{"id":8942,"date":"2025-10-01T15:07:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T15:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/?p=8942"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T11:56:35","slug":"blackboard-upgrade-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/2025\/10\/01\/blackboard-upgrade-october-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackboard Upgrade \u2013 October 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The new features in this month\u2019s Blackboard\u2019s upgrade will be available from Friday 3rd October. This month\u2019s upgrade includes the following new\/improved features to Ultra courses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#fill-blanks\">Improved student view of fill in the blanks test questions<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#metadata\">Add metadata to test questions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"fill-blanks\">Improved student view of fill in the blanks test questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the October upgrade, the student view of fill in the blanks test questions will be improved so that the students&#8217; responses are placed in situ, rather than as a list at end of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"274\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-before.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8943\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-before.png 800w, https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-before-300x103.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-before-768x263.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><em>\u2022 Student view of a fill in the blanks question pre-upgrade.<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"176\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-after.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8944\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-after.png 800w, https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-after-300x66.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/blanks-after-768x169.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><em>\u2022 Student view of a fill in the blanks question post-upgrade.<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>More information on the different types of questions that can be used in tests is available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/help.blackboard.com\/Learn\/Instructor\/Ultra\/Tests_Pools_Surveys\/Question_Types\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blackboard Help &#8211; Question Types<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"#top\"><sup>Back to top \u2191<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"metadata\">Add metadata to test questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>October&#8217;s upgrade will allow staff using tests in NILE to add question metadata to their test questions via the use of tags. Metadata tags will be visible during question creation and editing and can be used to filter questions when reusing or adding to pools. Tags can be added to questions in a test, or to undeployed questions in the question bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"643\" height=\"748\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/test-metadata.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8945\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/test-metadata.png 643w, https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/test-metadata-258x300.png 258w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><em>\u2022 Test question with option to add metadata highlighted.<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>More information about setting up tests is available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/help.blackboard.com\/Learn\/Instructor\/Ultra\/Tests_Pools_Surveys\/Create_Tests\">Blackboard Help &#8211; Create Tests<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"#top\"><sup>Back to top \u2191<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learning technology \/ NILE community group<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Staff who are interested in finding out more about learning technologies and NILE are invited to join the Learning Technology \/ NILE Community Group on the University\u2019s Engage platform. The purpose of the community is to share information and good practice concerning the use of learning technologies at UON. When joining the community, if you are prompted to login please use your usual UON staff username and password. By joining the Learning Technology \/ NILE Community you will receive calendar invitations to our regular live community events:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engage.cloud.microsoft\/main\/org\/northampton.ac.uk\/groups\/eyJfdHlwZSI6Ikdyb3VwIiwiaWQiOiIyMjU1MTMzNDA5MjgifQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join the Learning Technology \/ NILE Community Group<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As ever, please get in touch with your learning technologist if you would like any more information about the new features available in this month\u2019s upgrade:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/libguides.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/staff\/nile-help\/who-is-my-learning-technologist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Who is my learning technologist?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new features in this month\u2019s Blackboard\u2019s upgrade will be available from Friday 3rd October. This month\u2019s upgrade includes the following new\/improved features to Ultra courses:<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"#fill-blanks\">Improved student view of fill in the blanks test questions<\/a> <a href=\"#metadata\">Add metadata to test questions<\/a> Improved student view of fill in the blanks test questions <\/p>\n<p>Following the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,261,290],"tags":[39,40,305,304,253,212],"class_list":["post-8942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learntech-news","category-nile-update","category-uon-ultra-project","tag-blackboard","tag-blackboard-learn","tag-blackboard-upgrade","tag-ultra-upgrade","tag-update","tag-updates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blackboard Upgrade \u2013 October 2025 - Learning Technology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/2025\/10\/01\/blackboard-upgrade-october-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blackboard Upgrade \u2013 October 2025 - Learning Technology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new features in this month\u2019s Blackboard\u2019s upgrade will be available from Friday 3rd October. 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