Ultra Update September 2024

September 2024 – 3900.100 Release 

To be released on the 5th September 2024

This release has new or updated features in the following areas: 

  • Instructional design; 
  • Tests and assignments;  
  • Flexible grading;  
  • Gradebook;  
  • Learner progression and personalized experience; 

These improvements impact instructors, students, and administrators. This release contains many small feature changes and updates. Below you will find our top highlights, and more detail of the most relevant updates. 

Top highlights

  • The course page has a new look, incorporating several visual enhancements. The most noticeable of these is that the page structure has changed, with the list of course tools now on the right of the screen. This will help to promote the learning and teaching content, and improve navigability. 

    Screenshot showing the new course home page
    Course Content page visual depth improvements
  • In a course Document you can now add a ‘Knowledge Check’ block which enhances the learning experience by allowing students to engage with content actively and receive immediate feedback on their understanding. This can also help instructors to check understanding for key topics. These are formative tests, and results do not appear in the Gradebook.

 

Additional Updates:

Course Content Page Enhancements 

As part of the continuous improvement of the Blackboard Ultra course view Blackboard have delivered several changes to improve the Course Content page.

The improvements include:

  • Greater visual depth
  • Improved page structure
  • Differentiation among course elements
  • An enhanced presentation of top-level and nested content

The new design incorporates:

  • Subtle gradients and softer edges
  • A more cohesive colour palette with inviting, warmer tones
  • More intuitive navigation, which reduces cognitive load and increases focus on the content

Flexible Grading

Exclude attempt when grading

There is now an option to help instructors remove submissions from the grading workflow without having to delete them.  Select Exclude Attempt to remove it from the Needs Grading workflow. If an attempt is excluded, the Excluded label appears above the attempt grade and in the attempt selector. Grade calculations ignore excluded attempts.

Screenshot of excluded attempt
Instructor view of the Exclude label above the grade and in the attempt selector

New Overview tab in the Gradebook

There is a new gradebook Overview tab which contains two sections: Needs Grading and Needs Posting.

Screenshot of overview tab in the Gradebook
Instructor view of the new Needs Grading count on the Gradebook tab and the Needs Grading section on the new Overview page

 

For advanced users looking for a full list of all the updates, see the Blackboard Release Notes.

Further help and support

For more guidance on using Blackboard Ultra please explore this site ‘Ultra Essential Guidance‘ via the site menu on the right.

Students can view an Ultra orientation and help on using Ultra from their ‘Help for Students’ sections (or equivalent) in your Blackboard course.

 

Adding Re/Play videos to your Ultra course

It’s important to add Re/Play videos to your course using the below methods, rather than just copying and pasting a link. This is to ensure that your students have the correct permissions to view it.

For more information on the Re/Play system, and to ensure the correct set up for Lecture Capture, see the Digital Education Office Re/Play pages.

How to link to or embed a Re/Play video into an Ultra Document

 

How to add a Re/Play video to an Ultra Folder

Organising content using Folders and Learning Modules

For more in-depth advice and guidance on effectively organising content in Ultra see the Ultra Ready course section ‘Building and Organising Content’. This extract will get you started with using folders and learning modules.

Learning sections – how to group content

The learning sections that appear at the 1st structure level in Ultra are what students will see first, and so give the course its shape. If these sections organise the course’s content in a meaningful way, students will be able to skim the page to quickly understand what the course is about, as well as where they might find what they are looking for.

Ultra offers three different ways to organise content: Learning modules, Folders and Ultra Documents. The first two types – Learning modules and Folders – are the most likely to be used as learning sections at this level. Ultra Documents are more like pages of content, so are rarely recommended at this level. If you were to use lots of documents at this level, your course could easily become very difficult to navigate.

Folders or Learning Modules?

Both folders and learning modules can be used to compile links to various materials: documents, videos, interactives. There is no difference to the types of items they can contain. Their differences are mainly in the student experience of navigating through the content, as well as the level of detail included in the students’ view of their progress when tracking is on. Note that Learning Modules can only exist at the first level and cannot be contained in other Learning Modules or Folders.

Learning modules

Learning modules provide a way to contain a set of materials or activities, and encourage students to move through that content sequentially. Students are able to move back and forward through a learning module using the top navigation. Learning Modules also allow you to force materials within them to be viewed sequentially, which can be useful if the order students see things in matters.

Learning modules can have images so may look more engaging, but the image makes them taller, which may introduce too much extra scrolling when there are many learning sections. We recommend carefully considering how many learning modules your unit will contain, to ensure that the course home page is still easy to navigate.

If progress tracking is turned on, students can see if they have started a Learning module and how many of the items it contains have been completed at a glance, which may be useful for them to easily see what to do next.

Folders

Folders at top level do not allow students to move through using a top navigation, and so are better used for things like resources, or links. Folders don’t have the option of a custom image in the place of an icon and are shorter in size on the screen, so they are a good option to consider when the course is likely to have a long list of learning sections at top level, to minimise scrolling. If progress tracking is turned on, the student can see if they have started or completed the folder at a glance. If your learning section needs to contain an assessment which is declared to eVision, this can only be in a folder.

Screenshot showing a learning module and a folder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generally, at the top level you may prefer to use Learning modules for most of the learning content and use Folders for other information, such as optional resources or to signpost other support. The templates will aid you in creating the top level structure.

Whichever you choose, ensure that their title and description, as well as the title and description of any item they contain, are meaningful and consistent.

Titles

Meaningful titles can make a big difference to students’ learning experience, as they enable them to find what they need. This is true for all materials at all structure levels, not just the learning sections that are immediately visible at the course landing page.

Ultra Courses now include a search functionality. This can be very useful for both students and you, but as the search displays results based on titles only of items at all levels, these should be thoughtfully chosen to make for the best experience.

