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

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

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.

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.