{"id":22101,"date":"2026-06-24T08:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/?page_id=22101"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:11:02","slug":"july-2026-updates","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/july-2026-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2026 Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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These are the latest Blackboard updates SaaS release 4000.19, which will be live on our system from 3rd July 2026.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Instructional Design<\/a><\/span><\/p>

Assignments and Tests<\/a><\/span><\/p>

Communication and Collaboration<\/a><\/span><\/p>

Blackboard Core<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Instructional Design<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Add descriptions to Discussions and Journals<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Discussions and Journals now include a dedicated Description field.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

When creating or editing a Discussion or Journal, instructors can add an optional description to give students brief context before they engage with the activity. The Description field is separate from the prompt. The prompt longer appears on the Course Content page. Instructors can use the description to set expectations and reserve the prompt for the engagement question or task itself.<\/span><\/p>

\"Add<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Assignments and Tests<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Run a Rubric Evaluation Report for graded activities<\/strong><\/p>

Instructors can now run a Rubric Evaluation Report directly from the gradebook for any graded activity that has a rubric associated with it. This report aggregates rubric data across all student submissions, giving instructors a clear picture of how students are performing against each rubric criterion.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Communication and Collaboration<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Control AI Conversation duration with time limits\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Instructors can now manage the duration of AI Conversations by setting a time limit. They can choose between two time-limit options, depending on whether they want to time the whole assessment or only the conversation itself.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Within the conversation constraints, the limits are now split into a message limit and a time limit. The message limit \u2014 capping how many times a student can reply \u2014 is already available; the time limit is the new addition. Instructors can set either limit, both, or neither for the conversation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Blackboard Core<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Find your\u00a0favourite\u00a0courses faster with Course Switcher\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Users can now view their\u00a0favourite\u00a0courses directly within the Course Switcher.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Find<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are the latest Blackboard updates SaaS release 4000.19, which will be live on our system from 3rd July 2026. Instructional Design Assignments and Tests Communication and Collaboration Blackboard Core Instructional Design Add descriptions to Discussions and Journals\u00a0 Discussions and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":815,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22101","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22101"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22112,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22101\/revisions\/22112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/blackboardhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}