What’s New in Blackboard – January 2026
We’re excited to share the standout updates included in the Blackboard 4000.6.0 release, a version designed to enhance efficiency, clarity, and control across the Ultra experience.
This release brings meaningful improvements across key areas such as Blackboard Core, Tests and Assignments, Learner Progression and Personalized Experience, and Integrations. These enhancements strengthen assessments, streamline learner progression, support personalization, and expand administrative flexibility.
From a redesigned interface that streamlines daily tasks, to smarter assessment options, clearer automation tracking, expanded question types, and greater control over Ultra Achievements, these enhancements continue to strengthen and modernize the teaching and learning experience. These new capabilities will help you stay ahead and make an even greater impact in guiding users.
Below, you’ll find our Top Five Highlighted Features of the 4000.6.0 release. Explore what’s new and see how these updates help your institution operate more smoothly and effectively.
Note: These updates apply to customers using the Blackboard Ultra interface. For full release notes and technical documentation, visit the Blackboard Help Site.
1. Blackboard Core - Navigate Courses and Tools Faster with Refreshed User Interface
Impact: All Users
We’re introducing a refreshed Blackboard interface designed to make teaching and learning more intuitive and efficient. These updates help you find information faster, reduce clicks, and simplify tasks such as managing courses, grading, and configuring settings.
The changes reflect extensive feedback from instructors, administrators, and students and aim to:
- Use screen space more effectively
- Reduce navigation errors, such as accidental exits
- Improve performance and page load times
- Provide clearer context and orientation
- Minimize motion for smoother navigation
Changes include the following:
Refreshed Base Navigation
There is now a cleaner layout for clear access to main navigation tabs with less clutter.
- User profile now appears at the top of the navigation, complete with profile image for easier customization
- Admin and Sign Out options are moved to the bottom of the panel, separating them from other actions for clarity
- Administrators can now access base navigation directly from the administrator panel, streamlining workflow transitions
Image 1: The refreshed Base Navigation menu moves Profile to the top of the menu. Admin and Sign Out are moved to the bottom of the panel. The
cleaner layout improves clarity for users.
Course Panels Become Full-Screen Course Pages
Courses now open in full-screen mode to maximize horizontal space and reduce clutter. This update applies to top-level panels such as Course Content Homepage, Calendar, Announcements, Discussions, Gradebook, Analytics, Groups, and Achievements. Secondary panels will be updated in future releases.
Image 2: The refreshed user interface in courses includes full-screen course pages and improvements to enhance the amount of screen space
available for users to engage with their course.
Home Button Replaces Exit
The “X” to exit a course is replaced with a Home button that returns you to your institution’s landing page (Activity Stream, Institution page, or Courses page). The “X” remains for lower-level panels like learning modules for now.
Course ID and Title in the Header Bar
The header now displays the course ID and title for better context. Breadcrumbs will be added in a future update to improve navigation further.
Full-Width Banner
The course banner spans the full width of the screen with the course ID and title on a darker background for better clarity and accessibility.
Image 3: The Course menu has been moved further to the top of the screen to make better use of screen space for users. Additionally, the menu
reflects an institution’s branding, using colors and styles from your theme settings.
Branded Course Menu
The course menu reflects your institution’s branding, using colors and styles from theme settings. The menu is positioned higher on the screen for better use of space.
Course Switcher
Users can quickly jump between their four most recent courses or go to the full Courses page. More enhancements are planned based on ongoing feedback.
Image 4: The new course switcher lets users move between the four most recent courses.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses
Activation: None needed
Configuration:
None needed
2. Tests and Assignments - Enhanced Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer Workflow
Impact: Instructors and Students
We updated the question setup to provide a more intuitive experience, including updating the default answer options from three to four and improving controls for how students interact with questions. These changes support greater flexibility in assessment design and improved experience for students.
Instructors
To reduce setup time when creating a multiple-choice question, we changed the default number of answer options from three to four. Instructors can add or remove answer options.
Instructors can now define the number of answer selections that a student can make for each multiple-choice question. When the student takes the assessment, the system enforces the instructor’s selection limit.
Image 1: Instructors can define the number of answer selections for each multiple-choice question.
Students
For questions where students can select only one answer, the selection mechanism is radio buttons. For questions where students can select more than one answer, the selection mechanism is checkboxes.
Image 2: The student's selection mechanism of checkbox or radio button is determined by how many answers they can select.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses
Activation: None needed
Configuration:
None needed
3. Learner Progression and Personalized Experience - View Activity Log for Automations
Impact: Instructor
Instructors can now access an activity log for each automation in their courses. The activity log lists the action date and time the automation was triggered and identifies the student and item that triggered it. This feature gives all instructors in the course visibility into when automations occur, and which students receive automated messages.
Instructors
To view the activity log for an automation, instructors select View Automations from Course Assistants on the Course Content page, then select an automation. They then select the Activity Log tab.
Image 1: The activity log shows when an automation was triggered, by which student, and by which item.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses
Activation: None needed
Configuration: Automations are off by default. Administrators can turn them on by going to the Administrator Panel. Select
Configure in The Ultra Experience Here! module. Select Automations to turn automations on or off
Users need the following privileges to work with automations:
- Course/Organization > Automations > Add allows users to create new automations
- Course/Organization > Automations > Delete allows users to delete automations
- Course/Organization > Automations > Edit allows users to edit existing automations
- Course/Organization > Automations > View allows users to view existing course automations
4. Test and Assignments - Expanded Question Options for True/False
Impact: Instructors
We expanded the display options for true/false questions to include:
- True/False
- Yes/No
- Right/Wrong
- Agree/Disagree
These additional answer options display when:
- Instructors create or edit this question type when building a test or in a question bank
- Students answer the question
- Instructors grade the question
- Students review their submission or graded question
Image 1: True/false questions now include additional options.
When converting courses, tests, or pools from Original to Ultra, questions with these display options convert to Ultra with the corresponding display option. Additionally, this enhancement includes improved keyboard navigation when creating true/false questions. We updated the styling of the answer selection for true/false questions to radio buttons.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses
Activation: None needed
Configuration:
None needed
5. Integrations - Granular Control of Achievements for Ultra via Institutional Hierarchy
Impact: Administrators
Administrators can now manage the Achievements feature in Ultra Courses at specific levels of the Institutional Hierarchy. Previously, feature access was only controlled via system-level Feature Flags, which applied globally and offered limited flexibility for institutions with complex governance needs. This update provides more control and flexibility to manage Achievements within your institution. Read about creating and managing nodes in Institutional Hierarchy on the Blackboard Help Center.
Achievements for Ultra is now treated as a configurable tool that administrators can manage at the Institutional Hierarchy node level using the familiar Manage Tools interface. The existing Feature Flag remains temporarily, creating a shared control model:
- When the Feature Flag is ON, the feature is visible in the Admin Tool and Institutional Hierarchy, with ON/OFF toggle and lock options. Administrators can adjust availability for specific IH nodes
- When the Feature Flag is OFF, the feature does not appear in the Admin Tool and Institutional Hierarchy
If the Feature Flag is later removed, the feature remains fully manageable via Institutional Hierarchy, ensuring long-term governance without global flags.
This shared control model supports safe testing and gradual rollout while transitioning from Feature Flags to Institutional Hierarchy-based governance.
Administrators
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses
Activation: No action
required
Configuration: No action required