Blackboard Ultra

Blackboard Ultra Logo

Blackboard is the William Paterson University’s Learning Management System. Blackboard Ultra is the systems’ most significant change and improvement in terms of functionality and user experience in recent years. To better support teaching and student learning at WPU, the university has begun the gradual transition from Blackboard Original to Blackboard Ultra. The first step of this transition is to enable the Ultra Base Navigation, which we activated in May 2022. The next step is to transition from Original Course View to Ultra Course View. This page is to help the university community smoothly and successfully complete this transition.

What is Blackboard Ultra Experience?

Ultra User Experiences

The Ultra Experience is the next generation of Blackboard site and course experiences. It delivers a modern, intuitive, and fully responsive interface, streamlined workflows and capabilities, and a more seamless transition between mobile and desktop.

Blackboard has two user experiences – Base Navigation and Course View - and two user interfaces and workflows – Original and Ultra. Currently, WP deploys Ultra Base Navigation and Original Course View. The next step of our phased transition is to gradually shift from our current format to Ultra Base Navigation and Ultra Course View.

Introduction to Blackboard Learn with the Ultra Experience for Instructors

Introduction to Blackboard Learn with the Ultra Experience for Students

Ultra Base Navigation

In Blackboard Learn, base navigation is a user interface and the experience a user has outside of a course. The Ultra Base Navigation, which was enabled in May 2022 at WPU, is a new and modern user interface and experience in Blackboard Learn Ultra and a new way of navigating Blackboard. For more about Ultra Base Navigation, please visit our Ultra Base Navigation page.

Profile: Select your name in the list and make changes to your online persona. Activity Stream: See up-to-the- minute action for all of your courses. Courses: Navigate to past, present, and future courses. Organizations: Access the organizations that you lead or are a member of. Calendar: View course events and due dates for all your courses. Messages: View and send messages in all courses. Grades: See what needs grading across all your courses. Tools: Access global functions that are outside of your courses such as portfolios or the Content Collection.

Ultra Course View

Ultra Course page

The Ultra Course View is the next generation of Blackboard Learn. While enabling Ultra Base Navigation brings changes outside of course sites only, transitioning to Ultra Course View will have a significant impact on course content, structure, functionality, tools, and navigation inside the course. The Ultra Course View has a more modern design, intuitive and easy-to-use interface, and streamlined workflow with some new tools that are not available in the Original Course View. It helps instructors and students stay organized and easily engage with content and each other.

The streamlined navigation and workflows: A. Navigation bar. B. Details & Actions. C. Add Content. D. New activities.

Original vs. Ultra Highlights - Click here to see what has changed in Ultra Course View.

Try Ultra Course Preview

Although full no date has been set yet by which all courses at WPU will need to transition from the Original Course View to the Ultra Course View, we strongly recommend that faculty get started with Ultra Course View in one or more of their courses.

You can fully explore your Original course in the Ultra preview before you make the switches and review a list of features and functions that change or won’t carry forward in the Ultra Course View. Please note that you can only convert and preview courses that aren't currently open to students. It is strongly recommended that you do not preview or convert your course from Original Course View to Ultra Course View after it has begun. Instead, please request an Ultra sandbox and then copy your course to the shell.

Request an Ultra Sandbox

Request Ultra Sandbox Ticket

We will have 100 Original courses converted to Ultra courses by a vendor. These are mostly the core courses in each academic discipline, courses that have a large number of sections, and WP Online programs that have the most students. Before you proceed with your course conversion, check here to see whether your course has already been converted.

All WP faculty are invited to try this out. If you are interested, please click this link and create a helpdesk ticket to request an Ultra Course Preview shell in Blackboard. For "Request Type", choose "Blackboard" on the first drop-down menu and "Ultra Sandbox Request" on the second drop-down menu.

You can use the sandbox to import or copy an existing Original course and explore the features and functions of Ultra Course View. The name of the Ultra Course preview shell is “course name-Ultra-your username", which you should be able to find on your course list.

Convert Existing Courses to Ultra Course View

With your Ultra sandbox course shell, you have two-course view options: Original Course View and Ultra Course View. To convert your Original course to an Ultra course, follow the following steps:

Pen Icon

Try the Ultra View

1. Copy your Original course into your Ultra sandbox course shell. (Course copy tutorials: PDF Video)
2. When you enter your Ultra sandbox for the first time, you should see a pop-up page as shown in the screenshot on the right.
3. If you don’t see the “Try the Ultra Course View” page, click the Pen icon in the upper right corner.
4. To explore your Original course in Ultra Course View, click “Try the Ultra Course View!”
5. Click the course title, and now you should see your course in Ultra Course View.

