Blackboard is preparing to launch a completely redesigned gradebook this summer, including a faster, cleaner, and significantly easier-to-use experience for faculty. To ensure the update meets the needs of instructors and their courses, Blackboard developers are inviting faculty members to participate in an upcoming technical preview program from April 20 - May 1, 2026. 

During a technical preview, faculty typically get access to a sandbox course with new features enabled. In the upcoming preview window, participants will get exclusive access to the new gradebook for Ultra courses. Key usability improvements include streamlined direct grade entry for quicker updates and flexible name display options, allowing instructors to customize how student names appear. Additional context panels provide quick insights into grading and essential action items.

Ongoing development of the new gradebook has been shaped by faculty feedback from a variety of clients throughout higher education over the past eight to twelve months. Earlier this semester, UMBC's participation in the new gradebook development process began when Blackboard staff visited campus to meet with faculty in small group sessions. The goal was twofold: To gather specific feedback on faculty gradebook priorities and to showcase early previews of the new interface. 

UMBC faculty who are interested in trying out the new gradebook features and providing feedback are encouraged to sign up for the technical preview.

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

Blackboard course shells for Winter and Spring 2026 were created on November 21, 2025.

All Winter and Spring 2026 courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc, or instructor assignment, now have a Blackboard presence. RT requests are no longer needed for research, independent study, or practicum courses. As new course sections are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

• If you are an instructor and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please contact your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your access to the Bb course shell will be updated automatically.

• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not have access to your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.

Course Merge Request Process

As announced by DoIT in April 2025, instructors teaching multiple sections of the same course will find a separate Blackboard course shell for each section or course component. Courses will not be merged by default. Instructors planning to use separate shells will no longer need to submit an RT request. New for WT/SP2026: Cross-listed and combined courses will be merged automatically. Courses with multiple components will not be merged by default.

Course shells may be merged or removed upon request using the new Blackboard Course Merge or Removal form  (UMBC login required), which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be merged or split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded, since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Create an Inclusive & Accessible Course Environment

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content andalternative formats, or attend an upcoming training session.

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

Blackboard course shells for WT/SP2025 were created on November 22, 2024. All courses now use Ultra per our earlier announcement. 

Course Materials Publisher Integration Updates in December

Blackboard integrations for VitalSource, Cengage, Pearson, and Macmillan publisher tools will be updated on December 19, 2024. Please do not link any VitalSource, Cengage, Pearson, or Macmillan resources in your Winter 2025 or Spring 2025 courses until December 20th. 

Training & Support for Ultra

• Attend an upcoming January training to prepare for the fall semester.
• Request a consult from our staff Ultra “office hours”or download our 8-step migration guide.
• Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
• Have a question about Ultra? Ask an Ultra Ambassador!

Create an Inclusive & Accessible Course Environment

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the  accessibility indicators on course content and alternative formats. Use Ally’s new AI alt-text generator to add alt text to course images. Training will be offered on January 24, 2025.

Instructional Technology also offers resources for creating accessible content including three webinar recordings:

• Digital Accessibility Guidelines Checklist
• Creating Accessible Documents (44:51)
• Creating Accessible Presentations (31:24) 
• Creating Accessible Instructional Videos (45:19)

About Course Creation

Bb shells for WT/SP2025 are available for all courses (designated as lecture, lab, field or discussion) listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), provided that there is an instructor of record listed. As new course sections and/or instructors are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

• If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically. 
• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
• If you need a Bb shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will find those enrollments merged into one Bb course shell. These sections may be split upon request by an RT ticket, which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE:Courses should not be split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Student enrollment in Bb mirrors the official registration in SA and updates hourly. However, courses are not accessible to students by default until the instructor of record makes them available.

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

The U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA)'s National Distance Learning Week focuses on how artificial intelligence (AI) impacts education and training. 

