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

After five years of a phased migration, more than 99% of all available Blackboard courses for the fall semester are now using Ultra. This marks a significant milestone in our transition from Blackboard Original with only seven courses still using the legacy system until December 31, 2024.

“I want to thank the Deans, all faculty and students, and especially DoIT’s instructional technology team, for their collaboration, patience and hard work,” says John Fritz, Associate Vice President for Instructional Technology. “I know this was a lot of work over a long period, including the pandemic, but I’m thrilled we’ll all be able to focus on supporting one version of Blackboard and helping the campus community make the best use of it.”

Image 1: Rate of Ultra adoption since Spring 2020

UMBC began using Blackboard Ultra in 2018 with a small pilot involving four faculty members. Since then, adoption grew slowly, but steadily. By Spring 2024, nearly 70% of available courses were delivered in Ultra. DoIT announced that all courses for the fall term would be created in Ultra with a one-time rollback option for COEIT and CNMS (CAHSS had agreed to do so a year ago). More than 125 faculty attended Ultra training in August to prepare for or refresh their Ultra courses.

Instructional Technology continues to work closely with faculty and departments to ensure a smooth transition before the end of Original deadline. For more information about Ultra, please visit the Instructional Technology group on myUMBC or umbc.edu/go/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
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

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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: umbc.edu/go/ultra

Thumbnail-image: Ultra news update

In consultation with the Deans as well as the Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC), DoIT will make Ultra the default version of Blackboard for all Fall 2024 course shells that are auto-created and auto-enrolled before every semester. However, faculty who still wish to “roll back” their Ultra shells to Original, can do so by using this Request Tracker (RT) form before the 1st day of classes on August 28, 2024.

Why is DoIT Doing This?

Currently, unless a course is part of a department’s, school’s or college’s switch to Ultra, Original is the default version of all auto-created Bb course shells, and faculty who wish to use Ultra must convert the course to Ultra themselves before using it. However, with nearly 70 percent of all UMBC courses using Ultra now, DoIT feels the change in default course shell version is justified, and supports the broader plan to complete the Ultra migration by the end of Fall 2024. In addition, 50 percent of Blackboard’s clients are now using Ultra, there is little to no new development or fixes of Original, and it is expected that Anthology (the company that bought Blackboard in 2021) will announce the end of life for Original sooner than later.

“I know we’ve been migrating to Ultra for several years now, due in part to the maturing product but also the ‘all hands on deck’ support the pandemic pivot to online learning required,” says John Fritz, Associate VP, Instructional Technology. “I want to personally thank all faculty for their patience, those who’ve been using Ultra already and now won’t have to manually convert their courses from our Original template, but also those still waiting for the right time to switch. As we head into our last semester supporting both versions, I want to assure all faculty that DoIT is ready, willing and able to help in whatever way we can. Yes, we’ll make Ultra the default for Fall 24, but if you intend to use Original, please just let us know as soon as possible by completing our ‘roll back’ request form in RT.”

What Does This Mean for Me?

If you are using Ultra now, your Fall 2024 course shells will be auto-created with Ultra. Since you do not have to convert anything, you can get started right away with Ultra

However, to also help faculty not yet using Ultra, Bb course shells listed in the Schedule of Classes (SOC) will be auto-created by May 15, 2024, without student enrollments. This helps for a few reasons:

• Faculty not yet using Ultra can start with a new shell for Fall 2024, a practice DoIT recommends when using it for the first time. Early access to your course provides more than 12 weeks of prep time before the semester begins.
• Faculty can also review their Fall 2023 Original courses that DoIT converted to Ultra before the start of that semester (DoIT notified these faculty by myUMBC personal post).

When Do Students Get Enrolled?

Students will be added to your Fall courses by Friday, August 2, when auto-enrollments initiate. Enrollments will continue to pass from PeopleSoft to Blackboard as students add/drop and refresh completely overnight. As always, faculty also still control availability of the course to students.

