Category: Blackboard

Blackboard Ultra Training

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

In this blogpost we’ll be outlining the training that we’ve been designing ready for the move to Blackboard Ultra.

We will be offering every department an E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Blackboard Ultra training session. We will be liaising with your departmental director of learning and teaching to arrange this, offering either an online or an in-person session.

In this session, we will outline what colleagues need to do to get their modules ready for September. The main outcome of this session is that colleagues will be able to achieve the Required Minimum Presence. The session includes some design tips, an overview of the analytics available in Blackboard Ultra, as well as how to create Turnitin submission points, links to your reading list, and Panopto links. We’ll introduce you to the updated interactive tools: Discussions and Journals. In addition to this, we’ll look at the new workflow for creating Blackboard Assignments and Blackboard Tests, and the Grade Book.

If you cannot make your departmental session, then we are also offering them centrally.   

 To complement this session, we are running some centrally organised E-learning Enhanced Sessions:

  • E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Discussions
  • E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Journals
  • E-learning Enhanced: Introduction to Tests
  • E-learning Enhanced: Designing Wiki Equivalences
  • E-learning Enhanced: Designing Blog Equivalences

These sessions will be advertised on our course booking site.

If the session is taking place online then a Teams link will be emailed to you.

If you have any questions about our move to Blackboard Ultra, then do contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.  

Blackboard Ultra: Wiki Alternatives Overview

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Blackboard Wikis, Ultra 1 Comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

This blogpost outlines the solutions that the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit are working on for Wiki activities. Once these solutions have been tried and tested, we will work on providing guidance for colleagues.

Background

Wikis are a collaborative tool used for a number of assessed and unassessed activities at Aberystwyth University.

The tool is not currently available in Blackboard Ultra (despite our enhancement requests) and is not on Blackboard’s roadmap of development.

The unavailability of the Wiki tool has been included in all parts of the decision-making process to highlight it as a risk in the move to Blackboard Ultra.

In their very nature wikis are collaborative giving students the opportunity to contribute as part of a group. Students can produce media rich resources linking to external content, videos, and images. The content can be arranged over a number of pages, with a structure pre-given by the tutor.

This blogpost outlines a number of options for Wiki equivalences. The options are listed in order of LTEU preference.

Read More

Blackboard Ultra: Directors of Learning and Teaching Consultations

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

On 1 and 2 March, LTEU met with Departmental Directors of Learning and Teaching to update on the Blackboard Ultra project and discuss our plans for training, ways in which we can address challenges, and the support required for the Ultra project.

The slides from the session can be downloaded from this link.

DLT consultationDownload

The slides include an update on the project timeline, what academic colleagues will have to do, and an overview of our training approach.

Summary of discussions

  • Support contact – if you are having any difficulties with using e-learning tools then do contact elearning@aber.ac.uk and we will be happy to help you out.
  • Adding Reading List and Panopto Link – Staff members will have to add links to these in their modules. There is currently no way of doing this automatically, but we will continue to investigate ways of doing so.
  • Departments will be able to choose whether they have an in-person training session or an online training session.
  • LTEU will continue training on using Ultra over the summer and into the new academic year
  • Academic colleagues will be able to access and copy materials from historical modules – the current retention period is 5 years + current year.
  • Where possible, colleagues should use Blackboard text editor features to ensure that their content is as accessible as possible.
  • A checklist will be produced so that colleagues can check that they’ve done everything required in building their modules.
  • Colleagues would like a consistent message from Information Services about the project.
  • Training sessions will be offered to all Registry teams as well as external examiners and franchise campuses.
  • Communications and approach will include the benefits of the move to Ultra and a list of new features.
  • Where possible, video materials will be created.

If you have any questions, concerns, or want to speak to us about something specific in your course, then contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Ultra Practice Courses created

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Training and Support, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

Now that the templates have been confirmed we have created an individual Ultra Practice Course for all staff members.

This practice course is private to you and has no students enrolled on it. You can use this course to create content and try out the new Ultra course interface.

You will find your practice course by going to Organisations on the left-hand side menu:

Ultra Base Navigation with Organisations showing

The course has been created with the bilingual AU course template. For further information on course templates, see our previous blogpost. They will be named your name Cwrs Ymarfer Ultra / Ultra Practice Course.  

To help prepare you for Ultra courses next academic year, try the following:

  1. Create an announcement
  2. Create a folder to organise material
  3. Create / upload a document
  4. Post a link to a website
  5. Copy material from one of your modules into your Ultra practice course

You’ll notice that you can drag and drop content much more easily in Ultra.  Additionally, you can choose where you add content (without newly created content defaulting to the bottom of the page).

As Ultra is much more fluid than Blackboard original, your approach to content organisation is essential to help students navigate the module. Make sure that you use the preview features so that you can get an idea of how the content looks to students:

Participant Preview button

It might be that you want to discuss content organisation with colleagues to see if there’s departmental approach that you want to take.

We will be using these practice organisations for training purposes over the coming months. Keep an eye on our blog and webpages for additional information as further guidance is produced.

We’ll be blogging additional tasks over the coming months for you to try in your Ultra practice course. In our next blogpost of this nature, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the Grade Book, Assignments, Turnitin, and Blackboard tests.

If you’ve got any questions about the move to Blackboard Ultra, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Blackboard Ultra Course Template Confirmed

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit has been working to confirm the templates that will be used in new Ultra courses.

Unlike previous years, there will no longer be departmental templates. Following the decision by Academic Enhancement Committee and consultation with Associate Deans of Welsh-Medium Academic Provision, 3 templates have been created for Ultra:

  • Welsh template
  • English template
  • Bilingual template

The template that your course will have is determined on the language of delivery for the module recorded in AStRA.

