The February update for Ultra features enhancements to support content creation, improved file rendering, assessment security, and grading workflows. Additionally, updates to the AI Course Design Assistant provides increases flexibility for test question and learning module generation. Let's explore this month's update!

Content Creation & Management

• With a simple click, instructors can now change a top level folder to a learning module, and quickly enjoy all the benefits of using learning modules. This includes thumbnail images, navigation, sequencing, and progress bars -- a very popular feature reported by UMBC students!
• Instructors can use the new image block in Ultra Documents to upload their own images, use the AI Design Assistant to generate images, or select images from Unsplash.
• Files uploaded by instructors to Blackboard now retain their original formatting and characteristics wherever instructors can upload files. Student files will also display with the exact same formatting as when they were submitted. 

Image 1: Example of the new option to change a folder to a learning module in the dropdown menu.

AI Course Design Assistant

• Instructors can now set the number of questions generated for tests and question banks to a maximum of 20, which reduces the chance that similar questions will be generated. 
• Instructors can exclude descriptions from learning modules when generating these elements.

Reporting

• IP addresses are now in the student activity log for assessment submissions and drafts.

Image 2: Example of the new IP address column that’s included in the student activity log.

Assessments

• Assignments will be converted to the new interface, which was launched in August 2024. An assignment is an assessment without individual questions (e.g., multiple choice, essay, etc.). Tests will NOT be converted.
• The Tests Settings panel was updated to remove assignment specific options (e.g., collect submissions offline, peer review, grading rubric). 
• Instructors must add at least one question to a test to make it visible to students or to add release conditions.
• When an instructor or exam proctor enters an access code for an assessment on a student's computer, the code is masked (*******) to ensure enhanced security. 
• Students can now be confident that their files are successfully attached, received, and stored for assessments. They will be notified immediately if there are any issues with their file submissions including timed assessments.

Grading & the Gradebook

• The Grading interface is updated to provide more space to instructors.
• Instructors can enter discussion and journal grades directly in the Grid view or Grades & Participation page with improved accuracy and consistency.
• Grades and feedback for assignments, journals, and discussions are mapped to the corresponding attempt or submission whenever possible.
• Instructors can choose to exclude attempts that they do not intend to grade. Excluded attempts are removed from the Needs Grading workflow and any gradebook calculations.

Image 3: Example of the newly designed grading interface

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around February 6-7, 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on February 11, 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.

In early January, the Ultra updates features improvements to course settings, content management, grading, and the AI Course Design Assistant, providing increased flexibility for faculty in managing their courses.

Course availability moves away from the Details and Actions side menu to the Course Settings, in the top right corner. Available course statuses include 

• Open: Content is available to students.
• Closed: Content is not available. Students can see the course listed, but they cannot access it. (previously called Private)
• Complete: Read-only content. No changes can be made by students OR instructors. Use with caution.

At the top of a course, there is now an indicator that displays whether a course is Open, Closed, or Complete. Instructors can access Course Settings from the Courses page. 

Image 1: Example of course availability indicator at the top right of an Ultra course.

Learning pathways are structured, personalized sequences of activities or content that guide students through a course based on their progress, performance, or choices. For example, an instructor might release resources only after a student completes specific assignments, or offer different content tracks based on quiz results to address varying levels of mastery. Ultra can now support releasing content based on submission attempt in addition to date/time, grade, and user/group membership.

Image 2: The new Attempt submitted option is in the dropdown menu for a gradable item in the Release condition panel.

• Direct Grade Entry: When grades are entered directly from the Grid view or Submissions page, Ultra will no longer display "Needs Grading" to instructors when grades were already completed.
• Show/Hide Gradebook Columns: Instructors now have the ability to show or hide columns in the gradebook. While hidden columns offer a more organized workspace, these do not apply to the student view since that visibility is controlled by the assessment settings.
• Automatic Zero Defaults: The default setting for automatic zeros is now set to off, giving instructors the flexibility to decide whether or not to enable this feature based on their grading policies. (This applies to newly created courses in the system after Jan 10.)

Additional improvements in January include:

• The AI Course Design Assistant will work faster and generate more complex outputs for assignments, discussions, test questions, learning modules, and AI Conversation avatars.
• Instructors can generate more realistic images faster with the AI Course Design Assistant and the resulting image files require less storage space. 
• The output languages available for AI workflows now include Greek, Catalan, Croatian, Irish, and Slovenian. For a list of all languages available for AI outputs, refer to AI Design Assistant for Instructors. 
• The Achievements tab is now hidden from students until the instructor creates and posts Achievements for students to earn. 
• With the new Mastery Gradebook, instructors can align goals to assessments and view how learners are performing in the course. Moreover, they can also control whether they want students to see their own performance.

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around January 9-10, 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on January 14, 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.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SP2025 webinar on January 17, 2025.

This month's update to Ultra increases support for assessment, accessibility, learner engagement, and course management.

Instructors can now choose roleplaying as an option for AI Conversations, providing another active learning opportunity in a simulated environment. For example, students can role play a doctor speaking to a patient (played by the AI persona) and practice diagnostics or other soft skills in a safe environment. As with Socratic questioning, the instructor can review the AI conversation transcript and the student's reflection on the experience. All AI tools in Ultra courses are optional to use. Faculty can learn more about the AI Conversations at a webinar on November 4 before the go-live date of the latest feature.

Image 1: Example of decision tree in AI Conversation set-up. Instructors must choose between a Socratic Questioning exercise or a Role Play exercise.

Another helpful update for instructors is the option to print tests that include question from Question Pools. This feature supports just the test or the test with the answer key. Note: The system will generate a unique version of the test and/or test with answer key each time a test is printed when the test has randomized questions/answers and when the test includes question pools.

Image 2: Example of printing a test with questions from Question Pool

Discussion formatting improves to better distinguish between responses and replies including indentation. Additionally, the delete option for discussion topic is removed, and instructors can edit instead. Future changes to discussions will include better navigation, improvements to terminology, updated interface, and clearer calls to action.

Batch edit is a helpful course tool in Ultra courses, and the change dates is the most popular function. As such, it is now the default option to simplify the process for faculty and help prepare courses.

In support of accessibility, Blackboard added a second skip link to the Course Content page. In addition to the current skip link to tab directly into course items, users can now press the Tab key again to skip to course information. If users don’t use either skip link, they will tab into the course features. 

Additional updates for October include:  

• Instructors can download the Student Activity Log as a CSV. All filters applied to the log also apply to the CSV. 
• To help with resizing blocks that are vertically tall, Blackboard modified the resize handle. Now, instructors can resize a block by selecting the vertical edge of a block. It is not necessary to place the mouse directly over the handle. 
• To prevent issues when uploading multiple files, students will now be required to wait for the first upload to completely before attaching additional files. 
• A message will display if a file exceeds the permitted size limit. 
• In the unlikely event of a student attempts to submit a corrupted file, a message will notify them of the issue, and the system will alert the instructor.

• The mobile app will now be known simply as the Blackboard App, aligning with Anthology's rebranding. In addition to an updated name, the app has an updated splash screen, icon, and description.

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around November 7-8, 2024. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on November 12, 2024; 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.