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13 Tips to Get Your Blackboard Course Ready

Checklist to optimize your course before the semester starts

The week before the semester starts can feel like a sprint: A full inbox, a syllabus that still needs one more edit, and a course shell that isn’t quite ready for students yet. Before the scramble...

August 12, 2026 · 10:00 AM

Blackboard's August Update Redesigns Grading, Navigation, and Group Tools

A quick rundown of what's new for faculty & students

Blackboard's August update is one of the bigger releases we've seen in a while, touching grading, navigation, assessments, and course workflows all at once. Here's what's changing, organized by...

August 7, 2026 · 3:31 PM

Blackboard Launches New Gradebook on August 7

Same grades, less clicking.

After a year-long redesign with faculty feedback sessions – including on-site at UMBC – Blackboard will launch a new gradebook starting August 7, 2026. The redesigned gradebook grid view will...

July 20, 2026 · 10:00 AM

July Update Brings Rubric Evaluation Report to Ultra Courses

Discussion descriptions, AI conversation timers, course favs

This month's Ultra update provides a new report that gives instructors class-wide rubric data at a glance, and a dedicated field that separates discussion context from prompt. Paired with clearer...

July 2, 2026 · 10:29 AM

Smarter Feedback and Flexible Rubric Improvements Arrive in the June Ultra Update

Turn every answer choice into a teachable moment

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,...

May 28, 2026 · 10:32 AM

Redesigned Groups, Cascading Release Conditions in the May Ultra Update

Smarter tools for course design and student support

Have you ever spent more time wrestling with Blackboard's Groups tool than actually designing the group work itself, especially in a large course? The May Ultra update delivers meaningful...

May 5, 2026 · 9:03 AM

Blackboard's Groups tool gets a major redesign that makes managing students faster and easier

Preview it on our test server before it goes live on May 20

Have you ever wrestled with Blackboard's group management -- spending too many clicks trying to organize students, waiting for pages to load in large courses, or losing track of who's assigned...

April 27, 2026 · 10:49 AM

Set Multiple Due Dates for Discussions & Define Assignment Types in April Ultra Update

New tools for clarity, consistency, and control in your Ultr

Have you ever wanted students to see exactly what's expected of them in a discussion, without having to navigate back to the assignment details to check? Or needed to recognize that one group...

April 3, 2026 · 8:20 AM

Blackboard Seeks Faculty Feedback on New Gradebook

Gain early access, provide feedback from 4/20 to 5/1

Blackboard is preparing to launch a completely redesigned gradebook this summer, including a faster, cleaner, and significantly easier-to-use experience for faculty. To ensure the update meets the...

March 25, 2026 · 8:53 AM

Simplified Course Navigation and Supercharged Test Setup with the January Ultra Release

Redesigned course layout and time-saving test tools

In January, UMBC faculty and students will experience a redesigned course navigation in Ultra that makes key areas easier to access and understand. The updated layout brings a full-width header...

January 6, 2026 · 9:50 AM

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