Ultra and Original Feature Comparison

This document captures some of the primary differences between Blackboard Ultra and Original Course view. It is focused on features that have historically been available to Syracuse University instructors in Original Course View, but have changed, been removed, or are incomplete in Ultra Course View.

Table of Contents

1 New Features
2 Changed Tools
3 Limitations
4 Removed Tools

New Features

The following features highlight some of the most important improvements provided by Ultra Course View.

You can now add a discussion anywhere you like in a course. This allows instructors to situate discussions directly alongside relevant course content. Discussion forums have been removed from ultra courses, but instructors can use folders to organize conversations in whatever way they like.

Instructors can enable progress tracking which allows students to track and see their interactions with course content. This helps students stay organized and to know what course content they've completed and what content has work remaining.

Discussion analytics provide information about student participation allowing you to see who has and has not been active in a discussion. Analytics can be viewed at the top level and by post, student, or group.

When creating items in an ultra course, an instructor can elect to enable a conversation associated with it. This allows students to post and reply to questions about the item for view by the instructor and students. These conversations are separate from discussions you create and do not appear on the discussions page.

An instructors ability to filter and search the Grade Center is greatly improved. You can search by student name and filter by assignment status. The new gradebook also provides a comprehensive view of submission status and gradable items by student or by assignment.

For merged courses, the Gradebook will automatically generate filters that allow Instructors to view only the students in a certain section.

Changed Tools

Some features in Ultra Course View are significantly different than those in Original Course View. This list is not exhaustive, but highlights some notable differences between ultra and original courses.

Limitations

The following features are either not fully developed in ultra courses or will not be included them. Instructors transitioning from original to ultra course view should be aware of the following in case they depend on any of these features in their courses.

Name in Original	Name in Ultra	Notes	Status

Name in Original	Name in Ultra	Notes	Status
Adaptive Release	Release Condition	In original courses, instructors can release content when a student has made an attempt on an item, regardless of its grading status or score. In ultra, additional content is only released based on the grade an item receives. In ultra courses, if an assessment used as a condition, it must be graded before new content is released to the student.	Future Development
Blogs	Forthcoming	Blogs are not yet available in ultra courses.	Future Development
Content Editor	Content Editor	The following are not yet available in the ultra content editor: Emoticons Find/Replace	In Development
Course Menu	None	The course content page has replaced the course menu in ultra courses. Rather than create a separate menu instructors should structure their course content using folders and modules directly on the course content page.	Final
Course Reports	Embedded Analytics/Progress Tracking	Some items, such as assessments or discussions, have some analytics built into them. Progress tracking displays indicators that show students whether content has been opened/started in the course. Students will be also be able to mark ungraded items as "Complete," which will also display this progress to the Instructor. Progress tracking is an optional feature that is off by default in a course. Instructors will need to turn this on.	In Development
Course Messages	Messages	In ultra course messages there is no subject line and there are no folders to organize course messages.	Final
Course Surveys	Forms	Forms are versatile tools for gathering feedback from your students. They can be used to assign students to clinical experiences or to understand their interests and opinions.	Final
Discussions	Discussions	Discussions are now in a "Discussion/Response" format rather than a "Forum/Thread" format. Many of the features of these discussions are available but there is currently no way to subscribe to a discussion to receive email notifications.	In Development
Embed HTML	HTML Blocks	This functionality introduces problems for reliability, security, and accessibility. We have no plans to enable it in the Syracuse University Blackboard system.	Final
Folder	Folder	Ultra courses are limited to a nested folder depth of three.	Final
Grade Center	Gradebook	The Gradebook is now viewable by Gradable Items, Grades, and Students. Unavailable features: Sort by first/last name (replaced by search)	In Development
Rubrics	Rubrics	The following rubric features are unavailable: Evaluation report Applying a rubric to a test essay question	In Research
Send Email	Messages	Messages are the core communication in tool ultra navigation and ultra courses. When creating messages and announcements, instructors can elect to send a copy by email to the recipients. Users can elect to enable email notifications for messages in their profile area of the main navigation.	Final
Tests	Tests	Ultra does not yet support the full array question types that original courses do. The following question types are currently available: Essay Fill in the Blank Matching Multiple choice (single and multiple correct) True/False Hot Spot Calculated Formula Calculated Numeric Force completion is not recommended for use in original courses and will not be included in ultra tests	In Development
Tool Availability	None	Instructors can no longer turn off individual tools in a course — the available tools are set at the system level by administrators.	Final

Removed Tools

The following tools are being removed from Ultra Course View; Blackboard has announced that these features will not be included:

Achievements
Contacts
Flickr Embedding
Glossary
Lesson Plans
Module Page
Slideshare Embedding
Tasks
Wikis