Assessment

Instructional technologies provide many opportunities to support assessment and track student performance in Blackboard.

The following articles provide details describing the best practices we regularly publish to support our pedagogical community of practice.

 

Showing items tagged ultra-update. Show All

Synchronize Bb groups in Collab breakout groups coming soon!

Maintain student learning between course & live sessions

Breakout groups are a powerful engagement tool for active learning in a synchronous session, providing private audio, video, whiteboard, application sharing, and chat for small group...

Posted: September 7, 2021, 11:59 AM

More UMBC students like Ultra and want Ultra courses

86% of UMBC students express satisfaction with Ultra

In a survey of 608 students taking Ultra courses during the SP2021 semester, 86% indicated satisfaction with Ultra, marking a 14% increase compared to the last survey in FA2019. Students again...

Posted: August 19, 2021, 9:04 AM

Enhanced whiteboard tools coming to Collaborate in August

Draw freehand customize text & retain session annotations

A whiteboard is an important pedagogical tool to support handwritten expression and annotation, especially in a virtual classroom. Over the last year, Blackboard has been redesigning the...

Posted: August 2, 2021, 10:30 AM

Gradebook filters, progress tracking, badges ready for Ultra

New course navigation & other enhancements coming in August

This upcoming FA2021 semester features new development in the Ultra gradebook, starting with gradebook filters. This function allows faculty to view data and content in the gradebook by multiple...

Posted: July 27, 2021, 8:50 AM

Groups & gradebook enhancements planned for Ultra in July

Improved functionality for groups support larger enrollments

The groups tool in Ultra has been redesigned for the July update to improve overall performance, particularly for large courses. This redesign includes functionality to make it easier to find...

Posted: June 25, 2021, 9:18 AM

June update supports written feedback via Ultra rubric rows

Also coming: Record short audio/video course announcements

6/5 update: The June release is delayed. As soon as we have more information, we will post it. 7/1 update: The June release was rolled into the July update. Rubrics can be an essential tool for...

Posted: May 13, 2021, 1:44 PM

Faculty prioritize grading & assessments for Ultra’s future

About 76% of current & planned Ultra aligns with Original

When Ultra was first introduced at UMBC in SP2018, four adventurous faculty opted to use a newly redesigned Blackboard course interface in their courses. Ultra represented a new phase of...

Posted: May 11, 2021, 11:27 AM

Coming Soon: Pinning Videos & Student Gallery View in Collab

Choose who you want to focus on during synchronous sessions

UPDATE: Following the introduction of gallery view to faculty in April 2021, we are pleased to announce that students and participants will also have access to 25 videos per page with the May...

Posted: May 5, 2021, 11:07 AM

Finalize Ultra gradebooks with new drop grades function

Much needed feature finally arrives to Ultra courses in May

An easier way to drop multiple grades from a category in the final grade calculation has been a frequent request from Ultra faculty for the Ultra course gradebook. With the May release, just in...

Posted: April 21, 2021, 10:12 AM

Group content release, peer assessment coming to Ultra

Frequently requested features available in April

In early April, a frequently requested feature finally comes to Ultra courses. Conditional release of content to groups or individual students allows faculty to create remedial paths to certain...

Posted: March 29, 2021, 10:57 AM