When building your Ultra course or organisation, you can copy content from any other course or organisation where you are enrolled as Instructor, Leader or Teaching Assistant.
NB* Due to the structural differences between Blackboard original and Ultra any copying across these platforms needs consideration, please see our guide on Reusing Blackboard original content in your 2024/5 Ultra course for more details.
Copy Content
Do not attempt to copy an entire Blackboard Original module or entire folders in a single ‘copy content’ action.
Always start the copy process at the point where you would like the items you are copying to appear.
Hover over the divider line where you would like to add the content, then click on the plus icon to reveal the Add Content menu. The second option on the Add Content menu is Copy Content.
Select Copy Content, when the Copy Items screen opens follow these steps:
- Find the relevant Organisation/Course
- Find the relevant Content Area
- Find the relevant files
- Copy Selected Files
Step 1: Find the relevant course
Selecting Copy Content from the Add Content menu brings up a list of all the Courses and Organisations you are enrolled in with a staff role.
- Toggle to top menu between course and organisation as required (A in image)
- Find the source course from which you wish to copy the content.
- Or search for the course using the search field at the top of the screen (B in image)
To view the course content click on the title (C in image) or the right-hand side arrow (D in image), this will open a list of the areas/items and files on that course.
NB* Do not check the select box for the course. If you select the course from this level it will immediate add it to the Items Selected panel and copy the whole course, which is not recommended (nested folders will flatten out to one level and may take some time or re-organise).
Step 2: Find the relevant Content Area
- From Blackboard Original courses
- From Blackboard Ultra courses
From Blackboard Original Courses
When you select an original course you wish to copy content from, it will open as a list of folders. Each folder is a Content Area (corresponding to a menu item) from the original course. In an Ultra course the top level is areas of the course (i.e. Content, Discussions, Announcements etc.).
Click on the content area title or the arrow on the far right of the content area you wish to copy files from. This will open the content area and show a list of the files within.
NB* Do not check the select box for the content area (in original courses). Selecting from here will add it to the Items Selected panel, the content area will copy as a folder and all nested folders contained within will flatten out to one level and may take some time or re-organise.
From Blackboard Ultra course
When you select an Ultra course you wish to copy content from, it will open as a list of folders. Each folder is an area or function i.e. Content, Discussions, Announcements, Question Banks, Rubrics.
Click on the title or the arrow on the far right of the area you wish to copy files from. This will open the area and show a list of the items within.
NB* Do not check the select box for the Content. Selecting from here will add the entire course content to the Selected Items panel, it is preferable to copy items rather to keep to the University template. It is also easier to track which items have copied successfully.
Step 3: Find the relevant files
Once you have drilled down to the next level, it will show content within that specific area. Typically folders or items in the original course and Learning modules or folders from an Ultra course.
- Select any files you wish to copy (e)
- Use the link back to the course to navigate back if necessary (f)
- All the files you select will be added to the Items Selected section as you navigate around the folders. (g)
NB* The copy screen does not show which items are un/available in the original course. It may help to have the source course open on a second screen, so you can see exactly what needs to be copied.
Step 4: Copy Selected Files
Once you are happy with all the files in the Items Selected section, press Start Copy. You can do this at any time and all the items listed in the Items Selected panel will copy.
- Check the Items Selected list to make sure you have not accidently added a whole course or content area.
The copy starts and a Copying Content wait screen will appear. This process will take longer if you are copying a lot of content,
The content items will be copied into the specified location, where you opened the Add Content menu.
If you do copy an entire content area from an original course it will copy as a folder into an Ultra course. If there are folders within they may appear at the top level and need to be moved.
Once in Ultra you can rearrange copied items or move/add them to Folders or Learning Modules. However, moving the items around can be a bit cumbersome, we recommend copying in smaller batches starting the copying process at the exact point on the course where you wish the item to insert.
All newly copied items will be hidden from students by default. It is possible to use the Batch edit function to make them visible to student in one action, see our guide, TEL guide on Batch Edit Visible to Students.
Copy Exception Report
Once the copy has completed you may see a link to the exceptions report at the top of the content area.
If a notice does not appear you will be able to access it via the Course Tasks and Logs option in the course menu, accessed via the three dots at the top of the page.
The exceptions in the report are not always errors, but usually state what may have changed during the copying process just at colours, to keep them in line with accessibility standards.
Open the newly copied items to check that they are the way you would like them as some formatting etc. will have changed.
Content types that cannot or should not be copied
There are some types of content that does not copy over to Ultra well.
Videos
There is a file limit imposed on Ultra courses that will not allow you to upload video files. Unfortunately the copy function will still allow you to copy video files onto your Ultra course. This is unfortunate because you will inadvertently use all your storage allowance by having videos on your course rather than on YuJa and then inserted into the course. The file storage quota for the course is 5gb, once reached you will no longer be able to upload content to your course.
For videos file please upload them to YuJa and share them with your students on your course by inserting them into the Course Content or into an Ultra document.
Folders from original courses
We strongly recommend copying items individually when using this copying tool, particularly when you are copying from a Blackboard original course.
The folder structure in Ultra means that a nest of folders may bounce content out on the top level of the course and if would be difficult to move all the items to their correct folders in your new course.
The course template works best when items are added or copied directly into the template folders.
Turnitin assignments
These would not copy correctly, so Blackboard does not display them in the list of content items that can be copied.
If needed, they should be set up from scratch in the Ultra Organisation.
SCORM units
These can be copied, but Blackboard doesn’t copy the Grade Centre settings or give any options to set the SCORM up in the Ultra Gradebook (to record student progress).
You will need to set them up from scratch in the Ultra course.
Guide last updated on October 23, 2024
