The Blackboard update on Jan. 31 included these enhancements. With us on the SaaS (Software as a Service) platform with continuous release, Blackboard provides updates on the first Friday of each month. Here are some highlights of January’s updates:
Collaborate Attendance Integration with Blackboard Learn:
In this Collaborate release, Blackboard Learn instructors can host a Collaborate session without tracking attendance manually.
Based on criteria you can set, Collaborate tracks if a student is present, late or absent from a session. Collaborate then sends that information directly to the Attendance page in your Blackboard Learn course.
Content Lockdown – Expanded user privileges for course calendar control:
The set of privileges contained in this release relate to course calendar events. Individuals with these privileges can add, edit and delete course calendar events in both course views. In the Ultra Course View, individuals with these privileges can also add, edit and delete office hours and course schedules.
Gradebook Improvements – Search gradebook columns and categories:
Building on the student search we built for the gradebook grid view in an earlier release, instructors can search using column and category criteria. These additional search options reduce the scrolling and visual scanning required to quickly verify or filter.
Begin typing the title of a column or category into the gradebook grid view search field. Search results include any columns, categories or even students who match the search term or phrase. We’ve included a label within the search results to help distinguish among these three types of results.
Misc:
To improve performance times and user experience, course messages no longer appear in the activity stream.
Instructors are now prompted to name content they create in the Ultra Course View.
Full release notes are available on Blackboard’s Help site: help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/SaaS/Release_Notes.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please reach out to the Help Desk: 740-368-3120.
OWU Sponsoring Organization/Office: Information Services.
Contact: David Soliday at helpdesk@owu.edu.