I am sharing this message on behalf of ITS and Drake Online and Continuing Education.  They write:

We understand that it has been challenging to manage the upgrades to Blackboard as you develop and deliver your classes.  To provide you with the best support, we have some exciting news coming for summer.

Blackboard will continue to provide monthly updates that have new settings and abilities added to current features.  The two most affected areas will be assessments and grading. Tips and Tricks emails from Dr. Good will continue to provide a full listing of the updates when they are released. For more detailed information from Blackboard, visit https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/SaaS/Release_Notes.

Before Fall 2022, ITS and Drake Online and Continuing Education will be partnering to provide a more user-friendly system to get Blackboard updates and provide useful information around best practices. We are hopeful and determined to build a tool that will provide this information in a way that can be better utilized when you need it.

As always, please remember that the Academic and Emerging Technologies team provide support and Drake Online have instructional designers and technologists who can help with troubleshooting both technical and pedagogical issues that involve educational technology use.  If you need additional help, please use this link to request assistance.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost