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Category: Ultra
What’s New in Blackboard November 2024
The November Blackboard Update includes improvements to printing Tests, Documents and Batch Editing.
Print Tests with questions from Question Pools
Related Blackboard Help topic: Question Pools
Instructors can now print tests that include questions from Question Pools. An answer key will also be printed with the corresponding test. This ensures that Instructors always have an answer key that matches the test. Blackboard generates the answer key and prints it ahead of the test. The answer key is also clearly labelled to ensure awareness.
The system generates a different version of the answer key and test each time a test is printed when the test:
- Randomizes questions or answer options
- Includes Question Pools
- Instructors can use the print option to save the answer key and test as a PDF.
Image 1. Printing a test
Improvement to Resizing Blocks in Documents
Related Blackboard Help Topic: Create Documents
To help with resizing blocks that are vertically tall, Blackboard have modified the resize handle. Now, instructors can resize a block by selecting the vertical edge of a block. It is not necessary to place the mouse directly over the handle.
Image 1. Resize handle in a Document
For more information on Blackboard Documents see our previous blogpost on Enhancements to Blackboard Documents.
Batch Edit: Usability Improvement
Related Blackboard Help Topic: Batch Edit
“Change dates to a specific date and/or time” is the most popular option used in Batch Edit to change dates in a batch, so it is now the default option. This change simplifies the process for users and helps instructors to prepare courses for teaching and learning even faster.
Image 1. Edit Dates option in Batch Edit
What’s New in Blackboard October 2024
The October Blackboard Update includes generating question banks from course materials and more customisation options for email notifications.
Generate question banks from course materials
Related Blackboard Guidance Topic: Question Banks
Creating questions is time consuming. Instructors now have the option to generate questions in a question bank. Generating question banks from course materials provides inspiration and saves time.
To generate a question bank, select the Auto-generate option from the + on the Question Banks page.
Image 1. Auto-generate a question bank
From the menu, instructors can select content items. These content items provide context for the questions. Instructors can further refine the questions they ask by entering a description of the learning objectives or topic.
Image 2. The context picker for creating new questions
Instructors can select the type of question to generate, such as multiple choice or fill in the blank. The complexity of the questions can also be adjusted. Instructors choose which questions to include in the question bank.
Image 3. The Auto-Generate Question Bank page
Email notifications for followed discussions
Related Blackboard Guidance Topic: Discussions
To encourage participation in discussions, Blackboard have expanded notifications to include email. Emails are sent when users opt for Email me right away notifications.
Key Enhancements:
User Notification Settings: New notification options allow users to manage their emails for discussions they follow. To help with consistency, these settings align with the user’s settings for their activity stream.
- Activity on my responses
- Activity on responses I have replied to
- Responses from instructors
- Responses for followed discussions
- Replies for followed discussions
How to access your Email notification settings:
- In Blackboard go into your Profile
- Under Global Notification Settings click on Email notifications
Email notifications highlighted under Global Notification settings
- Adjust your settings as you prefer
Image 2. An example of an email for discussion activity
What’s New in Blackboard September 2024
The September Blackboard update includes enhancements to the Course Content Page, introduces Knowledge Checks in Documents, changes to assessments, feedback & grades hidden using Release Conditions, and an Overview tab in the Grade book to aid grading.
Course Content Page enhancements
The September update to Blackboard sees enhancements to the course content page.
The enhancements include:
- Greater visual depth
- Changed Content Page layout
- Differentiation among course elements
Greater visual depth
The new design incorporates:
- Subtle gradients and softer edges
- A more cohesive colour palette with inviting, warmer tones
- More intuitive navigation, which reduces cognitive load and increases focus on the content
Image 1. Instructor view: Course Content page visual depth improvements
Image 2. Student view: Course Content page visual depth improvements
Welcome to new staff joining Aberystwyth University
We’re the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit. Based in Information Services, we work with staff across the university to support and develop learning and teaching. We run a wide range of activities to do this.
All the information that you need is on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit webpages. Our Supporting your Teaching webpages will help you with various teaching solutions.
We write a blog full of the latest updates, details on events and training sessions, and resources.
If you need to get in touch with us, you can do so using one of two email addresses:
- lteu@aber.ac.uk (for pedagogical and design questions, or to arrange a consultation) or
- elearning@aber.ac.uk (for technical queries regarding our e-learning tools listed below).
Introduction to E-learning Tools
Virtual Learning Environment: Blackboard
Each module has its own dedicated course in Blackboard. These courses contain online content, such as reading lists, and teaching staff details. This is the main point of information for your students for any given module, including access to lecture recordings and assignment submission. The University has a Blackboard Required Minimum Presence policy for all modules. Please see our staff guide for further information.
