Resource

October 2021 Release

Educator Insights Blackboard Learn SaaS Release 3900.23.0

You can now add a table in the Rich Text Editor! This has been a much-asked-for feature and we are really happy to make it available in this release. Students need a way to ensure their work has been correctly submitted into the system. The new Submission Receipt feature in Ultra provides students with a unique tracking number. We are conscious of the different pedagogical approaches and practices. To reflect this we have increased the numbers of columns and rows available in Rubrics. This will support institutions and instructors who prefer to grade students with a greater level of granularity.

This post is designed to provide an educator lens over relevant new features and updates provided by Release 3900.23.0 of Blackboard Learn SaaS. These new features are available on production as of 7 October 2021. Full release notes including API updates and bug fixes https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/SaaS/Release_

Administrators and Learning and Teaching Support Staff will find this information helpful as they work on change management with their end-users.

Ultra: Submission Receipt

Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructor and Students

Video: Blackboard Educator Insights: Submission Receipt

Students need a way to ensure their work has been correctly submitted into the system. There are times where a student believes they have submitted their work when, in fact, it wasn't sent at all, or it wasn't sent successfully.

This new functionality provides students with a unique tracking number that confirms their academic submission. Students can copy and save this number as proof of their work, and evidence for academic disputes.

A modal window with the tracking information will appear to students after they submit their work. They can also receive an email with that information if they have a registered email, and download a similar text file to keep for their records.

Screenshot depicting the submission receipt on the Ultra Experience

Rubric Criterion Increase

Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors and Students
Rubrics are grading tools that help instructors to assess student performance and give feedback in detail. Before, Ultra allowed a maximum of 10 columns and rows. To provide more flexibility for the grading processes, Blackboard now decided to increase the limit up to 15 columns and rows.

Video: Blackboard Educator Insights: Rubrics

We are conscious of the different pedagogical approaches and practices. We support institutions and instructors who prefer to grade students with a greater level of granularity.

Screenshot depicting how to create new rubrics for grading

Ultra: Rich Text Editor improvements: Add table

Ultra Experience, Ultra Course View

Video: Blackboard Insights: Tables within the rich text editor

For deeper versatility in the Rich Text Editor, this 3rd milestone brings the Add Table functionality to our users. Tables are a common way for instructors and students to align and organize content in a customised manner, better suited to their own preferences.

Screenshot showing how to add tables on the Ultra experience using the rich text editor

For the time being, only a few options are not yet available when using tables:

  • Text Style
  • Alignment options
  • List
  • Undo
  • Attachments
  • Insert content