Blackboard Ultra Features & Transition Timeline

The following is a list of some of the improvements provided by the Ultra Course View. This is not an all-inclusive list. Blackboard is rolling out features monthly so this list may change.

• Clean, Modern Look - The Ultra Course View is cleaner and more modern than the Original Course View. It is simpler to use and more intuitive, as well. Tools are contextual to reduce clicks and content appears in the course using peek layers that slide from the right.
• Content Displayed on a Single Page - Content is displayed on a single page within learning modules and folders that expand and collapse, so it is easier for students to find the content and assessments they need.
• Image Generator for Banners and Learning Modules using Unsplash - Struggling to find an image for your course banner or learning module? Blackboard added the Unsplash image library within Ultra courses. You can now search their vast library of royalty-free images.
• Add Content Wherever you Want - Quickly add files, links, assignments, and other content and assessments wherever you want! In addition to uploading files from your computer, you can also add content from cloud storage systems like OneDrive.
• Add Files via Drag and Drop - Quickly add files to your course by dragging them to the content panel of your course. You can drag one or multiple files, or even a folder (in some browsers).
• Build Complex Content as Documents - While you can build your content primarily using uploaded files, the Ultra Course View includes a new content type, Document, that allows you to build complex pages with a mix of text, images, videos, and files. Documents are optimized for mobile devices, so you and your students can access them directly from a smartphone browser.
• Brand New Text Editor - The brand-new text editor in the Ultra Course View is optimized to create content that is mobile-compatible, so that you and your students can access it directly from a smartphone browser. The text editor is simplified, but includes tools for formatting text, adding links and media, and embedding mathematical and scientific formulas in your text.
• Enable Conversations for Student Questions - If you enable Conversations for individual content items, students can discuss the content with you and their classmates. They can ask for help, share sources, or answer questions others have. As conversations develop, they appear only with the relevant content. You can enable conversations for Documents, Assignments, and Tests.
• Easy-to-Understand Item View for the Gradebook - The Item List is your new default view of the course gradebook. You can view all the coursework you have assigned and your grading progress. Quickly see how many students have submitted an assessment, how many you need to grade, and how many grades need to be posted. You also can see when you have completed grading an item.
  • Use the toggle in the upper left to switch from Item to Grid view. The Grid view is a traditional spreadsheet-like view of the Gradebook.
• Keep Grades Private Until You Are Ready to Post - In the Ultra Course View, you can control exactly when students are able to see the grades you have entered. Once you enter a grade, it is private until you Post it. You can post individual grades, or wait and post all of the grades for a particular assessment at once.
• Knowledge Check Block in Documents - A new Knowledge Check block is available in Documents, allowing students to engage with content through multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions, receiving immediate feedback. Although this feature does not yet support grading, instructors can view Knowledge Check metrics.  This can be both an effective way to reinforce student learning and a way for instructors to gauge overall student comprehension of a specific topic. 
• Automatically Assign Zeros for Past Due Assignments - If your assessment has a due date enabled, Blackboard can automatically assign a zero to any student who does not submit the assessment by the due date. You can override the zero with a grade, of course, but the automatic zero can help students realize that they have missed a due date.
  • While automatic zeros is enabled by default, you can disable it in the Gradebook settings.
• View Student Profile Photos - Get to know your students with the new profile photos, which they can edit from their Profile in the global navigation menu. These photos appear in the Roster, Gradebook, Discussions, Conversations, Messages, and more.
• Student Progress Tracking - Ultra has an exciting new capability that helps students identify the tasks they have started, completed, or haven’t interacted with. Submitted assessments get marked automatically, and future software updates will provide instructors the ability to monitor student progress inside their courses.
• Student Activity Log - Instructors now have access to a Student Activity Log, a useful tool for tracking student engagement and participation within courses. This feature can aid in academic decisions and provide valuable insights into student behavior.
• Discussion Performance and Analytics - Experience an in-depth look at each student’s discussion participation using multiple metrics. These performance-based insights show you which students may need help, or are out of the typical range of participation. The discussion analysis algorithm focuses on a student’s content and provides details to help you evaluate participation. There is also an automated word count and features that analyze the meaningfulness of the writing.
• Manage Your Discussions on Activity Instead of in Individual Groups - Manage your discussions on the activity instead of in individual groups. There is no longer a need to create a separate group discussion. The discussion is created first, and then groups are added to it. Students can see their group members on the discussion itself, and group discussions can be easily managed within a single grading interface.
• Flexible Grading - Flexible grading is an optimized grading experience that provides instructors with the flexibility to grade in their preferred style. With flexible grading, you can:
  • Easily review the status of your grading tasks and prioritize your time where it is needed most.
  • Provide inline, multimedia feedback direct to students.
  • Easily access grading rubrics, anti-plagiarism checkers, and more as you work through your grading tasks.
• Gradebook Overview Tab - The Gradebook tab now includes an indicator that shows when there are new submissions to grade.  The indicator will display the number of assignments that need grading.  There is also a new Overview tab that will help to improve grading efficiency.  This tab contains two sections: Needs Grading and Needs Posting.
• AI Design Assistant - Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ever-present, and Blackboard Learn is no exception! There is now an AI Design Assistant available in Blackboard Learn Ultra that can help you with a variety of tasks related to your courses. Along the way, you can review, edit, and approve the auto-generated content, based on what you want to offer.