How Can I Use Original?

If faculty wish to “roll back” their Fall 2024 Ultra shells to Original, they can do so by RT ticket. DoIT strongly recommends faculty request a roll back before the first day of classes to ensure sufficient time for course preparation. For example, the following conditions apply:

• If a roll back is requested in August, it will require a complete refresh of the course enrollment which takes up to 24 hours to process. 
• Since a roll back requires deletion and recreation of a course in Blackboard, we will not roll back a course if there is learner activity (e.g., grades, assessment submissions, discussions) to preserve this critical data.
• Courses will not be rolled back to Original after September 11, 2024, the last day to add/drop a course.
• The rollback request option does not apply to CAHSS courses as CAHSS agreed to migrate all courses by the start of Fall 2024.

Again, DoIT recommends starting fresh in Ultra to take full advantage of the platform's new features and design capabilities as this approach allows for copying content from Original or rebuilding courses from the ground up to ensure an optimal experience for both faculty and students.

• DoIT will provide weekly Ultra “office hour” consults, including one evening a week and one Saturday a month to support adjuncts throughout the Summer and Fall 2024 terms. 
• Instructional Technology offers an 8-step migration guide with resources and checklist that can be printed and checked as faculty prepare to migrate from Original to Ultra. [click here to make your own copy]
• A wide range of training and support options is available to fit faculty needs including custom solutions and consults. Departments can schedule customized training, including evening sessions for adjuncts or dedicated sessions for teaching assistants, teaching fellows, and grad assistants. Recordings are also available.

Although UMBC has offered Ultra since 2019, faculty who have not yet migrated have identified time to learn a new system as the primary variable in their deferment. Despite these constraints, continued feedback from UMBC faculty points to readiness to engage with Ultra with ongoing support from Instructional Technology when aligned with their time availability. Feature parity was not identified as a factor in the last mile survey; Ultra now supports more than 200 enhancements to the gradebook, content creation, and assessments and continued development is prioritized by client feedback through the open Idea Exchange.

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

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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: umbc.edu/go/ultra

Thumbnail-image: Ultra news update

In the final nine months of UMBC's Ultra migration, the overall faculty adoption rate continues to grow. For the spring 2024 term, Original course usage decreased by 33% between fall 23 and spring 24. Overall, Ultra adoption increased to 69.49% this semester, representing 1091 courses out of 1567 available in UMBC's Blackboard site. 

In addition, more departments and programs have opted in to using Ultra as the default course experience for students, allowing faculty to quickly prepare their courses. Two weeks before the SP2024 semester started, Ultra course availability to students outpaced Original courses by a margin of 63% to 2%.

Ultra continues to bring more than 200 enhancements to the gradebook, content creation, and assessments. Unique to Ultra are progress tracking reports and the AI Course Design Assistant tools, designed to facilitate course development and improve student engagement with course materials. These updates offer a more intuitive and feature-rich platform for both faculty and students.

Preparing For Ultra Course Migration

While it is possible to convert courses from Original to Ultra, DoIT's Instructional Technology team recommends starting fresh. This approach allows for copying content from Original or rebuilding courses from the ground up to ensure an optimal experience for both faculty and students. Starting fresh in Ultra enables you to take full advantage of the platform's new features and design capabilities.

• A wide range of Ultra training is posted through the Instructional Technology myUMBC events page.
• For departments or disciplines that want to adopt Ultra by default, Blackboard course shells can be designated as Ultra when courses are created. Please open an RT ticket to coordinate your request with Instructional Technology by April 1, 2024 for SU2024 courses and by June 1, 2024 for FA2024 courses.
• Instructional Technology will also work with departments to customize Ultra workshops and provide dedicated support sessions according to faculty schedules or specific use cases for teaching with Ultra. Please open an RT ticket to schedule a training session or request a consultation appointment.

UMBC remains committed to ensuring a smooth transition for its December 31, 2024 timeline for completion of Ultra course migration.

