May 2026 Release Notes (4000.15)

We refined spacing and layout behavior in Documents to reduce unnecessary vertical white space and improve overall readability and visual balance.

These updates improve the presentation of content items—including images within content blocks—and apply consistently when editing existing content, creating new content, or using AI‑generated layouts.

Screen reader users now have a cleaner, more focused experience when navigating documents in view mode. Unnecessary row and column announcements have been removed to allow access to primary content in the correct order, left to right, across rows, columns, and blocks. Edit mode behavior is unchanged.

AVA AI Playground provides a dedicated, institutionally managed space within Blackboard. The feature offers access to selected AI models directly inside the LMS. The AI Playground encourages instructors and students to experiment and innovate with teaching and learning.

This feature is designed as an exploratory environment—separate from coursework and assessment workflows—where users can ask questions, generate ideas, and interact with AI directly from Blackboard. AVA AI Playground includes clear trust and safety messaging to support responsible use.

Instructors and Students

When enabled by the institution, AVA Playground appears in the Tools area of Base Navigation. Access is controlled through the Administrator Panel and can be turned on or off globally.

When users launch the AI Playground, they are presented with an entry message prompting a user to agree to:

• Blackboard's AI end user terms (including important waivers)

• AI safety guidelines

• Third-party model providers terms

Users must agree to the terms to continue or can exit back to Base Navigation.

Image 1: The AI Playground allows instructors and students to explore and ideate new ideas and approaches to teaching and learning.

Inside the AI Playground, users interact with AI through a familiar chat‑style interface. The experience includes:

• A text input area for questions or prompts

• An AI response area that displays generated output

• The ability to start a new chat and view recent chat history

• Model selection, where available, to choose between supported AI models

AVA AI Playground offers users three suggested questions to ask in the chat, based on the course they are enrolled in.

Conversations persist across individual sessions, allowing users to refine responses through follow‑up prompts rather than starting over with each request.

The AI Playground should only be used for exploration and ideation. It does not automatically connect to course content, assessments, grades, or instructor workflows.

We’ve redesigned Groups management to significantly improve usability, performance, and flexibility for instructors. This update addresses long‑standing challenges with creating, organizing, and managing groups—especially in large courses—and delivers a clearer, faster, and more consistent experience across group types.

The new Groups management experience focuses on reducing manual effort, improving visibility, and supporting common instructional workflows with fewer clicks and clearer controls.

Changes to the group management experience for instructors include:

Instructors

A redesigned group management experience

Groups management has been reimagined from the ground up with a cleaner layout and more intuitive controls. The updated interface displays more information in less space, making it easier to manage groups and members without excessive scrolling.

Instructors now start by choosing how they want to structure groups—before managing individual members. The options include:

• manual assignment

• automatic assignment

• self‑enrollment

• import

This approach removes guesswork and streamlines setup for common scenarios.

Image 1: Instructors now start by creating a group set by choosing how they want to structure groups—before managing individual members.

Improved group creation and enrollment

Automatic enrollment with clearer controls

Instructors can automatically assign students to groups by specifying the number of members per group. Blackboard creates the required number of groups and assigns students randomly in a single step, reducing setup time for large courses.

Image 2: Instructors can now automatically assign students to groups by specifying the number of members per group.

More flexible ways to assign students

Instructors can assign and unassign students using multiple methods:

• Assign students directly from the unassigned list

• Assign selected students to a specific group

• Add or remove members from within a group

This flexibility reduces repetitive actions and makes it easier to focus on populating one group at a time or balancing membership across groups.

Better visibility and organization

Sorting for group members and groups

Instructors can now sort:

• Students by first name or last name (A–Z or Z–A)

• Student ID

• Groups by group name

• Groups by number of members

Image 3. Instructors can now sort group members by first or last name, student ID and sort groups by group name or number of members.

Sorting replaces inconsistent behaviors from the previous experience and provides predictable ordering when managing large enrollments.

Clearer group membership and activity context

Each group displays high‑level information about how it’s being used in the course, such as whether it’s assigned to tests, assignments, or discussions. Once group task types have been created and students begin submitting work, there is a gradual increase in action warnings or constraints. This helps instructors understand the impact of changes before modifying or deleting groups.

Group content, assignments, and membership are now more clearly connected, improving consistency across the course experience.

Performance and reliability improvements

Managing groups in large courses is now significantly faster. Save operations that previously took several minutes—especially in courses with thousands of students—now complete in seconds. When a group is being saved, an instructor can close out the page and be assured that it is continuing to save in the background, allowing instructors to continue working without interruption.

Additionally, the previous maximum limits of 5,000 students and 1,000 groups are removed.

