What's New

Strengthen logout behavior for supported SAML SSO configurations: Blackboard now performs a global logout for supported SAML SSO configurations, ensuring that when a user signs out or a session is invalidated, both the Blackboard and SSO sessions are fully terminated. This reduces confusion, prevents unintended re‑authentication, and strengthens session management in shared, multi‑device, or high‑security environments. Please note, this feature only applies to institutions using specific SAML configurations and doesn't affect most institutional configurations.

Restrict attempt activity in completed Original courses: Once an Original Course View course is marked complete, students can no longer start, save, or submit assessment attempts, ensuring completed courses are effectively read‑only. This reduces confusion, preserves the integrity of course records, and aligns system behavior with course completion expectations.

Rebuilding the Groups management experience for instructors: Groups management has been redesigned to improve usability, performance, and consistency, making it faster and easier for instructors to create, organize, and manage groups—especially in large courses. The new experience reduces manual effort with clearer enrollment options, better sorting and visibility, and significantly improved reliability at scale.

Make second due date for Discussions visible in Gradebook: The second due date for Discussions now appears in the Gradebook's Overview tab and Gradable Items tab, allowing instructors to be more aware of and responsive to student discussions needing grading. This improvement reduces instructor confusion around deadlines for student engagement.

Visualize release conditions inherited by items in learning modules and folders: Instructors can now view release conditions inherited from a parent Learning Module or Folder directly within the Release Conditions panel of individual items. Inherited conditions appear in a read-only format, giving instructors a clear picture of all conditions that apply to an item. Discussions now respect release conditions applied at the learning module level and are no longer accessible from the Discussions tab when those conditions are not met.

Carry group filter into Flexible Grading: The group filter selected in the Gradebook grid view now carries over into Flexible Grading. Instructors who filter by a group in the Gradebook will find only the students from that group when they enter Flexible Grading, reducing the need to re-filter after switching views.

Resized Accommodations icon: The Accommodations icon has been updated to a smaller size across the product. The icon remains unchanged on the Student drill-down page. This update was made to make the icon consistent across the product and to support spacing in the new Gradebook Grid view and is being released in advance where applicable.

Lock answer options in a fixed position for multiple choice and multiple answer questions: Instructors can now lock specific answer options, such as "None of the above," so they remain in a fixed position when other answer options are randomized.

White space improvements in Documents: Documents now use vertical space more efficiently, reducing unnecessary white space and improving readability and visual balance. These improvements apply when creating new content, editing existing content, or using AI‑generated layouts.

Improved screen reader experience in document view mode: Screen reader users now have a cleaner, more focused experience when navigating documents in view mode. Content is delivered in the correct order, left to right, across rows, columns, and blocks.

AVA: Explore with AI Playground: A dedicated, institutionally managed space in Blackboard where students and instructors can explore generative AI through a chat‑based interface with selected models, clear trust and safety messaging, and persistent conversations. This exploratory environment encourages experimentation and ideation to support teaching and learning, while remaining separate from coursework, assessments, and instructor workflows and fully controlled by administrators.

Improved search and navigation in Course Switcher: The Course Switcher now includes a search box that lets instructors and students quickly find and open courses by name or course ID without returning to the Courses page. Combined with quick access to recent courses, this streamlines navigation and reduces friction when working across multiple courses.

Remove feature flag for Learning Module Table of Contents: The Table of Contents for Learning Modules is now permanently turned on for instructors and students, removing the need for administrator feature-flag management. This ensures a consistent navigation experience across institutions and makes it easier for users to orient themselves within modules.

Provide answer-level feedback for multiple choice and multiple answer questions: Instructors can now add feedback for each individual answer option in multiple choice and multiple answer questions.

Video Studio: Add Audio Descriptions for Inclusive Videos: Video Studio now supports audio descriptions, allowing instructors to add text‑to‑speech narration for key visual elements to improve accessibility for learners with visual impairments. Students can switch on or off audio descriptions during playback, ensuring inclusive access while supporting WCAG compliance and broader engagement.

Sync Program data from SIS: Administrators can now sync Program data directly from their SIS into Blackboard LMS using flat file integration, reducing manual configuration and keeping program structures aligned with institutional source-of-truth systems. This supports consistent program-level reporting, outcomes assessment, and accreditation workflows.

Sync Term Types from SIS: Administrators can now sync Term Type definitions directly from their SIS into Blackboard LMS using flat file integration, reducing manual setup and ensuring term classification stays accurate and consistent over time. This supports longitudinal and cross-term reporting and establishes a reliable time-based foundation for analytics and accreditation workflows.

Enhanced Institutional Hierarchy control for UEF integrations: Administrators can now switch on or off course‑context UEF integrations at specific Institutional Hierarchy nodes, allowing targeted rollouts and alignment with existing governance models. The UEF availability control applies only to tools in the Course Details Actions area and requires integration support. In this release, we include the Microsoft 365 tool UEF integrations. This ensures UEF tools appear only where relevant, reducing course clutter and improving institutional control without affecting global UEF behavior.

Cancel queued course copy and delete tasks: Administrators can now delete certain queued system tasks—such as course copy and course delete actions—while they are still in a Waiting status, allowing mistakes or duplicate submissions to be corrected before processing begins. This improves system safety and administrative confidence by preventing unintended or irreversible changes before they run.

Course Catalog: Only show students in Download Certificate search results: Results now include only students when Certificate Managers search by course on the Download Certificates page. This update removes non-student roles from results, reducing confusion and streamlining the search process for managers.

Use built‑in guest access for course content in Ultra: Ultra Course View now support built‑in guest access, allowing unenrolled users to browse visible course content directly from the Course Catalog. This read‑only preview helps prospective and current students understand course structure and expectations before enrolling, while maintaining clear participation and privacy boundaries.