Organize Assessments and Speed Up Feedback with September's Ultra Update

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 15:34:16 -0400
ava, blackboard, content-creation, feedback-assistant, question-banks, ultra-experience, ultra-update

The September Ultra release introduces improvements to assessment creation, content formatting and an optional AI-powered virtual assistant. These enhancements are designed to help instructors save time on repetitive tasks, organize course materials more clearly, and provide students with a better learning experience. Whether you’re building out fall assessments or fine-tuning existing content, this month’s features offer small but meaningful ways to streamline your teaching and enhance course design.

This fall, UMBC faculty will have early access to Anthology Virtual Assistant (AVA), a new suite of optional AI-powered tools designed to support common teaching tasks. The first AVA feature, Feedback Assistant, launches in September with two helpful options for instructors using rubrics in Flexible Grading.

The AI Feedback Summary can generate an overall comment based on rubric selections and performance level descriptions, giving instructors a solid starting point for crafting meaningful, criteria-based feedback. Instructors can edit, reject, or regenerate the suggestion as needed.

The Feedback Revision feature allows instructors to rewrite their own comments with AI assistance once they’ve entered at least 30 characters, providing a fast way to turn quick notes into polished, student-friendly feedback.

As with all of Blackboard's AI tools, these are optional to use and faculty have complete control over the content generated. AVA's Feedback Assistant will be available to faculty through June 30, 2026.

Image 1: Instructors can generate feedback using the rubric criteria.

The content styling feature in Ultra Documents allows instructors to add visual structure and emphasis to course materials using block styles like “question,” “tip,” “key points,” and “next steps.” These styles include color and icon cues, and can be applied from a simple dropdown in Edit mode. Used purposefully, styling helps students scan and interpret content more effectively -- whether you’re prompting reflection, offering guidance, reinforcing essential facts, or outlining next steps. To maximize clarity and accessibility, use styles consistently, explain their purpose to students, and keep each block focused and concise. This small design enhancement can reduce cognitive load, support learner autonomy, and make content feel more interactive and well-organized.

Image 2. Instructors can select styling options from a dropdown menu that appears in Edit mode on all block types.

A new enhancement to assessment workflows allows instructors to add, edit, and manage question titles in tests, forms, and question banks. These titles are visible only to instructors and are not shown to students during test-taking or review. This feature supports better organization within complex assessments by allowing instructors to label and track individual questions, which can be especially helpful when reusing or editing items across multiple courses or semesters.

Image 3: Instructors can enter or edit the question title in tests, forms, and question banks.

Additional updates for September include:

Instructors can export question banks in QTI v2.1 format, which is widely used by publishers and learning tools.

Instructors can use the pop-out rubric when grading group submissions in Flexible Grading.

Students can view per-question feedback on group test submissions.

Blackboard improved how time limits and extra time are communicated in Assessments to ensure that all users understand exactly how much time is available, including any accommodations or overrides.

Blackboard streamlined the New Announcement page by removing the unnecessary Recipients dropdown.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around September 4-5 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on September 9, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. 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.

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

Thumbnail-image: New to Ultra [decorative]