April 2026 Updates
These are the latest Blackboard updates SaaS release 4000.12, which will be live on our system from 2nd April 2026
Communication and Collaboration
Review both sets of Discussion due dates across multiple views in Blackboard
Blackboard now surfaces both sets of due dates and participation requirements for Discussions across key areas of the application. Instructors and students get clearer expectations wherever they access Discussion details.
When instructors create a discussion with two due dates and participation requirements, both sets of requirements appear on the Course Content page, Discussion pages, the Gradebook student and instructor views, and the instructor’s Discussion analysis panel. Students can track expectations throughout the workflow without having to navigate back to the discussion itself.
AI Conversation: Use Message Limits
Instructors can now guide the length of AI‑supported conversations, including Socratic Questioning, by setting message limits.
Students track their remaining responses during a conversation through a dynamic label. The label shows a caution icon when two responses remain. After the conversation reaches the message cap, students cannot add more responses.
Handle images as thumbnail links in Announcement emails
Announcement emails now show images as thumbnail links instead of long URLs. When users select a thumbnail, the system opens the original announcement so they can read it with full context.
Announcement emails display a small thumbnail for each image instructors include in an announcement. Each thumbnail links to the announcement in Blackboard, so users return to the complete content instead of opening the image file by itself.
Assignments and Tests
Specify assignment submission type
When creating or editing an assignment, instructors can now define the expected submission type to guide how students submit their work.
Instructors can select one or more expected submission types when configuring an assignment. By default, File upload and Text entry are both selected.
The selected submission type is visible in assignment settings and student‑facing details. Instructors can change the selected submission type until students have started submitting attempts.
Students are informed of the expected submission type and see a submission workflow optimised for that format.
Improvements to multiple choice and multiple answer questions
For the multiple choice question, we modified the default number of answer options a student can select from 4 to 1.
When creating or editing a multiple choice or multiple answer question, instructors can change the number of answer options that a student can select.
Multiple choice answer options alphabetical labels (A, B, C, D) have also been restored.
Gradebook
Adjust grades for individual student attempts in group submissions
We extended Flexible Grading to allow instructors to adjust attempt grades for individual students within a group submission.
Instructors can override a group attempt score for individual group members directly from the grading interface. The interface clearly indicates when grades differ across group members, and adjustments can be removed by restoring a student’s grade to match the group attempt score.
Increased SafeAssign file size limit to 25 MB for DirectSubmit
We increased the SafeAssign file size limit to 25 MB for DirectSubmit submissions.
Student names display in chosen sort order in Flexible Grading
We’ve improved how student names appear in Flexible Grading. The name display format is now linked to the selected sort order. By default, student names are now shown as Surname, First Name to help instructors quickly locate students. When sorting by First Name (ascending or descending), names display as First Name Surname.