TABLE OF CONTENTS

• About the Updates
• System and Navigation Improvements
  • Course Navigation Updates 
  • Student To-Do List 
  • Updated Course Switcher 
• Course Content and Design Improvements
  • Use Ally to Identify and Fix PDF Accessibility
  • Add Descriptions to Discussions and Journals 
  • Ultra Documents: Stack Blocks Vertically
• Communication and Collaboration Improvements
  • Groups: Redesigned Groups Tool 
  • Discussions: Sort Discussions by Newest First or Oldest First 
  • Discussions: Add a Second Participation Requirement and Due Date 
  • Announcements: Images Display as Thumbnail Links in Announcement Emails
• Assessment and Grading Improvements
  • Introducing the New Gradebook 
  • Export Question Banks 
  • Rubric Evaluation Report 
  • Assignments: Specify Assignment Submission Types 
• AI Features and Improvements
  • AI Conversations: Message Limits
  • Generate Knowledge Checks 
• Learner Progression & Personalized Experience 
  • Automations: Automatically Send Messages to Students Based on Course-Level Rules
  • Automations: Remind Students to Check Their Feedback
• Additional Resources and Support

About the Updates

Blackboard releases new Ultra features and improvements every month! Some of these new features are large updates with completely new functionality while others are small enhancements. This page highlights some of the newer features and improvements that we think you'll enjoy.

System and Navigation Improvements

These improvements focus on Blackboard's main system and navigation tools.

Course Navigation Updates (August 2026)

Blackboard has updated course navigation to make moving around your course clear, more consistent, and easier to follow. These enhancements, including expanded full-page navigation, breadcrumbs, and a clearer way to exit content, help reduce navigation errors and improve orientation, with no changes required to your course content or structure.

• Full-page Content Navigation: Learning modules, folders, and content items now open as full pages instead of overlay or side panels. This creates a more consistent navigation experience that improves orientation and makes it easier to return to your place in the course.
• Breadcrumbs for Contextual Clarity: Breadcrumbs now appear at the top of the content pages to show your location within a course’s module and folder structure. This provides added context and easier navigation without any instructor setup.
• Clear Exit Button: The green Exit (X) button has been moved to the navigation banner. This will help users avoid accidentally closing content or losing their place.

Student To-Do List (August 2026)

The new Your Top To Dos list appears on students' Courses page. This tool has been designed to help students stay organized by highlighting up to five of their most urgent tasks, such as upcoming due dates,, across all active courses. Tasks are prioritized by date and link directly to the appropriate course activity, making it easier to keep track of deadlines and take action quickly.

Updated Course Switcher (July 2026)

The Course Switcher now includes a Favorites tab, making it easier to jump directly to the courses you use most often. When you mark courses as favorites on the Courses page your selections will automatically appear in the Course Switcher alongside the existing Recent, Search, and View All options.

Course Content and Design Improvements

These improvements focus on course content, including Ultra Documents, Learning Modules and Folders, and more.

Use Ally to Identify and Fix PDF Accessibility (August 2025 and July 2026)

PDFs are some of the most common course files and are often the most inaccessible. You can use Blackboard Ally to take advantage of quick fixes for PDF documents right from the Instructor Feedback Panel. This includes the ability to:

• Auto-tag PDFs
• Set a title
• Add a language set
• OCR a scanned PDF

Ally will walk you through fixing your PDF without ever leaving your course. Once your file has been fixed, Ally will save and upload a new version of the PDF into the course and overwrite the old file in the process. 

Refer to the Ally PDF Remediation Options support page for more information and detailed instructions.

Note:
Avoid using scanned PDFs, especially as course content. If possible, find a digital copy of the original document. If you find a digital version online or in the library, link to it. 

Do not download the files from the internet and upload them into your course!

For more information, refer to: Accessibility Checklist: Don't use scanned PDFs.

Add Descriptions to Discussions and Journals (July 2026)

You can now add descriptions to Discussions and Journals now include a dedicated Description field, providing context, expectations, or instructions separate from the activity prompt. Students can view these descriptions directly from the Course Content page, creating a more consistent experience and helping them better understand an activity before they begin. 

Ultra Documents: Stack Blocks Vertically (February 2026)

Within an Ultra Document, instructors can now stack blocks in a single column to create cleaner layouts and reduce whitespace.

Refer to the Create and Manage Ultra Documents support article for more information on Ultra Documents, including creating different block types and resizing and moving blocks to create a more engaging layout.

