Blackboard is pleased to announce the availability of the Blackboard Learn 9.1, 3900.67.0 Release (Build: 3900.67.0-rel.39+6532b86).

Original Course View: Improved Assignment Submission page
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: Students
 

Students submitting an Assignment in Original Course View have several possible actions. They can upload files, author a submission, and attach a note to their instructor. Previously, these actions could be confusing for students. The option to add comments always displayed. The option to author a submission required selecting a button that was easy to miss.
 

We redesigned the Assignment submission page to be less confusing and easier for students to use.

Students have three distinct actions they can take. Each section can be opened independently. Students can open more than one. The page will retain added content when a student closes a section.Create Submission

• Upload Files
• Add Comments

All Assignment information has been grouped together:Due date

• Points possible
• Grading rubric
• Group membership and update statuses
• SafeAssign disclosure

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

 

Prevent passwords exposed in data breaches
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Impact: All users allowed to change passwords in Learn
 

Some institutions use an identity provider, such as Azure Active Directory, to authenticate users. Others manage passwords within Learn. In recent releases, we have prioritized improvements to the security of passwords managed in Learn.
 

Now institutions can also restrict users from selecting passwords exposed in a data breach. This is an important security measure since passwords like "123456," "qwerty," or "password123" are frequently targeted by hackers.
 

When a user attempts to change their password within Learn, we check it against a global database of breached passwords. If the chosen password is among passwords in the database, we notify the user and require them to select a different password. This helps to ensure that users' passwords are strong and secure, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access to their account.

For administrators: For most institutions, this feature is off by default. It must be enabled by an administrator.

For United States government clients in FedRAMP boundaries: This feature is on by default. If your compliance boundary changes, you should confirm your configuration.


Managed privilege to view System Roles 
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators, Developers
 

Developers create applications that expand the functionality of Blackboard Learn. Some of these apps integrate using REST APIs. Administrators manage the privileges for integrated apps. As a best practice, an integration should only have the minimum privileges necessary to function.
 

In the past, if an integration needed to read System Role information, the integration user had to be set as a full System Administrator. Now administrators can configure an integration user with fewer privileges and still grant access to view System Role information.
 

In the System Role privileges manager, administrators can now grant the privilege, Administrator Panel (Users) > System Roles. No System Roles have this privilege by default. An Administrator must always grant the privilege to any System Role. It isn’t possible to grant this privilege to a Course Role.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Learn environments. There are no configurations needed at the administrator level. To improve security, admins should reduce privileges for a REST application if System Administrator privileges were granted previously as a workaround.

Maintenance Fixes

You can view maintenance items for 3900.67.0 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:
 

• 500 Internal Server Error on REST API Call- Article #76783
• Apostrophe in Course Name Affects the My Grades Order When Course Order is Selected by a Student- Article #77477
• Turning off Force Completion also Turns off Auto-Submit but the User Interface Does Not Show it- Article #77416
• Avatar Setting is Reset After Upgrade- Article #75893
• The Launch Panel iframe From LTI 1.3 is Missing the allow="display-capture* ..." Option- Article #76992
• Course Announcement API Results Not Consistent With Overall Site Announcement API Results- Article #77434
• Date Value in Calculated Columns Changes to Current Date- Article #77441
• Date Management Tool Does Not Handle Dates While Using Dutch Language Pack- Article #77159
• Rest API Queries Give Inconsistent Results for Disabled Courses- Article #76625
• Drop Down List in a Custom Calculation Cut Off- Article #77241
• Duplicated User Name When Enrolling Users Results Throws an Error Message- Article #77087
• Enforcing System Default Language Pack on Course Does Not Override End User Language Pack- Article #76564
• File Size Limits Dialogs Use Incorrect Language Tags- Article #77413
• Hidden IndexOutOfBounds Adding Multiple Answer Question to Survey via Upload Workflow Only- Article #77240
• Students Cannot Continue Attempt Saved as Draft in Blackboard App on Android when Assignment Hidden from My Grades in Original Courses- Article #76397
• Students can Submit Attempt from Details Page after Assignment was made Unavailable in Blackboard App- Article #76526
• New Chrome Policies Blocks Screen Sharing Through iFrames- Article #76163
• Reply to Sender Button Does not Consistently Select the Intended Message Recipient- Article #77386
• Student Submission in Grade Center Shows Needs Grading Instead of In Progress- Article #76061
• Site Upgrade Alert Emails not Being Received When a Site Upgrade Begins- Article #77234
• The Play Button Doesn't Work When Embedding Audio into Question Text- Article #75950
• The Entitlement "system.systemrole.manager.VIEW" is not Available for Assignment- Article #77398
• Instructors and Facilitators Get an Error to Clear the Attempt and the Grade With None Value Under the Grade Center- Article #77205
• Button to Expand or Collapse Original Course View Navigation Pane is not Keyboard Accessible- Article #77418
• Modal Dialogs do not Retain Constrained Focus With Keyboard Navigation- Article #77009
• Users who are Cc'd on Enterprise Survey Notifications for Response Periods do not Receive Email- Article #76998
• Page Navigation Not Working on Packages Created Automatically- Article #76673
• SIS Deletes Child Node Courses Associated in the User Interface- Article #77548

