Blackboard Ultra Course View

Coming Soon

UofL is migrating to Blackboard Ultra Course View in phased approach spanning over the next 20 months, with full migration expected by fall 2024.

Now is the time. We invite instructors to transition their next semester's course to Blackboard Ultra Course View, with the help of the Instructional Design and Blackboard teams. Instructor feedback will help inform our broader campus-wide roll out of Blackboard Ultra Course View.

Instructors are encouraged to review the Ultra/Original Comparison to confirm the course tools they are available in Ultra and submits a request form for an Ultra course for the next semester

The Ultra Course View is Blackboard's more modern, accessible and mobile-friendly course experience. A few highlights of Ultra Course View include:

• Mobile-friendly. Ultra Course View adapts to the size of the user's screens whether they view courses on a mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer. Users can access their courses from anywhere, on their time.
• Simplified workflows. The system walks you through the process of adding assignments, discussions, links, and external content. Other common tasks, such as grading and sending messages, are simplified in the Ultra Course View
• Improved navigation. No need to dig for course tools. At the top of your screen, you will find contents, events, discussions, grades and messages, no matter where you are in the course.
• Learning Analytics. Support student retention and drive student success with embedded predictive analytics that alert both you and your students when to take action.

Why do we need to transition to Blackboard Ultra Course View?

The Original Course View has not changed significantly since it was first adopted at UofL in 2001, and a lot has changed changed for web-based tools since then. In addition, while Blackboard has committed to supporting the Original Course View, there is no guarantee as to how long it will be available. UofL needs to plan ahead to provide ample time for faculty to prepare for the transition.

Blackboard Ultra Course View was introduced in 2016, and Delphi trialed Ultra Course View in 2018 with 2 course determining it was not ready. Delphi has been monitoring and evaluating Ultra Course View's evolution and feels confident the platform has reached a level of dependability and is now ready to be rolled out to fully support out students and instructors.

What is the migration timeline?

Instructors will retain access to past Original View Course, per the University of Louisville Course Sites and Course Content Retention Procedure, as a source of material for copying into Ultra Courses and for record-keeping purposes.

For further questions, please contact UofL's Blackboard Support