Lecture Capture: Panopto
When teaching in person, be aware that all lectures (that is, teaching where the focus is on information being transmitted from staff to students) should be recorded using Panopto, our Lecture Capture software. See details of our Lecture Capture Policy.
E-submission: Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment
At Aberystwyth University, students must submit all text-based and word-processed work electronically as outlined in the University’s E-submission policy. For this, we use our e-submission tools: Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment. Turnitin provides an automatic text matching functionality.
Polling tool: Vevox
Vevox is Aberystwyth University’s polling tool. Polling can be used in learning and teaching activities as well as meetings to make the session interactive and collaborative with many different possibilities for use.
Resources and further help
We have a number of Guides and FAQs to help you use our software.
Training Provision
To support all staff with their teaching, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a series of training sessions. These include:
- practical sessions to familiarise staff with the different elements of the VLE,
- the Active Learning agenda,
- assessment and feedback,
- accessibility,
- presentation skills, and more.
- artificial intelligence
We also offer a range of events and training programmes. You can find details of our annual CPD programme and book your place to attend via our Book a Course page. We deliver some sessions ourselves, while others are delivered by university staff whose teaching features good practice in those areas. Look for (L&T) in the session title.
Events
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit runs a range of events, including the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Mini-Conferences, Mini-Fests, and Academy Forums. All of these are great opportunities to meet people from across the university and discuss Learning and Teaching issues and developments.
Programmes
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit also runs programmes to support your continued professional development. This includes the Teaching for Postgraduates at Aberystwyth University (TPAU) programme, and the Master’s level Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE), and a Fellowship (ARCHE) Scheme.
What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – August 2024
The August Blackboard Learn Ultra update includes enhancements to Ultra Documents, Forms, Release Conditions and Discussions.
Enhancements to Blackboard Learn Ultra Documents
The Blackboard Learn Ultra August update included enhancements to the creating and editing functionality of Blackboard Learn Ultra Documents.
For those unfamiliar with Documents, they are an easy way to create content in Ultra, ensuring compatibility with mobile devices and Blackboard Ally. As this update to Documents is a significant change to content organisation, we have written a separate blog post which can be found here.
Anonymous student responses for Forms
Anonymous responses in forms encourage honest and candid feedback from students and help participants feel safe and secure knowing their identities are protected. Anonymity leads to more genuine responses that convey the respondents’ true opinions and experiences. Additionally, it increases participation rates and the overall quality of the results.
Instructors can now collect anonymous submissions in Forms. The new Anonymous submissions option appears in the Grading & Submissions section of Form Settings.
Image 1. Anonymous submissions option
When you select Anonymous submissions, these settings are enabled by default:
- Due date
- Prohibit late submissions
- Prohibit new attempts after due date
- Complete/incomplete is selected as the grading schema for non-graded forms
- When grading, the submission earns the points assigned; you can’t edit or override the points earned
Additional important details to note:
- Anonymous forms cannot be administered to groups.
- Class conversations are not supported when Anonymous submissions is selected.
- To ensure anonymity, student activity, exceptions, exemptions and accommodations are not supported.
- To ensure anonymity, student progress/statistics are not captured.
- Modifications to form questions and settings are not permitted if the form has submissions and the due date has passed.
From the Submissions tab for a form, you can view an anonymized list of students participants along with this information and options:
- Student submission status
- Grading status and grade – At submission, the grading status is set to Complete and the grade is marked (for example., 5/5)
- Post — Graded forms post automatically
- Download all – You can download all form submissions
To view responses, select an anonymous student from the list. You can enter overall feedback for their submission.
- For ungraded forms, the text “Submitted” or “Not submitted”
- For graded forms, the grade
From the Gradebook, before the due date for an anonymous form, “Anonymous” appears in the cell for each student. After the due date, the cells display:
From the Grades tab, you can select Download Gradebook to download responses to forms with anonymous submissions.
Blackboard has taken care to ensure students know when their submission to a form is anonymous. The Anonymous icon and label appears on:
- the Content Page
- the Form panel where they start the attempt and view their submission
- the Details & Information section that appears while responding to the form
Image 2. The Student view of the Anonymous label and icon for a form
Improvements to creating assignments (not Turnitin)
Instructors need robust, easy to use tools when creating their assessments.
To create a better experience, the new Assignment page includes these improvements:
- A new Instructions box where instructors can use the full content editor to craft assignment instructions.
- There are no options to add questions to an assignment.
