Ensure consistency with course-level group conversion

The process of converting groups from activity-level to course-level has been updated to improve consistency and ease of use for instructors.

All activity-level groups are now automatically converted to course-level groups:

• During course conversion from Original to Ultra.
• When course materials are copied into a new course.

All group associations with content items are preserved, so instructors don’t need to manually reassociate groups with content. Course-level groups offer more consistent group management and are easier to use across the course. This update ensures a smoother experience for instructors managing group activities.

Increased accessibility in the student Gradebook and Overview page

To improve accessibility, Anthology have updated the student Gradebook and Overview to use a semantic HTML table structure. This change replaces the previous layout, which relied on stacked <div> elements. The new structure improves screen reader support and keyboard navigation.

Adding Table of Contents to Learning Modules for students

A table of contents for the instructor view is scheduled for a future release.

Anthology have redesigned the Learning Module experience for students by adding a collapsible Table of Contents. This update improves navigation, orientation, and progress tracking.  As part of this improvement, assessments now open in a full panel instead of a smaller panel.

Students now have a simplified way to navigate and track progress in Learning Modules. Updates include:

• A table of contents for the items in a Learning Module. Select Contents to open and collapse the table of contents

Image 1: Learning Modules now contain a Table of Contents panel to orient students within Learning Modules for their courses. The panel can be collapsed with the arrow button at the top of the Table of Contents.

• Easy navigation between items
• Manual or automatic item completion tracking from within the Learning Module
• Next and Previous buttons moved closer together at the top of the page for an improved experience.

Image 2: The navigation buttons Previous and Next now appear closer to each other in the user interface within Learning Modules to give an improved user experience. 

Assessments within Learning Modules. Assessments now open in a full panel, providing a consistent and distraction-free experience.

Image 3: The Assessments pages within Learning Modules now appear as a full-sized panel.

Forced sequence in Learning Modules. When sequencing is enforced, students must use the Next and Previous buttons to move through content in order. Students can’t jump ahead using the table of contents unless they have already completed the item they are navigating to. Skipping ahead without completing a Learning Module item is disabled in this mode.

Enhance visual consistency for embedded LTI tools

Previously, the width of embedded LTI tools was determined by the dimensions specified by the provider. This often led to unused space and grey letterboxing on either side of the content within Blackboard. With this update, all embedded LTIs now default to 100% width. This ensures that responsive tools make full use of the available space and aligns their behavior with standalone LTIs on the Course or Organization Content page, which also use 100% width by default.

This change brings visual consistency across Blackboard and enhances the user experience by eliminating unnecessary spacing and improving content presentation.