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AVA - AI Virtual Assistant

AVA – AI Virtual Assistant is an AI-powered helper designed to support you as you move through your course in Blackboard LMS. AVA helps answer common course-related questions and allows you to experiment with learning through AI Playground. Feature settings for AVA are controlled by your institution and your instructor.

As Blackboard continues to expand AI-powered capabilities in Blackboard LMS, we prioritize lawful, ethical, and responsible use. Our approach is guided by our Trustworthy AI principles, which emphasize:

  • Humans in control

  • Fairness

  • Privacy

  • Security

  • Safety

AI‑generated responses are meant to help, but they may occasionally be incomplete or inaccurate.

  • Review AVA responses carefully and follow up with your instructor if something doesn’t look right

  • AVA message responses are based only on what is visible to you in the course

  • Avoid including personal, sensitive, or confidential information

  • Your instructor oversees how AVA is used in your course

  • Don't use AI Playground for personal use or for graded work

If you notice output that seems inaccurate, biased, or inappropriate, raise the issue with your instructor. For more information, review our Trust Center, where we outline how AI features are designed and governed across our products.

Depending on how your institution and instructor have configured AVA, it may support you in several different ways.

AI Playground

AVA AI Playground is a dedicated, institutionally managed space in Blackboard LMS where you can explore and experiment with AI in a low‑stakes, educational environment.

A full-screen view of AVA AI Playground. The side panel contains a list of previous Playgrounds where the user interacted with the AI chat. The main portion of the page contains a chat-style interface with a greeting in the center saying Welcome to the AI Playground underneath a circular picture icon. Below the greeting are three boxes suggesting an initial chat topic and question concerning the course content: These three suggested chat topics are: Group Dynamics, Fix Strategies, and Group Behavior. Below the three suggestions is the chat field itself. Above the picture icon is a blue banner that says "You are interacting with a third-party AI model. Please use this feature responsibly for educational purposes and verify the accuracy of the output."

The AI Playground is designed for exploration and ideation, not for graded coursework or assessments. You can use it to ask questions, generate ideas, and think through topics related to your course — all without impacting your grades.

If your institution has enabled AI Playground, you’ll find it in the Tools area of Base Navigation. Access is managed by your institution and may be turned on or off at any time.

Detail of the Tools page in Base Navigation. The Tools option in the Base Navigation side panel is highlighted with a blue box. The AI Playground option on the Tools page is highlighted with a blue box to highlight it in the screenshot. Other options on the Tools page include Application Authorization, BBAssist LTI link, Client Portal, Goal Performances and Goals.

When you first launch AI Playground, you’ll be asked to review and agree to:

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

  • AI safety guidelines

  • Third‑party AI model provider terms

You must agree to these terms to continue, or you can exit back to Base Navigation.

Using AI Playground

Inside AI Playground, you interact with AI through a familiar chat-style interface that includes:

  • A text input area where you enter questions or prompts

  • An AI response area that displays generated output

  • The ability to start new chats and return to recent conversations

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

A detail view of AVA AI Playground. The view shows a chat-style interface with a greeting in the center saying Welcome to the AI Playground underneath a circular picture icon. The chat text field is not filled out yet and has grayed-out placeholder text saying Start typing.... At the right-justified side of the text field is are numbers reading 3/20. This indicates how many chats have been used so far. The Send button is grayed out because no text is entered in the text field yet. Below the greeting are three boxes suggesting an initial chat topic and question concerning the course content: These three suggested chat topics are: Group Dynamics, Fix Strategies, and Group Behavior.

You may also see suggested prompts to help you get started, based on the course you’re enrolled in.

Your conversations persist across sessions, allowing you to refine ideas through follow‑up prompts instead of starting from scratch each time.

Detail of AI Playground page showing the text input area and Send button. The Send button is grayed out because no text is written in the text input area. The input area has placeholder text saying Start typing.... On the other side of the input area is a number countdown so you can see how many messages remain for the selected model before the limit is reached. The numbers read 3 of 20.

Usage limits apply in AI Playground. Each available AI model has a daily message limit, which may vary by model. The AI Playground interface displays a number countdown so you can see how many messages remain for the selected model. Message limits reset automatically overnight.

Warning

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

AVA responses to student messages

When you send a message to your instructor, AVA may respond on their behalf if it can confidently answer your question using course information that’s visible to you.

Students often ask about information that already exists in the course. AVA helps by reviewing the course from your perspective and drafting a response when possible.

A student message asking about a due date. In the response bubble, AVA answers in two replies.

AVA may respond to questions about:

  • Assignment due dates, grades, and course content visible to you

  • Accommodations or instructor-defined exceptions that apply to you

  • Direct links to relevant areas of the course

  • Your progress through course modules, if progress tracking is enabled

If AVA can’t find a reliable answer, it will let you know and your instructor will follow up directly.

AVA only replies in specific situations to ensure accuracy:

  • AVA responds only to messages sent to the Instructor role

  • AVA does not respond to group messages that include multiple students or other roles

  • If AVA responses are not turned on in your course, your message goes directly to your instructor

AVA responses are based solely on course content available to students and use the course’s selected language pack.

Current limitations to AVA student responses

AVA features have intentional limits. At this time, AVA cannot:

  • Read or extract content from uploaded documents

  • Answer questions about third‑party content such as SCORM, OneDrive files, or external websites

  • Search the internet or external storage locations

  • Provide details about institutional services or resources outside your course