IT News and Updates:
Posted 3/5/2025
New Blackboard Ultra Features
During the evening of Thursday, March 6, 2025 Blackboard will be releasing the following features to the system. These features will be available for use Friday, March 7, 2025.
Pop-out Rubric when Evaluating an Attempt
To enhance grading efficiency, instructors can now pop out the grading rubric into a separate window when grading an assignment submission. The pop-out rubric is a separate, movable window and formatted in a grid view. Previously, the rubric was only available in a side panel and formatted in a stack.
New Student Submission Review Page for Tests
The new review page for tests ensures that all feedback is clearly laid out and easy for students to identify. The new test submission review page displays test content, student submission with question-level grades and feedback, submission time stamp, submission receipt, final grade and calculation model, and attempt grade and feedback.
Course Goal Reports Added to Analytics
Two new reports have been added to course level reporting. The Course Goal Coverage Report provides a comprehensive view of goal coverage for a single course, displays both covered and gap values for all associated curricular areas, and includes a detailed breakdown of course items aligned with goals. The Course Goal Performance Report evaluates how a course meets selected goals, and includes overall averages and detailed breakdowns for individual students and goals.
Copy Banners Between Courses
Instructors now have the option to copy banners between courses. This is ideal for instructors who prefer to copy course content in parts rather than performing a full course copy. This saves instructors time during course setup and rollover.
AI Design Assistant: Energy-saving Image Generation Improvements
Anthology changed how the AI Design Assistant presents generated images. Instead of presenting four at a time, the AI Design Assistant now generates only one. Each time another image is generated, it is saved so that instructors can select previously generated images. When an instructor selects an image or exits image generation, all images are cleared. This new method saves processing power and is more environmentally friendly.
Anthology Ally: Innovating with Human-Centered Accessibility
Anthology Ally is a powerful accessibility tool designed to help faculty and students improve course content accessibility within Blackboard Ultra. With features like alternative file formats, detailed accessibility reports, and instructor feedback, Ally empowers educators to enhance digital learning materials for all students. To further explore accessibility best practices, we encourage faculty to attend the upcoming webinar
Innovating with Human-Centered Accessibility. This session will offer insights into designing courses that prioritize inclusivity, leveraging tools like Anthology Ally to improve the learning experience for all users.
Register today!
Join the AI Conversation Champion Contest!
Anthology is hosting an AI Conversation Champion contest, inviting educators worldwide to showcase their innovative uses of Blackboard’s new AI Conversation tool. This tool enhances online courses by facilitating engaging dialogues and promoting creative thinking among students. Participants are encouraged to submit creative applications of the AI Conversation tool such as (but not limited to):
- Thought-provoking conversation topics
- Engaging dialogues that enrich the learning experience
- Unique AI persona with defined traits and visuals
- Real-world use cases, including role-play scenarios
For more details, or to submit your entry, visit the AI Conversation Champion page.
Single Sign On Now Available for Qualtrics
To set up an account for Qualtrics, you no longer need to request access through a service request. You can now simply browse to https://qualtrics.sacredheart.edu and log in using your regular Sacred Heart account. If you are already logged into MySHU in your browser, you may not even be prompted to log into Qualtrics. You will simply accept the license agreement and you’re ready to go. For Instructors leveraging Qualtrics in your course, your students can create their own Qualtrics accounts in the same way. Simply provide a link to https://qualtrics.sacredheart.edu in your Blackboard course and they can create their own accounts as needed. Access is automatically granted for the remainder of the academic year.
If you have a Qualtrics account with the University that is not single sign on, keep an eye out for communication from Academic Technology to learn more about moving to the new Qualtrics instance.