The UB Learns support team is committed to providing the most up-to-date educational resources that help instructors deliver innovative and engaging online content to their students.
As of December 2020, past term student enrollments are now set as "Unavailable." Student grades, postings and interactions will now remain visible to the instructor after the semester ends.
Blackboard has released an update to the toolbar that appears when editing text boxes. The update includes improvements to existing tools, a new accessibility checker and the ability to display computer code. Some icons have changed, and the options to embed files, images, videos and mashups are now available by clicking on the plus icon.
Portfolios provide a way for students to efficiently collect and organize artifacts representative of work completed over time.
Instructors can use Bb Annotate to provide customizable feedback to students. Features of Bb Annotate include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, various color selections and much more.
Ultra Base Navigation is an easy-to-navigate system menu that provides quick access to critical information, such as grading tasks, due dates and activities, for all your courses.
Respondus Monitor, available in Respondus LockDown Browser, uses video analytics and a student’s webcam to deter cheating during non-proctored exams.
Blackboard has released a new course role to assist with the organization and administration of course tasks. Facilitator role privileges are similar to existing Instructor and Teaching Assistant roles.
Moving UB Learns to a cloud-delivery environment (also known as Software as a Service or SaaS) provides the foundation for future upgrades to UB Learns, including Blackboard's Ultra Experience. Instructors and students will still use UB Learns exactly the way they did during the fall 2019 semester.
Instructors can mark students present, late, absent or excused in the new Attendance tool page. The attendance records for each student appear in a single column next to other grades.
Instructors can copy files from their favorite cloud storage solutions when authoring Content Items or creating Assignments; students can submit assignments from their favorite cloud storage solutions.
Supported cloud storage platforms include OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, Google Drive (including G suite accounts), Dropbox and Box (UBbox).
Students now have greater flexibility to take their tests on the go on their mobile devices with question types that are better optimized for display on smaller devices. The Learning Modules tool has been optimized for mobile devices when using the Learn 2016 theme.
Regardless of configuration, the table of contents will always be pinned to the bottom of the page and can be expanded or collapsed. Settings such as forced sequence and allowing students to navigate using the table of contents are honored.
Instructor and graders can embed audio and video recordings with learner feedback allowing students to watch or listen to feedback alongside any included text.