Some features in Ultra Course View are significantly different than those in Original Course View. This list is not exhaustive, but highlights some notable differences between ultra and original courses.

• Accomodations set once for a Student to Apply to All Assessments - In the Ultra Course View, you can set accommodations for a student once via the Roster, and then they will apply to all assessments in your course. Accommodations can affect due dates, by never marking a student's submission as late, or the time limit, by providing extra or unlimited time for assessments with a timer.
• Adaptive Release - Now called Release Conditions, this feature allows an instructor to limit access to specific course content based on specific course members or groups, date and time settings and performance in the course.
• Announcements Appear as Pop-Ups in the Course - In the Ultra Course View, in addition to having announcements sent to students via email, they also appear in the Activity Stream along with other course updates. Additionally, they now in Ultra Course View also appear as pop-ups for each student the next time they enter the course.
• Creating Assignments - The August 2024 Blackboard update included significant changes to Creating Assignments, including the ability to set up assignments using questions (similar to an exam format).  Assignments previously set up using questions may no longer be editable. The Settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments. We understand this may impact how you currently structure your assignments. Moving forward, we recommend exploring the available options within the assignment tool to meet your course needs. If you need guidance on how to adapt your assessments, our support team is here to help.  Additional changes to Assignments include a new Instructions box where instructors can use the full content editor to add assignment instructions. Students now have the ability to view assignment instructions without generating a blank assignment attempt. Please note that there is a current known issue with previewing attached files in Assignments and students will only be able to download the attachment at this time. The attached files in Assignments also are not currently generating a Bb Ally (Accessibility) score.  We have a ticket in with Blackboard regarding this issue. 
• Course Copy - In Blackboard original courses instructors would go to their old course to push their content into a new destination. In ultra courses instructors enter the course where they want the content to appear and then browse through the old course to pull content into the new one.
  • The new copy tool allows instructors to copy an entire Ultra course to another Ultra course as before. It's far better for copying individual folders or content items than the old tool. It is not recommended to copy a complete Original course to an Ultra course.  It is recommended to copy in small chunks of content at a time to make sure it is placed where you want it.
  • Many items will copy successfully from original courses into ultra courses but some settings may not translate. Items copied from an original course to an ultra course should be checked carefully before being released to students.
• Date management and item visibility - It is easier than ever to batch-adjust the dates and visibility of items in an ultra course. These options are located under "Batch Edit" under then menu at the top of the Course Content area.
• Discussion forums - Rather than create forms in the discussion tool, instructors can place discussions anywhere they like in a course and group related discussions in folders. The Discussion tab at the top of the course provides a view of all discussion deployed throughout the course.
  • Instructors can still created graded discussion forums and require a contribution for seeing other posts, but some original discussion features are not yet available in ultra courses. Instructors cannot yet prevent students from editing or deleting their own posts, nor do they have the option of creating a moderated discussion.
• Performance dashboard - The Class Performance / Course Activity Related to Grades report provides a distribution of students grades and the time spent in the course to help identify students who may be falling behind. Access this report from the Analytics tab or on the Grades page in the base navigation.
  • Alternatives - You can view alerts within your Activity Stream, keep track of assignment submissions in the Gradebook, and view a single student’s grades by clicking a student's name on the Student List View or the Grid View of the Gradebook. You can view when students last accessed the course by switching to the student list view in the Gradebook.
• Relocation of the Details and Actions Column and other Content Presentation Enhancements-
  The Details and Actions column will move from the left side to the right side of the screen. This will be a noticeable change to students and instructors, especially since this menu has traditionally been located on the left. While it may take some time to adjust, this change aims to improve overall navigation once everyone is familiar with it. 