Change Management Resources:

Self-hosted clients may download the latest build on the Download Files page.

Before applying the Cumulative Update, please take a system backup and make sure you have a backup plan in place. The installer is run at the command line, using Gradle, Maven, and an installer properties file. This also requires your system to be down for the upgrade/install. Further installation instructions can be found here.

Managed Hosting clients may submit a case on Behind the Blackboard to schedule the implementation of this release.

Upgrade Paths for Clients Already on Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1

Existing Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 clients can upgrade from the following versions to 9.1 3900.67.0 (Build: 3900.67.0-rel.39+6532b86)

• Blackboard Learn, 3900.65 (Build: 3900.65.0-rel.17+fc3b8f5).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.62 (Build: 3900.60.0-rel.40+2c2db79).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.60 (Build: 3900.60.0-rel.40+2c2db79).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.58 (Build: 3900.58.0-rel.37+e021d98).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.56 (Build: 3900.56.0-rel.27+a2864fb).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.54 (Build: 3900.54.0-rel.19+238d3d6).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.52 (Build: 3900.52.0-rel.22+0f5d4f9).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.50 (Build: 3900.50.0-rel.20+282a237).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.48 (Build: 3900.48.0-rel.13+1f125fd).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.46 (Build: 3900.46.0-rel.22+29d441b).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.41 (Build: 3900.41.0-rel.19+a47d5d5).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.39 (Build: 3900.39.0-rel.27+6e72bbb).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.37 (Build: 3900.37.0-rel.36+0a6785f).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.34 (Build: 3900.34.0-rel.51+f0d11c8).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.32 (Build: 3900.32.0-rel.33+aac11a3).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.30 (Build: 3900.30.0-rel.36+30ff7b6).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.28 (Build: 3900.28.0-rel.22+1a80aa0).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.26 (Build: 3900.26.0-rel.24+b3048ed).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.23 (Build: 3900.23.0-rel.27+bf491df).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.21  (Build: 3900.21.0-rel.28+dd6c7ec).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.19 (Build: 3900.19.0-rel.35+404010).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.17  (Build: 3900.17.0-rel.43+eee598e).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.15 - Cancelled.
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.13 (Build: 3900.13.0-rel.31+9040981).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.10  (Build:3900.10.0-rel.36+d29e3aa).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.8 (Build: 3900.8.0-rel.34+a1b2d92).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.6 (Build:3900.6.0-rel.24+5fa90).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.4   (Build: 3900.4.0-rel.20+93e130c).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.2  (Build: 3900.2.0-rel.34+4ad580a).
• Blackboard Learn, 3900.0 (Build: 3900.0.0-rel.42+47a7c9a).
• Blackboard Learn 9.1, Q4 2019:
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 10 (Build: 3800.0.10-rel.6+8afd89c).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 9 (Build: 3800.0.9-rel.16+8f8c3e7).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 8 - Cancelled.
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 7  (Build: 3800.0.7-rel.16+bf839b4).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 6 (Build: 3800.0.6-rel.12+96497c7).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 5 (Build: 3800.0.5-rel.26+874a2ce).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 4 (Build: 3800.0.4-rel.9+8bf5305).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 3 (Build: 3800.0.3-rel.12+b4d1082).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 2 (Build: 3800.0.2-rel.6+f954336).
  • 9.1 Q4 2019 Cumulative Update 1 (Build: 3800.0.1-rel.42+75c791f).
• Blackboard Learn 9.1, Q2 2019.
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 14  (Build: 3700.0.14-rel.5+77f16ee).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 13  (Build: 3700.0.13-rel.5+1744c87).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 12  (Build: 3700.0.12-rel.12+375f8a2).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 11 (Build: 3700.0.11-rel.23+c620db7).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 10 (Build: 3700.0.10-rel.12+2ad3637).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 9 (Build: 3700.0.9-rel.14+4205da6).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 8 (Build: 3700.0.8-rel.4+76636a5).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 7 (Build: 3700.0.7-rel.21+54e64bd).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 6 (Build: 3700.0.6-rel.16+b131895).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 5 (Build: 3700.0.5-rel.21+dfdd268).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 4 (Build: 3700.0.4-rel.20+ded7cc5).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 3 (Build: 3700.0.3-rel.35+ec64a31).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 2 (Build: 3700.0.2-rel.36+fbf2221).
  • 9.1 Q2 2019 Cumulative Update 1 (Build:3700.0.1-rel.29+a963bd8)

