Blackboard Learn Ultra - Spring Semester Implementation

It has been 2 years since the decision to continue with Blackboard as the College LMS, and to migrate to the more modern Blackboard Ultra experience.  We have delayed the complete implementation a number of times for various reasons - maturity of the product, readiness of our courses, and the significant change added on top of learning to teach from home.  We are now moving forward to the Ultra experience for the Spring '21 semester.  

The Blackboard Ultra experience is the biggest change to Blackboard Learn in well over a decade. Our top level Blackboard view has been converted and in use for almost 2 years.  The next step is implementation at the course level.  There are some functional changes and limitations compared to the traditional Blackboard experience. Many of these are outlined in the attachment to this article.  As a reminder though, the new interface benefits our students (especially our freshmen) by providing

• the type of modern web experience to which they are accustomed, 
• a much friendlier experience for the mobile devices they are using, and
• generally providing better organization to course materials. 

(See Bb introductory Student video for a brief overview )

For the Spring '21 term, courses are being generated with the Ultra experience at the course level.  We recognize that there still are some exceptional circumstances that will require staying in the traditional view.  Contact Dave Coates ([email protected]) if you are in such a circumstance.  Generally though we want to provide the Ultra experience across all courses to give a consistent interface to our students.  Note that once a course is created or converted to the Ultra view, it cannot be rolled back.

For the Fall '21 term, we expect to continue with a full default implementation of the course level ultra experience.  More details on the process will be provided shortly after the end of the winter term.

Also, take advantage of the Blackboard Ultra professional development being offered this spring.  You can sign up at the College Professional Development Eventbrite site. These sessions are taking pace as early as Monday April 26.