Please note that you should see a message in the upper left corner “Welcome to the Ultra Course Preview! Some items aren’t yet supported. View Details.” Here you can review which items, if any, in the original course are not converted and why.

Please also pay close attention to the Blackboard message at the bottom of the screen, as shown in the screenshot!

You can view and explore the Ultra Course View and edit it. You can also switch back to the Original course. However, If you switch back to the Original Course View after you have made changes and edited the Ultra course, changes made during the preview will be lost. Please also keep in mind that once you click “Use the Ultra course,” you CAN NOT go back to the Original course!

Watch a video on how to preview your Original course in the Ultra Course View.

Ultra Course Preview:

Rebuild Course Content but Copy Assessment

Based on the transition experiences from other institutions, you will get a better result by rebuilding your course fresh rather than converting it from Original. It is recommended that you create a consistent structure using modules first, upload files directly to the course, and copy assessments such as tests and exams from Original to Ultra. CTT has created Ultra course template which you can use to build your course structure.

Watch a video on how to copy course content from Original to Ultra Copy course content from Original to Ultra.

Ultra Course Preview:

Create a Course from Scratch in Ultra Course View

You can also use the sandbox to build your course directly in the Ultra Course View. You just need to convert your empty course shell (the sandbox) to Ultra using the same way described above.

Building and Modifying Ultra Courses

Content Creation and Course Design

Create Content Items or Documents

Blackboard Tutorial on how to create content items or documents.

Watch a video about creating a document.

Assessment

Assignment

Create an Assignment

Create and Edit Assignments

Click here to see the Blackboard tutorial on how to create an assignment, new assignment page settings, add text, files, and questions, and many other features and functions.

Video on Create an Assignment in the Ultra Course View.

Student Questions about Assignments

Click here to see some of the questions students often ask about assignments in a Blackboard course and the answers to those questions.

Getting Help

Tutorials

Blackboard Ultra Video Playlist Filtered by Category

Base Navigation	Content Creation	Assessment	Grading and Gradebook	Communication and Collaboration
Base Navigation	Add Content to Your Course	Create an Assignment	Gradebook in Ultra	Create Announcement
Menu Items	Use the Content Editor	Create a Test	Item and Category Weighting	Messages
Edit Your Profile	Batch Edit	Grant Student Accommodations	Running Total	Email (Ultra)
Activity Stream	Copying Content from Original to Ultra	Assessment Exception	Import Question Banks	Notification Settings
Find Your Courses	Copying Content within a Course	Use SafeAssign	Reuse Questions	Create Discussion
Set Up Courses	Creating Learning Modules	Use Question Pools	Grade Using a Rubric	Create Course Groups
Notification Settings	Inline File Viewing	Create Matching Questions	Grade in the BB Instructor App	Create Course Groups
Make a Course Available	Release Condition	Create Group Assignments	Annotate for Inline Grading	Create a MS Teams Meeting
Messages	Inline File Rendering	Associate a Rubric	Audio and Video Feedback	Create a Google Meet Link
Use the Calendar	Create a Document	Peer Assessment	Analytics	Create a Journal

• Blackboard Learn Help for Instructors - Ultra Course View
• Blackboard Ultra Video Playlist
• NIU Blackboard Ultra Course View Tutorials. - Most videos here are available from Blackboard Ultra Video Playlist. But they are organized by content types. It also provides a search option.
• Blackboard TV channel in YouTube - It provides videos on new features and improvements of Blackboard Ultra.

Trainings and Workshops

Trainings and Workshops Blackboard Ultra Institute

The Center for Teaching with Technology will offer Blackboard Ultra Institute, which is an opportunity for faculty to get an early look at the changes that are coming. Participants will meet in person from 10am to 3pm on the first and last days (Monday and Friday) of the Blackboard Ultra Institute, and we will work on self-paced online activities on the days in between.

Our first offering of the institute will run from Monday, October 3 through Friday, October 7, and our second offering will run from Monday, October 24 through Friday, October 28. All faculty are welcome, but space is limited and registration is required. So please click this link to register to join us for either of those weeks.