What’s New

Point-based and point-range rubrics will be available to Ultra courses in the December update, providing extended flexibility for grading and assessment and marking a major milestone in meeting...

Customizing the course interface creates a visual identifier in a Blackboard course. In the next phase of the Ultra course's improved navigation and aesthetic redesign, course banners will be an...

Rubrics are grading tools that help instructors to assess student performance and give feedback in detail. Prior to the October update, rubrics were limited to 10 rows and 10 columns. Now faculty...

Breakout groups are a powerful engagement tool for active learning in a synchronous session, providing private audio, video, whiteboard, application sharing, and chat for small group...

In a survey of 608 students taking Ultra courses during the SP2021 semester, 86% indicated satisfaction with Ultra, marking a 14% increase compared to the last survey in FA2019. Students again...

A whiteboard is an important pedagogical tool to support handwritten expression and annotation, especially in a virtual classroom. Over the last year, Blackboard has been redesigning the...

This upcoming FA2021 semester features new development in the Ultra gradebook, starting with gradebook filters. This function allows faculty to view data and content in the gradebook by multiple...

The groups tool in Ultra has been redesigned for the July update to improve overall performance, particularly for large courses. This redesign includes functionality to make it easier to find...

6/5 update: The June release is delayed. As soon as we have more information, we will post it. 7/1 update: The June release was rolled into the July update. Rubrics can be an essential tool for...

When Ultra was first introduced at UMBC in SP2018, four adventurous faculty opted to use a newly redesigned Blackboard course interface in their courses. Ultra represented a new phase of...