Blackboard Ultra Updates: April 2026

1. Review both sets of Discussion due dates across multiple views in Blackboard

Updated Help Page: Create Discussions (Instructor)

Blackboard now surfaces both sets of due dates and participation requirements for Discussions across key areas of the application. This improvement builds on the recent addition of a second due date and participation requirement. Instructors and students get clearer expectations wherever they access Discussion details.

When instructors create a discussion with two due dates and participation requirements, both sets of requirements appear on the Course Content page, Discussion pages, the Gradebook student and instructor views, and the instructor’s Discussion analysis panel. Students can track expectations throughout the workflow without navigating back to the discussion itself.

Image 1: On the Course Content page, both due dates and participation requirements are displayed. For all entry points for Discussions, both dates and requirements are displayed.

• On the Course Content and Discussion pages, both due dates and their requirements appear together for quick reference.

• In the Gradebook student view, both dates appear.

• Instructors also get a new Due Dates and Requirements section in the grading view for an individual student. This section shows both due dates and the student’s progress toward each requirement.

2. AI Conversation: Use Message Limits

Updated Help Page: AI Conversation (Instructor); AI Conversation (Student)

Instructors can now guide the length of AI‑supported conversations, including Socratic Questioning, by setting message limits. These controls help students understand when to complete an interaction and keep conversations focused on the intended learning activity.

When instructors configure an AI conversation, they can set a maximum message cap to shape the conversation duration.

Image 1: Message limit settings for an AI conversation

Students track their remaining responses during a conversation through a dynamic label. The label shows a caution icon when two responses remain. After the conversation reaches the message cap, students cannot add more responses. The message limit sets clear expectations for participation and completion.

Image 2: Student messaging guidance during an active interaction.

3. Handle images as thumbnail links in Announcement emails

Announcement emails now display previews of images included inside a Blackboard announcement. These image previews replace the previous image links that appeared as filenames in the email. When users select an image, it opens on a separate page for a larger, more detailed view. This update makes announcement content clearer and easier to understand directly from the email.

Announcement emails display a small preview image for each image included in an announcement message. Selecting the image opens to a separate page with a more detailed view of that image. Users can close this page when they want to return to the original email announcement. To navigate to the announcement within Blackboard itself, users can select View Annoucement in the email message.

Image 1: Announcement email showing images as thumbnail links that opens to a separate page for that image.

4. Add Substantive and Non‑substantive Content labels in instructor discussion analysis

Updated Help Page: Create Discussions (Instructor) View Discussion Performance and Analytics

Student posts and replies now have Substantive Content and Non-substantive Content labels in the instructor discussion analysis page. The labels clarify the meaning of the green and red highlighted text indicators in student responses and improve the grading process for instructors.

When instructors review a student’s posts and replies, the instructor analysis page displays text labels with highlighted content. Green highlights include a Substantive Content label. Red highlights include a Non‑substantive Content label. The labels appear consistently across the analysis panel and meet accessibility requirements.

Image 1: Instructor analysis view showing posts labeled Substantive Content and Non‑substantive Content.

5. Specify assignment submission type

Updated Help Topic: Submission Details

We introduced new assignment submission options that allow instructors to specify the type of submission they expect from students. This update improves clarity for students and optimizes the submission workflow based on the selected submission type.

When creating or editing an assignment, instructors can define the expected submission type to guide how students submit their work. Selecting a specific submission type streamlines the student experience and reduces ambiguity about what is required.

Instructors can select one or more expected submission types when configuring an assignment:

• File upload

• Text entry

By default, File upload and Text entry are both selected.

The selected submission type is visible in assignment settings and student‑facing details. Instructors can change the selected submission type until students have started submitting attempts.

Image 1: Instructors can choose one or more submission types when configuring an assignment.

Students are informed of the expected submission type and see a submission workflow optimized for that format.

• File submissions display a dedicated file drop zone where students can upload, preview (when supported), and remove files.

• Text submissions provide a streamlined rich text editor experience without a general file attachment option and include access to the Content Market for supported tools.

Image 2: Students have a submission workflow optimized for the selected submission type.

6. Improvements to multiple choice and multiple answer questions

Updated Help Topic: Multiple Choice Questions and Multiple Answer Questions

Based on client feedback, we made several improvements:

• For the multiple choice question, we modified the default number of answer options a student can select from 4 to 1.

• When creating or editing a multiple choice or multiple answer question, instructors can change the number of answer options that a student can select.

• Multiple choice answer options alphabetical labels (A, B, C, D) have also been restored.

7. Adjust grades for individual student attempts in group submissions

We extended Flexible Grading to allow instructors to adjust attempt grades for individual students within a group submission. This update ensures that grades for group submissions can accurately reflect each student’s individual contribution, even when work is submitted as a single group attempt.

Instructors can override a group attempt score for individual group members directly from the grading interface. The interface clearly indicates when grades differ across group members, and adjustments can be removed by restoring a student’s grade to match the group attempt score.

Image 1: Instructors can adjust grades for individual students within a group submission.

8. Increased SafeAssign file size limit to 25 MB for DirectSubmit

We increased the SafeAssign file size limit to 25 MB for DirectSubmit submissions. This change supports larger documents that include images, tables, and complex formatting, reducing submission issues for students.

Existing submissions and SafeAssign reports remain fully compatible, and related system limits were reviewed to ensure continued stability.

9. Student names display in chosen sort order in Flexible Grading

We’ve improved how student names appear in Flexible Grading. The name display format is now linked to the selected sort order. By default, student names are now shown as Surname, First Name to help instructors quickly locate students. When sorting by First Name (ascending or descending), names display as First Name Surname.

10. Copy automations in course copies

Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-7607

Note

This feature is released to both Test/Stage and Production environments on 10 March 2026.

Automations now copy when courses are copied, restored, or imported. Automations are always copied in an inactive state and must be reviewed and activated in the destination course. This update reduces repeated work by removing the need to recreate automations for every course.

Administrators can:

• Copy to a new course or an existing course and the automations are copied but the activity log for the automations is not copied.

• Make an exact copy and the automations and the activity log are copied.

• Import a course package and automations are copied but the activity log is not copied.

• Restore a course and the automations and the activity log are copied.

Instructors

Instructors can copy content from the Course Content page. When they copy content at the course level, the course automations copy. If they drill into the course and copy at a more granular level, automations are not listed as an option and do not copy.

Image 1: Instructors select Copy Content on the Course Content page.

Image 2: Instructors can copy content at the course level and automations are included in the copy.