Production environments (Published July 18, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number:  3900.95.0-rel.84+1c08114) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday July 18, 2024.

We have fixed these issues: 

• Content Access Permission Error Viewing Student Attempt in the Gradebook- Article #78201
• Error Migrating Building Block Content to LTI- Article #78669
• Updating only group memberships syncs group assignment with attendance. 

____________________________

Update to client Production environments (Published July 11, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.74+76b7566) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday July 11, 2024.

We have fixed this issue: 
 

• Feedback Hidden From Assignments Results in Content Unavailable Error- Article #78824

____________________________

Update to client Test/ Stage environments (Published July 9, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.67+a5d9078) is being applied to client Test servers on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.

We have fixed these issues: 
 

• Checking exceptions in attempts with large quantities of submissions leads to HTTP 414 on /exceptions
• Updating an announcement to send notifications immediately can be slow
• Submission list reloads gradebook schemas on each new page of data
• Error When Converting Panopto Building Block Content to LTI- Article #78744
• Email Notifications Incorrectly Sent Out for Old Scheduled Announcements- Article #78815

 

• An issue that didn't allow clients to access Microsoft Teams Open menu including Teams Classes and Teams Meetings has been fixed. 

____________________________

Update to client Production environments (Published July 4, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.62+0fb9982) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday, July 4, 2024.

We have fixed these issues:

• When Courses have Third Party Content with Due Dates Students Receive Past Due Emails Even if They Have Submitted - Article #78313
• Loading Issues for a Large Group Assignment That has 380 Groups With Over 1400 Members - Article #78674
• Errors When Migrating Courses With Building Block Content - Article #78611
• Safe Assign Integration is not Working - Article #78788
• Interaction with Microsoft Teams in Ultra Course results in freezing Blackboard in 3900.95.0-rel.29+0c2f4e3 - Article #78763

____________________________

Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published July 2, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.52+6828782) is being applied to client Test servers on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

We have fixed these issues:

• When a Test is Made or Becomes Unavailable While Attempts are In-Progress the Attempts Stop Saving With no Clear Indication to the Students - Article #78303
• When Copying Original Courses to Ultra Courses the Adaptive Release Dates are Carried Over to Ultra and Do not Work - Article #78298
• Ultra Base Navigation Course Filters not Remaining in Different Browsers or Devices - Article #78748

____________________________
Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published June 25, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.36+cce670e) is being applied to client Test servers on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

We have fixed these issues:

• Gradebook Log REST API Call Throws 500 Error Code - Article #78135
• Secure LTI 1.1 to LTI 1.3 Migration Results in Duplicate User Creation - Article #78686
• Course List Loads Slowly for Users with a Large set of Course Enrollments - Articles #78756

____________________________
Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published June 18, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.29+0c2f4e3) is being applied to client Test servers on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

We have fixed these issues:

• Institution Roles Over 100 do not Appear on List to Add to Brands - Article #76252
• Poor Performance Loading Group Submissions - Article #78690

____________________________
Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published June 11, 2024):
An updated version of 3900.95.0 (full release number: 3900.95.0-rel.14+d86da7f) is being applied to client Test servers on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.



The July 2024 - 3900.95 release is robust with features in 8 areas:   
 

• Tests and assignments;  
• Communication and collaboration;  
• Flexible grading;  
• Gradebook;  
• Learner progression and personalized experience;  
• Learn core and security;  
• Mobile App; and   
• Upgrade to Ultra  

These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. Some features do require administrative action.  


Instructors:   

• Print answer key for assessments  
• Improvements to prevent printing a question across pages  
• Needs Grading improvements for assessments allowing multiple attempts  
• Send a copy to email when scheduling announcements   
• Needs Grading improvements for Students and Questions tabs  
• Recording audio and video when adding per question feedback  

Students: 

• Improved navigation when accessing feedback  
• Instructors and Administrators  
• Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Embedded Images and Multimedia  
• Moodle Conversion Improvement: Graded Discussions  

Administrators:

• ‘Reply to Email’ feature for Messages   
• Test and Discussion events included in the Activity Accumulator and synthetic events clean-up  
• Default Organization View settings  

All users:   

• Mobile App token timeout  
• Enhanced privacy controls for Student IDs  
• Improved Mobile Authentication  

 

Tests & Assignments  

Print answer key for assessments 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors  

  

Instructors can now print an answer key for their assessments. A printed answer key is helpful for grading any printed assessment.   

