Blackboard Ultra Updates: June 2025

1.  Add resizable dividers to Documents

Impact: Instructors 
Updated Help Page: Create Documents 
Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-5102 

Instructors 

We added a divider block to Documents. Dividers can be used to help students easily identify related and unrelated sections. This new feature will greatly improve the readability and structure of educational materials. 

Key Features: 

• Flexible: Dividers can be used in various ways to suit different instructional needs.

• Resizable: Dividers can be resized across up to four columns, providing flexible options. 

Image 1. The new option to add a divider is now included among the various block types.

Image 2. The divider block spans three columns in the Document.

2. Enhanced overall appearance and usability of Knowledge Checks

Impact: Instructors and students 
Updated Help Page: Create Documents 
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable 

We made several adjustments to the appearance and responsive behavior of Knowledge Checks. These changes enhance the visual effects and usability for both instructors and students. 

Instructors and students 

• Answer Choices: The letters of answer choices now display at the top of each answer option, rather than in the middle.

• Answer Labels: Correct and incorrect answer labels have been moved from the side of an answer option to the top.

• Question Text Padding: Padding on the right side of question text that extended past the answer text has been removed.

• Small Screen Adjustments: On very small screens, the “Correct answer” label is now shortened to “Correct.” 

Instructors 

• Answer Metrics: Answer metrics now appear at the top of answer text alongside the correct and incorrect answer labels.

• Visual Indicators: Instead of highlighting questions with red and green to indicate the correctness of the answer, a colored bar now appears at the top of a question.

• Result Labels: Result labels are now displayed in lowercase instead of all capital letters.

• Small Screen Padding: Padding to the left and right of the Knowledge Check results has been removed for smaller screens.

• Participation Count: The number of students who participated is no longer shown as a fraction. Instead, students are described as part of a number. For example, "2 of 8 students participated." 

Image 1. The instructor view of Knowledge Check results in 3900.116.

Image 2. The instructor view of Knowledge Check results in 3900.118.

Students 

We made several changes to enhance the mobile and small screen experience for students. 

• Submit Button: The Submit button now occupies the entire space at the bottom of a question, rather than just partial space on the right.

• Feedback Layout: For correct answers, the checkmark indicator, correct answer feedback, and Reset button now stack vertically instead of being on a single row. This change also applies to incorrect answer feedback and the Try again button.

• Answer Selection Indicator: On all screens, the answer a student selects now has a purple line to indicate it has been chosen. 

Image 3. The student view of an incorrect answer in a Knowledge Check in 3900.116.

Image 4. The student view of an incorrect answer in a Knowledge Check in 3900.118.

3. Create Jumbled Sentence Questions

Impact: Instructors
Updated Help Page: Jumbled Sentence Questions
Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-1677

Instructors

Instructors can now create jumbled sentence questions for online exams. This feature lets instructors define one or more paragraphs with blanks for students to complete. Additionally, instructors can:

• Define distractors to challenge students

• Add automated feedback for correct and incorrect answers

• Designate questions as extra credit

• Use accessibility tools, such as keyboard-only workflows, to create this question type

To create a variable, insert the variable in square brackets within the paragraph. Each variable is automatically recognized as the correct answer. Instructors can enable partial credit to award points for partially correct responses. For example, if half of the answers are correct, half of the max points are awarded.

Variables can include the following characters:

• Letters

• Digits (0-9)

• Periods (.)

• Underscores (_)

• Hyphens (-)

The question text and variable input are validated for syntax correctness, notifying instructors of any errors, such as a missing bracket.

Example paragraph with variables:

Single water molecules are held together by [covalent] bonds and multiple water molecules are held together by [hydrogen] bonds. The kind of bond where atoms are sharing electrons but are not sharing them equally is [polar covalent bond].

Saved questions display variables in bold and underlined in purple for clarity. Instructors can also manually add feedback to student responses and use the Edit/Regrade workflow during grading.

Image 1: Instructor creates a jumbled sentence question type.

Students

Answer options are displayed in a random order, ensuring fairness in the assessment experience.