Update to client Production environments (Published June 23, 2022):
3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.22+d0bc71c) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday June 23, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Test Responses Written In HTML are Sanitized When Test Results are Downloaded - Article #76641
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Update to client Production environments (Published June 16, 2022):
3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.21+0e1464b) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday June 16, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Calculated Formula Answers Cropped - Article #76578
- Grades on Group Assignments are Multiplied by 10 When Using Spanish Language Pack - Article #76527
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Update to client Production environments (Published June 9, 2022):
3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.19+a47d5d5) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday June 9, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- When clicking on an Original Course in the course timeline page using the Student and Instructor app, a red banner error occurs. This issue has been fixed
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Update to client Production environments (Published June 2, 2022):
3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.16+7c6118d) is being applied to client Production servers on Thursday June 2, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Automatic Grading is not Working in Original Courses - Article #76514
- This was initially corrected in the 3900.39 release for new assessments, and there is an additional fix to correct existing assessments in this release.
Additional information has also been added to the Blackboard Home note for administrators section below.
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Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published May 31, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.10+dafbdef) is being applied to client Test/Stage servers on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Null Pointer Exception Error When Grading if Rubric is Copied From Another Course and Changed From Percentage to Points - Article #76264
- Picture in Tile View Disappears From a Copied Course When the Source Course is Deleted - Article #76141
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Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published May 24, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.7+d5b9b06) is being applied to client Test/Stage servers on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Original Column Organization Settings for Last Access, Availability and other "Generated" Gradebook Columns affect Ultra Download Gradebook - Article #75725
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Update to client Test/Stage environments (Published May 17, 2022):
An updated version of 3900.41.0 (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.5+b654b23) is being applied to client Test/Stage servers on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
Updates in this version include:
- Automatic Grading is not Working in Original Courses - Article #76514
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Blackboard is pleased to announce the release of the 3900.41.0 (May 10, 2022) update of Learn SaaS for test and stage environments (full release number 3900.41.0-rel.3+3b5ead9). This update will replace the previous v.3900.39.0 release.
The June 2022 - 3900.41 release is rich with new features and improvements in three areas: assessment and grading; richer course and content design; and integration, extension, and management.
Instructors:
- Enhancement to Overall Grade weighting – item and category weighting in Ultra courses
Instructors and Students:
- Added support for multiple attempts in group assessments in Ultra courses
- New Overall Grade calculation option – running total or not – in Ultra courses
- Attachments render inline for Ultra Documents and Ultra Assessments
Administrators:
- Blackboard Home: storage and utilization reports for Original and Ultra Experience (SaaS only)
- REST APIs to read all Content Collection files for SaaS and Learn 9.1
All users:
- Changed behavior for pasting JavaScript in Original Course View Content Editor
- Support Max File Upload Limit for Ultra Courses
- Improvements to Permissions in Ultra courses
Assessment and Grading
Multiple attempts for Group Assessments
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Some instructional scenarios are better supported when students have multiple attempts. With this release, we are adding support for multiple attempts in group assessments. Instructors may want student groups to submit work in phases. Other instructors may wish to provide student groups with iterative feedback. This approach may improve students' experiences in group work, engagement, and learning.
Instructors will now have the option to give more than one attempt for group assessments.
From the submissions page, the instructor can view the following:
- all groups
- attempt and submission details
- status
- group grade(s)
- option to post all grades or individual group grades
- more options, including add or edit exceptions
When grading, the instructor can view the following:
- the assessment and all groups
- the number of members in each group
- the number of remaining attempts and/or submission details,
- the status
- the grade
The instructor may select a group to view/grade their attempts. All attempts with their respective grades and the final posted grade appear. There is also a possibility to search for submissions by the submission receipt number.
When a student in a group begins a submission for the group assessment, the number of remaining attempts is displayed. There are no changes to all other details and information related to the group.
After a student submits the assessment for the group, group members can view the number of remaining attempts. The members can view the grade and assessment (depending on the instructor's settings).
Note for administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
Calculate Overall Grade options (running total or not)
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Philosophies and practices are quite diverse when calculating the overall course grade. Today, the overall grade is the quotient of points earned divided by total graded points. This calculation is the running total. In this release, we are adding the option to calculate the overall grade as earned points divided by total possible points. This calculation is the not running total option.
