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Blackboard Learn 3900.44 Release

Date Published: Jul 28,2022


CategoryPlanned First Fix Release:SaaS - v3900.44.0; Product:Learn Administration; Version:SaaS
Article No.: 000076645
Product:
Blackboard Learn

Information:

Update to client Production environments (Published July 28, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.23+b930328) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday, July 28, 2022.  

Updates in this version include:
  • Accessing Original Discussion Forum Results in an Error for Certain Users – Article #76706
____________________
Update to client Production environments (Published July 22, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.21+7669d78) is being applied to client Production servers on Friday, July 22, 2022.  

Updates in this version include:
  • Fractions in Multiple Choice Questions do not Render Properly - Article #76744
  • Math Formulas Still Render Slowly and as Plain Letters/Numbers - Article #76736
  • Error When Creating Matching Questions With 5 or More Matching Pairs - Article #76723
  • Math Formulas on Test Questions Display Incorrectly on Detail and Preview Windows - Article #76737
  • Math Formulas Still Render Slowly and As Plain Letters/Numbers In Test Canvas - Article #76738
____________________
Update to client Production environments (Published July 15, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.19+699c61d) is being applied to client Production servers on Friday, July 15, 2022.  

Updates in this version include:
  • Original View Course Assessment with Multiple Math Editor Questions Load Slowly in the Chrome Browser - Article #76730
  • Certain Test Questions with Math Formulas Do Not Render the Math Images after 3900.44 Upgrade - Article #76713
  • Math Formulas in Test Questions Render Inconsistently In GUI Or Not at All - Article #76716
  • Math Formulas Take Long Time to Render Fully or Only Show as Plain Letters and Numbers After 3900.44 Upgrade - Article #76722
____________________
Update to client Production environments (Published July 7, 2022):
3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.15+6dda17e) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday July 7, 2022. 
____________________
Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published July 5, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.15+6dda17e) is being applied to client Test/Stage servers on Tuesday, July 5, 2022.  

Updates in this version include:
  • In Ultra Course View the Collaborate Rooms Cannot be Opened When Using Safari 15.5 - Article #76602
    • There is a temporary solution for Safari 15.5.  A pop-up will open giving users the option to copy the Collaborate URL and manually paste it into a new tab to join the room.  This issue only occurs in Safari 15.5 and has been fixed by Apple in the newer Safari version 15.6 Beta.
  • In Ultra View Instructors/Facilitators Cannot Change the Due Date of Course's Assignments or Assessments - Article #76485
  • VTBE content editor is sanitizing "&&" and "< >" HTML tags - Article #76638
  • Assignment Submit Button Behaves Inconsistently in Ultra Courses which can lead to Blank Submissions - Article #76652
____________________
Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published June 28, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.44.0 (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.12+0229dfa) is being applied to client Test/Stage servers on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.  

Updates in this version include:
  • Test Responses Written In HTML are Sanitized When Test Results are Downloaded - Article #76641
  • In Ultra Courses Adding Feedback and Editing a Rubric Changes the Criterion Scores and the Overall Grade Incorrectly - Article #76365
____________________
Blackboard is pleased to announce the release of the 3900.44.0 (June 21, 2022) update of Learn SaaS for test and stage environments (full release number 3900.44.0-rel.10+683902b).  This update will replace the previous v.3900.43.0 release. 

The July 2022 - 3900.44 release is robust with features in four areas: assessment and grading; richer course and content design; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and integration, extension, and management.

Instructors:
  • Select a points overall grade calculation
  • Download grade history
  • Edit the points a student earns on an assessment question
  • Copy question banks
  • Convert Blank Pages in Original Course View to Documents in Ultra Course Views
  • Recategorize journals and discussions
  • Improvements to user interface for multiple choice questions
Instructors and students:
  • Points overall grade display
  • Prohibit backtracking in assessments with questions presented one at a time
  • Files render inline in Course Content, Folders, and Learning Modules
  • Quality and accessibility improvements of math formulas
  • Improvements to Group Feedback and Grade Overrides
  • LTI Item name change to Content Market
Students:
  • Test question filtering improvements
Administrators:
  • Institution Role Mapping to LTI Institution Roles
  • Launch LTI course links
All users:
  • Utilize pronoun and name pronunciation options in the Original Course View
  • Updated panel for Messages
 

Assessments and Grading

Points overall grade calculation option
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors


Some instructors prefer to define the overall grade calculation based on points. Now the Overall Grade supports a points-based calculation. This new calculation gives instructors greater flexibility and supports varied evaluation practices.

