Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
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Bb Dashboard Upgrade to Ultra Version Scheduled for May 25

Finding courses will change, but not their appearance

Related FAQ - Where is my summer course after the Ultra Experience upgrade?

Blackboard's navigation to courses will be upgraded on Friday, May 25, 2018 beginning at 3 PM EST as part of DoIT’s routine Blackboard maintenance. This upgrade will modernize the overall dashboard with the new Ultra Experience base navigation.

Important: Courses will NOT change in appearance or functionality.

No downtime is expected, but the login page located at blackboard.umbc.edu will be temporarily unavailable while it is also updated by DoIT. Faculty, staff, and students can still log into Blackboard by clicking on the Blackboard icon via myUMBC or going to my.umbc.edu/go/blackboard.

Once the Blackboard upgrade is complete, please clear your Internet browser cache and cookies before logging in using these step-by-step instructions. 

How does the Ultra Experience change Blackboard for faculty & students?


Redesigned Dashboard - Upon logging into Blackboard, faculty and students will notice a new look for Blackboard. Central site navigation for courses, organizations, tools, etc. is relocated to the left menu and there are no more tabs at the top. Your name, user profile, and personal settings will also appear in the left panel.

Activity Stream - The activity stream captures all the up-to-the-minute action in your courses. 

You will also see links for grades, calendar, messages, and global tools. Courses will open in a layer over the base navigation. Please see our FAQ collection and glossary about the Ultra Experience.

What is the timeline for the Ultra Experience at UMBC?

Faculty and students should expect no other changes to their courses at this time. However, the Ultra Experience is an innovative, learner-centric redesign of Blackboard and UMBC recognizes the change in course interface will take some time to get used to. Training and course redesign support will be available to faculty until the projected final rollover to Ultra in FA2019.

Term

Key Activity

SU2017

Migrate infrastructure from managed hosting to Bb cloud

FA2017

Participate in 8-week Ultra Cohort program to prepare for Ultra pilot and full deployment

Between FA/WT

Apply responsive theme to Blackboard system

Train Ultra pilot faculty

WT2018

Redesign Ultra pilot courses

SP2018

Coordinate Ultra pilot (enroll students, meet with faculty, etc.)

Between SP/SU

Enable Ultra Experience (UX) base navigation

SU2018

Phase 1 – Opt-in UX, course redesigns ⚯ ⁂

FA2018

Phase 2 – Opt-in UX, course redesigns ⚯ ☊ ⁂ ☎︎

WT2019

Phase 3 – Opt-in UX, course redesigns ⚯ ☊ ⁂ ☉ ☎︎

SP2019

Phase 4 – Opt-in UX, course redesigns ⚯ ☊ ⁂ ☎︎

SU2019

Soft Launch: All SU2019 courses use Ultra Experience ⚯ ☊ ⁂ ☉ ☎︎

FA2019

GO LIVE: All courses use Ultra Experience ⚯ ☊ ⁂ ☎︎

Key to Training

⚯ – Self-Paced Workshops

☊ – Webinars

⁂ – Boot Camp

☉ – Alternate Delivery Program

☎︎ – Consult an Instructional Technology specialist


For more information about the Ultra Experience, please review the following information:

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:


If our Blackboard site experiences technical issues due to unforeseen circumstances, updates will be posted to this news article. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve our systems to bring you a better Blackboard experience.

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