{"id":160636,"date":"2026-01-08T16:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/?page_id=160636"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:11:33","slug":"improved-blackboard-navigation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/services\/teaching\/lms\/blackboard\/improved-blackboard-navigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Improved Blackboard Navigation Coming January 9, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>Why the Change?<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Blackboard will implement several improvements to address common usability challenges:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Better use of screen space<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Fewer navigation errors<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Improved performance<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Clear context<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Reduced issues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What do these changes look like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, it\u2019s a cleaner layout that provides easy access to the main navigation tabs with less clutter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courses now open in full-screen mode, maximizing horizontal space and reducing visual clutter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The course banner now spans the full width of the screen, freeing up vertical space and improving contextual clarity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Home button is now available to return users to the Course Page.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A more streamlined navigation experience is available, providing the ability to quickly move between courses.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Removing the prominent \u201cExit (X)\u201d to leave a course.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Full-screen pages for top-level panels<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courses now open in full-screen mode, maximizing horizontal space and reducing <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">visual clutter. Navigation applies to top-level panels only (Course Content Homepage, Calendar, Announcements, Discussions, Gradebook, Analytics, Groups, and Achievements).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture1-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"622\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-160664\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Full-width banner<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The course banner now spans the full width of the screen, with title overlaid\u2014freeing up vertical space and improving contextual clarity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture2-636x91.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"91\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-160661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture2-636x91.png 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture2.png 709w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Home button to leave the course<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The traditional \u201cX\u201d to exit a course has been replaced with a Home button, which <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">returns users to the Course Page. The \u201cX\u201d remains for lower-level panels, such as learning modules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" height=\"65\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-160662\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Course switcher<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A more streamlined navigation experience between courses, with the ability to quickly jump between courses from within any course\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture4-636x47.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"47\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-160663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture4-636x47.png 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2026\/01\/Picture4.png 722w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why the Change? Blackboard will implement several improvements to address common usability challenges: Better use of screen space Fewer navigation errors Improved performance Clear context Reduced issues &nbsp; What do these changes look like? Overall, it\u2019s a cleaner layout that provides easy access to the main navigation tabs with less clutter.\u00a0 Courses now open in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19513,"featured_media":0,"parent":48177,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160636"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160677,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160636\/revisions\/160677"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}