Details February 2023
None of the changes in this release have an impact on Original courses.
Exemptions
There are times that instructors need to exempt students from assessments or activities in the course. Now instructors can provide exemptions. Students can view exempted items. A student is not expected to complete an exempted task. When exempted, a student’s overall calculation will adjust for them. The overall points possible or weighting for a student with exemptions may change compared to other students.
Instructors may exempt any Gradebook item in two ways:
- From the submission list view, select the ellipsis menu of a student and choose to add or edit the exemption.
- From the student detail view, select the ellipsis menu of the item and choose to add or edit the exemption.
When exempting an item, the item will not be:
- included in the overall grade calculation,
- marked late for students who do not make a submission, or
- assigned an automatic zero.
Students can still supply submissions for exempted items. Instructors can grade and provide feedback for these submissions.
Image 1. Add or edit exceptions from the submission list view
Image 2. Add or edit exemptions from the student detail view
Hotspot question – polygon shapes
Instructors may want to assess a student’s knowledge of visual content. The hotspot question type is popular for this type of assessment. This question type is also good for reducing the potential of cueing or guessing.
Hotspot questions present an image without any answer options for students to choose. Students must mark a certain area of the image that is within the area the instructor defined as correct.
Building on the initial hotspot question introduced in the 3900.52.0 release, we are adding two enhancements to this question type:
- A new polygon shape selector can be used to draw more complex shapes.
- Improved keyboard controls. Instructors can now create and place new hotspot shapes on the image canvas directly via the keyboard.
Image 1. Instructor view – Add one or more polygon hotspots to an image
Image 2. Student view – students may add a pin to the image to mark their selection
In Original Course View, instructors can only create hotspot questions using a mouse. In the Ultra Course View, instructors can create the hotspot question using a mouse or keyboard. Students may answer hotspot questions via a mouse or keyboard.
Gradebook List View – Gradable items sorting
Instructors may want to sort the items in the Gradable Items view of the Gradebook. Sorting provides a more efficient grading experience. For example, instructors may want to sort by grading status to quickly locate items that need grading.
The sorting controls provide temporary changes to the sort order for all columns in the Gradable Items view. We have also moved the grade post status to a dedicated column.
Image 1. Gradable Items view with sorting controls; here items are sorted in descending order by Grading Status
Student Gradebook sorting
Students may want to sort the information in their Gradebook. Sorting may help students locate information more efficiently. For example, sorting by due date helps students discern items that are due next.
Now students can use sorting controls to temporarily change the order for all columns in the Gradebook.
Image 1. Student gradebook view with sorting controls; items are sorted in descending order by grade
Groups
Show Course Group Members
Instructors and students need to see group memberships. In the past, there was not an obvious way for instructors and students to see the members in a group.
From the Course Groups page, users may expand a group set to see a list of groups. Now each group has a “Show Members” option. Group members are listed alphanumerically in a panel. Users may search for a specific group member. A future release will provide profile cards and options for messaging group members from the search results.
Note: Students see only the groups and members for groups where they have membership.
Image 1. Show Members option
Image 2. Group Membership panel with search option
Data & Analytics
Progress Tracking: visibility filters for the Student Progress tab
The Student Progress tab helps instructors track individual student progress in a course. An instructor can see completed and outstanding tasks for each student. Now instructors can change the Student Progress view to see a student’s progress against everything on the Course Content page. This view includes the items not visible to the student. This helps instructors better understand students’ progress considering all course content.
Viewing with the “Visible to Students” filter:
- This is the default filter for the Student Progress tab.
- The view displays only items visible to the student.
- The display indicates items that the student cannot yet access because they do not meet release conditions.
Viewing with the “All” filter:
- This filter is new in this release.
- The entire Course Content page is displayed.
- Items the student cannot see are indicated with a not visible icon.
- An item can be hidden from a student’s view for two reasons:
- It is not available to students.
- Settings indicate the item should be hidden when release conditions are not met.
Image 1. Student Progress tab with the “Visible to students” content availability filter applied; the instructor only sees content visible to this student
Image 2. When the “All” content availability filter is applied, the instructor sees all Course Outline items; the view indicates the items that are not visible to the student
Mobile App
User Profile Card
In the Blackboard Learn mobile app, we now provide expanded options when viewing the user profile. Users will be able to view their information to the full extent, see the profile card, and play name pronunciation.
This is applicable to SaaS environments with Base Navigation enabled. This first iteration of profile improvements does not allow editing profile data in the mobile application. In a future release we plan to add editing options when allowed.
Image 1. Profile Card preview
Image 2. User Profile
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