• Student Success and Retention: Projects exploring relationships between activities or learning in one course and outcomes in other courses, particularly critical progression points, low-success courses, or foundational skills.
• Faculty Development and Support: Proposals that leverage institutional data (via REX and Tableau) to inform instructional practices, contributing insights to the LA Community of Practice.

• Engage actively with the UMBC Learning Analytics Community of Practice (LA CoP).
• Produce and present a final report or scholarly product (conference presentation, external grant proposal, or publication).
• Consider leveraging results to apply for the prestigious Hrabowski Innovation Fund award.

• Brief Abstract: Suitable for publication on UMBC’s website (maximum 200 words).
• Research Project Proposal: Clearly outlining objectives, methodology, expected outcomes, and relevance (maximum 3 pages).
• Signed acknowledgement of support: Department Chair (through DocuSign)

• Proposal Deadline: Friday, June 6, 2025
• Notification of Awards: Early July 2025
• Grant Period: July 2025 – June 2026

• REX Data Warehouse (available to all faculty)
• Tableau training and support provided by DoIT’s Analytics & Instructional Technology group
• Access to prior workshops and resources to inform proposal development.

The May 2025 Ultra release delivers several meaningful updates that improve how faculty assess student work, support engagement, and manage course tools. From expanded rubric options to accessible grading workflows, these changes are designed to align with effective teaching practices and support a more inclusive, student-centered experience.

Qualitative, No-Points Rubrics

Instructors can now create and use no-points rubrics in Ultra, a powerful option for qualitative evaluation. These rubrics allow instructors to provide rich, criterion-based feedback without assigning numerical values -- perfect for assignments focused on reflection, creativity, process, or formative assessment. In addition, faculty can leverage the AI assistant to generate descriptive evaluation criteria for no-points rubrics.

Image 1: Example of no-points rubric creation screen

Text-Based Columns in the Gradebook

A new Gradebook feature allows instructors to create text-based columns (up to 32 characters). These flexible columns are not restricted to text-only input and can include a description for context. Instructors can control student visibility, sort values in Grid view, and download the data. This update is especially useful for organizing students, tracking informal feedback, or adding flexibility to the Gradebook without tying everything to a numeric score.

Image 2: Inserting a text-based column in the gradable items tab

Test Submission Review – View Once

A new test setting, “View submission one time,” allows students to review their test responses and feedback just once after submission. Instructors must first enable the “Allow students to view their submission” setting, after which this option becomes available. This strikes a balance between transparency and academic integrity, offering students a chance to learn from their errors while reducing the risk of content sharing.

Image 3: Selecting the one-time view submission assessment setting

Enhanced AI Conversation Tool

The AI Conversation tool has been upgraded to optionally generate three key elements: a conversation title, a persona, and a reflection question. Instructors can further refine the suggestions by adjusting complexity, providing additional context, or pulling from course materials. This makes it easier to create rich dialogue prompts that encourage critical thinking and metacognition.

Gradebook Accessibility Enhancements

The Gradable Items view in the Gradebook has been redesigned to improve accessibility and navigation for users relying on screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. The new table-based layout provides more intuitive movement across cells using arrow keys and includes proper header and row announcements. These enhancements help ensure all instructors and teaching assistants, regardless of ability, can manage course grading with greater ease.

Discussion Board Improvements

Several updates make Ultra Discussions more intuitive and user-friendly. Terminology has been streamlined, replacing “responses” with “posts” for clarity, and the input field now prompts users to “Post a response to the discussion.” Instructor posts are clearly labeled, reply boxes are directly below the topic for better flow, and unnecessary interface elements, such as avatars and large banners, have been removed or simplified. These changes reduce cognitive load, improve mobile usability, and create a smoother, more accessible discussion experience for both students and faculty.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around May 1-2 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on May 6, 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.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SU2025 webinar on May 12, 2025.

The 2025 M.O.S.T. Grant Cycle

We hope that you would consider submitting a proposal either for an individual faculty or institutional grant supported by the Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative. The due date for proposals is April 18^th at 11:59PM Eastern.
 
The Faculty Grant Program offers support in the way of Adopt/Adapt OER ($1,000 grant + Participation in the Lumen Circles Community of Practice) and Create/Revise and Publish OER ($2,000 grant + Participation in the Rebus Textbook Success Program).
 
Institutional grants will include $20,000 to support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success. In addition, grantees will receive strategic planning and implementation support for their projects from M.O.S.T. in the form of consultations and regular monthly check-ins.
 
For more details and to review the call for proposals for each grant, please visit our website or email us at most@usmd.edu.
 
Sincerely,
The M.O.S.T. Team

Following the April 2025 Blackboard release, some Blackboard users reported issues (e.g., blank screen, spinning wheel) with Blackboard access. Unsupported browser versions were identified as the cause of the access issue. As a reminder, please ensure that your browser is up to date.

Update April 14: The code updates addressing rendering issues for Safari version 16.3 and earlier have been successfully deployed to production and validated. All functionality is now working as expected. While this fix addresses the recent compatibility issues, Blackboard strongly recommends keeping browsers up to date to ensure access to the latest security patches and performance enhancements.

Supported Browsers for Blackboard

As of April 4, 2025, Blackboard supports the following browsers:

• Safari MacOS and iOS: The two most recent major versions (versions 17 and 18)
• Chrome: The most recent stable version and two preceding versions (versions 133, 134, and 135)
• Firefox: The most stable version and the two preceding versions
• Edge: The most recent stable version and the two preceding versions

Allow Pop-Ups

Pop-Up blockers should not be enabled in your browser when running Blackboard. For an optimal experience on Blackboard, make sure to disable any pop-up blocker software on your browser or allow your browser to open pop-ups from Blackboard.

