Mastery, AI, and Lots of Love for the LOR: What’s New in Blackboard LMS in April
The monthly Blackboard LMS release can often feel like an Oprah episode: no one goes home empty-handed. Our “new car for every LMS admin” initiative is unfortunately still awaiting finance approval, but in the meantime, we’re pleased to share exciting updates for all users that will be landing in April.
Students – New insight into Mastery progress
The recent release of Outcomes for Blackboard integrates skill attainment further into key LMS workflows. As higher education evolves in parallel with the changing needs of industry, Outcomes helps institutions to ensure that relevant skills are being promoted and to monitor student progress in this respect. This is available to all Blackboard LMS partners in North America as part of the core license: the Help site provides a detailed guide covering functionality, benefits, and the process to add Outcomes to your environment.
The April release extends visibility on learning outcomes to students. The gradebook now includes an “Outcomes” view, meaning that students can align their assessment results with important competencies they’ve attained. This adds insight to mastery and competency-based learning initiatives, while also developing student motivation and connecting their learner journey to skills that will advance their career.
Image 1: Students can view their own mastery progress powered by Outcomes directly within Blackboard. 
Administrators please note: Permissions for the student-facing outcomes view are managed through existing Mastery and Outcomes settings.
Instructors: Message Limits in the AI Conversation
Blackboard’s exclusive AI Conversation tool continues to set the standard for AI-powered pedagogy. It has now enriched the learner journey for more than 200,000 students around the world, with instructors reporting that it is a great way to teach and assess practical skills.
“It really helps our students who have gone through COVID and who live in a social media universe. They’re not always confident to participate in practical tasks live with their peers in the classroom, so having this safe space like the AI Conversation to practice beforehand makes a huge difference.”
Dr. Celena Kusch, Executive Director, Center for Academic Innovation and Faculty Support, USC Upstate
Read the full case study
April’s release adds messaging limits to the AI Conversation experience. This allows the instructor to define the maximum number of responses, including in Socratic Questioning tasks, thus keeping conversations focused on the desired topic and clearly communicating expectations to students. A dynamic label advises the student how many responses remain, with a caution icon appearing when they reach the final two questions.
Image 2: A dynamic label demonstrates to the student how many responses remain in the AI Conversation 
Further developments to the AI Conversation are right around the corner; be sure to register for our Building Blackboard Together conference in July, where we’ll share exciting updates!
Administrators: Enhancements to the Learning Object Repository (LOR)
The February roadmap webinar saw an outpouring of love for the LOR, with users from across the globe jumping straight into the chat to share how much of a difference it is making at their institution.
— “I love LOR!!”
— “That will save so much time!”
— “I’m the LOR admin, it’s been great!”
The response gave us no option but to go full-Oprah in the April release, where we’ve included no less than three great additions to the LOR.
- Institutional Hierarchy is now supported in the LOR, providing institutions with more control over who creates and manages shared content.
- Administrators can now filter items by type, making it easier to locate and manage content. Filter options include all items, documents, and file.
- To advance accessibility across the institution, the LOR now integrates closely with Blackboard Ally. Accessibility scores and alternative formats are now natively available when viewing content items.
Image 3: The Learning Object Repository management view displays the accessibility score and download alternative formats option next to files. 
Full details for the April production release are available on the Help site. For more information on upcoming features, watch the recording of the February roadmap webinar.