April update to Ultra features flexible grading in groups, printing support for Ultra documents & accessibility support for Office Math

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:46:50 -0400
blackboard, gradebook, grading, groups, learning-object-repository, rubrics, ultra-experience, ultra-update

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.

Accessibility

Ally's document conversion process is upgraded to include the first version of support for Office Math found in Microsoft Word documents. Students downloading the HTML and BeeLine Reader Alternative Formats will now see the math equations rendered as MathML via MathJax in their browser.

Communication & Engagement

To improve communication within large courses, the Course Activity Report now includes clear labels when sending messages: All students, selected students, selected students with alerts, or selected students without alerts. This improvement helps instructors better manage communication, especially when addressing students with specific needs.

The color of the activity indicator for discussions, journals, and conversations is changed from blue to purple to better unify the color scheme in Ultra.

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.

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]