These improvements reduce frustration and improve confidence when managing groups at scale.

Consistency across group types

Core actions and controls now behave the same way regardless of group type, reducing confusion and making it easier for instructors to switch between workflows. The rebuilt experience brings greater consistency across:

• Manually assigned groups

• Automatically assigned groups

• Self‑enrollment groups

Upcoming improvements

Future improvements to the group management experience include:

• Search within the group management screen

• Drag‑and‑drop assignment of students to groups

• Ability to create groups in bulk

• Improved sorting order when numbers are used as part of group name

• Improved handling of preview and unavailable students

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

Instructors

The second discussion due date now appears in the following pages in Gradebook:

• Overview

• Gradable Items

Under Due Date on the Discussion item on each Gradebook page, the item's second, final due date is displayed. Next to that date is a circle icon with a lower case i inside. Hover over or tab to this icon, and a pop-up bubble displays details of both due dates. For example: This discussion has 2 due dates: Due date 1: 5/1/26, 12:00 PM Due date 2: 5/8/26, 12:00 PM

Image 1: The second discussion due date now appears on the Overview and Gradable Items pages in Gradebook.

Instructors benefit from clearer communication of discussion expectations, reducing the need to clarify deadlines and helping ensure students understand how and when their contributions are graded.

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, including those set directly on the item and those cascading from a parent container.

This update also ensures that discussions hidden within a learning module are no longer accessible from the Discussions tab. Discussions now respect the release conditions applied at the learning module level.

Instructors

When instructors open the Release Conditions panel for an item inside a learning module or folder, a read-only summary of any conditions inherited from the parent container appears alongside any conditions applied directly to the item. This helps instructors understand the full set of access rules in place and determine whether additional conditions are needed.

Image 1: Read-only summary of conditions inherited from the parent container and conditions applied directly to the item appear in the Release Conditions panel.

Administrators can now sync Program data directly from their Student Information System (SIS) into Blackboard LMS using flat file integration. This release supports importing Program definitions and associating Programs with Subjects through SIS feeds, reducing manual configuration and keeping program structures in Blackboard LMS aligned with institutional source-of-truth systems.

Automating Program data synchronization supports consistent program-level reporting, outcomes assessment, and accreditation workflows across Blackboard LMS functionality such as Outcomes.

Administrators can now sync Term Type definitions directly from their Student Information System (SIS) into Blackboard LMS using flat file integration. Term Types classify academic terms such as semesters, quarters, sessions, or modules. Syncing this data from the SIS reduces manual setup and ensures that term classification in Blackboard LMS stays accurate and consistent over time.

Automating Term Type synchronization supports longitudinal and cross-term reporting and establishes a reliable time-based foundation for analytics and workflows across Blackboard LMS functionality such as Outcomes.

We’ve enhanced the Course Switcher in Blackboard Ultra Course View to make it faster and easier to move between courses. Users can now search for a course directly from the Course Switcher and navigate to it without first returning to the Courses page.

This update builds on the existing quick access to recent courses and helps reduce navigation friction when working across multiple courses.

Instructors and Students

The Course Switcher now includes a search box that allows users to quickly find and open any course they have access to. Instead of browsing the full Courses page, users can open the Course Switcher, search by course name or course ID and navigate directly to the selected course.

This enhancement complements existing options in the Course Switcher:

• Quick access to the four most recent courses

• A View All link that opens the full Courses page

By combining search with recent‑course access, the Course Switcher provides a centralized and efficient way to move between courses—helping users stay focused on their tasks rather than managing navigation.

Image 1: Course Switcher now has a Search courses capability allowing users to search for courses by course name or course ID.

In earlier releases, Blackboard introduced a Table of Contents (TOC) for Learning Modules for both instructors and students. This feature improved navigation and orientation within modules and was initially released behind a feature flag to support phased rollout and validation.

With the May release, the feature flag for the Instructor and Student Table of Contents is being removed. The Table of Contents is now permanently enabled for all users in Ultra Course View.

This change ensures a consistent experience across institutions and removes the need for administrators to manage this feature through the Administrator Panel.

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, and the active group filter is displayed within the Flexible Grading view. This update reduces the need to re-filter after switching views and keeps instructors focused on the most relevant students for their current grading task.

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.

Instructors can now add feedback for each answer option in multiple choice and multiple answer questions. This helps students understand why each choice is correct or incorrect after an attempt is submitted.

Instructors

When creating or editing a multiple choice or multiple answer question, instructors can turn on Option Feedback, which prompts Feedback textboxes to appear beneath each answer option. Instructors can enter the answer options and feedback for any of the options.

Image 1: Instructors can enter answer-level feedback.