  

Printing provides a convenient solution for a variety of use cases:  

• Accommodating students with specific needs or limited technology access  
• Providing a printed assessment for testing in designated centers  
• Backup and record keeping  
• Conducting offline assessment  
• Documentation and compliance  
• Maintaining security and integrity  

  

The print answer key option is available in Tests and Assignments with questions. Instructors may also save answer keys as a PDF.  
 

To print an answer key from an assessment, navigate to the assessment. Select Print from the Content and Settings tab.  

  

Note: We plan to support printing question pools and printing from the mobile app in upcoming releases.  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  



Improvements to prevent printing a question across pages 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors   

  
In response to client feedback, we enhanced the print functionality for assessments to ensure more user-friendly experience. For the following use cases, questions now print so that a question is not separated incorrectly on the physical or digital paper page break (e.g., in PDFs). This improves readability and ease of use for instructors and students alike.  

  

• Question headers will split the question number and points possible across pages  
• Question header will not split the header from the question text  
• Question answer icons and text will not split across pages  
• Tables, lists, and images will not split across pages  
• Very large text answer options may span pages, but the answer choice icon (e.g. option A) will display next to the first line of text rather than aligning to the center of the option  
• In matching questions, the prompt/answer heading will not split from the answer pairs  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  



Needs Grading improvements for assessments allowing multiple attempts 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors  

 
The value of multiple attempts on an assessment ranges from support of mastery learning to reducing student anxiety. To help instructors grade assessments with multiple attempts, we have added new settings.  

When an instructor chooses to allow multiple attempts, there is now a way to see which attempt(s) display as Needs Grading.   

From the ‘Attempts to grade’ menu. The options are:  

• First attempt 
• Last attempt (default)  
• All attempts  

Example: An assessment allows 3 attempts; a student made 3 submissions. 

  

Option	Attempt(s) counting towards Needs Grading	Needs Grading count
First attempt	The first attempt submitted by the student	1
Last attempt	The last attempt submitted by the student	1
All attempts	All attempts submitted by the student	3

Note: Instructors will always have access to all attempts submitted by a student in the grading interface. The ‘Attempts to grade’ setting only controls which attempts display as Needs Grading.   

If the ‘All attempts’ option is selected, the instructor must also select the calculation method for the student’s grade.   

From the ‘Final grade calculation’ menu, the options are:  

• Average  
• Highest (default)  
• Lowest  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed. 

 

Communication & Collaboration  
  

Send a copy to email when scheduling announcements 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience    
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors   
   

Managing communication with students is an important instructor task. Instructors often plan certain communications in advance. Now instructors can schedule an announcement for a future date and select that it will send an email copy. The announcement tool will send the email copy on the day and time the announcements are posted.   

In the past, instructors could schedule an announcement that would present to students on the selected day and time. Instructors could also immediately post an announcement and send an email copy to students at the same time.   
 

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  

  
 

‘Reply to Email’ feature for Messages 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience  
Impact: Administrators  

  

We aim to support institutions' specific policies and procedures about email communications. To help, administrators can now control how users interact with Messages sent as emails. When allowed, users can reply to Messages sent as an email.  
 

There are two new settings for Ultra Messages:  

• Allow email replies to messages from non-students/non-participants (instructors/leaders, administrators)  

• Allow email replies to messages from students/participants  
   

When drafting the message, instructors may choose whether they want to allow replies. When selected, replies from students will be directed to the instructor's email address registered in the system. Allowing replies helps interactions to be more efficient and will foster smoother communication.  


For administrators: By default, both settings are deselected. This setting can be selected for students, non-students, or both.  


 

Flexible Grading  

Needs Grading improvements for Students and Questions tabs  
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors  

  

We continue to improve the grading experience for instructors. Now, the Needs Grading filter for the Student and Questions tabs reflect the 'Attempts to grade' assessment setting.  

The Needs Grading filter on the Student tab will now only display students with ungraded attempts that count towards Needs Grading.   

The Needs Grading filter on the Questions tab will now only display questions with ungraded responses from attempts that count towards Needs Grading.   

Note: Instructors will always have access to all attempts submitted by a student in the grading interface. The ‘Attempts to grade’ setting only controls which attempts need to be graded for the student to be removed from the Needs Grading workflow.  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.   

 

Recording audio and video when adding per question feedback  
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Instructors  

  

When grading by student or question, instructors can now provide contextual feedback as recorded audio and video. Instructors can add recorded feedback to all question types. Question level feedback promotes deeper understanding and personal growth among students. Question level feedback enhances overall submission feedback and automated feedback for auto-graded questions.  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  

 

Gradebook  

 
Improved navigation when accessing feedback  
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience   
Ultra Course View   
Impact: Students  


Some instructors choose to add feedback on a student’s overall submission and individual attempts. We've improved students' access to this valuable feedback. Now students can view overall and attempt-level feedback from the gradebook.  

