What's New

Use Learning Activities to create flashcards for student self-review: Instructors can now create Flashcards through the new Learning Activities content type, either manually or by generating cards from course content with AI and then editing them before publishing. Students can use flashcards for self-paced, low-stakes knowledge checks, while instructors gain engagement and confidence metrics that help identify concepts that may need additional course coverage.

Quote a previous message when replying in Messages: Users can quote a previous message when replying in one-to-one or group conversations, keeping the original sender, timestamp, and message context attached to the reply. This makes active conversations easier to follow and lets users quickly return to the original message.

Submit in-progress attempts on behalf of students from the Submissions page: For assessments that aren’t graded anonymously, instructors can submit a student’s in-progress attempt directly from the Submissions page and record the reason. The submission receipt, the student’s emailed receipt, and the submission review all show who submitted the attempt, why, and when.

Video Studio: Require students to watch a video fully before continuing in a forced-sequence module: In a Learning Module with forced sequence enabled, a Video Studio video is now marked complete only after a student has watched it in full. This gives instructors confidence that students have viewed required video content before moving on in the module.

December improvements to the beta Content Editor for Blackboard Documents: We’ve added a set of improvements to the editor for December. Updates span accessibility, toolbar layout, text formatting, tables, and media. These changes help instructors create and format content more efficiently.

Fill existing empty groups first when randomly assigning students: Random assignment now places unassigned students into existing empty groups before creating new groups. This keeps group sets tidy and prevents unnecessary groups from being created.

Improved accessibility for multiple choice questions: We made improvements to multiple choice questions for improved keyboard, screen reader, and single pointer experience.

Navigate the Submissions page with a screen reader or keyboard: The Submissions page displays student submissions in an accessible table, including for anonymously graded assessments. Screen reader users hear the row and column headers as they move through the table, and keyboard users can move directly across rows and down columns to reach any student’s submission. For anonymous grading, students are announced only as Anonymous Student and a number.

Add alternative text to images in the course outline: Instructors can add or edit alternative text for JPG, PNG, and GIF images uploaded directly to the Ultra course outline, or mark images as decorative so screen readers skip them. This gives instructors direct control over accessible image descriptions and ensures those descriptions are saved with the course.

Video Studio: Keep editing in Video Studio right after recording, without saving first: Instructors can now start editing a Video Studio recording or upload as soon as it finishes uploading, without saving and reopening it first. This creates a more continuous workflow for adding knowledge checks and audio descriptions.

Manage content duplication with a dedicated privilege: A new privilege controls the ability for users to duplicate items on the Course Content page, separating it from the ability to copy content between courses. This gives institutions more precise control over content permissions.

Manage institutional resources with a new Resources page on the Institution Page: Administrators can create a configurable, branded Resources page using the same modules and layout controls as the Institution Page, with role-based targeting to deliver relevant content to specific audiences. The new page also provides institutions a place to rebuild and expand resources currently hosted in Blackboard Assist as it reaches end of life.

Blackboard Assist reaches end of life on December 31, 2026: Blackboard Assist and its functionality will no longer be available after December 31, 2026, so institutions should move their Assist content to the new Resources page on the Institution Page before that date. The Ally File Transformer moves to the Tools area of the base navigation and remains available to students without an Ally license.

Use REST APIs to bulk download automatic course archives: Administrators now bulk download automatic course archives through the Learn REST API, which replaces WebDAV. This change gives institutions dependable access to the files they need for retention, compliance, and course recovery.

Print and download rubrics: Instructors can now print blank and scored rubrics or download them as PDFs using the browser's print dialog. Printed rubrics support offline grading and student feedback, and they make it easy to include rubrics in accreditation or instructional review documentation.

Use AI Writing Tools in overall feedback: Instructors can now use AI Writing Tools when writing or rewriting overall feedback in flexible grading. This makes it easier to refine the clarity and tone of feedback before sharing it with students.

Course Catalog: Use Authroize.net to pay for courses: We added Authorize.net as a payment service provider. This gives students whose institutions have implemented it the option to use Authorize.net to purchase courses from Course Catalog. As we continue to add more payment service providers, students gain greater flexibility and choice when paying for courses.