The instructor may use the 'Set it up' option to configure the Overall Grade. The setup wizard guides the instructor to select points or weighted calculation. The wizard includes examples of each calculation type.  The interface displays all grade categories with the associated points values. The total points available in the course auto sum.

Instructors can:
  • Add calculation rules to assessments within a category.
  • This is existing functionality that supports the following:
  • dropping scores
  • using only the lowest or highest score in the total calculation of the category
  • Exclude a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the category's points from the total points available in the course.
  • Expand categories to reveal the individual items within the category and point values.
  • Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to exclude an item from a category calculation rule.
  • Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course
Instructors who have already configured the Overall Grade will see a new tab. This tab supports switching between points and weighted calculations.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Points overall grade display option
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


The method of presenting the overall grade in a course is as important as the calculation. In the past, instructors could present the overall grade as a letter or percentage. Now, the instructor may choose to display the overall grade as points. This display option supports the new points-based calculation for the overall grade.

With the points display option, instructors and students see the overall grade as a fraction. For example, 745/800.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Copy Question Banks 
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors


Instructors spend a great amount of time building and refining assessment questions. Reusing these questions across courses is of utmost importance. Now instructors can copy question banks from Original and Ultra courses. This saves time and provides greater efficiency.

From the Copy Content menu, instructors may select the Question Banks folder from the desired course. To copy all banks the instructor may select the checkbox for the Question Bank folder.  To copy individual banks the instructor may select the Question Banks folder to open it. Select the checkbox for each bank to copy.

Copied Question Banks appear in the Question Banks area. Select 'Manage banks' in the Details & Actions menu to review all question banks in the course.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Display one question at a time – Prohibit backtracking 
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


Robust assessment settings are key for supporting a range of instructional scenarios. Building on the one-question-at-a-time feature, instructors can now prevent backtracking. This option allows instructors to force a sequence through questions in an assessment. A sequence is important when upcoming questions provide hints or reveal answers to earlier questions.

Once the student answers the question and continues to the next, the student cannot go back. If a student skips a question, an alert informs the student that they cannot go back to the question.

Instructors can choose this setting in assessments with questions configured to display one question at a time.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Grade History Download
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors


Instructors and administrators need a record of changes to grades in a course. These records are important for addressing quickly student questions and grade challenges. Now instructors can download the grade history from an Ultra course.

Instructors may save the history as a tab or comma separated file (.xls or .csv) to their device or the Content Collection.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Edit points a student earns on an assessment question
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


Instructors can now change the points a student earns on an assessment question. The points field supports negative and positive values with up to two decimal points.  Instructors may select the question score pill to change the points earned.

When an assessment does not post grade automatically, a banner alerts the instructor that scores appear after posting.

Overrides must be removed so that the assessment grade reflects changes the instructor makes to the points a student earns on a question.

Students will receive a grade change notification if an assessment grade changes. We honor students' notification preferences. The grade on an assessment may change when:
  • an assessment posts grades automatically, but then the instructor changes the points earned on a question
  • the instructor removes an overridden grade so that changes to points earned reflect on the assessment grade
For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Test question filtering improvements
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Students


In an earlier release, we added a question filter to support students as they take a test. In this release we are making improvements to the filter options:
  • Enhance prominence of applied filters to increase awareness
  • Improved filter management experience for students who use assistive technology
When a student applies a filter, a corresponding filter chip appears below the test header. A student may quickly remove any applied filter from this area by selecting the X on the filter chip.