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  


 

Learner Progression & Personalized Experience  

  

Test and Discussion events included in the Activity Accumulator and synthetic events clean-up
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience  
Ultra Course View  
Impact: Administrators  

  

Administrators and faculty need to review user activity. This user activity helps inform decisions in academic disputes and aids in troubleshooting.  

Administrators can now view more granular events for what students did on assessments and discussions in the “activity_accumulator” table.   

New events are saved in the “event_type” column.  
 

Event name	Rule
ASSESSMENT_SUBMIT	A student submits a test or an assignment
ASSESSMENT_DRAFT	A student saves a draft on a test or an assignment
DISCUSSION_RESPONSE	A student posts a response on a discussion
DISCUSSION_REPLY	A student posts a reply on a discussion
DISCUSSION_DRAFT	A student saves a draft in a reply or response to a discussion
DISCUSSION_EDIT	A student edits a reply or response to a discussion

  

Note: The “activity_accumulator” includes only submissions the student makes. Auto submissions made by the system are not yet included.  
 

We also cleaned up the “activity_accumulator” table to prevent the generation of synthetic and duplicate events. This makes student activity review simpler and more transparent. 
 

• Indirect user interactions may generate synthetic events. For example, a student might access a page where content was displayed without accessing content itself might generate a synthetic event. These synthetic events could lead to confusion, making it difficult to differentiate real user interactions and clutter databases. Now, no synthetic events are generated.   

• Duplicated events were generated with a single user interaction. This could give the impression a user was more active than they were. Now, each user interaction registers a single event.  

When opening a folder, learning module, or other container, “CONTENT_ACCESS” events were registered for all items inside the container. Now, only the access for the container is registered.    


​​Behaviors you can expect on existing events:   

• “COURSE_ACCESS” events are generated only when a user accesses the course.  

• “CONTENT_ACCESS” events are generated only when a user accesses that course content. This applies for all course content items: documents, assessments, discussions, journals, LTI activities, SCORM packages, etc.  
   

As before, the “activity_accumulator” table can receive requests from Course Content public APIs. If you’re using the following API endpoints, take into account these new events and cleanup:  
 

• GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseld}/contents  

• GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseld}/contents/{contentld}  

• GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseld}/contents/{contentld}/children  

Key considerations:  

• These changes apply to new events. Historic events will remain the same.  

• The activity_accumulator table registers events of all users no matter the role. These changes apply to students and any other role that made these interactions.  

• User actions made in mobile app are also included in the “activity_accumulator” table.  

  
For administrators: To track user interactions in the Activity Accumulator table this feature needs to be activated. Go to Tools and Utilities in the administrator panel. Select System Reporting, then Auto-Reporting options. Select Yes in the event tracking field. The default state is on.  
 

Learn Core & Security  

 

Mobile App token timeout configuration (DELAYED)
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience and Original Experience  
Impact: All users  

  

Administrators can now define the maximum length of time of a mobile app user's session before it is auto renewed. Mobile sessions are now controlled via an authentication token. This allows the app to automatically renew a session without re-authentication, as long as the token hasn't expired.  
 

For administrators: The new configuration option is in the Administrator Tool Panel -> Account Lock Settings -> Mobile App Token Timeout. The default state for the mobile token lifetime is 336 hours (about 2 weeks). The life can be set to values from 1 to 336 hours.   

For security certifications, select the option “Use same value as Inactive Session Timeout” to expire sessions in the same timeframe, independently of the type of device users use to login. In this scenario, the following values should be used for the Inactive Session Timeout:  
 

• FedRAMP Moderate: 30 minutes  
• IL4: 25 minutes

​​​​Enhanced privacy controls for Student IDs 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience  
Ultra Course View  
Impact: Administrators  

  

We aim to support our clients' unique policies and use cases relating to personal information. Administrators can already:  
 

• restrict the display of certain fields for all users within the environment  

• reveal usernames to selected staff members through role-based privileges   

With the new role-based privileges, administrators can now customize access to student IDs.   

For example, instructors can be granted visibility of student IDs. This is helpful for distinguishing between students with similar names. At the same time, administrators can apply restrictions to prevent other roles from viewing student IDs.  

We've also added a new privilege: “Show student/participant ID even when hidden from other users.” This privilege provides an extra layer of control by allowing specified users to see Student IDs. This ensures that only designated personnel have access to this information when necessary.   
 