The following tools are not included or have been removed from Ultra Course View. 

• Assignment Questions - In the August 2024 Blackboard update, the ability to set up assignments using questions (similar to an exam format) was removed.  Assignments previously set up using questions may no longer be editable. The Settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments. We understand this may impact how you currently structure your assignments. Moving forward, we recommend exploring the available options within the assignment tool to meet your course needs. If you need guidance on how to adapt your assessments, our support team is here to help.
• Blogs - Not yet developed, but planned for Ultra Course View. Discussion Boards or Journals can be used alternatively.
• Contacts - Use the Profile feature to add a photo of yourself. Include contact information in the syllabus as well as a Document.
• Course Menu - In the Ultra Course View, there is no course menu. All of the content is listed on a single page to make it easier for students to navigate.
• Lesson Plans - Not planned for inclusion in Ultra courses. Instructors can use Learning Modules or Folders.
• Tasks - Not planned for inclusion in Ultra courses. The Activity Stream alerts students to upcoming dues dates and assignments. It also alerts instructors about the students progress and participation.
• Wikis - Not planned for inclusion in Ultra courses.
• Exam Questions Types - Several questions types are currently not available in exams including Quiz Bowl Questions, Ordering Questions, Opinion Scale and Likert Questions, Short Answer Questions, Jumbled Sentance Questions and Either/Or Questions.  However, some of these may still be in development.

• Publisher content and third-party integration - All third-party integrations (Zoom, YuJa, VoiceThread Simple Syllabus), including textbook and publisher content are now found in the "Content Market" section of ultra courses.
• ProctorU Auto currently does not work in Ultra Course Experience. UND is in the process of transitioning from ProctorU to Honorlock.  Honorlock is available and fully integrated with Blackboard Ultra Course Experience and Blackboard Original.
• Respondus Exam Authoring works in Blackboard Ultra.  Please view the Creating a Blackboard Ultra Test with Respondus help article for instructions.
• Blackboard/Campus Connection integration - This is now available for Fall 2024 courses. See the Blackboard Grades Integration Instructions for more information.  The CC final grade column can be removed from Gradebook if you will not be using the Blackboard/Campus Connection integration in Ultra courses.
• Respondus Lockdown Browser works in Blackboard Ultra -  Please view the Using Respondus Lockdown Browser in Ultra courses article for more information.

• Begin meeting with various departments that may be candidate for testing and early adoption of Blackboard Ultra Course Experience
• Notify UND Leadership (Deans, Department Chairs, Student Government, etc.) of transition
• End of spring Semester - Send announcement to faculty, staff, students, and other Blackboard users

• Continue to work with early adopters to design courses in Blackboard Ultra
• Begin to offer training sessions and continue to send updates
• Continue internal testing of Blackboard Ultra features/functionality and integrations
• Test Blackboard conversion tool

• Courses that were converted over the summer will be presented in Ultra Course Experience – Soft roll out
• Provide two Blackboard Student Resource Courses (one in Ultra and one in Original course experience)
• Provide increased marketing of Blackboard Ultra to students, faculty, staff, and other Blackboard users
• Continue working with faculty to convert courses for spring 2024
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements
• Some courses will be in Ultra and some courses will be in Original experience

• Continue training and working with faculty to convert courses for summer/fall
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements
• Some courses will be in Ultra and some courses will be in Original experience
• All new Blackboard organization sites will be created in the Ultra experience
• Begin working with organization leaders to convert organization sites to the Ultra Course Experience

• Continue to work with instructors to migrate courses
• Continue to work with leaders to convert organization sites to Ultra
• Possibly use Blackboard conversion tool to convert additional courses in bulk
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements

• At least 10% of fall courses will be in Bb Ultra
• Continue to work with instructors to migrate courses
• Continue to work with leaders to convert organization sites to Ultra
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements

• At least 25% of spring courses will be in Bb Ultra
• Continue to work with instructors to migrate courses
• Continue to work with leaders to convert organization sites to Ultra
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements

• At least 50% of summer courses will be in Bb Ultra
• Continue to work with instructors to migrate courses
• Continue to work with leaders to convert organization sites to Ultra
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements

• All courses will be created automatically in Bb Ultra
• All organizations will be in Bb Ultra
• Continue to offer training sessions and send announcements