When a student applies a filter, a filter button appears. If a student selects the filter button, the question filter options menu opens below.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed


Recategorize graded discussions and journals
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors


A best practice in course design is to use a variety of assessments. Recategorizing assessments is important to instructors who assign weight to categories in the overall grade calculation. An instructor may select a category that does not match the assessment tool used. For example, an instructor may wish to include an Assignment in the Test category. We support this option. In the past, recategorizing graded discussions and journals was not allowed.

There is now a 'Grade category' selector in the settings panel for graded discussions and journals. The category options include both default and custom categories.

In a future release, the icon for the assigned category will appear in the course content area, gradebook, and activity stream for both students and instructors.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.


Multiple Choice Question type improvement
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors


The multiple choice question is one of the most popular question types used in an assessment. Instructors told us that some of the text within the user interface was confusing. We removed the text.


Improvements to Group Feedback and Grade Overrides
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


Instructors often provide meaningful feedback to students. In the past, when a group assessment grade was overridden, the feedback for the student was hidden. We have corrected this. Now feedback shows as expected for any posted grade that has been overridden.

 

Richer Course and Content Design

Inline file rendering of files in Course Content, Folders, and Learning Modules 
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


Content creation and presentation are key for designing engaging courses. Various files will now render inline in Course Content, folders, and learning modules. Instructors can set the behavior of these files for users:
  • view and download (default)
  • view only
  • download only

Supported file types:
  • Adobe Acrobat Documents (PDF)    
  • Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)    
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX)
  • Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX)    
  • OpenOffice Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)    
  • Standard text file (txt)

Non-supported file types will always be downloadable for users.

Some image, video, and audio file types will now open in a large panel. Users can view or play back media in the browser:

Images:
  • JPEG    
  • GIF    
  • PNG
Audio:
  • m4a    
  • mpeg    
  • mp3    
  • ogg
  • mp4    
  • flac    
  • wav     
Video:
  • mp4

For administrators:
  • Inline rendering applies to new and existing files in the course. Existing files will be set to ‘view inline and download’ by default. Instructors can change the files to 'view only' or 'download only' if preferred.
  • We convert supported content types to PDF on demand when a user accesses them. This conversion provides an improved user experience. We cache these files for 30 days. Files converted to PDF as part of this feature do not count towards your storage quota.
  • Hyperlinks in files are disabled.
  • Inline file rendering is not yet available for non-Gov Cloud clients.


Conversion of Blank Pages to Ultra Documents 
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Course Builders, Administrators


An exemplary course design practice focuses on content composition and structure. In the Original Course View, instructors often use Blank Pages for course content creation. In the Ultra Course View, the Ultra Document is a similar content creation tool.

In the past, Blank Pages did not convert in course conversion. Now Blank Pages are converted to Ultra Documents. This conversion will help ensure a smoother transition from Original to Ultra Course View.

For administators: When there is an attachment to the Blank Page with the “Display media file within the page” option, the attachment may duplicate after conversion to an Ultra Document. The instructor should remove the duplicate attachments.


Quality and accessibility improvements of math formulas
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


Instructors and students often use math formulas in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. In the past, formulas might render slowly or lose quality when zoomed. Now we will render math formulas as images in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. This allows users to zoom in or enlarge formula images without losing quality. This change also improves accessibility for users with low vision.

Users can create math formulas using the text editor. Some content types include a description. The description appears on the Course Content page. Some notifications on the Activity Stream also display the description. When a description for a discussion or journal includes a math formula, we replace the formula image with '[Math formula].' When the user selects the content or notification, the math formulas will render as images.

For administrators: There are no configurations needed.


Updated Panel for Messages
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users


In the past, Messages used a small panel for authoring and presenting a message. This made authoring and viewing messages on devices with larger screens difficult. Now users will author and view Messages on a large panel, supplying a better user experience.

We have also moved two options above the rich content editor:
  • Allow replies to this message
  • Send an email copy to recipients
Relocating these options improves the user experience for those who use assistive technologies.

Now users on mobile and larger devices will have a great user experience with Messages.

For administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Display Pronouns and Pronunciation in Original Course View
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users


The November 3900.26 and February 3900.32 releases included these features for Ultra Course View. This release adds full support for Original Course View. It also adds limited capabilities for Original Experience without Base Navigation enabled.