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

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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: umbc.edu/go/ultra

As UMBC finalizes its migration to Ultra, more faculty opted to use the new course experience during FA2023. Specifically, of 1588 total available Blackboard shells, faculty have enabled 991 using Ultra, or ~62%, -- a ten point jump from last year. Although a broad spectrum of disciplines including seven departments and eight languages opted to use Ultra by default, more than half of active Ultra courses were converted from Original to the new format by faculty this semester. 

Since instructors must choose to make a course available to students every semester, FA2023 also represents a notable increase in faculty use of Ultra courses at a much higher rate than their use of Original courses -- 89% of Ultra courses are available to students compared to 51% of Original courses. Additionally, Ultra adoption rose in STEM disciplines during FA2023. The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences saw a 139% increase in Ultra courses from last fall while the College of Engineering and Information Technology increased by 55%.

Image 1: Comparison of active Original and Ultra courses over time (click to enlarge). For more information about Ultra adoption and course usage, please visit our Ultra course tracker.

With more than 200 enhancements and new features in the last year, Ultra courses offer more than 95% feature parity with Original including extensive updates to grading and assessment, content management, and course design functionality. Improvements to the gradebook, question banks, and groups management are key functional areas raised by UMBC faculty and addressed by Anthology. Ultra also provides exclusive progress tracking reports for learner engagement and new AI Course Design Assistant tools. 

Next Steps for Ultra at UMBC

The growth in Ultra course creation and faculty adoption fulfills a longstanding promise to the UMBC community to provide a consistent learning experience for students and support Blackboard innovation, beginning in SP2018 when four faculty piloted Ultra. Since that initial exploration, Ultra adoption grew slowly and steadily as faculty opted in to the new version of Blackboard when they felt ready. The pandemic also provided many faculty with an opportunity to try Ultra and move their courses. 

We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all departments and faculties. 

• Following this semester, two full terms remain (SP2024 and FA2024) before we finalize the Ultra migration at UMBC. All courses for CAHSS will be automatically created in Ultra for FA2024 and the entire campus will be on Ultra by WT/SP2025.

• For departments or disciplines that want to adopt Ultra by default, Blackboard course shells can be designated as Ultra when courses are created. Please open an RT ticket to coordinate your request with Instructional Technology by November 1, 2023 for WT/SP2024 courses and by June 1, 2024 for SU/FA2024 courses.

• In mid October, faculty who have not yet migrated to Ultra will automatically receive a development shell with a copy of their FA2023 course that is converted to Ultra. This copy will not have any student enrollments and will not impact the current term. Faculty are encouraged to review the copy and modify the course. If the course conversion is not the best path to Ultra, there are ample Blackboard resources at umbc.edu/go/ultra as well as Instructional Technology support over the next 15 months to build a new course.

• Instructional Technology will also work with departments to customize Ultra workshops and provide dedicated support sessions according to faculty schedules or specific use cases for teaching with Ultra. Please open an RT ticket to schedule a training session or request a consultation appointment.

The campus community continues to play a vital role in championing change throughout our Ultra migration. Faculty and student feedback helps shape the ongoing development of Ultra and contributes to the dynamic platform students experience during their education at UMBC.

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

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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: umbc.edu/go/ultra

Given UMBC will be migrating to Ultra by the start of Winter 2025, five more departments will fully adopt Ultra for Fall 2023, The following departments join Theater and Gender, Women's, + Sexuality Studies in applying a consistent look and feel for their students when courses are created every semester:  

• American Studies

• Education

• Emergency Health Services

• Erickson School of Aging Studies 

• Mathematics/Statistics

Additionally, at least eight foreign languages in the Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication department have been fully using Ultra for the last year including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. English 100 and IHU courses also leverage an all-Ultra adoption.

Instructional Technology offers the following course creation and conversion support for department adoption of Ultra:

1. For departments or disciplines that want to adopt Ultra by default, Blackboard course shells can be designated as Ultra when courses are created. This approach can be especially helpful for instructors who are new to UMBC and need to quickly prepare course resources.