To provide greater clarity to students, dynamic text explains the instructor's calculation choice. Students can see the Overall Grade and calculation details from the information icon in their Gradebook. The student may also select the Overall Grade pill to see calculation details.
Note for Administrators: This feature will be behind a feature flag. Administrators may turn on this feature to allow instructors to choose the preferred calculation: Administrator Panel | Configure in "The Ultra experience is here!" module | Available Features | Running total grade calculation. When the feature is on, the default is the running total calculation. For students, the dynamic text only appears when the feature is on.
Weighted Overall Grade Calculation Improvements
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors
Each instructor takes care to decide how to calculate their students' grades. It is important that we provide great flexibility to support diverse needs. In the past, instructors could only weight gradebook items or grade categories. Now, both items and categories can have weight in the overall grade calculation. This allows instructors to weight high stakes assessments while also weighting categories.
Instructors may unlink items from categories to assign weight at the item level. Unlinked items appear ahead of the related category. An instructor may specify the weight and lock it to prevent further changes to the weight. Locking is helpful because the weights auto-adjust to ensure that the weighted calculation sums to 100%.
Note for Administrators: This feature is available for all Ultra courses. There are no configurations needed.
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Richer Course and Content Design
Attachments render inline for Ultra Documents and Assessments
Blackboard Learn SaaS (all non-Gov Cloud clients)
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: Instructors, Students
Robust options for content creation are important to instructors. Equally important is the flexibility for how the content is rendered for users. Currently, instructors can add file attachments to Ultra Documents and Assessments. Students who click on the file attachment link(s) can download the file(s). Now instructors can set the behavior for attachments in Ultra Documents and Assessments:
- view and download (default)
- view only
- download only
The view option renders the file in the web browser without the need for the native application(s).
Supported file types:
- Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX)
- Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX)
- OpenOffice Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)
Users can still download non-supported file types.
Note for administrators: Inline rendering applies to new and existing attachments to Ultra Documents and Assessments. To render files inline, Office files are converted to PDF on demand and are cached for 30 days. Files converted to PDF as part of this feature do not count towards your storage quota.
This feature is on by default for all non-Gov Cloud clients. This will be an opt-in feature for Gov Cloud clients in a future release.
Changed behavior for pasting JavaScript in Original Course View Content Editor
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Original Experience
Original Course View
Impact: All users
The Original Course View Content Editor allows users to paste JavaScript into their HTML. JavaScript can add rich capability to web content but can be malicious. The Content Editor removes JavaScript automatically for most users when saved. This way, scripts cannot harm other users. Only authorized users can keep JavaScript when they save. In the past, the Content Editor would temporarily render pasted scripts in the edit view. A user copying a script from a bad actor could inadvertently run a script against themselves. A user could still run malicious JavaScript against their own device, but not by using the Content Editor. For users authorized to save scripts, JavaScript will still render after they save.
Note for Administrators: This feature is available for all Original courses. There are no configurations needed.
Integration, Extension, and Management
Support Max File Upload Limit for Ultra Courses
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users
File upload is an important part of online teaching and learning. Instructors upload files as part of course content. Students may upload files as part of an assessment submission or discussion post. When a user uploads or drags and drops a file, if the file is larger than the size specified by the administrator, a new upload error appears. The new upload error provides clear information to help the user know how to continue.
A user may upload multiple files at once. If some files are too large, the upload error will note the specific files so that the user may correct those files.
If an assessment requires a file upload and the student selects a file that is too large, the upload error displays. The student may select another file before submitting.
- The upload error may include the following:
- maximum upload size
- size of the file(s) the user attempted to upload
- Optional storage locations if the administrator includes this information
- Optional support page link if the administrator includes this information (Ultra Experience Only)
Administrators may configure the upload error from the Administrator Panel: System Configuration | File Size Limits
Note for administrators: To configure the maximum file size, alternative storage location, and personalized link: Administrator Panel | System Configuration | File Size Limits. The optional support link is only available for the Ultra Experience.