Instructional Technology invites faculty to test drive the suite of new Blackboard AI Course Design Assistant tools, which are now available for instructors who would like early access to preview the tool. Informed by Anthology's Trustworthy AI Approach and seamlessly embedded into Ultra's workflows, the AI Course Design Assistant tools are opt-in and the instructor is always in control of the content generated. Faculty can choose when, where, and how to leverage the tools in their Ultra courses. Anthology has not created any AI tools for students. 

Faculty interested in early access to the tool may submit an RT ticket to request access. 

Developed to assist faculty in streamlining course preparation, the AI Course Design Assistant tools include the features detailed below. 

Course-Builder Assistant

Create sample learning modules, titles, and descriptions. The generated modules include the module title, description, and images. Content within the module is not generated by the design tool.

Image 1: Option to auto-generate modules in an empty course.

Image 2: Auto-generated modules with an option to select and add to the course.

Image Suggestion and Creation 

The assistant can draw from the Unsplash stock image library and suggest thumbnails for illustration in learning modules or identify an image for the course banner. Functionality also includes AI-generated image creation based on course name and keywords. As of early November, the AI Design Assistant also includes the option to generate images and access Unsplash stock images in Ultra Documents, Discussions, Tests, Assignments, Journal prompts, and Course Messages.

Image 3: Select "Generate images" or "Stock images from Unsplash" to add images to Ultra Documents, Discussions, Assessments, Journal prompts, and Course Messages.

Content-Based Test Generation 

Using the content included in an Ultra Document, Assignment Description, or additional information provided directly in the AI tool panel, the Design Assistant can generate a diverse set of questions for a test or question bank. 

Image 4: Select "auto-generate question" in a test or assignment to see AI-tool generated questions. Test questions can be generated from a test or assignment or at the bottom of an Ultra document.

Rubric Creation 

Drawing on content in an assessment or discussion prompt, the AI tool can analyze and streamline the rubric creation process according to specific learning objectives and assessment criteria.

Image 5: Generated rubric, with options to customize rubric type, complexity, and number of rows and columns.

To discover more about the impact of AI on distance education and training, the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is hosting virtual webinars during the sixteenth annual National Distance Learning Week (Nov 6-10, 2023). All sessions are free to attend, but require registration via USDLA.

Connect with Instructional Technology

• 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

UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support: https://umbc.edu/go/ultra.

As the landscape of education continues to evolve, the integration of cutting-edge technology into the classroom has become more vital than ever. The advent of generative AI tools is poised to revolutionize the field of higher education, transforming the virtual classroom into a dynamic and responsive environment. The potential for positive impact on productivity and efficiency for faculty is significant, opening new doors for innovation in teaching and learning as well as course development. 

Instructional Technology invites faculty to preview the suite of new AI Course Design Assistant features during two webinars on Wednesday, August 23. Developed to assist faculty in streamlining course preparation, the AI Course Design Assistant tools include:

• A course-builder assistant. Create sample learning modules, titles, and descriptions. 
• Image suggestion and creation. The assistant can draw from the Unsplash stock image library and suggest thumbnails for illustration in learning modules or identify an image for the course banner. Functionality also includes AI-generated image creation based on course name and keywords.
• Content-based test generation. AI-powered algorithms analyze an Ultra document's content or inputted learning objectives and quickly generate a diverse set of questions for a test or question bank. 
• Rubric creation. Drawing on an assessment or discussion prompt’s content, the AI can analyze and streamline the rubric creation process according to specific learning objectives and assessment criteria.

Informed by Anthology’s Trustworthy AI Approach and seamlessly embedded into Ultra’s workflows, the AI Course Design Assistant tools are opt-in and the instructor is always in control of the content generated. Faculty can choose when, where, and how to leverage the tools in their Ultra courses.

Instructional Technology expects to launch the tools to the campus during National Distance Learning Week (Nov. 6-10) with a lunchtime series. Limited early access will be available to interested faculty upon request. Please attend a preview session for more information.

• 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

UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support: https://umbc.edu/go/ultra.