2. If departments decide to adopt Ultra after courses are created, we can bulk convert Original courses to Ultra in early August or early January before the semester starts. Using this approach, courses start in Original before content is added and students begin to work, but switch to Ultra with the assistance of Instructional Technology staff.

3. If departments want faculty to prepare courses for Ultra over a semester before fully adopting, we can bulk copy and convert older Original courses to Ultra (e.g., prepare in fall, adopt in spring). Additional time and flexibility are key to this approach, allowing faculty review previously offered courses in Ultra and optimize a redesigned format.

Please open an RT ticket to request any of these department adoption strategies. Providing the discipline's prefix for the courseID ensures Instructional Technology can quickly identify courses and trigger the conversion process on behalf of faculty, saving time and effort.

Finally, we have extensive training options for departments including customized workshops, recording artchives, and other resources.

As UMBC gears up to fully adopt Blackboard Ultra by the Spring 2025 term, multiple training and support resources are available to help instructors become familiar with Ultra and successfully navigate the migration process. Ultra is designed with ease of use in mind, offering an intuitive interface and user-friendly features. Whether you are new to Ultra or need a refresher, many of these resources are designed to help leverage Ultra's innovative functionality. 

Training

Our training allows participants to learn directly from experts, ask questions, and gain insights in real-time. Instructional Technology offers Ultra Essentials, a series of five specific workshops tailored to various aspects of Ultra such as course design, assessment tools, grading, communication, and planning your migration roadmap. Other topics available include Ally and accessibility and deeper dives into tests and question banks, rubrics, managing groups, and supporting large courses.

Additionally, we offer: 

• Extensive recording archives for faculty to access training materials to revisit - Available Now

• Our What's New in Ultra for Teaching and Learning webinars provides the latest information about new features in Ultra - Offered in January, May, and August every year.

• A course migration and design guide to help instructors migrate their courses from Original to Ultra - Available in December 2023

Our training formats support the unique needs and preferences of the UMBC community including live webinars, faculty show and tell, and multi-model (e.g., hyflex). Typically scheduled during the lunch break, training can also be customized to meet department needs or schedules.

Support & Outreach

UMBC offers multiple options for getting help and staying informed. 

• Users can submit an RT ticket to address specific concerns or issues or browse the comprehensive FAQs for quick answers to common questions.

• Take advantage of virtual drop-in hours to receive real-time support. The Ultra Ambassadors program and Instructional Technology's consulting services also offer personalized guidance. 

• Monthly Ultra updates are posted to the FAQs and myUMBC to provide the latest information about enhancements and features. We also share effective practices for using Ultra and other instructional technologies.

• The DoIT News Bulletin, distributed via email, keeps the UMBC community updated on the latest news and development. You may observe contextual messages within Blackboard when you log in or mouseover certain areas or tools.

By leveraging these varied training, support, and outreach formats, the UMBC community remains informed, connected, and equipped to adapt to the evolving landscape of Blackboard Ultra as we progress towards full adoption in Spring 2025.

Instructional Technology is pleased to offer the following Ultra workshops in March:

March 2 (12 PM) - Ultra Essentials IV - Tests & Assignments

March 7 (12 PM) Ultra Essentials V - Grading & the Gradebook

March 13 (12 PM) - Ultra Course Orientation for Faculty, TAs & Course Builders

March 17 (12 PM) - Deliver Effective Assessments with Ultra Question Banks

March 29 (12 PM) - Ultra Design Clinic

Note: This self-paced course has been retired due to changes in available resources from Blackboard. We encourage faculty interested in Ultra training to access the following resources:

• Attend an upcoming training

• Recordings in our Panopto training folder

• Please review the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra. 

• Connect with an Ultra Ambassador!

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In support of the final completion of the Ultra migration by SP2025, Instructional Technology is pleased to offer a self-paced course, Ultra for Instructors. 

