What’s New

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Copy Rubrics Between Ultra Courses Starting in September

New features also focus on assessment & grading enhancements

In early September, Ultra courses will receive updates in several key areas that benefit instructors and students. Maintaining the trend focusing on assessment and grading, these updates also...

Posted: August 31, 2022, 9:29 AM

Akindi Bubble Sheet Training

Learn how to implement the paper-based assessments

As we return to the physical classroom, many faculty are planning to employ paper-based assessments during their synchronous class sessions. Akindi is UMBC's tool whereby faculty download bubble...

Posted: August 25, 2022, 10:01 AM

Better Tests & Grading Lead New Bb Ultra Changes

Ultra to reach 95% feature parity with Original by SP2023

After extensive updates to assessments and grading, Ultra is expected to reach 95% feature parity by the end of spring 2023, allowing faculty to migrate their Original courses into the most...

Posted: August 23, 2022, 1:43 PM

Free Webinar Series: Teaching with Ultra, Basics to Advanced

Free training opportunities for faculty, TAs, and staff

The Bb Instructor Webinar Series offers free 45-minute webinars designed for instructors who are getting started with teaching using Blackboard Ultra and Collaborate. Topics include getting...

Posted: August 8, 2022, 11:32 AM

FA2022 Courses Created in Blackboard on July 28, 2022

Blackboard course shells for FA2022 were created on July 28, 2022. The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in FA2022 courses, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to...

Posted: July 29, 2022, 8:13 AM

August Release Brings Major Question Banks Update to Ultra

New mobile app, more assessment and grading improvements

It's another massive update for Ultra in August, bringing a significant improvement to question banks, a unified mobile app experience for faculty and students, and overall enhancements to...

Posted: July 26, 2022, 4:10 PM

Points Calculation & Display Arrive to Ultra Gradebook

Prevent question backtracking, copy question banks & more

The July update to Ultra courses brings ten new features and improvements, focusing on assessment, grading, and content creation. As with previous updates this year, the continued focus aligns...

Posted: June 29, 2022, 12:44 PM

Reminder: Blackboard Courses Scheduled for Server Retirement

Courses before Summer 2019 to be retired beginning 7/1

During Summer 2022, DoIT staff and Blackboard will archive our entire instance of Blackboard, which will save individually backed-up copies of every course and organization through SP2022. Courses...

Posted: June 7, 2022, 1:29 PM

Display files in Ultra Docs, Improve Weighted Grades in June

Feedback matters: Continued focus on assessment & grading

Summer brings four enhancements to Ultra course including three focused on assessment and grading. Enhancement to Overall Grade Weighting: Instructors can weigh individual items (e.g., tests,...

Posted: May 31, 2022, 11:21 AM

Akindi Importer Tool Available on 7/1

Write Questions in MS Word and Quickly Add to Blackboard

In the spirit of promoting academic integrity in testing, faculty in both Biology and Chemistry have been leveraging large question pools in their courses. Beginning July 1, the Akindi Importer...

Posted: May 11, 2022, 10:25 AM