Courses with language delivery of 100 Welsh will be created with a Welsh template. Courses with NULL or 0 will have an English template. If the score is between 1 and 99, a bilingual template will be used. Unlike Blackboard Original Menus, the course templates can be edited by instructors.

The course content template is comprised of 3 folders:

  • Gwybodaeth am y Modiwl / Module Information
  • Asesu ac Adborth / Assessment and Feedback
  • Arholwyr Allanol / External Examiners (hidden)

An image of the bilingual template is below:

template

The next stage in our Ultra Project is to create practice organisations for all staff. These organisations will be a space where you can look at Ultra functionality and copy course content from existing modules. We will also be making use of these practice organisations in our staff training programme that will be communicated with you over the coming months.

If you have any questions about the Ultra project, then please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Blackboard Ultra Project Update

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

It’s been a little while since we updated you on what we’ve been up to with Blackboard Ultra since we launched Ultra Base Navigation at the beginning of January.

We’ve been working with our colleagues at Blackboard to help finalise our course template. Unlike previous years, we’ll be having one course template for all modules and all modules in 2023 will be created blank to assist with the move to Ultra.

We’ve updated our Required Minimum Presence for Blackboard which is going to the Academic Enhancement Committee for approval and feedback. We’ve also been exploring how Welsh and English templates will work together in Ultra. Once we’ve got the template and RMP agreed, we’ll start the process of creating your Ultra Practice Courses so that you can see what Ultra will look like and begin to start thinking about your teaching ready for September 2023.

Our outreach work will continue at the start of next month as we will host focus groups with Departmental Directors of Learning and Teaching and Associate Deans for Learning and Teaching to start discussing what types of training you will require and how best to help you with the Ultra course rollout.

From a technical perspective, we’ve been looking into ways in which Panopto folders will provision with Ultra courses as well as Talis Aspire reading lists.

As part of our work with Blackboard, they have provided us a with a course readiness report which helps us to identify how prepared we currently are for Ultra courses. We’ve started exploring Wiki and Blog equivalences for those of you who currently use these tools in teaching, as well as Blackboard Test question equivalences for those questions that aren’t available in Ultra.

We will be updating our webpages with additional support and guidance materials as we go. If you have got any questions about our move to Ultra Courses then you are welcome to contact us (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Blackboard UBN

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment

Blackboard Ultra icon

It’s been about a week since we moved to Blackboard UBN. Here are some answers to some of the questions that staff and students have asked us. You may find your question answered here (or in our How do I get started with Ultra Base Navigation FAQ). If not, you can email us.

1. Where is my departmental information site / training module? If you are looking for a Blackboard site that isn’t linked to a taught AU module, have a look on the Organisations page. You’ll probably find the course you are looking for here.
2. How are the courses organized on the Course page? They are listed by academic year, and then alphabetically by module title. You may find it easier to find your courses by using one of the following:
a. Search box – you can search by module name or module code.
b. Favourite – use the favourite (star) icon to pin the courses you use regularly at the top of your list.
c. Filter. This is particularly useful for staff who are Instructors on some modules and have other roles in other modules. Choosing Course I teach will show you all your Instructor courses.
d. Change the academic year. You can limit your view to just the current academic year by changing Courses to Cyrsiau 2022-23 Courses.
3. My course menu was a different colour / design – can I change it back? No, this is no longer available. Once we move to Ultra courses there will be no course menu.
4. How do I change the picture displayed? Have a look at the Blackboard guidance (follow from bullet point 3).
5. Why am I getting an error message when I go to Blackboard? Make sure that you go directly to https://blackboard.aber.ac.uk. Don’t use a link or bookmark.
6. The Activity Stream says I have overdue assignments? In some courses there may be submission points for extensions, groups etc that aren’t relevant to you. These will show in the Activity Search. If you aren’t sure if a submission is for you, go back into the course and check you have no assignment submissions outstanding.
7. My course or Organisation says Private on it; what does this mean? It means that the course isn’t available to students. If you no longer need this course, please let us know and we can remove the course.

Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation: Work Complete

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

Ultra Base Navigation is now enabled on Blackboard. 

Next time you log onto Blackboard, you will be greeted with a new interface. 

Please consult our FAQ on how to use Ultra Base Navigation. 

Whilst the look and feel of Blackboard has changed, course functionality and content remain the same. 

If you have bookmarked or created links to pages within Blackboard these might need updating. Any links directly to the address https://blackboard.aber.ac.uk/ will still work.    

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit will now start work preparing for Ultra Courses, ready for Semester 1, 2023. 

Our Ultra webpages and FAQs will be updated as the project progresses.   If you have any questions, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).  

Important Information: Blackboard Ultra

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, Technical Updates, Ultra Leave a comment
Blackboard Ultra icon

In our previous blogpost, we announced our move to Blackboard Ultra.

Following the meeting of Academic Board, we can confirm that Phase 1 of the Ultra project, Ultra Base Navigation (UBN), will take place between 3 and 6 January 2023.

During this time, you will notice changes to the landing pages of Blackboard. Whilst UBN offers a new feel to Blackboard, course functionality and content will remain the same. We aim to maintain user access to Blackboard throughout this time, but it should be considered at risk for this period.

Further updates about UBN will follow to help prepare staff and students for this change to the landing page.

Once Phase 1 is complete, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit will move to Phase 2, preparing for Ultra Courses in September 2023.

We are blogging throughout the project and key messages will be communicated via the Weekly Bulletin and IS news.

We will provide FAQs and have a dedicated webpage which will develop as the project progresses.

If you have any questions, please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).