This course is designed to introduce instructors to Blackboard Ultra, including general navigation, content management and creation processes, assessment creation and settings options, and gradebook management. Ultra for Instructors should provide a starting point to help you design your courses in Blackboard Ultra and offers opportunities to apply what you're learning as you navigate the course. 

The course includes reference materials, links to resources, videos, and "Try It" activities to apply in your own Ultra courses. Depending on faculty interests, available time, and needs, the course can be approached in one of the following ways:

• Complete all modules, beginning with the Welcome and sequentially completing Modules 1-7.

• Complete certain modules of interest.

• Complete selected units within particular modules.

• Refer to the course as a reference guide, as needed.

In support of a common learning experience for students and faculty, and in consultation with the Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC) last semester, UMBC will complete the Blackboard Ultra migration by the start of the Spring 2025 term. Since Winter and Spring courses are typically auto-created by early December, this means Fall 2024 will be the last term in which DoIT plans to support Blackboard Original.

Also, given its current Ultra adoption of 70%, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS) has agreed to migrate all courses by the start of Fall 2024. DoIT will also seek feedback on our "last mile" Ultra migration efforts from CoEIT and CNMS (for Spring 2025). The Erickson School is already using Ultra. But migrating our remaining Bb courses will give all students the same learning management system (LMS) since our first Ultra pilot in Spring 2018, a common request from student surveys in the past (see below).

Increasingly, as Ultra is used by more UMBC Blackboard courses (50% as of Fall 2022), this two-year plan is based on four criteria:

1. Students should have a common learning experience.

Currently, students must juggle two separate course views: Ultra and Original, depending on what their instructors have selected. Ultra also provides a mobile friendly and accessible course environment for students as well as better tools to track their progress while fostering self-expression with name pronunciation. Ultra provides tools to support diverse pedagogical and assessment practices, which supports the student learning experience.

2. Students like and want more Ultra courses. 

In three separate surveys, students said they were satisfied with Ultra and indicated a preference for Ultra courses (FA2022, SP2021, FA2019). Students consistently praise Ultra's clean interface, aggregated calendar of due dates, and easy discovery of graded activities. Increased exposure to Ultra through IHU and ENGL 100 courses provides students with a strong foundation in using the platform. Also, combined with Ally, Ultra is designed to improve accessibility.

3. Ultra is compatible with Original in key areas.

Within the last year, more than 150 updates brought Ultra up to feature parity with additional updates expected to reach up to 95% by the end of SP2023. A deep focus on assessment and grading aligned to UMBC faculty needs, addressing key areas in assessment & grading, engagement & content, and user & course management. Ultra now supports extensive gradebook tools and rubrics, question banks, robust groups management, with exclusive features not available in Original. Still, for faculty who tried Ultra before the Pandemic and found it missing key features, DoIT is eager and willing to consult on any questions or concerns.

4. Original courses will be retired eventually by the vendor.

Anthology, the parent company that now owns Blackboard, has already retired Original courses in self-hosted and managed hosted environments. All major development occurs for Ultra courses, not Original, in part because Anthology has invested three times the resources for Ultra. Original may receive minor tweaks and patches, but it is an aging platform.

Training & Support

To complete the migration to Ultra, DoIT is available to work with each college to tailor our training and support plan. However, DoIT's Instructional Technology team already provides Ultra training from an extensive catalog and updates Ultra support documentation frequently. Monthly drop-in support sessions will be provided, and DoIT staff will offer instructional design training and support for departments through workshops and Design Clinics throughout the academic year.

Finally, to promote effective practices, identify areas for improved resources, strengthen opportunities for professional development, and partner in outreach and support for faculty and students, DoIT will announce ways faculty can offer feedback or request help, including a survey and/or virtual town halls.

Sincerely,

Mariann Hawken
Director, Instructional Technology

John Fritz
Associate Vice President
Instructional Technology & New Media