This release continues to deliver on planned diversity and inclusion improvements. Institutions can allow users to express their personal pronouns. This fosters greater respect among students and with faculty.

Institutions can also enable name pronunciation. Users can add text guidance to describe the pronunciation of their names for other users. Users can record the pronunciation of their names. The recording tool counts down to when the recording begins. The recording may be up to 20 seconds long. For accessibility reasons, text guidance must be allowed if name recording is enabled. Recordings are compressed and included in storage use calculations.

If a user has pronoun or pronunciation information, it is displayed on a profile card. Selecting any avatar icon in Original Course View displays the profile card. All avatars are selectable in user lists, course tools, and grading workflows.

Base Navigation is required for the following features:
  • Administrator can enable pronunciation recording
  • Administrator can configure pronoun options for user choice
  • Users can select their own pronouns
  • Users can create or play back pronunciation recordings
All deployments support the following, including Original Experience:

Display pronouns and pronunciations in Original Course View
  • Integrate pronoun and pronunciation guidance text from a user information system
  • Administrators can manually set user pronouns and pronunciation guidance text
  • Users can manually set pronunciation guidance text
Known issue in Safari browsers: There is a known issue creating or playing pronunciation recordings in Safari. The issue is because of a mismatch of compression codecs that Safari supports.

For administrators: Manage these features in Administrator Panel > Customize User Information. You may add pronouns and pronunciation guidance text through data integration. This includes REST, flat file, LIS, XML, and IMS methods.

 

Integration, Extension, and Management

LTI Item name change to Content Market
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students


The rich text editor is a valuable tool used throughout the course. The insert content button gives users the option to add math, media, and other types of content. Users shared feedback about uncertainty of the "LTI item" option. To provide greater clarity, we have changed the name of the "LTI item" button to Content Market. For more information about the content market, please visit our Help site.

For administrator users: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.



Institution Role Mapping to LTI Institution Roles
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators


Some third-party integrated tools function better when users’ institution roles are more specific. This is especially true for tools accessed outside of courses. In the past, Learn did not send institution role information to LTI tools. Learn will now send to LTI tools users’ mapped primary institution role information. Secondary institution roles are not supported.

When administrators edit institution roles, they may select from a list LTI Institution Roles that their tools expect.

The mappings are supported for all deployment types. Mappings apply to both user experiences and course types. You can map the Learn default institution roles or any custom ones made by the institution. We support mapping for LTI 1.1 or 1.3/Advantage.

To prevent disruption for current users, the default role behavior remains unchanged. Administrators may edit each role configuration and choose the best LTI role for each. LTI institution role mapping applies to all LTI tools.


Administrator launch for LTI course links
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators, System Support Roles, Node Administrators


In the past, administrators would receive an error when selecting an LTI link in a course. To remediate the error, administrators would have to enroll in the course. Because only course members could launch LTI links, enrollment was a requirement.

Now administrators no longer need to enroll in the course.

The tool shows the user with an LTI system role of “Administrator” and an LTI context role of “Administrator.” The administrator or support user will not appear in tool requests for course membership. The tool shows them as an administrator, not an instructor. A tool must follow the LTI specification and be able to give a proper experience to an administrator user.

This change applies to the mobile application as well since LTI links are handed off to the responsive web browser.


The full release notes can also be found here on Help.blackboard.com.

 

