August Ultra update delivers smarter image descriptions, captioned video announcements, and table of contents for learning modules
Get back-to-school ready with new Ultra design features
This month’s Ultra update makes it easier than to generate meaningful descriptions for complex images. August also brings new tools for recording video announcements, styling course materials, and helping students stay organized with improved module navigation.
The newest enhancement to Ally’s AI-powered Alt Text Assistant brings advanced support for describing complex images -- including charts, diagrams, graphs, and even handwritten notes. Instructors can continue using the same one-click workflow to generate alt text for images embedded in Blackboard-created content. This upgrade is especially valuable for STEM, social science, or data-rich courses where traditional alt text tools fall short, helping faculty meet accessibility standards while saving time and improving the learning experience for all students.
Image 1. Instructors can generate descriptions for complex images using Ally's AI Alt Text Assistant.
With the new video announcement feature, instructors can record short videos (up to 5 minutes) directly into course announcements. Each video includes automatic captions and transcripts, ensuring compliance with accessibility standards while offering a more personal and engaging way to communicate with students. Whether you’re introducing a new unit, clarifying expectations, or just adding a human touch, video announcements help strengthen instructor presence and build rapport, especially in fully online or asynchronous courses.
Image 2: The announcement screen where instructors can record or upload video and audio.
The redesigned Learning Module Table of Contents introduces a collapsible sidebar that helps students orient themselves, track their progress, and move through content more efficiently. Students can check off items as they complete them and choose to navigate via the sidebar or previous/next buttons. Assessments now open in a full panel, creating a more consistent and less fragmented experience. This streamlined structure helps reduce cognitive load, supports self-regulated learning, and improves the overall usability of content-heavy modules.
Image 3. Learning Modules now contain a Table of Contents panel to orient students within Learning Modules for their courses.
Instructors can now apply content styling to blocks within Ultra Documents, adding visual structure and emphasis to text with just a few clicks. Style options like “question,” “tip,” “key points,” “next steps,” and “highlight” feature icons and color coding to distinguish them from standard content. These simple formatting tools help draw attention to important information, scaffold learning more clearly, and make your content more engaging for students. Update Aug 8: This feature is postponed to September.
Image 4. Instructors can select styling options from a dropdown menu that appears in Edit mode on all block types.
Finally, instructors can select and copy individual LTI tool links. Some tools may function immediately after copying, while others might require manual relinking or configuration to work properly in the new course.
To learn more about these updates, and more, please join our What's New in Ultra for Teaching & Learning session on August 14.
When you can expect the update
Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around August 7-8 2025. UPDATE: The release will be installed around August 19-20. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on August 12, 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:
Thumbnail-image: New to Ultra [decorative]
After many years of use, UMBC’s license for Class Collaborate (formerly Blackboard Collaborate) will end on July 31, 2025.
As one of our longest licensed tools, Collaborate provided synchronous support for Blackboard courses, serving more than 300,000 sessions over the last ten years. However, since it was acquired by Class Technologies in 2022, it is unclear if and how Collaborate will be supported and developed over the long term, given the company’s priority of its own synchronous platform based on Zoom.
In Spring 24, we announced that we would standardize one version of Blackboard (Ultra) starting this fall. Ideally, we would also simplify the synchronous video conference platform used by courses; however, we recognize that students will likely use a variety of tools in their working lives after graduation. Therefore it is essential to expand access to licensed synchronous tools while we also still have Collaborate for another academic year.
DoIT offers three synchronous meeting tools with robust functionality:
To learn more about these synchronous platforms, please explore pedagogical and technical use cases in this comparison chart. If you have a specific use case not listed, please open an RT ticket for a consult.
Attendance Tracking
While these synchronous platforms offer Blackboard integrations at varying levels, none support 1) attendance synchronization to the Blackboard gradebook and 2) groups synchronization between breakouts and Blackboard. All platforms, however, do provide attendance reports, which will be important for faculty who need to track student attendance as well as proposed regulatory changes for attendance in 100% online courses.
We welcome faculty feedback via this brief survey about synchronous platforms and attendance.
Preparing for the Transition
Starting this fall, Instructional Technology will offer training sessions to familiarize faculty and staff with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Webex training is available upon request. These sessions will focus on both the technical aspects of using the tools and pedagogical strategies to enhance student engagement.
Users who wish to save Collaborate recordings will need to migrate them to Panopto by May 25, 2025.
- Download Collaborate recordings to your computer.
- Create a new folder in Panopto for Collaborate recordings in My Folder.
- Upload Collaborate recordings to your new Panopto folder.
Collaborate recordings made before July 1, 2024 will be retired by October 1, 2024.
NOTE: Due to FERPA restrictions, the reuse of any recordings (Collaborate, Webex, etc.) is not permitted if those recordings feature audio or video of students without their express permission.
Key Dates to Remember
May 25, 2025 - Faculty and student access to Collaborate via Blackboard ends
June 15, 2025 - Access to Collaborate sessions outside Blackboard ends
July 31, 2025 - End of support for Collaborate, including DoIT access to the Collaborate system
Connect with Instructional Technology
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
Thumbnail-image: Collaborate logo (decorative)