- The Settings panel now includes only options relevant to assignments.
- Blank attempts are no longer created when students view assignment instructions. The system only creates an attempt when students add content to the file drop zone / content editor. Note: Group or timed and proctored assignments continue to create attempts when students view the instructions.
Image 1. Instructor view of the New Assignment page with the new Instructions box
Image 2. Instructor view of adding instructions to an assignment
Image 3. Students view of the new Assignment Information panel and the View Instructions option
Image 4. Student view of the assignment instructions
Multiple rules for release conditions
Instructors need to release course content based on performance criteria to sequence students on learning paths correctly. Sometimes they also need to release content to different groups using different criteria. To support this needed flexibility, instructors can now create multiple rules for release conditions.
You can create rules for release conditions based on these criteria: date, time, and grade range performance criteria. You can also create rules for specific individual learners, groups, or for all members.
Image 1. The new Release Conditions page
Ability to ‘Follow’ Discussions for Enhanced Engagement
Discussions are an important part of the course experience, allowing for easy collaboration between all course members. The ability to engage and re-engage with discussions ensures that collaboration is active and lively. Users can re-engage when they know there are new posts by following the discussion.
Key Enhancements:
- Follow Discussions: Users can follow select discussions and receive notifications for new contributions from peers or instructors.
- User Notification Settings: New notification options for the Activity Stream settings allow users to manage notification types for discussions:
- Activity on my responses
- Activity on responses I have replied to
- Responses from instructors
- Responses for followed discussions
- Replies for followed discussions
Image 1. New ‘Follow’ option inside a discussion
Image 2. New user notification options for the Activity Stream
Image 3. Notifications being delivered to the Activity Stream
Merging Courses 2024-25
Now that the 2024-25 modules are available to teaching staff, we can link them together at the module co-ordinator’s request. This process is called merging courses (previously known as parent-childing) and works with courses in Blackboard Ultra. Linking courses together is an effective way of dealing with separate courses with the same content so you don’t have to upload materials to two or more different courses.
This process makes one course the Primary (previously parent), whilst the other course(s) becomes Secondary (previously child). There’s no limit on how many secondary courses you can make but there can only be one primary.
If you’d like to merge any courses, we invite module coordinators to contact elearning@aber.ac.uk
indicating the module codes for the primary and every secondary course.
Examples from Aberystwyth
Many members of staff are currently using the merge course facility across the institution. Some examples are:
- Modules are taught the same content but there’s a module available for different years.
- Modules that bring together different degree schemes and have different module IDs, e.g. dissertation modules.
Essentially, any module/course that shares the same content is ideal for Merging courses.
What do students see?
Students will see the name of the course that they are enrolled on (even if it’s the secondary course) when they log into Blackboard but they will see all the content placed in the primary course. Instructors will not be able to place content in the secondary course.
Things to consider
Now, before the start of term and whilst course content is being built, is the perfect time for linking your courses. Whilst the linking of courses does save time in the loading of materials, here are some points to consider:
- All content can be viewed as soon as the courses are merged (as long as students are enrolled on the course). In addition to PowerPoints and lecture materials, this also includes Announcements and other interactive tools on your primary course.
- Historical student interactions on a secondary course (such as using blogs or posting in discussion boards) won’t be available once the courses have been merged.
- Any submission points created on a secondary module before the merge takes place will no longer be able to be viewed. We would advise creating these again in the primary course.
How do I control content so that it is only viewable to a module cohort?
Whilst all content is automatically visible once the courses are merged, you can use groups and adaptive release if you only want the content to be visible to a specific module cohort. This might be useful, for example, if you have merged a 2nd year and 3rd year course but your students on the different courses have separate assignments. You can use groups – 1 for the 2nd year students and one for 3rd year students and limit who can see the assignment information and submission point. See our guidance on Creating Groups and Release Conditions (previously ‘adaptive relesease’ in Blackboard Original).
Merging Courses and the Grade Book
Once the merging takes place, all students will appear in the Grade Book of the primary course. You can, however, determine whether they are enrolled on the parent course as this information displays against the student in the Grade Book columns.
If you’d like further information on this process or have any questions, please contact us on elearning@aber.ac.uk.
What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – June 2024
Printing for Assessments (Tests)
Instructors can now print assessments. Printing provides a convenient solution for a variety of use cases:
- Accommodating students with specific needs or limited technology access
- Providing a printed assessment for testing in designated locations
- Backup and record keeping
- Conducting offline assessment
- Documentation and compliance
- Maintaining security and integrity
The print option is available in Forms, Tests, and Assignments with questions. Printing also provides the option to save as PDF.
