Blackboard Ultra Updates – June 2025

Contents

Staff news: This article will contain a summary of useful updates you may see in your Blackboard Ultra courses from Friday 6th June 2025.

Dividers for Documents

You can now add horizontal dividers to your Ultra Documents.

Block types available when editing a Blackboard document. Divider is the second-to-last option, before "Convert a file".

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

An Ultra document with a divider below some text and an image. The divider is aligned to the right across 3 sections.

The dividers can be resized across the 4 page sections.

Remember to check your Documents in a small window or on mobile to see how these look on smaller screen sizes!

New Jumbled Sentence question type for tests

You can now add Jumbled Sentence questions to Blackboard Tests. These are similar to a “fill in the blanks” question type.

These questions can be automatically marked. When using partial credit marking, equal weighting is given to each blank.

Students can select possible answers more than once.

Creating a jumbled image question in a Blackboard test. The question text contains words in square brackets and appear in bold. These are the "jumbled" words. The toggle for Allow partial credit is on. There is an option to add Distractors but none have been added.

The question text allows various formatting including tables. Using tables with this question type could work well for students submitting calculations such as lab results.

You can use jumbled question type in a table. This is the student view of a question formatted in a table. Each cell of the table has a dropdown option for the student to answer.

If you have new discussion activity to view, a purple number icon will now appear on the menu next to the Discussions tab.

A Blackboard Ultra course. Next to the Discussions tab is a purple number one in a purple circle to indicate discussion activity.

The number relates to the number of discussions with new activity to view, NOT the total number of new posts and replies.

Bulk change assessment categories

You can now perform bulk category changes for Gradebook items.

Select one or more gradebook columns on the Item Management page (available from the Gradebook Settings panel) and assign them to an existing category.

Screenshot of the Item Management page. Three items are selected and the user has selected "Edit Category". There is a drop down menu to select a different category to change to.

Accessibility improvements for Gradebook

The Markable Items tab has received updates to improve accessibility for keyboard navigation and screen readers.

Navigate the Markable Items tab by keyboard

Use the Tab key to go to the Markable Items tab.
Tab to the Markable Items table header to enter the table.
Use the arrow keys to navigate the table.
The Tab key will take you out of the table and to the Close button. Shift + Tab returns you to the Settings button.

Navigate the Markable Items tab with screen readers

Screen reader users can navigate to the Markable Items tab using the keyboard instructions. You can also use the specialised keyboard combination for your screen reader to go directly to the table.

JAWS: Use Insert + Control + T
NVDA: Use T, then Control + Down arrow to enter the table
VoiceOver: Use Control + Option + Command + Right arrow key to choose the table option

Once in the table, screen reader users can use table navigation (Control + Alt + arrow keys) to navigate the table.
If you want to add content, use the down arrow to go to the More options button at the end of the row. The next down arrow will be the Add content button.

Note for JAWS users

JAWS users can move left or right in any row by using table navigation keys.
To move up and down between assignment rows, navigate to the Item column first.

Additional filters for the Student Activity Log

We have found that the Activity Log does not always capture every LTI and SCORM access in full. The Activity log should be used as a general guide to student engagement with the course, rather than verbatim list of student actions. For more detailed student analytics please raise a ticket with ServiceLine requesting support from a Blackboard System Administrator.

You can now filter the log by activity type, including LTI Item Access, Scorm Item Access and Content Access.

We have found that the Activity Log does not always capture LTI and SCORM access in full. The Activity log should be used as a guide to student engagement with the course in general rather than verbatim. For more detailed student analytics please raise a ticket with ServiceLine requesting support from a Blackboard System Administrator.

Screenshot of a student Activity Log. The Event filter has been expanded into a drop-down list. LTI Item Access, Scorm Item Access and Content Access appear towards the bottom of the list.

Was this article helpful?

Yes No