Print answer key for assessments

Instructors can now print an answer key for their assessments. A printed answer key is helpful for grading any printed assessment.

Printing provides a convenient solution for a variety of use cases:

• Accommodating students with specific needs or limited technology access
• Providing a printed assessment for testing in designated centers
• Backup and record keeping
• Conducting offline assessment
• Documentation and compliance
• Maintaining security and integrity

The print answer key option is available in Tests and Assignments with questions. Instructors may also save answer keys as a PDF.

To print an answer key from an assessment, navigate to the assessment. Select Print from the Content and Settings tab.

It should be noted that printing from the mobile app is not available yet.

Image 1. Print answer key option

Image 2. Select desired print options

Improvements to prevent printing a question across pages

In response to user feedback, print functionality for assessments has been enhanced to ensure a more user-friendly and accessible experience. For the following use cases, questions now print so that a question is not separated incorrectly on the physical or digital paper page break (e.g., in PDFs). This improves readability and ease of use for instructors and students alike.

• Question headers will split the question number and points possible across pages
• Question header will not split the header from the question text
• Question answer icons and text will not split across pages
• Tables, lists, and images will not split across pages
• Very large text answer options may span pages, but the answer choice icon (e.g. option A) will display next to the first line of text rather than aligning to the center of the option
• In matching questions, the prompt/answer heading will not split from the answer pairs

Needs Grading improvements for assessments allowing multiple attempts

The value of multiple attempts on an assessment ranges from support of mastery learning to reducing student anxiety. To help instructors grade assessments with multiple attempts, we have added new settings.

When an instructor chooses to allow multiple attempts, there is now a way to see which attempt(s) display as Needs Grading.

From the ‘Attempts to grade’ menu. The options are:

• First attempt
• Last attempt (default)
• All attempts

Example: An assessment allows 3 attempts; a student made 3 submissions

Option	Attempt(s) counting towards Needs Grading	Needs Grading count
First attempt	The first attempt submitted by the student	1
Last attempt	The last attempt submitted by the student	1
All attempts	All attempts submitted by the student	3

Instructors will always have access to all attempts submitted by a student in the grading interface. The Attempts to grade setting only controls which attempts display as Needs Grading.

If All attempts is selected, the instructor must also select the calculation method for the student’s grade.

From the Final grade calculation menu, the options are:

• Average
• Highest (default)
• Lowest

 Image 1. Updated ‘Attempts to grade’ setting

Image 2. New ‘Final grade calculation’ setting

Image 3. Updated Submissions page with the Needs Grading filter applied; in this example, the instructor elected to grade the last attempt, which is now also displayed

Send a copy to email when scheduling announcements

Managing communication with students is an important instructor task. Instructors often plan certain communications in advance. Now instructors can schedule an announcement for a future date and select that it will send an email copy. The announcement tool will send the email copy on the day and time the announcements are posted.

In the past, instructors could schedule an announcement that would present to students on the selected day and time. Instructors could also immediately post an announcement and send an email copy to students at the same time.

Improved navigation when accessing feedback

Some instructors choose to add feedback on a student’s overall submission and individual attempts. We’ve improved students’ access to this valuable feedback. Now students can view overall and attempt-level feedback from the gradebook.

Image 1. Student’s gradebook with the Grade & Feedback panel displaying the overall submission feedback for Assignment 1; the student can also select the feedback icon on Attempt 1 to review feedback specific to that attempt

Improved Mobile Authentication

There have been some backend improvements made to the Blackboard Learn App authentication process. These changes reduce the frequency of logouts and enhance user experience. After the Blackboard Learn App 9.6 is released (July 2024), users will be required to update the app on their devices to ensure proper functionality. Users who do not update after the release will see a red banner informing them that their session has expired.