Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Blackboard Learn 9.1 Getting Updates for Competency Ed, More

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 10/27/15

Blackboard Learn is getting a cluster of new features and assuring its customers that the flagship software still matters even as the company pursues development of its next-generation software. Sometime during the next two months the company will be rolling out updates to version 9.1 of the learning management system that will be of use to schools pursuing competency-based learning and seeking to exchange grade information between the LMS and the student information system.

The biggest update is the addition of a goal performance dashboard building block to map goals to courses within Learn. This tool, intended for competency-based education environments, lets learners and instructors track progress toward competencies and other learning milestones.

Grades Journey bolsters integration between Learn and the SIS to allow data exchange, such as grades between the two types of applications.

For K-12 schools and districts using PowerSchool SIS, the integration allows for "hands-free" syncing of users, classes, enrollments, assignments and grades.

Additional updates include small enhancements or fixes. For example, users will be able to navigate to the next or previous thread in a discussion from the thread detail page instead of having to go through the discussion forum page. Also, "multiple fixes" to grades reporting will surface as will updates to content folders and notification processing.

"As we continue to work very hard to deliver new versions of our core products as part of the 'New Learning Experience,' we want to make sure customers understand that Blackboard Learn 9.1 will continue to be an absolutely critical focus area," said Mark Strassman, a senior vice president for product management. "We hope that our customers enjoy the improvements that this update brings them, and we will continue to listen to them to ensure that we bring continued enhancements and innovation in updates to come."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • interconnected nodes with currency symbols

    Report: Half of Gen AI Projects Could Exceed Budget by 2028

    Organizations may be underestimating the cost of generative AI as they move from experimentation to production, according to Gartner's "10 Best Practices for Optimizing Generative and Agentic AI Costs" report.

  • Abstract background with a dynamic wave

    New Microsoft Initiative Aims to Help Move AI Projects from Experimentation to Production

    Microsoft has launched Frontier Company, making a $2.5 billion bet that the next competitive battleground in artificial intelligence will not be foundation models, but helping enterprises put those models to work.

  • lock symbol with quantum bits in dynamic motion

    Microsoft Accelerates Quantum-Safe Security Timeline

    Microsoft is speeding up its quantum-safe security timeline, noting that advances in quantum computing and new federal requirements have pushed post-quantum cryptography from a future planning issue into an immediate engineering priority.