Simplified Course Navigation and Supercharged Test Setup with the January Ultra Release

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:50:33 -0500
assessments, blackboard, course-navigation, ultra-docs, ultra-experience, ultra-update

In January, UMBC faculty and students will experience a redesigned course navigation in Ultra that makes key areas easier to access and understand. The updated layout brings a full-width header with clearer course branding and improved use of screen space on desktop and mobile.

The new course navigation provides an update header, modernized banner layout, and Home button that returns users to the Blackboard landing page (rather than the courses page). You'll still have access to your Courses by using the snazzy Course Switcher, which provides shortcuts to the four most recently accessed courses, or you can choose View All to return to the Courses page again. Learn more about these improvements in our overview article.

Image 1: The refreshed user interface in courses includes full-screen course pages and improvements to enhance the amount of screen space for users to engage with their course.

The Ultra Document layout editor now includes a streamlined block editing menu, reorganized by type of action: Change row, Change size, and Change position. When selecting the edit icon on a block, instructors are guided through structured options rather than hunting through scattered icons. This improved layout reduces visual clutter and makes it easier to design responsive content layouts that look great on all devices. Whether you’re building an infographic-style document or organizing media and text in columns, these updates make layout control more intuitive and less time-consuming.

Image 2: The restructured document block styling options

True/False questions now support expanded labeling options, allowing instructors to display answer choices as True/False, Yes/No, Right/Wrong, or Agree/Disagree. These customizable labels make it easier to align assessments with your course content and instructional tone, whether you’re gauging conceptual understanding, ethical judgments, or student opinions in a low-stakes setting.

Image 3: True/false questions now include additional options.

Additional updates for January include:

The default number of multiple choice answer options is now four (instead of three), helping speed up question creation.

Instructors can now limit how many answer choices students can select for a multiple choice question, ideal for “select all that apply” formats.

Ultra has significantly improved test loading times. For example, a 200-question test now loads in about 5 seconds (down from ~25), making large-format assessments more manageable.

Instructors now have access to an automation activity log, which tracks when each automation was triggered, which student it applied to, and which content item was involved, providing transparency and accountability for automated course messaging.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around January 8-9, 2026. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on January 13, 2026. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra. Join our What's New in Ultra for Teaching & Learning on January 13, 2026, to catch up on the latest updates.