Blackboard Home: storage and utilization reports
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
Administrators need access to timely information about storage and usage. They use this to compare actual usage against contracted limits. We send administrators monthly reports of peak usage metrics. Using Insights Reports, admins can also look at many daily metrics over time to find the peaks. Blackboard Home now provides up-to-date peak usage metrics. The reports show peak usage over a configurable number of months. These metrics include billable storage and users, displayed together with the contracted limits. There are also reports for login counts and current storage use segmented by file type. Blackboard Home has not yet replaced the Insights Report. Both reports will appear for now. Blackboard Home appears to full System Administrators in the Admin panel.
Blackboard Home will become available to all Blackboard Learn SaaS instances at the same time. This includes production, stage, and test environments. Blackboard Home is only for Learn SaaS.
Note for Administrators: This feature is an LTI 1.3 application and managed via devportal.
Application must be enabled via Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Blackboard Home. LTI application must be configured to send the user fields "Role in Course". Administrators are unable to further limit access.
If the application is not present, you may need to resync the LTI Tool Providers: Administrator Panel > LTI Tool Providers > Synchronize LTI 1.3 Tools > Submit.
If you are seeing any issues with Blackboard Home also check this article #76598
REST APIs to read all Content Collection files
Blackboard Learn SaaS, Blackboard Learn 9.1
Ultra Experience, Original Experience
Ultra Course View, Original Course View
Impact: Administrators
The Content Collection stores files used in courses. It also stores files needed for other features of Blackboard Learn. Some third-party apps need access to these files to function. In the past, tool developers may have used Building Blocks APIs to read these files. Now developers can use REST APIs to read all files in all Content Collection directories. An administrator must authorize this access for a third-party app. The admin should assign permission “Read-only access to the Content System filesystem” to the API user. This improvement is part of ongoing work to expand the capabilities of the Content Collection REST APIs.
Improvements to Permissions
Blackboard Learn SaaS
Ultra Experience
Ultra Course View
Impact: All users - system and course roles with corresponding permissions
There are several areas where permission checks do not work as expected. This results in users such as graders and course builders having an unexpected experience. In this release, we have corrected the following permission issues:
- Linked Help documentation for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors
Users in Ultra courses can click links to access Help documentation. There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. In the past, these users would be linked to student documentation for several tools. This also happened in warning messages that have Help links. We have corrected this.
- Progress tracking behavior for graders, course builders, and other non-instructors
There are non-instructor course roles such as graders and builders. Students can have a progress tracking experience in the Course Outline. In the past, these other roles would see the student experience for progress tracking. We have corrected this.
The full release notes can also be found here on Help.blackboard.com.
Maintenance Fixes
You can view maintenance items for 3900.41 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:
- The ..permissions.. folder is now hidden in Reports and File Explorer. In addition to this change, there is also a restriction to not allow ""..permissions.."" in a username to avoid future issues."
- When an instructor in a course is a Blackboard Learn administrator, that user will not show up when an LTI 1.3 tool asks for the names and roles in the course. The members list contains the student and instructors that are not a Learn administrator. This issue has been fixed.
- SaaS Ultra Text Editor: Broken Page When Inserting YouTube Videos with HTML Encoded Quotes in Title - Article #75394
- The Last Run Date of Course Reports Shows the Time it was Run in Another Course - Article #75570
- Students with Guest Role in Ultra Courses Cannot Access Course - Article #75596
- Course Guest Access is Required For Observers to Access Files Attached in Content Areas - Article #75643
- User Count for Tasks Includes Unavailable Users and Disabled Enrollments - Article #75676
- Ultra Course Terms are also Appearing in Organizations - Article #75879
- Unable to Remove Custom Parameters from LTI 1.3 Configuration - Article #75867
- Instructor Unable to Import Embedded YouTube Videos - Article #76094
- Converting a Course to Ultra Leaves Undeletable Grade Columns for Hidden Group Discussion Boards - Article #75659
- Original Course test Packages Fail to Import into Ultra Courses when the "&" symbol is in the test Title - Article #76312
- LTI 1.3 Names and Roles Limit Behavior Broken - Article #76405
- Data Returned From REST API Call is Missing UUID Information - Article #76439
- Test Progress Bar does not Update After Answering Fill in The Blank Questions - Article #76460
- Auto Archives Being Created for Courses that are Not Used - Article #75984