For example, if a student searches by topic key word, and you have only used week numbers as your titles – e.g. Week 1 – they are unlikely to find what they are looking for. If you have added a descriptive title – Week 1: Introduction to Learning Design – it will appear more easily in the search.

Descriptions

  • Each learning section should have a concise description of what it contains, e.g. sub-topics and what to expect, possibly also important details such as dates or instructions that will be useful for students to find at a glance.
  • Keep the type of information provided consistent to help students locate the resources they need.
  • Avoid links within descriptions, these should be inside the learning sections.

Structure is the basis of good navigation

The combination of the learning sections is the first thing a student will see when they access the course. Ultimately, a student browsing the course page should be able to easily understand what the course is about and where to go next without needing to open each learning section to look inside.

Taking a bit of time before creating your course to consider the options and decide on naming conventions can help you streamline the course creation and lead to a good student experience. These decisions are being supported at a faculty level through the use of templates, to enhance consistency across units within your school and faculty. As you design, make sure you are regularly checking in with your colleagues, and your school lead for Ultra, so that we can share best practice.


 

User management on Blackboard Ultra Courses

As with original Blackboard courses, students will be automatically enrolled or unenrolled in overnight processes using information taken from SITS.

Viewing users on a course

You can see all the users enrolled on your Blackboard course by clicking on ‘Class register’ in the ‘Details & Actions’ menu on the course page. Access to the class register is not available to students.

Screenshot showing the link to the Class Register

 

 

 

Once you have opened the page, you will be able to change the view between the grid or list layout by clicking on the top left icon. You can filter the list to only view students or instructors.

Screenshot showing the class register view

 

 

 

To enrol users onto a course:

  • Click on the plus icon to the top right of the Class Register screen.

Screenshot of the plus icon on the class register screen

 

 

 

 

  • In the side pane that opens, use the search bar to find the person you want to enrol. You can search using either their name or username.
  • Once you find the person you want to enrol, click anywhere on their name to open the role drop-down menu.
  • Select the role instructor from the list available and click save at the bottom of the menu.

Screenshot of the enrol people viewer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Removing users from a course

An instructor on a course can also remove users.  You may also remove yourself from courses.

The easiest way to do this is by unticking the “Allow access to course” box in the users Member Information panel. To do this:

  • Navigate to the Class Register screen and find their entry in the list.
  • Click the three-dots icon at the right-hand side of the name card.

Screenshot showing the three dot menu with member information options

 

 

 

 

 

  • A new window will appear, click “Edit member information”.
  • A side-pane will open and you will see a tick box with the text “Allow access to course” next to it. This will be ticked by default.
  • Click the box and the tick will disappear. Click Save. The users access to the course is now disabled.

Screenshot showing the 'allow access to course' tick box

Accessibility Checking

The University is legally required to meet accessibility standards on its websites, intranets and mobile apps. Most of the standards are good practice, easily achieved and create an improved experience for everyone.

When you are creating materials for your course, you should ensure these are accessible and inclusive. The earlier you consider accessibility and inclusion, the easier this will be. If you are creating materials outside of Ultra, you can often check and improve their accessibility before you upload them, e.g. MS Office tools have built-in accessibility checkers. Different materials have different accessibility considerations.

When you finish an item or section of your course, you can check it for accessibility issues. You can easily find some of them automatically using Ally.

Ally is a tool integrated with Blackboard that can help you improve your course’s accessibility in a few ways:

  1. Score gauges to the top of Ultra Documents when you are editing a block and to the right of specific items within your course, usually files, indicate how accessible these are. Clicking on a gauge will show you details on how to improve the score for each piece of content.
  2. The Accessibility Report can show you an overview of your course’s accessibility and the issues that need to be fixed.
  3. Provides alternative formats for some elements of your course. Learn more about the alternative formats.

Screenshot of the accessibility score in Ally

 

 

 

 

 

Accessibility Report

To access the Accessibility Report, in your course main page click View course and Institution tools under Course Tools and select Accessibility Report.

This will bring up an overview of the types of files included in your course, a list of the issues and other information.

You can start fixing the easiest ones first, or the low scoring (most severe) first, or fix them by issue type.

It’s worth doing this section by section, as that way you can learn how to avoid issues or address them quicker as you go. If you wait until you have completed the course before checking for accessibility, the number of issues at that point may feel daunting and you may find that some of them could have been more easily addressed during course building rather than afterwards.

The accessibility report won’t find every issue in your course, but only some that can be found automatically. Others, like whether the language is simple and inclusive, or the headings meaningful are things you will need to look for yourself. Accessible design and Digital Accessibility and Inclusion guidance may help with this.

 

Screenshot of the course tools link in the menu.

 

Find and Manage your Courses

Finding your Courses

All courses you are enrolled on are accessible from the ‘Courses’ tab on the landing page. This includes Ultra and Original courses. You will be able to differentiate between them by ‘Original Course View’ label.

Screenshot of two courses, where one is differentiated by an 'original course view' label.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are enrolled on many units, you may want to use these tools to find the courses.

Screenshot of the search and filter options in Ultra.

 

  1. Change course view display to a list or grid.
  2. Search your courses using the unit’s name or ID.
    • Filter courses by Terms which includes accessing previous academic year courses.
    • Use Filters to find courses based on your role and their status.
  3. Add courses you use frequently to Favourites so that they appear on the top of your list.

Screenshot showing the star button to add a course to favourites

 

Managing your Courses’ Visibility

As a default, all new unit Blackboard pages are unavailable to students. Instructors are asked to open the courses once they are ready for students to view. You can manage your course’s visibility by clicking on the three dots next to it.

Screenshot of the options to Open course or Hide course