Maintenance Fixes

You can view maintenance items for 3900.44 on Behind the Blackboard.  Our Known Issue articles provide information for individual bug fixes, and may include bug descriptions and which Learn versions were affected. You can filter bug fixes by SaaS release for easier navigation. Here are highlights of issues fixed in this release:
  • Attachments and Images Randomly Jump to a Different Cell After Saving or After Opening a Table for Editing Again in Ultra Courses #75990
  • Attendance Dates for Collaborate Sessions not Visible When Using Custom Language Pack #76004
  • Breakout Groups fail when configured with Course group set via Blackboard Learn sites with non-default hostnames #76619 
  • Copying Content into a Learning Module in Ultra Instead Places the Content into Root #60003
  • New Content Item Remains Checked After Unchecking it From Email Notifications #76067
  • Items per Page Count does not Update when Grading Ultra Assignments with more than 100 Anonymous Submissions #75300
  • Students Can Access Other User's Posts Without Posting First in Settings #76229
  • Rubric Evaluation Reports Do not Contain Rubric's Usage Details #76273
  • Course Content Icons are not Displayed for Instructors and Custom Course Roles in Ultra #75699
  • iFrames Containing a Title Attribute Fail to Convert When an Instructor's Choice Course is Converted From Original to Ultra #76428
  • Users Cannot Download Already Modified Custom Login Page From Ultra Brands #76606
  • View Option for Attachments Render Inline for Ultra Assessment Does Not Work #76588
  • An Overall Grade of Zero Displays Differently in List View than in Grid View #76424
  • Users with Custom Course Roles are Unable to Upload Files into Document with Existing Attachments #75756
  • Students do not Get a Submission Receipt if Their Chosen Language Pack is Deleted #75683
  • Rubric Evaluation Submitted Message is not Shown when Saving Outcomes Assessments Evaluation Rubrics #75715
  • Student's Name is not Displayed in Grade Book if the Number of the Student's Attempts is Increased - Article #76265
  • Show All Button Not Working in Adaptive Release Advanced Membership - Article #75666
  • Users and Their Portfolios are Failing to Delete - Article #76096
  • Duration Time Missing Inside the Course Properties - Article #76417
    • The fix is applied in the Course Properties screen/view (Course Management -> Customization -> Properties). When the course has a defined duration (start and end date) a message was added to show the time zone and additionally the hour fields that were not being shown, for the same dates.


Top Issues

Article Number Component Service Pack(s) Description Target Fix Release Patch Available
000078534 Content Management, Course Tools, Grade Center Ultra Missing submissions are counted differently when viewed as an Instructor compared to an Administrator. Future Reference
000078533 Content Management, Course Tools SaaS A blank page is displayed when attempting to copy course contents from an Original course to an Ultra Course using the copy feature through the GUI. Future-Reference No
000078531 Course Tools Ultra In Ultra Course Documents, the hyperlinks in presentation files (PowerPoint) do not work on all slides after the file is rendered inline. Future Reference
000078529 Course Tools SaaS <span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;">In a group assignment with multiple attempts, if the grade for the first attempt is posted, the grades for the other attempts will not be visible for the students.</span></span></span> Future Reference
000078524 Learn Administration SaaS When deploying a survey, automated email responses are received without displaying the course name and instructor name correctly, instead, they show variables like [RESPONSE.COURSENAME] and [RESPONSE.INSTRUCTORNAMES]. Future Reference
000078510 Content Management Ultra When journal links are deleted in an Ultra course, which was converted from an Original course, deletes the whole journal. Future Reference
000078497 Communication Tools Learn 9.1 3900.82.0, Learn 9.1 3900.84.0, Learn 9.1 3900.86.0, Learn 9.1 3900.89.0, Learn 9.1 3900.91.0, SaaS Instructors who are trying to Post Announcements are receiving duplicate emails when they are selecting the option to send immediately. Future Reference
000078478 Course Tools Learn 9.1 3900.84.0, Learn 9.1 3900.86.0, Learn 9.1 3900.89.0, Learn 9.1 3900.91.0, SaaS For Enterprise Surveys with multiple pages, the back button is missing on the last page and its absence prevents users from returning to previous questions. Future Reference
000078517 Users & Role Management, Data Management & Integrations Learn 9.1 3900.89.0, Learn 9.1 3900.91.0, SaaS Can&#39;t change availability from edit menu with custom role. The system.course.CREATE is Unexpectedly Checked when editing a Course. Future Reference
000078514 Grade Center Ultra Once Faculty have graded all of the student&#39;s submissions for a particular assignment and move back to the submission page, they see that there are no more submissions to be graded. However, when they move back to the Gradebook page, it still says they need to grade the submissions. When they refresh the screen, it now says Grade Status Completed. Future Reference


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