As UMBC finalizes its migration to Ultra, more faculty opted to use the new course experience during FA2023. Specifically, of 1588 total available Blackboard shells, faculty have enabled 991 using Ultra, or ~62%, -- a ten point jump from last year. Although a broad spectrum of disciplines including seven departments and eight languages opted to use Ultra by default, more than half of active Ultra courses were converted from Original to the new format by faculty this semester. 

Since instructors must choose to make a course available to students every semester, FA2023 also represents a notable increase in faculty use of Ultra courses at a much higher rate than their use of Original courses -- 89% of Ultra courses are available to students compared to 51% of Original courses. Additionally, Ultra adoption rose in STEM disciplines during FA2023. The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences saw a 139% increase in Ultra courses from last fall while the College of Engineering and Information Technology increased by 55%.

Image 1: Comparison of active Original and Ultra courses over time (click to enlarge). For more information about Ultra adoption and course usage, please visit our Ultra course tracker.

With more than 200 enhancements and new features in the last year, Ultra courses offer more than 95% feature parity with Original including extensive updates to grading and assessment, content management, and course design functionality. Improvements to the gradebook, question banks, and groups management are key functional areas raised by UMBC faculty and addressed by Anthology. Ultra also provides exclusive progress tracking reports for learner engagement and new AI Course Design Assistant tools. 

Next Steps for Ultra at UMBC

The growth in Ultra course creation and faculty adoption fulfills a longstanding promise to the UMBC community to provide a consistent learning experience for students and support Blackboard innovation, beginning in SP2018 when four faculty piloted Ultra. Since that initial exploration, Ultra adoption grew slowly and steadily as faculty opted in to the new version of Blackboard when they felt ready. The pandemic also provided many faculty with an opportunity to try Ultra and move their courses. 

We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all departments and faculties. 

• Following this semester, two full terms remain (SP2024 and FA2024) before we finalize the Ultra migration at UMBC. All courses for CAHSS will be automatically created in Ultra for FA2024 and the entire campus will be on Ultra by WT/SP2025.

• For departments or disciplines that want to adopt Ultra by default, Blackboard course shells can be designated as Ultra when courses are created. Please open an RT ticket to coordinate your request with Instructional Technology by November 1, 2023 for WT/SP2024 courses and by June 1, 2024 for SU/FA2024 courses.

• In mid October, faculty who have not yet migrated to Ultra will automatically receive a development shell with a copy of their FA2023 course that is converted to Ultra. This copy will not have any student enrollments and will not impact the current term. Faculty are encouraged to review the copy and modify the course. If the course conversion is not the best path to Ultra, there are ample Blackboard resources at umbc.edu/go/ultra as well as Instructional Technology support over the next 15 months to build a new course.

• Instructional Technology will also work with departments to customize Ultra workshops and provide dedicated support sessions according to faculty schedules or specific use cases for teaching with Ultra. Please open an RT ticket to schedule a training session or request a consultation appointment.

The campus community continues to play a vital role in championing change throughout our Ultra migration. Faculty and student feedback helps shape the ongoing development of Ultra and contributes to the dynamic platform students experience during their education at UMBC.

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

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UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support: umbc.edu/go/ultra

• Points-based calculations display students' grades based on points earned out of points possible. This calculation can be represented as a running total throughout the semester.
• Weighted grading assigns different percentages to various categories such as assignments and tests, to individual items, or a combination of the two. 
• Advanced calculations allow instructors to create custom formulas and calculations.

• Course Groups: Create course groups to support filtering in the gradebook, as well as for releasing content to specific users or groups. This can be especially useful when multiple course sections are merged in a single Blackboard course shell.
• Formative Labels: Use the "formative" label on assessments to differentiate between formative and summative assessments. Use gradebook filters to identify formative assessments quickly.

Download Critical Information

Instructors may download assignment submissions, assessment results, analytics, the full gradebook, as well as a complete gradebook history. Downloading submissions can support offline grading throughout the semester. Need to track a change in the gradebook? The gradebook history provides a comprehensive record of all gradebook changes.

