Description
The number of recipients of a badge is not decreasing after unenrolling recipient students from course or when editing their grade to no longer meet the badge performance criteria.
Steps to Replicate
Log into Blackboard Learn Ultra Experience as an administrator
Create an Ultra course
Enroll two students in the course
Create an assignment in the course with a maximum score of 100
Go to Achievements tab and create a badge with the performance requirement of 50 for this assignment
Grade both students 100 and post the grades
Go to Achievements page and see the count of students who received the badge = 2
Open the created badge and go to the Recipients tab. The list shows 2 results: both students are listed.
Scenario 1
Make the enrollment of student_1 not available
Refresh the Achievements page and observe the number of students is still = 2
Open the badge and go to the Recipients tab
Observe the list shows the second student in the list but the number of results is stil displayed = 2
Scenario 2
Disable the enrollment of the same student_1
Refresh the Achievements page and observe the number of students is still = 2
Open the badge and go to the Recipients tab
Observe the list shows the second student in the list but the number of results is unchanged = 2
Scenario 3
Delete the enrollment of the student_1 from the course
Refresh the Achievements page and observe the number of students is still = 2
Open the badge and go to the Recipients tab
Observe the list shows the second student in the list but the number of results is still = 2
Scenario 4
Edit the grade of the other student (student_2) to 10 so that it no longer fulfils the performance requirement of the badge
Refresh the Achievements page and observe the number of students is still displayed = 2
Open the badge and go to the Recipients tab.
Observed Behavior:
The number of recipients does not change after deleting, disabling or making not available a recipient enrollment in the course.
Expected Behavior:
The number of recipients to be updated when students are removed from course or when grades are edited and badge performance requirements are no longer met.
Affected Versions
Learn 4000.1.0
Learn 4000.4.0
Learn 4000.6.0
Target Release
Working as Intended
Information
Please see the explanation as to why this is working as intended:
1. Student is no longer enrolled (made not available, disabled, or deleted)
A badge is a record of achievement at the moment it was earned. Once a badge has been awarded, it is not revoked automatically, even if:
the student’s enrollment is made not available,
the enrollment is disabled, or
the enrollment is deleted from the course.
Because the student legitimately earned the badge prior to their enrollment change, the badge remains valid, and the recipient count stays the same. Therefore, the number of recipients shown on the Achievements page and on the badge’s Recipient tab is correct, even when the student is no longer enrolled.
2. Grade changes after a badge was awarded
Similarly, if a student earned a badge but their grade later changes so that they no longer meet the badge criteria, the system does not retroactively remove the badge. Badge removal is not performed automatically. It has been best practice in the badging world, that Institutions should manage badge revocations manually to maintain control over the process.
The system currently treats badges as permanent credentials once earned. Changing course performance after the award does not trigger automatic badge revocation, which is why the recipient remains listed and the count remains unchanged.
Summary
Expected behavior: Badge recipient counts do not decrease automatically when students are removed from a course or when their grades no longer meet the criteria.
Reason: The platform does not revoke badges retroactively; awarded badges remain valid unless manually revoked by an instructor or administrator.
We are always exploring ways to enhance badge management, but the current design intentionally avoids automatic badge removal to prevent unintended loss of earned credentials. Clients could add Ideas to the Exchange around any of these areas.