November 2025 Release Notes (4000.1)

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Learning Object Repository

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

You can now search courses and organizations by name or ID when reviewing the associations for an object in the Learning Object Repository. This improvement streamlines the process of locating relevant learning objects, making it faster and more intuitive to manage object associations.

Image 1: There is now a search box on the association page for objects in the Learning Object Repository.

Image 2: As characters are entered into the search box, the search results are narrowed.

Impact: Administrators

Updated help page: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Institutions can now organize subjects into Programs—a new optional curricular structure within Blackboard. This enhancement allows subject and course offerings to be grouped under parent programs, enabling aggregated reporting and analytics across related courses.

This structure supports Anthology Outcomes with Blackboard and lays the foundation for future use in premium features such as TDM/Course Catalog, Milestone & Achievement Studio, Evaluate, and Illuminate.

Benefits include:

This update empowers institutions to make data-driven decisions and gain a comprehensive view of learning trends across academic structures.

Impact: Instructors

Updated help page: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-6130

Instructors now have three new options for customizing Achievement badge: AI-generated images, choose from a selection of stock images from Unsplash, and manual image uploads.

Students will see the badges selected or created by their instructors, enhancing personalization and recognition.

Impact: Instructors

Updated help page: Manage Tests

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Instructors can now efficiently update point values for multiple questions in tests using new bulk editing options. This enhancement supports:

Instructors

After students open the assessment or make submissions, instructors can make these changes:

• Edit the text of questions and answers

• Edit the point value

• New grades are recalculated for all previously submitted assessments

• Give everyone full credit for a question

• Change which answers are correct

• Change the scoring options for Multiple Choice and Matching questions

• Align questions with goals, from the assessment only

After students open the assessment, instructors can't make these changes:

• Add new questions and answers

• Delete a question

• Delete answers in Matching and Multiple Choice questions

• Change the number of blanks in a Fill in the Blanks question

• Move the content, such as switch the order of questions, answers, or additional content

• Add or remove questions from a question pool or delete a pool from an assessment

Image 1: Instructors select Bulk edit points.

Image 2: Instructors can select the questions that they want included in the bulk edit.

Impact: Administrators

Updated help page: Default Settings for Courses

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Administrators can now configure how grade pills display numeric values across the system. Previously, grade pills defaulted to showing a maximum of two decimal places with truncation. With this update, admins can choose between 0, 1, or 2 decimal places and select whether values are truncated or rounded half up.

These settings are available in Admin > Course Settings > Grade Pill Settings (formerly Grade Pill Colors). The configuration affects grade pill display only and does not alter stored grade values or calculations.

Options include:

Image 1: How rounded grades display in the Gradebook.

Image 2: How truncated grades display in the Gradebook.

Image 3: Configuration for Decimal Handling, where admins can select the number of decimals to display in grade pills and if the grades should be rounded.

Impact: Instructors

Updated help page: Not applicable

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

We enhanced the gradebook grid view to streamline access to submission pages from column headers on the Grades page. These updates improve clarity and consistency across item types.

Changes include:

Image 1: Improved navigation in the Gradebook column headers.

Impact: Instructors

Updated help page: Work Offline with Grade Data

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Instructors now have more flexibility when downloading the gradebook for offline use. Previously, downloads included only the columns visible to instructors. With this update, instructors can choose whether to include hidden items in the download file. This enhancement builds on prior improvements to the Item Management view, which introduced bulk show/hide controls.

Instructors

A new Include Hidden Items option appears when selecting Full Gradebook in Download Options. When selected, the download will contain all gradebook columns, including those hidden from instructor view.

Image 1: Include Hidden Items toggle switch in the Download Grades panel.

Impact: Instructors

Updated Help Topic: Automations

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Instructors can now create automations that send congratulatory or supportive messages to students based on custom rules set at the course level. Instructors define the score thresholds and write the messages. These automations help instructors deliver timely, personalized feedback throughout the course, boosting student engagement and saving time.

Instructors

On the Course Content page, instructors select View Automations under Automations to manage their automations.

In this initial release, two automations are available. Instructors choose to either Send congratulatory message or Send supportive message. Congratulatory messages are sent when a student earns a high score; supportive messages are sent when a student does not achieve a specified score. Instructors select the grade item, set the score threshold as a percentage, and enter the message text.

Image 1: In the Automation trigger section, instructors set the conditions that will trigger the message to be sent.

Image 2: In the Action to be taken section, the instructor writes the message that will be sent to students when the rule is triggered.

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Configure the Grade Extract

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Administrators can now choose which grade value appears on the grade-level approval screen. This update helps ensure the value instructors see during grade approval matches what appears in their gradebooks, reducing confusion.

Available grade display options include:

Image 1: Administrators now have the option to choose the Grade Display Value Configuration.

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Enroll Users

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Administrators can now use Quick Enroll in Ultra Course Settings to temporarily join a course as an instructor. This feature streamlines troubleshooting and content updates by allowing admins to enroll in courses, make changes, and then unenroll—all within the course UI.

Image 1. The Details and Actions panel on the Course Content page allowing administrator users to quickly enroll in an Ultra Course to make necessary changes.

When an administrator selects Quick Enroll within a course, a confirmation modal appears. Upon confirmation, the admin is enrolled as an instructor and can perform necessary actions. Once finished, selecting Quick Unenroll removes the role and any participation data (e.g., discussion posts or submissions) created during the session.

Image 2. An administrator user, once they have enrolled into a course to make necessary changes, can also unenroll in the course by selecting the option in the Details and Actions panel.

This feature is designed to reduce friction in support workflows while maintaining auditability and accessibility standards.

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: "Login As" Tool

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

This update enhances security for institutions using Blackboard’s Institutional Hierarchy by restricting the “Login As” privilege for Node Administrators. Previously, a Node Admin could use “Login As” to access nodes in the hierarchy they should not have access to, potentially exposing sensitive information across multiple campuses or institutions within the same Blackboard system.

This feature is especially critical for institutions with multiple colleges or universities under one Blackboard instance, where each node represents a separate entity.

The feature behavior includes:

Test/Stage: week of 20 October 2025; Production: week of 20 October 2025

Impact: Administrators

Updated Help Topic: Offering Management 

Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable

Offering managers can now duplicate existing offerings directly from the Offering Management screen. This feature helps managers quickly create new offerings that share most characteristics with an existing one, while updating only the details that need to change. New offerings are set to be unavailable by default to avoid confusion while they are configured. Duplicating offerings reduces the time and effort needed to create new offerings based on existing ones.

Image 1: The menu on the Offering Management screen now includes a Duplicate Offering option for original offerings.

Image 2: The manager can specify the Offering ID of the new offering, then selects the Duplicate button.