To print an assessment, from Content and Settings, select Print.
Note: Blackboard plan to support printing answer keys and question pools in upcoming releases.
Image below: Print option from a test
Image below: Select desired print options
Filter out graded responses when grading by question
The Needs Grading filter now filters out graded student responses by default. Filtering this way helps instructors to focus on any remaining ungraded responses for a given question. It also provides instructors with an improved view of their outstanding grading workload. If instructors want to include graded responses, they can select Show graded responses. This selection preference is now stored per course and it persists across assessments in each course.
Image below: Grading by question option with the grading status of Needs Grading filter selected
Image below: Grading by question view with the grading status filter of Needs Grading and Show graded responses options selected
Post immediately when creating announcements
Instructors can now post announcements as part of the drafting and editing processes. This makes the process of creating and posting announcements simpler.
Instructors can still post from the announcements page.
Image below: When creating or editing an announcement, there is now an option to post
Blackboard Learn Ultra Courses 2024-25
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course Creation for 2024-25 will take place on Monday 3 June this year. After this date instructors will be able to add content and customise their new courses.
Courses will contain the default template which includes leaning modules for Module Information, Assessment and Feedback and External Examiners. Content from previous years will not be copied over automatically.
We have made some improvements to the default course template based upon staff and student feedback and also enabled the AI Design Assistant.
For general help using Blackboard Learn please see our Blackboard Ultra guide for staff.
Accessing 2024-25 Courses
Instructors can access their 2024-25 courses by using the Terms filter dropdown menu on the Courses page and selecting Cyrsiau 2024-25 Courses. Courses under 2024-25 will move to the default Courses page on 1 September.
Learning Modules
The Module Information, Assessment and Feedback and External Examiners areas remain, but are now learning modules rather than folders. Learning modules have all the functionality of folders in terms of how content is added and accessed but are more visually appealing and are easier to navigate, especially from a student’s perspective.
Learning modules each have a default image, but we encourage instructors to choose a more relevant and meaningful image for their learning modules. Adding an image to a learning module provides a visual identity to a course and helps students locate the learning module. Instructions on how to customise learning modules appearance can be found in this section of the Blackboard help page for Learning Modules.
Content can be added to learning modules in the same way as folders; by expanding them and clicking the plus symbol. Create, Copy Content and Upload options remain unchanged.
All the usual hidden/visible and release conditions settings are also available.
Instructors can continue to use folders if they wish, or they may wish to create additional learning modules and copy existing content into them from folders. The options to add additional learning modules and folders can be found by clicking the plus symbol and Create.
Please note that Learning Modules can only be added to the landing page of Content and not within folders.
For more information on learning modules see the Blackboard help page on Learning Modules.
Class Register
The class register is now hidden from students. They can still see staff on the course under Course Staff, but they can no longer see the other students of the course. You are welcome to make the Class Register visible again if you like.
Progress Tracking
Progress tracking is now enabled by default for students. Progress tracking gives students an easy wat to keep track of what they have done in the course.
Additionally, on the Student Overview page Instructors can access the Progress tab for each Student which tracks progress in a course. You can see completed and uncompleted tasks for each Student. For more information see the Blackboard help page on Progress Tracking.
AI Design Assistant
Context and Guidance Principles
Anthology, the vendor of Blackboard Learn, have added AI tools to Blackboard as part of their ‘AI Design Assistant’. Anthology’s approach is to empower staff to use AI to “promote authentic assessment, engaging learning experiences and academic integrity, while also providing efficiency for educators and improved outcomes for students as a result.”
Anthology have published their Trustworthy AI Approach, with the key principles being:
- Fairness: Minimizing harmful bias in AI systems.
- Reliability: Taking measures to ensure the output of AI systems is valid and reliable.
- Humans in Control: Ensuring humans ultimately make decisions that have legal or otherwise significant impact.
- Transparency and Explainability: Explaining to users when AI systems are used, how the AI systems work, and help users interpret and appropriately use the output of the AI systems.
- Privacy, Security and Safety: AI systems should be secure, safe, and privacy friendly.
- Value alignment: AI systems should be aligned to human values, in particular those of our clients and users.
- Accountability: Ensuring there is clear accountability regarding the trustworthy use of AI systems within Anthology as well as between Anthology, its clients, and its providers of AI systems.
If Instructors opt to make use of the AI Design Assistant, we recommend:
1. Generating and checking content
AI-generated content is never automatically added to a course. It will not be released to students without instructors making that decision. Instructors will always need to approve content before it is made available to students.
