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Blackboard Learn Gains Accessibility, Mobile Features

Blackboard Learn 9.1 (PRNewsFoto/Blackboard Inc.)

Blackboard today announced a variety of updates to Blackboard Learn, the company's flagship learning management system. The release includes updates for both the Original experience (Blackboard Learn 9.1) and the Ultra experience.

New features for the Original experience include:

  • Blackboard Ally integration, which "automatically runs course materials through an accessibility checklist that looks for common accessibility issues and generates a range of more accessible alternatives for the instructor's original content including Semantic HTML, audio, ePub, and electronic Braille";
  • Responsive design for mobile devices;
  • Drag-and-drop capability in more locations;
  • The ability to sample by demographics for outcomes assessment;
  • LTI enhancements; and
  • Additional REST APIs.

The Original experience is available via self-hosted, managed-hosted and software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment options.

The SaaS Ultra experience is updated monthly; recent upgrades include:

  • The ability to align goals to objects, including test questions, rubrics, content, LTI links and discussions;
  • Localization for global markets; and
  • New capabilities in the areas of assessment, content creation and discussions (incorporated based on feedback from recent pilots).

For more information, go to the Blackboard blog.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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