If you are a self-hosted client on a Blackboard Learn 9.1 release prior to Q2 2019 you will need to upgrade to at least 9.1 Q2 2019 before you can upgrade to Learn 9.1, 3900.67.0.

Upgrade Paths for Clients New to Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1

If you are upgrading from one of the releases listed below, please refer to Install or Upgrade Learn for information to help you plan for this move. There are planning, training, and communication materials available to make this upgrade as smooth as possible. Please reference next steps based on your current release. For those migrating from Blackboard Learn, Release 9.0 or Blackboard Academic Suite, Release 8.0, please ensure you include migrating to a 64-bit environment in your upgrade plans.

• Blackboard Learn, Release 9.0: The following paths are supported when upgrading from Blackboard Learn, Release 9.0, Service Pack 7 (Build: 9.0.692.0)
  • Release 9.1, Service Pack 9 (Build: 9.1.90132.0) > Service Pack 12 (Build: 9.1.120113.0) > April 2014 (9.1.201404.160205) > Q4 2015 (Build:9.1.201510) > Q4 2016 (Build:3100.0) > Q4 2017 (Build:3300.0) > Q4 2018 (Build: 3500.0) > Q2 2019 or Q4 2019 > 9.1 3900.23.0
• Blackboard Academic Suite, Release 8.0 or lower:The following paths are supported when upgrading from Release 8.0, Service Pack 7 Hotfix 2 (Build: 8.0.494.35) without needing to upgrade to Release 9.0 first.
  • Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1, Service Pack 9 (Build: 9.1.90132.0) > Service Pack 12 (Build: 9.1.120113.0) > April 2014 (9.1.201404.160205) > Q4 2015 (Build:9.1.201510) > Q4 2016 (Build:3100.0) > Q4 2017 (3300.0) > Q4 2018 (Build: 3500.0) > Q2 2019 or Q4 2019 > 9.1 3900.23.0
• Blackboard Learning System CE 8.0 and Vista 8.0 Licenses: You must be on Service Pack 6 (Build: 18.0.6.116) to effectively use course conversion capabilities.
• Blackboard Learn, ANGEL Edition: You must be on any ANGEL 8.0 or ANGEL 7.4 release to effectively use course conversion capabilities.

If you are a self-hosted client on a release that is earlier than Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 6, and you also use Oracle, there is a pre-upgrade utility that will minimize your downtime during this upgrade. Please consult the 9.1 Service Pack 6 Release Notes and the Readme for the Pre-Upgrade Utility for Oracle for more information on this utility.