Communication and Collaboration Improvements

These improvements focus on communication and collaboration tools, including Announcements, Messages, Discussions, and Groups.

Groups: Redesigned Groups Tool (May and August 2026)

Blackboard has redesigned the Groups tool to make creating, organizing, and managing groups faster and more intuitive. The updated interface streamlines common group-management tasks and provides a more consistent experience across group types.

The new groups tool features:

• Redesigned Groups Interface: The redesigned interface features a cleaner layout and more intuitive controls.
• Simplified Group Creation: Instructors now start by choosing how they want to structure groups BEFORE assigning group members. 
• Improvements to Manually Assigned Groups: Instructors can now automatically assign students to groups by specifying the number of members per group. Blackboard will create the required number of groups and assign students randomly.
• Bulk Group Creation: Instructors can now create multiple groups at once.
• Flexible Group Membership: Instructors have more flexibility in assigning students to groups, including the option to drag students from the Unassigned list directly into a group, removing individual students from a group, and more. 
• Enhanced Sorting Options: Instructors can now sort students and groups by name, student ID, group name, or number of group members.
• Clear Group Activity Context: Each group displays high level information including whether it is assigned to discussions, assignments, or tests.
• Consistent Workflows Across Group Types: Actions and controls now behave the same way regardless of group type. 

To get started, navigate to your course's Groups area, choose how you want your groups to be structured, and begin adding or managing members. 

Refer to the Create and Manage Groups support article for more information and detailed instructions.

Discussions: Sort Discussions by Newest First or Oldest First (August 2026)

You can now sort Discussion posts by Newest First or Oldest First, making it easier to navigate active or lengthy discussions. Both instructors and students can use the sorting controls to quickly find recent activity, review conversations, and pick up where they left off, as each discussion remembers their preferred sort order. Sorting applies to all posts and nested replies and works consistently across desktop and mobile devices.

Discussions: Add a Second Participation Requirement and Due Date (March 2026)

You can now add a second due date and participation requirements for your Discussions. 

For example, your Discussion asks students to create an initial post by date 1 and two replies to their classmates by date 2. In your Discussion Settings, select the option to Grade Discussion. Select the first due date and participation requirement (Post, Post or Reply, Reply). Then check the box to add a second due date, select the due date and second participation requirement. 

When students open the Discussion, they will see two clear participation requirements with separate due dates. As they post and reply, progress indicators update in real time.

Announcements: Images Display as Thumbnail Links in Announcement Emails (April 2026)

When you send an emailed copy of an Announcement, any images included in your message will now display a small preview image. Click on the image from the email to open a separate page with a more detailed view. This improvement makes it easier to understand the content directly from the email.

 To navigate to the announcement within Blackboard itself, users can select View Announcement in the email message.

Assessment and Grading Improvements

These improvements focus on Assessments (including Assignments and Tests), the Gradebook, and grading workflows. To learn more about the Ultra Gradebook, grading tasks, and more, refer to the Gradebook and Grading support article.

Introducing the New Gradebook (August 2026)

The Gradebook has been restructured, giving instructors a reorganized layout and a new way to manage grading tasks in the newly designed Grid View. 

New and updated features include:

• Toggle between Gradebook views with the new Grid View and List View icons. 
• Click the To Do button to open your grading tasks (Needs Grading and Needs Posting).
• Updates to grading by assessment (ex Assignments, Discussions, Tests, Journals) in Grid View.
• Updates to grading an individual student's submission in Grid View.
• Changes to manually entering or overriding grades in Grid View. 
• Updates to granting a student a one-time exception or exemption.

Refer to the Gradebook Updates (2026) support article for detailed information.

Export Question Banks (August 2026)

Instructors can now export and download question banks, making it easier to archive, reuse, or share question banks with other instructors.

For more information about Question Banks, refer to the Question Banks support page.

Rubric Evaluation Report (July 2026)

The new Rubric Evaluation Report provides you with a class-wide summary of student performance for each rubric criterion in a graded activity. You can use it to identify patterns and adjust your teaching or course design. The report is available for graded items with an associated rubric, reflects posted grades, and is updated every 24 hours.

You may run the Rubric Evaluation Report from your course Gradebook's Grid View or List View.

Gradebook Grid View: From the Gradebook's Grid View, click on the Assessment Name in the column header to open the Assessment Details panel. Click the Download button to open a menu and select Download Rubric Report.

Gradebook List View: From the Gradebook's List View, locate your assessment and click the More Options (...) button to open a menu. Select Download Rubric Report.

