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:

• 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

Thumbnail-image: New to Ultra [decorative]

Blackboard course shells for Fall 2025 were created on July 16, 2025.

All Fall 2025 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 see 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 see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.

New Course Merge Request Process

As announced by DoIT in early April, instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will see 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.

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.

For more information about these improvements, please see the following:

• Presentation to Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC) on March 4, 2025. 

• Updated FAQs- How to request a merged course

• Common questions about the revised Blackboard course creation & user enrollment process (Google Doc version)

In addition, faculty are invited to attend an information session on August 7th or 19th about the new course creation and merge 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 and alternative 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

Connect with Instructional Technology

Tom Penniston, Ph.D., has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to advance learning-analytics projects in Croatia during the 2025–26 academic year. As UMBC DoIT’s Coordinator of Learning Analytics, he helps faculty translate data into inclusive, effective teaching practices. On September 1, he will take that expertise with him as he begins a six-month residency with the University of Zagreb’s Learning Analytics Laboratory at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin, and will remain working remotely in Croatia until August 2026.

During the fellowship, Penniston will test ways to scale course redesign around national and institutional competencies, map how analytics tools are adopted within and between universities, and embed empirically-based approaches in a new international setting. Working alongside Croatian colleagues, he also hopes to deepen his understanding of European Union education policy and seed partnerships that will ultimately benefit UMBC students and faculty.

“I’m humbled, excited, and admittedly a bit anxious,” he says, “but being part of a campus that prizes data-informed teaching makes the leap easier.” He credits CIO Jack Suess, AVP John Fritz, Director Mariann Hawken, and an “exceptionally talented” DoIT team for making this opportunity possible, and notes that his hosts have already “gone out of their way” to welcome his family, which is a kindness that has eased much of his initial anxiety.

“We’re all pleased for and proud of Tom’s selection to serve as a Fulbright Fellow,” says John Fritz, Associate Vice President for Instructional Technology. “He truly is a global citizen with an impressive, eclectic skill set and mindset focused on the value of education to change the trajectory of people’s lives. He will make a wonderful ambassador for what’s best about UMBC and the United States.” 

Penniston and his wife, Erin, previously served together in the Peace Corps in Moldova, yet the Fulbright will give their three children their first extended taste of life abroad. “I can’t wait to dive into the data, share what I learn, and bring fresh insights home,” he says, aiming to turn analysis into action on both sides of the Atlantic.

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