April 2024 Update: Includes additional partner integrations to the exception list Biosig, Examity, Honorlock, SMOWL, Sumadi, Dublabs, Explorance, Watermark. Additional extension for Echo360, Helix Media- Medial and Cengage Mindlinks. Update on migration tools delivery status, and inclusion of a new category for Building Block Support Status for JSHacks.


________________________________________

December 2023 Update: Includes Examsoft, Media Helix, SUMADI, Films on Demand as part of the Building Block exception and extension list, outlines Readspeaker new tool available in ultra, and MEDIAL LTI tool . Clarification on Building Block status after January 4th 2024. Migration tool target release.


________________________________________

November 2023 Update: Includes SMOWL as part of the Building Block exception and extension list, and outlines ShareStream availability in Ultra.

________________________________________

September 2023 Update: Includes Watermark - Evaluation Kit, Explorance - Blue Course Evaluation, Dublabs, EAB Starfish, JSHacks, BasicLTI and Durham Add by Role Building Blocks as part of the Building Block exception and extension list.
________________________________________

July 2023 Update: Includes Amaplex, Pearson Cengage, McGraw Hill, MediaSite Building Blocks as part of the Building Block exception and extension list. 
________________________________________
Cloud computing’s adoption in education has broadened the possibilities as SaaS models open a gateway for innovation, including next generation integration capabilities. To continue supporting our clients on their path to SaaS deployments, our goal is to ensure that our integration framework is SaaS aligned. With that in mind, as of January 1, 2024, Blackboard will wind down support for third-party Building Blocks (B2s) in Blackboard Learn and move to integrations based on REST APIs, 1EdTech LTI standards and Partner Cloud.

Important dates: 
 

• December 31, 2022: Since this date, Anthology reserves the right to restrict specific Java API (Building Block) access to Ultra courses based on required development for Ultra Course View.
• By July 6, 2022:
  • We announced policy and best practice recommendations for archive, restore, export and import procedures related to Building Block integrations here . More detail is also provided here.
  • We announced additional details regarding authentication support and related best practices here.
• After Dec 31, 2023: Only bundled Building Block integrations or those with an approved exception or extension will be allowed on Learn instances. Exact date still to be determined and will be communicated once determined. 
• Starting January 2024:  Only third-party Building Blocks with exceptions or receiving Extended Building Block Support can be installed or updated. Other third-party Building Blocks will be rejected.
• After June 30, 2024: Only bundled Building Block integrations or those with an approved exception will be allowed on Learn instances.
• Four (4) months after the Building Block is set to inactive, no longer allowed, we’ll remove them from client environments.
   

After June 30, 2024: 

Any non-bundled Building Blocks or those without an approved exception will be set inactive from Learn SaaS instances. Grades associated with Building Blocks can be accessed in gradebooks, but content or links associated with Building Blocks can no longer be accessed. See details about data retrieval  in this blog post. For self-hosted and Managed Hosting clients, non-bundled third-party Building Blocks or those without an approved exception or extension are also no longer supported. 

Bundled Building Blocks that are the core part of the Blackboard Learn application continue to be supported. Only third-party Building Blocks added and managed by clients that haven’t received an exception are considered unsupported. See additional details below for identifying bundled Building Blocks. 

For more details regarding the B2 Support path, please see also the Community Blog and our FAQ .


In the PDF below you can find Blackboard and Vendor B2s with known support/transition paths. These lists will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. Please check back for updates.


There are a set of bundled B2s that will remain core to Blackboard Learn with continued support beyond June 30, 2024. You can determine which Building Blocks are always included with Learn and will be supported. Viewing the list of Building Blocks, these will always share the version number with the current version number of the Learn application.

 

This article originally published June 10, 2021.