New Flexible Grading

Blackboard Ultra now includes a new Flexible Grading interface to support grading by question, student, or a mix and match approach. Join our introductory training session on Monday, September 18, to learn more about Flexible Grading.

• Check our extensive FAQ collection | What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

As the landscape of education continues to evolve, the integration of cutting-edge technology into the classroom has become more vital than ever. The advent of generative AI tools is poised to revolutionize the field of higher education, transforming the virtual classroom into a dynamic and responsive environment. The potential for positive impact on productivity and efficiency for faculty is significant, opening new doors for innovation in teaching and learning as well as course development. 

Instructional Technology invites faculty to preview the suite of new AI Course Design Assistant features during two webinars on Wednesday, August 23. Developed to assist faculty in streamlining course preparation, the AI Course Design Assistant tools include:

• A course-builder assistant. Create sample learning modules, titles, and descriptions. 
• Image suggestion and creation. The assistant can draw from the Unsplash stock image library and suggest thumbnails for illustration in learning modules or identify an image for the course banner. Functionality also includes AI-generated image creation based on course name and keywords.
• Content-based test generation. AI-powered algorithms analyze an Ultra document's content or inputted learning objectives and quickly generate a diverse set of questions for a test or question bank. 
• Rubric creation. Drawing on an assessment or discussion prompt’s content, the AI can analyze and streamline the rubric creation process according to specific learning objectives and assessment criteria.

Informed by Anthology’s Trustworthy AI Approach and seamlessly embedded into Ultra’s workflows, the AI Course Design Assistant tools are opt-in and the instructor is always in control of the content generated. Faculty can choose when, where, and how to leverage the tools in their Ultra courses.

Instructional Technology expects to launch the tools to the campus during National Distance Learning Week (Nov. 6-10) with a lunchtime series. Limited early access will be available to interested faculty upon request. Please attend a preview session for more information.

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support: https://umbc.edu/go/ultra.

Blackboard course shells for FA2023 were created on July 25, 2023. 

The Ultra Course Preview setting is enabled in FA2023 courses, which allows faculty to preview OR convert a new Original course to Ultra. The recommendation, however, is to create a new course to optimize the design. Note: The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024.

• Please review the release notes for the latest updates as well as feature parity charts -- more than 200 new updates were added over the last year! 
• Discover What's New in Ultra for Teaching & Learning on August 10 or 18.
• Attend an Intro to Blackboard Ultra in 45 Minutes or Less training on August 9 or 15. 
• Recent hires may be interested in the New Faculty Evening Orientation on August 9 or 17.
• Review 5 best practices to prepare your Ultra gradebook on August 22.
• Enroll in our self-paced workshop, Ultra for Instructors, designed to provide a starting point to help you prepare your courses in Ultra.
• Have a question about Ultra? Ask an Ultra Ambassador!

As previously announced, seven departments, many foreign languages, English 100, IHU, FYE, and TRS courses have opted into Ultra to ensure a consistent approach for their students. This means courses will start with Ultra by default rather than Original. For consistency of instructional technology support, FA2023 courses created in Blackboard on/after August 1, 2023 will be created in Ultra by default.

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content and alternative formats, or attend a training session.

For faculty who will be teaching hybrid or online, the instructional technology team would like to share several resources to support online course development and instruction.

1. Choose from our PIVOT Solo lessons to refresh or enhance your online teaching preparation. Five key topics cover course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students. 
2. Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
3. Learn about the Quality Matters Impact program, a new initiative to formally recognize courses that meet Quality Matters standards and demonstrate exemplary online/hybrid course design.

• If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically. 
• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
• If you need a Bb shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will find those enrollments merged into one Bb course shell. These sections may be split upon request by an RT ticket, which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Student enrollment in Bb mirrors the official registration in SA and updates hourly. However, courses are not accessible to students by default until the instructor of record makes them available.

Connect with Instructional Technology