In the spirit of giving this holiday season, we have a special treat for all of the fantastic instructors who’ve once again gone above and beyond in 2025: AVA Responses to Student Messages is available as of December 4th! And best of all, this functionality is included as part of the standard Blackboard license for all institutions until the end of June 2026.
So what can AVA Responses to Student Messages do for you?
AVA Responses leverages AI to immediately respond to common student inquiries. It scans the content of the course (and, crucially, only the content of the course) to answer questions related to due dates, grades, course content, accommodations, and other fundamentals, ensuring that students quickly get the information they need to proceed with their studies. In line with our Trustworthy AI Approach, the instructor has full visibility over the exchange and can intervene should the learner require more assistance. You’ll find more detail in the Blackboard Release Notes for December. Research validates that instructors benefit from technology that assists in this area. As part of our recent study on the causes and potential solutions for faculty burnout, our research has uncovered that 36% of instructors dedicate 4+ hours a week to responding to common student inquiries. That’s half of a workday out of every week! AVA Responses to Student Messages eases this burden, allowing instructors to invest in higher order priorities—including, of course, meaningful interactions with learners on more in-depth subjects. This release follows AVA Assisted Feedback, which has been available in Blackboard since September, and continues a trend of AI innovation in the platform that is well into its third consecutive year. More than 800 global institutions now leverage Blackboard’s AI capabilities, which have powered over five million education tasks and saved time for 96% of instructors who have embraced them. Stories of success have emerged from institutions of all types and sizes, including South Texas College, which has achieved QM Exemplary Course certification by including AI in their instructional design approach.
It makes us faster, quicker, and better. Because now we can envision every class launching at a best-practice level to create successful faculty and students. The Blackboard AI tools let us make those design dreams come true.”
- Rachel Sale, PhD, Dean of the Digital Learning Department, South Texas College
Meanwhile, input from our Future of Assessment Working Group is helping to fine tune our thoughts around how to best evolve assessment practices to meet the needs of the AI era. We’ve just released a new white paper which outlines five key steps that institutions can take today to future-proof their assessment approach, starting with the promotion of AI literacy. Included therein, and detailed in more depth in a separate paper, is a framework to update Bloom’s taxonomy and further the use of authentic assessments, authored by our Associate Vice President of Academic Transformation, Lisa Clark. 2026 is shaping up to be another big year of AI innovation for Blackboard, including the release of our third AVA capability, AVA AI Playground. In the meantime, we wish you all a very happy holiday season and hope it brings many gifts beyond the realm of your learning management system.
Visit our Blackboard AI page to learn more about the amazing results these capabilities are driving for learners, instructors, and institutions.