Instructors can always review and change AI-generated content. For example, if an instructor generates Test questions, it is likely some will not be useful. The instructor should choose what they would like to use and edit them as needed. It is important for instructors to ensure everything generated by AI is checked before it is added to a course and made available to students.
2. Consider adding a Use of Artificial Intelligence statement to a course
In line with University artificial intelligence guidance, if content is substantially generated using an AI tool, this should be declared clearly to the students. A statement on the use of artificial intelligence in a Blackboard Learn course can be added in the Module Information learning module area using the Document feature.
AI Design Assistant Tools
The following tools are available to Instructors on courses.
Generate Learning Modules
This feature allows a course structure to be created using learning modules based on the name of the course and any additional information that has been provided. Learning modules are akin to folders.
The AI Design Assistant can generate one or more learning modules which will consist of a title, an image, and a description. For further information see the section on course structure suggestions on the AI Design Assistant help page.
Generate Test Questions & Question Banks
This feature generates test questions and question banks based on the content that is included in the course. Instructors can specify the level and the types of questions that are asked. The complexity and question type can be adjusted. For further information see the section on test question generation on the AI Design Assistant help page.
Generate Keywords for Unsplash
Unsplash is a copyright free image library accessible from within Blackboard. The AI tool will generate relevant keywords based upon the course name and content with which to search Unsplash.
Generate Journals
Based on course name and content, journal activities are proposed and created. For further information see the section on journal generation on the AI Design Assistant help page.
Generate Discussions
Based on course name and content, discussion activities are proposed and can be created. For further information see the section on how to auto-generate discussions on the AI Design Assistant help page.
Generate Assignments
The assignment generator will create prompts for assignments, using Bloom’s taxonomy to include different levels of complexity. This complexity can be adjusted. This only applies to the inbuilt Blackboard assignment tool and not Turnitin. For further information see the section on assignment prompt generation on the AI Design Assistant Help Page.
Note: The Blackboard AI Design Assistant does have a Rubric generator and an AI image Generator which we have not enabled.
For further information on the AI Design Assistant see Blackboard Help and our University webpages.
What’s New in Blackboard Learn Ultra May 2024
Please find below some of the latest enhancements from the May update of Blackboard Learn Ultra that the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit would like to highlight to Instructors.
- Supporting multiple performance criteria in release conditions
- Add question feedback when grading a test by question
- Improved Gradebook navigation
- Proportionally and Equally weighted column calculations
Supporting multiple performance criteria in release conditions
Release conditions determine when students can view course content. Release conditions are on the content’s visibility setting on the course content page. Currently, you can set:
- Which course members or groups have access;
- When the course content is accessible, visible, and hidden;
- When student performance is necessary for completing an assignment or scoring.
Instructors can now set more than one performance criteria per content item.
Image below: Release condition panel with additional performance criteria selected.
Add question feedback when grading a test by question
When grading by student or by question, Instructors can now provide contextual feedback and can add this feedback to all question types. Question level feedback promotes deeper understanding and personal growth among students while also enhancing both overall submission feedback and automated feedback for auto-graded questions.
Image below: Instructor view of adding per-question feedback when grading by question.
Image below: Instructor view of question with saved feedback.
After scores are posted, students can access their feedback in the Gradebook. Students can access both overall feedback and question-specific feedback.
Image below: Student view of feedback added to an essay question.
Improved Gradebook navigation
To create a more intuitive navigation, Blackboard have replaced the grid and list view buttons with text links. The options are now:
- Gradable Items
- Grades (grid view)
- Students
The Gradebook will remember the last view you used in each course.
Image below: Instructor view of the new gradebook navigation menu
Proportionally and Equally weighted column calculations
Instructors have diverse grade calculation needs. Some instructors use weighted calculations to help with aggregating calculations like midterm or final grades.
Now instructors can assign equal weights to items in the same categories. The chosen calculation method, whether proportional or equal, applies to all categories. In the past, weighted items in the same category had proportional weights. These weighted items were based on the possible points of each item.
To better understand student performance, some instructors use drop rules to remove outliers. Because it’s important to know the weighting method when managing these settings, Blackboard now displays the instructor’s chosen weighting option in the calculation rules panel.
Image below: Instructor view of the new Proportionally weighted calculation options.
Image below: Instructor view of the new proportional weighted calculation option. Instructors can see what percentage each item in the category contributes to the overall category weighting.
Image below: Instructor view of the equally weighted calculation option; Instructors are informed of the equal percentage that items count towards the overall category weighting.
Image below. Instructor view of the updated Edit calculation rule panel confirming the selected category weighting option.
