Blackboard Ultra Updates: April 2025
1. Indicator if student has or has not reviewed feedback
In the Gradebook, instructors now have enhanced ability to monitor student engagement with assessment feedback. An indicator on the student Overview page now displays whether a student has reviewed the feedback for a given assessment.
When a grade is posted, the indicator includes a label of Not reviewed with the existing Completed label in the Status column. When the student reviews the feedback, the status updates to Reviewed with a review timestamp.
If the new grade indicator is reset for the assessment, such as when a grade is updated or if the assessment has multiple attempts, the timestamp updates when the student reviews the feedback again. If all attempts are deleted, the Not reviewed or Reviewed label is removed.
Image 1: Instructor Gradebook view has Reviewed and Not Reviewed labels in the Status column.
2. Replace Feedback column with actionable Results column in student Gradebook
To encourage student to review their submitted assessments in the Gradebook:
A new Results column replaces the Feedback column
A View button in the new Results column replaces the Feedback column's purple feedback icon
When a grade is posted and the new grade indicator (purple circle) is turned on, the View button displays for the assessment. By proving a clear call-to-action, students are more likely to review their submission and feedback.
Students
When students select the View button, the new grade indicator turns off, and students are redirected to their submission. If no submission is made, the side panels with feedback opens. The View button remains unless the instructor deletes the graded submission and all attempts.
Image 1: Previous view of the student Gradebook included Feedback column with feedback icon and new grade indicator when feedback is available for review.
Image 2: New view of the student Gradebook includes an actionable Results column, with the new grade indicator turning off after the student views the feedback.
3. Enhanced grading experience for group submissions
We migrated group grading to Flexible Grading. Instructors now have a more streamlined experience when grading group assignment and test submissions in Flexible Grading. This update allows instructors to benefit from the more efficient grading interface and workflow of Flexible Grading when evaluating group submissions.
Some capabilities for individual submissions, such as per question feedback on group test submissions and pop-out rubric on group assignment submissions, will be added to group submissions after this initial release.
4. Activity indicator color changed to purple
Instructors and students
The color of the activity indicator for discussions, journals, and conversations is changed from blue to purple to better unify the color scheme of Blackboard. Users now have a more consistent and cohesive experience.
Image 1. The activity indicator now appears in purple beside a content item’s title. 
5. Content Designer: Print Document
Instructors and students can now print Documents or save them to PDF, providing more ways to engage with content. This new option allows users to:
Review content offline
Share content with students or peers
Physically archive content
To print a Document, select Print. Use the browser to print options to select the following:
A printer or the PDF option
The page range
The layout
When printing from a mobile device, the Document prints as displayed on a desktop web browser.
Depending on the size of some content (for example, images), items may shift to the next page depending on the page layout and scale.
Instructors
Knowledge check blocks print with all the question and answer options.
All other blocks print as displayed outside of editing mode.
Image 1. The new Print button for Documents is now available for instructors.
Students
Knowledge check blocks appear in the same way that they are on the Document page when the student chooses to print.
If a student hasn’t answered a knowledge check, the block prints as unanswered.
If a student has answered the knowledge check, the block prints as displayed along with any instructor feedback.
Image 2. The new Print button for Documents is now available for students.