The project to upgrade Blackboard (the University’s online learning platform) to the latest version – Blackboard Ultra – is now complete: all Organisations and 2024/25 Blackboard Courses are available on the Ultra platform, providing students and staff with a modern and accessible Virtual Learning Environment with a series of feature benefits and improvements.
TEL & DTS would like to thank all academic and professional colleagues for all their hard work in making this project a success and getting Organisations and Courses ready in time for the start of the new Semester. We’d like to say a special thank you to:
- our teaching and administrative Ultra Champions for sharing their early experiences of Ultra and supporting colleagues in Schools with their transition;
- S/DTLs and Programme Directors for helping manage the move with us and coordinate bespoke staff development and communications;
- members of our TEL Practitioner Forum for their valuable feedback throughout the project,
- early adopters of the course template for sharing their Ultra Courses and planning process to help others.
Ultra Courses: University course template
All Courses now follow an institutionally agreed template (with some School specific additions) to provide a more consistent experience to students that helps usability, accessibility and online engagement. For ease, guidance for staff on using the template appears in each Ultra Course.
Ultra Organisations
One of the project’s aims was to rationalise and refocus Organisations (non-module-related courses). There are now 243 active Organisations (down from 848). This work included the introduction of a consistent approach to providing School & Department level information.
The project in numbers
Our dedicated staff development to support colleagues with their transition to Blackboard Ultra Courses started in February 2024. Data shows the following engagement to date:
Our most popular session was the ‘Ultra Essential: Plan & build your 24/25 Course’ session with 773 places filled.
Colleagues indicated a substantial increase in confidence after attending staff development, and 94% evaluated their training experience as excellent or good.
You also created over 850 Ultra Practice Courses to try out and play with Ultra for yourselves, and made good use of the new TEL support site for staff and session companion webpages.
What’s next?
The project team is currently working on evaluating the Ultra implementation and its use across the University. While the full assessment is still underway, we look forward to sharing more detailed insights and outcomes soon.
Continued support for staff and students
TEL staff development, guidance and regular communications provide on-going support for staff and students using Blackboard Ultra, including colleagues preparing Ultra Courses for Semester 2:
Staff
- TEL staff development programme
- TEL/Blackboard Help for Staff site
- Monthly Ultra features update (via email and on the TEL Blog)
- Ultra solutions for Blackboard Original activities [Blog post link coming soon!]
Students
If you have any queries about using Ultra, please log via the DTS Self-Service Portal or email DTS.
Thanks to everyone involved in the project who has helped ensure a smooth transition to Blackboard Ultra.