What if a wrong answer could teach just as much as a right one? This month’s Blackboard update brings tools that let instructors do exactly that: Guiding students not just to the correct response, but to a clearer understanding of why other options don't fit. Paired with a few improvements to how rubrics work in practice, this is a helpful update for anyone who invests time in thoughtful assessment design.
Answer-Level Feedback gives instructors a new way to turn multiple choice and multiple answer questions into active learning moments. When creating or editing a question, instructors can enable Option Feedback to reveal feedback text boxes beneath each individual answer choice. This makes it possible to explain why a particular option is correct or, just as usefully, why a common wrong answer misses the mark. Whether you're addressing frequent misconceptions or helping students self-correct on formative assessments, answer-level feedback adds a layer of guidance that goes well beyond a simple right/wrong indicator.
Image 1: Instructors can enter answer-level feedback.
Complementing this, Lock Answer in Fixed Position gives instructors precise control over how answer options behave when randomization is enabled. Specific choices, typically those like "None of the above" or "All of the above", can now be pinned to a fixed spot in the list, so they always appear where they belong regardless of how other options are shuffled. It's a small but meaningful quality-of-life improvement that keeps question logic intact without requiring instructors to abandon randomization.
Image 2: Instructors can select the lock icon next to the answer option to lock that option in place. To trigger the lock icons, select Randomize answers in the Assessment Settings.
Rubric Usability Improvements address several practical friction points that instructors have encountered when grading with rubrics. First, instructors can now override a student's grade without locking the rubric, preserving the ability to go back and adjust rubric-based feedback after a grade has been modified. Second, criterion-level feedback is now available for both single and multiple attempts, giving instructors a place to leave targeted comments at the row level, not just at the overall submission level. Discussion and journal grades now save at the attempt level, improving consistency across multi-attempt workflows. Lastly, when a grade is entered directly in the rubric grade pill, it immediately updates the attempt grade, eliminating the extra step of manually syncing the two.
Finally, Instructors can now check which announcements a student has or hasn't read on the new Announcements tab of the Student Overview page, making it easier to follow up with students who may have missed important course communications.
When can you expect the update?
Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around June 4-5, 2026. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on June 9, 2026; release notes will be posted to the What's New in Ultra page within two weeks. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.
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