Anthology, the parent company of Blackboard, has announced that they will retire Original courses and organizations on December 31, 2026. At this point, all Original content in courses and organizations will be placed in a read-only state, which can be viewed by those respective enrolled users, but not edited by instructors or leaders. This change reflects the broader shift to Ultra, now adopted by nearly 80% of school and universities worldwide (Bb Office Hours, May 28, 2025).

What this means for UMBC

While UMBC finalized its migration to Ultra courses at the end of 2024, the retirement of Original content means that any active organizations running on Original will be impacted. All Blackboard Original organizations must migrate to Ultra or be archived by our internal deadline of October 31, 2026, to ensure that org leaders have ample time for:

• Migration and content transfer
• Training and support on Ultra
• Any necessary redesign of organization content

Content that is not migrated to Ultra will be locked in the Original “read only” state by the end of 2026, and automatically converted to Ultra by the end of 2027 by Anthology. This includes both Original organizations and any remaining Original courses, whether term-based or development shells. (Original content may be copied until it is archived or converted.)

Next steps for organization leaders

Instuctional Technology staff will proactively reach out to leaders of active Original organizations in the coming weeks to provide details information about your options:

• Convert the organization to Ultra
• Redesign the organization to leverage Ultra’s new tools
• Archive content, especially for legacy organizations over 7 years old, in a Blackboard export package or exported file attachments
• Auto-archive if orphaned, unused, or not updated in 7+ years in a Blackboard format

Instructional Technology is here to support Original organization leaders with training, resources, and personalized assistance.

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
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

Thumbnail-image: Ultra news update