Blackboard Learn Updates Features and Accessibility
Blackboard Learn will receive an important update to include exciting new features and improvements to existing functionality, accessibility and responsiveness.
The update will begin at 11 p.m. Friday, May 25. Blackboard will be unavailable for up to 24 hours during the upgrade. See the IT Status Monitor for more information about planned outages.
Improved Accessibility
The update expands the accessibility of Blackboard Learn and focuses on a new, more mobile-friendly design. The update includes improved structure and definition of the page layout, specifically designed to assist users with screen readers in navigating elements of the page.
New Learning Tools
Faculty, staff and students will have access to two new tools within Blackboard Learn. Instructors can add Collaborate Ultra sessions to Groups, allowing access to features like whiteboarding, recording, and content sharing.
Students and instructors using the math editor will have access to new, chemistry-specific tools.
Grade Display and Cleanup
My Grades and other gradebook columns will support up to five decimal points without rounding. The grade will be consistent across all display types including score, percentage and letter grade.
Instructors will be able to clean up their grade books more efficiently with multiple-column deletion. Selected columns will be removed completely and cannot be recovered.
Rubric Auto-save
When grading with rubrics, selected levels of performance and feedback will be automatically saved to the attempt as a draft when the rubric is saved.
Blackboard Support
The Blackboard support team on campus offers open lab hours to assist faculty with setting up their Blackboard courses. Don't wait to start making great courses! Assistance is available in the Gibson Annex from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Can't make it to Gibson Annex? Support can come to you, email tips@uark.edu to schedule an office visit.
If you have any questions or problems following the upgrade, contact the IT Help Desk by calling 479-575-2905 or visiting help.uark.edu.
Contacts
Chris Butler, director, communications
University Information Technology Services
479-575-2901,
chrisb@uark.edu
Headlines
PetSmart CEO J.K. Symancyk to Speak at Walton College Commencement
J.K. Symancyk is an alumnus of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and serves on the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board.
Faulkner Center, Arkansas PBS Partner to Screen Documentary 'Gospel'
The Faulkner Performing Arts Center will host a screening of Gospel, a documentary exploring the origin of Black spirituality through sermon and song, in partnership with Arkansas PBS at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2.
UAPD Officers Mills and Edwards Honored With New Roles
Veterans of the U of A Police Department, Matt Mills has been promoted to assistant chief, and Crandall Edwards has been promoted to administrative captain.
Community Design Center's Greenway Urbanism Project Wins LIV Hospitality Design Award
"Greenway Urbanism" is one of six urban strategies proposed under the Framework Plan for Cherokee Village, a project that received funding through an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Spring Bike Drive Refurbishes Old Bikes for New Students
All donated bikes will be given to Pedal It Forward, a local nonprofit that will refurbish your bike and return it to the U of A campus to be gifted to a student in need. Hundreds of students have already benefited.