Refer to the Rubric Evaluation Report support page for more information and detailed instructions.

Assignments: Specify Assignment Submission Types (April 2026)

Instructors can now specify the type of submission that they expect from students (text entry or file upload). This helps to define expectations and streamline the student experience.

When creating or editing an Assignment, open the Assignment Settings panel and scroll down to the Submission Details section. Select your submission method (online or offline) and the submission format.

• Online submissions: Select whether students should upload a file or use the text/content editor.
  • File Upload: Use this option when you want your students to upload a file (ex Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoint files, etc.). Do not use this option for media (audio/video) files. 
  • Text Entry: Use this option when you want your students to use the text/content editor for their submission (ex media content (audio/video), links, images, etc.)
• For Offline submissions, there are no additional settings required. You can collect and grade submissions offline.

Depending on the options you select for online submissions, students will see the text editor and/or a file drop zone.

• File Upload: Students will see a dedicated file drop zone where they can upload, preview (when supported), and remove files. 
• Text Entry: Students will see the text/content editor without a general file attachment option. Students can click the Insert Content (+) button to access the Content Market and add media content via Kaltura Media. 

AI Features and Improvements

These features and improvements focus on Blackboard's AI tools, including the AI Design Assistant, AI Conversations, and Ally Alternative Text Assistant.

AI Conversations: Message Limits (April 2026)

Instructors can now set message limits to help guide the length of AI Conversations. These limits give students a clear sense of when to wrap up an interaction and help keep conversations focused on the learning goals.

When creating or editing your AI Conversation, set the Conversation Constraints. 

As students participate in the conversation they can track the number of responses remaining. Once students reach the message cap they will not be able to add any additional responses.

Generate Knowledge Checks (March 2026)

Instructors can now generate multiple choice Knowledge Checks within their Documents. This enhancement allows instructors to create just‑in‑time formative assessments using AI‑generated questions based on the content of their Ultra Document and any selected course materials.

The system will auto-generate four multiple choice questions at a time. Select a question to add it to your Ultra Document.

Learner Progression & Personalized Experience 

Automations: Automatically Send Messages to Students Based on Course-Level Rules (November 2025)

You can create automations to send messages to students based on custom rules you set in your course. For example, you can create an automation to send a congratulatory message to all students who earned 90% or higher on an assignment.

To create a new automation, go to the Course Content page and select View Automations.

In this initial release, you may choose from two different automation types - send a congratulatory message when students earn a high score on a graded item or send a supportive message when students do not achieve a specified score. 

In the Automation Trigger section, set the conditions that will trigger the message to be sent (ex students earn 90% or higher on a specific assignment).

Then, in the Action to be Taken section, write the message that will be sent to students when the meet the conditions.

Automations: Remind Students to Check Their Feedback (February 2026)

You can create automations to send messages to students who have unread feedback, gently encouraging students to review their feedback.

To create a new automation, go to the Course Content page and select View Automations.

Select + New Automation to create your new automation. Give your automation a name and then select Send feedback reminder.

In the Automation Trigger section, set the conditions that will trigger the message to be sent (ex when feedback is unread for 2 days). Then, in the Action to be Taken section, write the message that will be sent to students when the meet the conditions.

Additional Resources and Support

myLesley/Blackboard Resources for Faculty

Do you have questions or need assistance with myLesley? These resources will guide you through using myLesley for teaching and learning.

• myLesley Faculty Quick Start Guide: This guide will walk you through the basics of creating and organizing course content, creating student work and participating, communicating with your students, grading student work, and more.
• Enroll in the Self-Paced Course: Faculty Training for Ultra: This is a short self-paced tutorial to introduce you to creating content for your Blackboard Ultra course. It should take approximately one hour or less to complete.
• Faculty Office Hours: Stop by our online office hours (no appointment needed) Mondays & Thursdays, 2:00-4:00PM ET.

myLesley/Blackboard Resources for Students 

• myLesley Student Quick Start Guide: This guide will walk you through the basics of using myLesley/Blackboard.
• myLesley Student Orientation: This self-paced course has been designed to prepare you to successfully use Blackboard Ultra. You may be new to online learning, new to Blackboard Ultra, or both. In this course, we will cover the basics of Blackboard Ultra so that you know what it is, how to navigate in it, how to use it to complete your course work, and how it will benefit you.  

Contact Us

Reach out to eLearning and Instructional Support (eLIS) at elis@lesley.edu with any questions or to request a 1:1 or small group training.