Allow Third-Party Cookies

Blackboard relies on some third-party cookies. Please allow third-party cookies for Blackboard and related technologies. See our FAQ about third-party cookies for additional information.

To address current and future Blackboard (Bb) system administration issues and opportunities, DoIT will be changing how all Bb courses are automatically created and enrolled. Specifically, the new process – auto-creating exact one-to-one (1:1) matches of all PeopleSoft (PS) section enrollments and Bb course shells – will be piloted in Summer 25 and (pending results) implemented in Fall 25.

When completed, the new process will improve Bb course roster accuracy, lay a foundation for faculty bulk final grade submission, and free up DoIT staff to help all users make the most of the tool at the hectic start of semesters. Short-term, multi-section Bb course shells will be merged "upon request" vs "by default" as they are now, but long-term, faculty will be able to merge or split any sections they teach within Bb itself.

"We recognize instructors of large courses will need to request merges of their multiple sections, rather than having them combined by default," says John Fritz, Associate Vice President of Instructional Technology. "However, mapping Bb and PS sections as part of the course creation process is an important part of our ongoing effort to streamline and enhance course management in Blackboard. It is an effective practice used at other Bb schools, even regardless of LMS including College Park, and will free up DoIT staff who have been averaging nearly 100 hours at the start of semester processing faculty requests to split sections we have merged by default. Long-term, re-engineering Bb’s integration with PS will benefit students and faculty, and DoIT staff who support them."

Summer courses will be created at the end of April.

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

1. Presentation to Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC) on March 4, 2025. 
2. Updated FAQs & demo video: How to request a merged course
3. Common question about the process (below, or use this Google Doc)

In addition, faculty are invited to attend an information session on May 1, 2025 about the new course creation process and why it matters. It will be a hybrid meeting ENGR 102 and recorded. 

• 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

Common Questions About the Revised Blackboard Course Creation & User Enrollment Process 

Why is the course creation process changing?

The course creation process is changing to ensure more accurate rosters in Blackboard that match what is in PeopleSoft. More importantly, the revised course creation and enrollment process lays a foundation for additional development by DoIT staff to support workflows for final grade extraction between Blackboard and Peoplesoft. 

How does the new course creation process work?

The course creation process will include all course types including Research, Independent Study, and Practicum. Additionally, courses without an instructor assigned in the Schedule of Classes will also be created in Blackboard, allowing departments more flexibility to request access when waiting for new hire paperwork to be processed.

What is the benefit of the new course creation process for faculty and students?

The improvements benefit faculty and students alike by ensuring that course rosters are accurate. Since rosters will be processed one at a time per section in Blackboard, students are connected more precisely to the official course record, including adds and drops. 

Since courses start in a separated state, students will not lose access to the course. Merging a course also ensures students will retain access without delay. All data is retained in a course if students drop, albeit in a disabled state that only system admins can see. The course information seen by students when they log into Blackboard will be more accurate, matching the registration information in PeopleSoft.

Faculty will also have new gradebook filters that easily identify which course section they are viewing. If they prefer to download the gradebook, a new column provides the course section information for easier sorting.

Image 1: Example of the new gradebook filter in an Ultra course.

How will my Blackboard course differ with the new process?

Your Blackboard course will function the same way except you will have separate course shells for each class you teach. If you prefer to combine your courses, please open a ticket to request a merge.

Merged courses will function exactly as before -- one course shell with all of your students enrolled. You’ll have those new gradebook filters available as an added perk. You can continue to use Copy Items, release conditions, and groups to manage your content and students.

How do I request a merged course shell in Blackboard?

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will see a separate Blackboard course shell for each section or course component. Courses will no longer be merged by default. Instructors planning to use split shells will no longer need to submit an RT request.

Course shells may be merged upon request via 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 merged or split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

How do students access my course?

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.

How do I add a non-enrolled student to my individual or merged course?

Only officially enrolled students can access your course. Faculty can add TAs, graders, course builders, and other support roles (e.g., SI-PASS, interpreter, etc.) to their courses. 

Image 2: Example of the enrollment screen in a Blackboard course.

How do I add a student to my course to fulfill an incomplete?

Please open a ticket and request a Course Availiability Override. This will extend that student’s access to the Blackboard course shell matching their official enrollment.

The April release introduce several new features aimed at improving content management, grading flexibility, and student feedback tracking. 

Instructors and students can now print Ultra Documents or save them as PDFs. This feature facilitates offline content review, sharing with peers, or creating physical copies. Note that if knowledge checks are included and already completed, they will display selected answers and instructor feedback when printed.

Image 1: Example of new print Ultra Document feature

A major addition this month is the Learning Object Repository (LOR), designed to centralize resources across courses and organizations. Instructors can copy objects from the LOR while maintaining control over settings such as availability. Updates made to objects in the LOR are automatically reflected across associated courses, making it easier to manage institutional content like policy documents.

Content Creation & Management

• When performing a whole course copy, achievements are now automatically included, allowing instructors to maintain consistent recognition across course iterations. However, achievements are not included in granular content copies.
• Instructors can now access Achievements through the Student Preview.

Assessments & Grading

• Flexible Grading is introduced for group assignments and tests. Though some features (like per-question feedback on group tests) are not yet available, this update is part of ongoing improvements to group grading.
• A new feedback indicator on the student Overview page now shows whether students have reviewed their feedback. The indicator updates from “Not reviewed” to “Reviewed” with a timestamp, giving instructors greater insight into student engagement with their feedback.
• A new “Results” column in the Gradebook replaces the “Feedback” column, making it more intuitive for students to view their grades and feedback.

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around April 4-5 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on April 8, 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.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SU2025 webinar on May 12, 2025.