Note: In the past, to view the student ID, a user was required to have access to edit the student information. This is no longer necessary.   


For administrators: We recommend reviewing and modifying privileges according to your institution’s policies. With the introduction of a new privilege, we advise verifying custom roles.  


 

Default Organization View settings 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience  
Ultra Organization View, Original Organization View  
Impact: Administrators

  

Administrators can now set the default experience for organizations:  
 

• Original Organization View  
• Ultra Organization View  
• Instructor choice  

  

The Default Organization View options now align with the Default Course View options.  
 

For administrators: System administrators can set the default organization view by navigating to System Admin> Organizations module >Default Organization Properties.   


 

Mobile App  

 

Improved Mobile Authentication (DELAYED)
Blackboard Learn SaaS    
Ultra Course View, Original Course View  
Impact: All users  
 

We made backend improvements to the Blackboard Learn App authentication process. These changes reduce the frequency of logouts and enhance user experience. After the Blackboard Learn App 9.6 is released (July 2024), users will be required to update the app on their devices to ensure proper functionality. Users who do not update after the release will see a red banner informing them that their session has expired.  
  
For administrators: No configuration needed.  

  

Upgrade to Ultra  

  

Brightspace Conversion Improvement: Embedded Images and Multimedia 
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience and Original Experience  
Ultra Course View and Original Course View  
Impact: Instructors and Administrators  

  

We have improved the way we convert HTML Documents from Brightspace to Ultra. Now embedded images and multimedia are preserved for HTML Documents. HTML Documents from Brightspace convert into Content Items or Ultra Documents, depending on the course view. We now preserve embedded images and multimedia for either output.  

  
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  

Moodle Conversion Improvement: Graded Discussions
Blackboard Learn SaaS  
Ultra Experience and Original Experience  
Ultra Course View and Original Course View  
Impact: Instructors and Administrators  

  

We have improved the way we convert Discussions from Moodle to Ultras. Now graded discussions and their settings convert. We now bring over the points and grade category for the discussion. This change simplifies the process for those migrating from Moodle. Instructors will no longer need to update converted discussions to be graded. 

  
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.  

Highlights:

Maintenance Fixes

You can view maintenance items for 3900.95 on Behind the Blackboard.  Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. Here are highlights of issues fixed in this release:
 

• When Using the Google Chrome Browser in Ultra Courses the Input Area of the Discussion Board Does not Expand- Article #78601
• Ultra Course Test Content Redirect URL Works for Student but not Student Preview User- Article #78485
• Attachment Links in Messages Show as Tokens and Not as URL's- Article #78064
• Ultra Locale tag is not Decoded on Display- Article #78411
• Copying a Journal to a Course with Journals Containing Resized Images Reverts the Images Size- Article #78421
• Node Administrator with Courses Administrator Role Cannot Use Student Preview in Ultra Course- Article #78445
• Group Assignments Under Hidden Folders Cause Issue When Accessing Group Space- Article #78481
• Setting up a Due Date for Assignments/ Discussions From AM to PM Causes the Due Date to Go Backward One Day- Article #76226
• Oops Error if Student is Not a Member of the Group Assigned to the Discussion inside a Folder in a Learning Module- Article #77974
• 404 Error When Downloading All Submissions Named With Multibyte Characters- Article #78221
• In Ultra Base Navigation Original Courses Cannot be Exited- Article #78652
• Error When Grading Journal from the Submissions Page- Article #76130
• 'Grade Cleared' Email Sent to Students When Submitting an LTI Item- Article #78377
• Student Names with Multibyte Characters are not Displayed Correctly in the Browser Title Bar- Article #78450
• Language Discrepancy in Mobile App Configuration- Article #78617
• Broken PPG Images in Tests in Ultra Courses Can Happen After Copying Content Within a Course- Article #77708
• Default Organization View is Defaulted to Ultra When Course View is set to Original View- Article #78319
• When Aligning a Goal to a Question in a Test the Goal Icon Flashes and Disappears- Article #78540
• Batch Edit for Ultra Content Items may fail with an Oops Modal- Article #75466
• Courses With Large Number of Students are not Retaining Grades When the Instructor Grades From a Grid View- Article #77689
• Converted Ultra Course Can Have Content Inaccessible If It Was Converted With Specific Content Areas Unavailable- Article #76400
• Content Collection Inaccessible after Home Page Custom Folder is Deleted- Article #78499
• Issue with Display in Safari Browser When Editing Folders in Original Courses- Article #78280
• Submit Step Box Misplaced in Original Course Assignments on Chrome and Edge- Article #78667