Revised 02/13/2024
| Name in Original Course View | Still Exists? | Name in Ultra Course View | Notes |
| Course Copy | Yes | Copy Content |
If you teach multiple sections of the same course, you may want to copy content items between courses to help save time in recreating the course. In Blackboard Ultra, you can copy individual content items or all content items from a course.
|
| Course Link | Yes | Course Link |
A Course Link is a shortcut to an existing area, tool, or item in a course. |
| Editable Course Menu | No | Static Course Menu |
In Original Course View, menu items could be added and organized on the left side of each course. There was no limit to the number of menu items that were allowed. In Ultra Course View, the course menu is no longer editable and is static with the same top-level navigation items across the top of the course —
** In Ultra, all course materials and content will be located on the Content page. |
| Folder | Yes | Folder | Blackboard Ultra courses are limited to a nested folder depth of two folders. |
| Item | Yes | Document | In Ultra Course View, a Document can be used as a “container” for text, links, files, and videos. A Document in Blackboard Ultra is equivalent to a blank Item in Blackboard Classic. |
| Learning Module | Yes | Learning Module | In Blackboard Ultra, Learning Modules are used as a building block for organized collections of content. You can use Learning Modules to house the core content of the course such as assignments, quizzes, discussions, outside resources, etc. Learning Modules allow students to navigate from one content item to the next without distractions or extra clicks, which helps immerse them in the content. |
| Tool Availability | No | None | Instructors can no longer turn off individual tools in a course — the available tools are set at the system level by administrators. |
| Web Link | Yes | Web Link | A Web Link is a shortcut to an external source that is outside of Blackboard. |
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||
| Name in Original Course View | Still Exists? | Name in Ultra Course View | Notes |
| Assignments | Yes | Assignments | Assignments are available in Ultra. |
| Blogs | No | None | Blogs are not available in Ultra. |
| Journals | Yes | Journals | Journals (graded and non-graded) are available in Ultra. |
| Surveys | Yes | Forms |
Forms allow you to collect information from students to assess their clinical experiences, interests, or opinions. By default, Forms are not graded and questions within a Form do not have correct or incorrect answers. There is an option to grade Forms should you choose. The following items are supported in Forms —
|
| Tests | Yes | Tests |
Tests are available in Ultra with the following question types —
|
| Wiki's | No | None | Wiki's are not available in Ultra. |
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||
| Name in Original Course View | Still Exists? | Name in Ultra Course View | Notes |
| Attendance | Yes | Attendance | The Attendance tool is available in Ultra and will appear in your course's Gradebook by default. |
| Audio/Video Feedback | Yes | Audio/Video Feedback | An audio/video feedback recording can be included with text-based feedback, and a grade, that you have provided students on an assessment. |
| Manually Created Column | Yes | Add Item | Manually graded columns can be created for assignments that don't require submission by using the Add Item option. When you create a gradable item in your course, a gradebook item is created automatically. If you want to add grades for an item that doesn’t require submissions, such as extra credit or in-class assignments, you can create a manually graded item. These grade items are also called manual grades, manually created items, or offline items. |
| Needs Grading | Yes | Gradable Items | The Gradable Items tab displays all gradable items that need attention in your course |
| Rubrics | Yes | Rubrics | Rubrics are available in Ultra and can be associated with assignments, discussions, and journals. |
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||
| Name in Original Course View | Still Exists? | Name in Ultra Course View | Notes |
| Announcements | Yes | Announcements |
In Ultra, announcements are a top-level navigation item that displays as a pop-up immediately upon entry to a course. Announcements can no longer be set as the default course landing page — the content page will always be the default course landing page in an Ultra course. |
| Discussion Boards | Yes | Discussions | Discussions (graded and non-graded) are available in Ultra as a top-level navigation item. |
| Send Email | No | Messages |
In Ultra, messages are used as an alternative to email when communicating with your students. You can access Messages from both the Messages page and within each individual course or organization. Messages remain only within the Blackboard system. You can receive notifications of received messages, but you must return to Blackboard to read and respond to the message. |
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||
| Name in Original Course View | Still Exists? | Name in Ultra Course View | Notes |
| Adaptive Release | Yes | Release Conditions |
Release Conditions can define when students can view and access course content. With Release Conditions, you can set —
|
| Calendar | Yes | Calendar |
The Calendar can be used to keep track of upcoming assignments, events, and due dates from each of your courses. |
| Content Collection | Yes | Content Collection | The Content Collection allows you to store, share, and publish digital content in personal, course, and institutional folders. |
| Control Panel | No | None | The Control Panel area does not exist in an Ultra course. |
| Groups | Yes | Groups |
In Ultra, groups are a top-level navigation item. You can organize students into groups so they can interact with each other and demonstrate their knowledge. Groups are still in development within an Ultra course. |
| Student Preview Mode | Yes | Student Preview Mode |
With student preview mode, you can experience your course exactly as your students do and validate course behaviors. |
| Question Pools | Yes | Question Banks | A Question Bank is a collection of questions that are stored for repeated use. Question Banks can be used to share questions between multiple assessments. |
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||
Analytics: Top-level menu item that allows instructors to run reports on their courses to keep track of student performance and engagement.
|
|||
|
Batch Edit: Batch Edit can be used to update common settings across all (or selected) content within the course. Batch Edit can adjust the following —
|
|||
|
Class Conversations: If you enable class conversations for individual content items, students can discuss the content with others in the course. They can ask for help, share sources, or answer questions others have. Conversations can be enabled for the following items —
|
|||
| Content Library: Instructors can save a library of reusable comments and feedback to learners while grading. The library is connect to a Blackboard account and can be used across all courses. | |||
| Content Market: All third-party tools and applications can be found in the Content Market (i.e. McGraw Hill, Pearson, Cengage, etc.) | |||
| Filter and Search in the Gradebook: In the Ultra Gradebook, you can search and filter by student name, gradeable items, assessment status, and categories. At this time, filtering and searching is only available in the grid view of the Gradebook. | |||
| Inline Viewing for File Attachments: When a file (i.e. Word Doc, PDF, etc.) is uploaded into an Ultra course, the instructor has the option of making that file View Only, Download Only, or View and Download. In an Original course, uploaded files were only downloadable for viewing. Ultra provides the option to view the file directly in Blackboard as well as being downloadable. | |||
|
Progress Tracking: Progress Tracking provides your students an easy way to keep track of what they've done in your course. As students navigate through the course content, Ultra will mark what items have been started, completed, or still need attention. With Progress Tracking enabled, instructors will have access to Student Progress Reports which provides an in-depth view of students' movements throughout the course. These reports include the date and time an action occurred on the student's end. You can see the progress that students made for the following content types —
|
|||
| Two-Step Posting: Posting Grades and Announcements to students is now a two-step posting process. When creating an Announcement, you must click post to share the announcement (unless you are scheduling an announcement in advance, then the two-step posting is not necessary). When posting grades to students, you must first provide the grade and feedback and then post the grade for each individual student or post all grades for a particular assessment at once. Similar to Orginal, you can automatically post grades when a grade and feedback have been provided by checking the Post Assessment Grades Automatically box on each individual assessment (i.e. Assignments and Tests). | |||
Jump to the top of the chart |
|||