AI Design Assistant for Ultra Instructors

What is the AI Design Assistant?

The AI design assistant is a new tool built into Blackboard Ultra courses to assist instructors in designing and developing their course site. Its goal is to make creating Blackboard courses easier and faster. It is integrated into the Ultra workflow and available in multiple locations of the course.

Instructors are free to choose if and when to leverage this tool. It's important to note that the AI Design assistant simply generates content based on your input. It only adds elements to your course when you select and apply them. All output should be verified by the instructor and can be edited.

The tool is powered by Microsoft’s Azure AI technology and developed within Anthology’s Trustworthy AI framework. Your input and any course generated content is not stored by Anthology, Blackboard, or Microsoft, which means that it is not used by the design assistant in future course content generation. The Trustworthy AI framework protects your intellectual property and keeps you in control of your course content.

Accessing the Design Assistant

The AI Design Assistant is only available in Ultra courses and organizations. Instructors, TAs, Course Builders, and organization Leaders will be able to access the design assistant. Users in the Student, organization Participant, or Grader roles do not have access to the design assistant or any AI tools. 

In course content areas where the design assistant is available, the content creation menu will feature a button labeled "Auto-Generate [item]" alongside the usual options to create, copy, or upload a file. Selecting the Auto-Generate button will launch a new session with the design assistant where users can write descriptions and set parameters to draft new course content items.

The location where you access the AI Design Assistant will determine the text it uses to generate content. The generator often relies on the course name. In some locations it uses the text of the object you're using to access the generator (as with the Question Bank and Rubric generator) and in other cases it more strongly depends on a description you provide (like in the Module Generator). This starting point streamlines the administrative process and frees up time to fine tune the essential course content in a meaningful way to promote student engagement and success.  Instructors are always in control of the generated content. 

Images with the AI Design Assistant

The AI Design Assistant interacts with images in two ways. The AI will auto-generate search terms for the repository of stock images, which is now licensed for use in Blackboard in select locations such as the Course Banner and on Modules.

The system will also create AI-generated images based on the title of the course and other prompts you provide. These images are created by the system each time you click the generate button. They are licensed for use within Blackboard.

Complexity Settings

One of the settings you'll find in the AI tools is a complexity setting which attempt to adjust sentence complexity and vocabulary, based on the level of the learner as set by the user. To achieve outputs of the highest complexity, the AI prompt must be suitably complex. The complexity ranges from 1-10 and is design to match specific educational levels:

1. Early Elementary School (Grades K-2): The initial years of formal education where young children begin learning fundamental skills like reading, writing, and basic math.

2. Late Elementary School (Grades 3-5): The later stage of elementary education where students continue to build on their foundational skills and explore more complex subjects.

3. Early Middle School (Grades 6-7): The beginning of secondary education, marked by a transition from elementary school and introduction to more subject-specific learning.

4. Late Middle School (Grades 8-9): The later part of secondary education where students further develop their academic skills before entering high school.

5. Early High School (Grades 10-11): The first years of high school when students start studying more advanced subjects and preparing for higher education or careers.

6. Late High School (Grade 12, AP or IB courses): The final year of high school, often involving advanced coursework and exams like AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) before graduation.

7. Undergraduate Lower Division (Freshman and Sophomore years): The initial two years of university education where students explore a variety of subjects and fulfill core requirements.

8. Undergraduate Upper Division (Junior and Senior years): The latter two years of university education focused on more specialized courses and often involving independent research or projects.

9. Graduate Level (Master’s and early PhD coursework): Advanced studies beyond a bachelor's degree, encompassing coursework and research leading to a master's degree or initial stages of a PhD.

10. Advanced PhD Level (Dissertation research, specialized topics): The highest level of academic pursuit involving in-depth research, specialized studies, and the completion of a doctoral dissertation.

Common Questions