Turning on Option Feedback disables Automated Feedback option. The Automated Feedback option lets instructors provide feedback for the correct answer and for incorrect answers. Answer-level feedback also allows for automatic feedback, which instructors can configure in the Assessment results section of Assessment Settings.

Instructors can now lock specific answer options in a fixed position so they remain in place when other options are randomized. This is useful for answer choices such as "None of the above" or "All of the above" that should always appear at the end of the list regardless of randomization settings.

Instructors

When creating or editing a multiple choice or multiple answer question, instructors can designate specific answer options as locked. To lock an option in place, select Randomize answers in the Assessment Settings, then select the lock icon next to the answer option. Locked options remain in their set position during randomization while all other options shuffle as expected.

Instructors can remove a lock any time while editing the question. Locking designations can also be updated as part of a regrading flow.

Image 1: Instructors can select the lock icon next to the answer option to lock that option in place. To trigger the lock icons, select Randomize answers in the Assessment Settings.

Blackboard now supports built‑in guest access for Ultra courses, allowing users to browse course content from the Course Catalog without being enrolled in the course. This enhancement allows students to review available courses and understand course structure before enrolling. Use cases include:

Courses must be open to be visible to guests; closed or future courses do not appear in the guest catalog.

This capability extends guest access functionality already available in Original courses to Ultra Course View courses and supports recruitment, onboarding, and transparency while maintaining appropriate privacy and participation boundaries.

We’ve improved administrative control over queued system tasks by allowing certain high‑impact tasks to be removed while they are still in a Waiting status. Previously, administrators could not cancel queued tasks—such as course copies or deletes—once they were submitted, even if the action was accidental or duplicated. This improvement strengthens system safety and operational confidence by giving administrators the ability to correct mistakes before they result in irreversible changes.

Administrators can now delete specific queued system tasks that are still waiting to be processed. This applies to select task types, including course copy and course delete operations from System Task Status, the child page of Logs (in the Tools and Utilities module of the Administrator Panel). When a task appears in Waiting status in System Task Status, the queued system task can be deleted.

This update is especially useful in scenarios where:

We’ve improved the behavior of completed Original Course View courses by preventing new attempt activity after a course has been marked complete. Previously, students could still start or submit attempts in some activities even after a course was completed, leading to confusion and data inconsistencies.

This update ensures that once an Original Course View course is complete, attempt activity is appropriately restricted.

We’ve improved the logout experience for institutions using SAML single sign‑on (SSO) by ensuring that when a user is logged out of Blackboard, their associated SSO session is also fully terminated. By ensuring that Blackboard and SSO sessions are terminated together, institutions reduce confusion, prevent unintended re‑authentication, and strengthen session management—especially in shared, multi‑device, or high‑security environments.

This improvement affects users with the following configurations set up in the Administrator Panel:

With this update, Blackboard now performs a global logout for supported SAML configurations:

Previously when users of these configurations logged out of Blackboard—for example by exceeding a concurrent session limit—the Blackboard session ended, but the underlying SSO session could remain active. In some cases, this allowed users to return to Blackboard without being prompted to re‑authenticate, creating confusion and undermining logout expectations.

The change is implemented using a websocket‑based notification to ensure that logout events are handled immediately and consistently, including when users have multiple active sessions across browsers or devices.

Video Studio now supports audio descriptions, making video content more accessible for students who are visually impaired or have low vision. Audio descriptions are spoken narrations that describe important visual elements—such as actions, settings, and on-screen text—that are not conveyed through audio alone. This feature strengthens Video Studio’s accessibility capabilities, supports compliance with accessibility standards such as WCAG, and helps institutions prepare for upcoming accessibility requirements while improving engagement for all learners.

Instructors

Instructors can add audio descriptions directly within Video Studio by typing descriptive text and assigning it to specific timestamps in a video. The system automatically converts the text into spoken audio using text-to-speech technology, eliminating the need to record or upload a separate audio track.

Instructors can preview, edit, or delete audio description entries before publishing to ensure accuracy, clarity, and quality. There is no character limit for audio description text, allowing instructors to provide meaningful context where needed.

Image 1: Audio description editor showing timestamped description entries in Video Studio.

Students

Students can turn audio descriptions on or off while watching a Video Studio recording. When enabled, the video pauses while the audio description plays and then resumes automatically, ensuring students do not miss any content.

Audio description text also appears in the video transcript and is synchronized with video timestamps, allowing students to read descriptions in addition to listening. When downloading a video with transcripts, the download reflects the selected audio track, including audio descriptions when enabled.

Image 2: If a video includes audio descriptions, the option to turn on the feature appears when you select the settings button in the bottom panel of a Video Studio recording.

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.

Image 1: Only students are returned in the search results.