October 2025 Release Notes (3902.1)

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Learning Object Repository

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Administrators can now upload files into the Learning Object Repository, and instructors can insert those files onto the Content page in their courses and organizations. This provides the ability for institutions to manage files centrally from the Learning Object Repository, saving time and maintaining consistency throughout the institution.

The following attributes and settings are synced and locked down in courses and organizations:

Image 1. Administrators can now use the Upload button to add files to the Learning Object Repository.

Image 2: An upload progress window appears. When the file finishes uploading, a message appears that the file has been uploaded successfully with a button to Add to Repository.

Image 3: The file appears in the list of objects in the Learning Object Repository.

By default, users with the System Administrator (Z) role are the only users who have access to upload files to the Learning Object Repository. To give a user the ability to upload files, administrators must grant the following privilege: Base Navigation > Tools > Learning Object Repository > Upload

Impact: Administrator

Updated Help Topic: Learning Object Repository

Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-6434

We locked the following attributes and settings for Documents in the Learning Object Repository:

Image 1: The Visible to Students button is now grayed out and cannot be changed by instructors.

Image 2: In the Details & Information panel, the checkmark for Allow class conversations is grayed out and cannot be changed by instructors. Goals & Standards has a notations that states "This is managed by your institution. Editing is disabled."

In September, we updated all existing Documents associated with the Learning Object Repository to support syncing of the identified attributes and settings. That update ensured that settings could be managed directly from the repository before locking them.

Now, any setting an administrator can modify in the Learning Object Repository will reliably sync and remain locked in associated courses. Previously, it was unclear which attributes were synced and enforced. With this update, it’s clear: if it is editable in the Learning Object Repository, it is synced and locked.

In the future, institutions will have the flexibility to choose which attributes are locked or unlocked. These changes lay the groundwork for further improvements in upcoming releases.

Impact: Instructors and Students

Updated Help Topic: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

We’ve redesigned the Course Messages interface in Blackboard to deliver a cleaner, more modern messaging experience. Messages now appear in chat-style bubbles, with the sender’s messages left-justified and the recipient’s messages right-justified—similar to popular messaging apps like iMessage or Teams. The sender’s avatar is displayed next to their messages, making it easier to visually identify participants in the conversation. Your own avatar does not appear in your view but will be visible to others when you send messages.

Image 1. Messages now appear in chat-style bubbles, with the sender’s messages left-justified and the recipient’s messages right-justified—similar to popular messaging apps.

This update improves clarity and usability, helping users quickly distinguish between sent and received messages. Time stamps are clearly displayed, and group conversations are visually separated for better organization.

Image 2. When you receive a message, an avatar of the sender appears on your Messages page. Your avatar appears to the user you are messaging.

These enhancements are part of ongoing efforts to modernize communication tools and streamline the user experience.

Impact: Instructors

Updated help page: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

To improve usability and consistency, we standardized the Save and Cancel actions across several assessment settings pages.

Impact: Instructors

Updated Help Page: Question Banks

Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-932

Instructors can now tag questions with metadata when creating or editing questions in tests, forms, and banks.

Instructors

Questions can have multiple tags of the same type. Metadata is visible during question creation/editing and can be used to filter questions when reusing or adding to pools. Metadata is not visible to students during test-taking or review.

Supported metadata types include:

• Category

• Topics

• Levels of Difficulty

• Keywords

Image 1: Instructors can create and apply a tag to questions.

Image 2: Tags appear as filters in the question bank.

Impact: Instructors

Updated Help Topic: Forms

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

We improved the visibility controls for forms to align with those of tests. Previously, instructors could make a form visible to students, even if it contained no questions. This enhancement ensures that students only access complete and purposeful assessments.

Instructors must first add at least one question to a form before they can make it visible to students. Release conditions cannot be set until the form includes questions.

Image 1: Instructors must enter at least one question before form can be visible to students.

Impact: Students

Updated Help Topic: Fill in the Blank Questions

Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-2027

We enhanced the student experience when answering fill in the blank questions in tests. Fill in the blank questions now display the blanks inline with the surrounding text, whether the question is presented as a sentence, paragraph, or table. We also added hidden ARIA labels to blanks to improve screen reader accessibility.

Image 1: Before this update, the blanks appeared below the question.

Image 2: After this update, the blanks appear in-line with the question

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

To ensure full compliance with Google's latest privacy and security policies, Blackboard has updated its integration with Google Drive APIs. These updates enhance the security of the Cloud Storage feature and reflect an ongoing commitment to safeguarding user data.

The updated API access ensures that all interactions with Google Drive within Blackboard meet the latest compliance requirements. This change is part of our broader effort to modernize integrations and reduce institutional risk.

This update is backend-only with minor changes to the user interface, which doesn’t change the existing workflow.

Test/Stage: week of 8 September 2025; Production: week of 8 September 2025

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Grade Export Admin Tools

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

We added search and filter options to the audit history screen for the Grade Export tool. Now, administrators can search the history of submission, approval, and extraction actions taken in a course. The search includes the Action, Performed by, Performed on, and Message fields. They can also filter the history by choosing one or more statuses from the Action Status menu. These options help administrators quickly find specific submission, approval, and extraction events without scrolling through the entire history.

Image 1: The Audit History screen now has a Search Results field and a Select Action Status menu.

Test/Stage: week of 8 September 2025; Production: week of 8 September 2025

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic:  Reporting

Idea Exchange ID: CC-I-26

We added a Course Roles column to the Course Enrollment report. This column allows administrators to easily distinguish between instructors, students, and other roles enrolled in the offerings. The column improves reporting accuracy, supports user management workflows, and helps troubleshoot issues related to enrollment.

Image 1: The new Role column now appears in the Course Catalog Course Enrollment Report.

User roles included in the report are:

Test/Stage: week of 8 September 2025; Production: week of 8 September 2025

Impact: Students

Updated Help Topic: Payment Gateway v2

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

We added Flywire as a payment service provider. This gives students the option to use Flywire to purchase courses from Course Catalog, giving them more flexibility in how they pay.

Students

When students select Buy for a course, they now see Flywire as one of the payment options if it is implemented by their institution.

Image 1: Flywire is now one of the listed payment methods. (Only payment methods available at an individual's institution will be listed.)

Image 2: When the student chooses Flywire and selects Purchase, the Flywire PSP screen opens for them to continue the purchase.