What is happening?
CQSD and DTS are working on a project to move our Virtual Learning Environment from Blackboard Learn to Blackboard Learn Ultra. This project is closely aligned with the Portfolio Review Pathway (PRP), and Blackboard courses will start using Learn Ultra in 2024/25.
Blackboard Organisations will migrate to Learn Ultra one year ahead of the rollout of Ultra Courses – i.e. all active organisations will be required to use Learn Ultra from the start of the 2023/24 year.
Why are organisations moving to Ultra early?
- As a low-stakes Phase 1 deployment (organisations are supplementary to students’ formal learning, and there is no summative assessment on organisations).
- To allow staff in Schools and Support Centres to gain familiarity with managing Ultra organisations, which can then be applied to the setup and management of Ultra Courses.
- To avoid the need for staff to migrate both courses and organisations to Ultra at the same time, in 2024.
- To give student users a first taste of using Blackboard Ultra.
- To allow TEL & DTS staff to enhance their knowledge and experience of Ultra, so as to improve the support provided for the roll-out of Ultra courses.
What do I need to do?
If you are responsible for a Blackboard organisation which is still needed in the next academic year, you will need to request a new Blackboard Learn Ultra organisation.
Timescale
| May – July | Request a new Ultra organisation |
| May – July | Attend training from the TEL team |
| May – September | Build your new Ultra organisation |
| By 11th September at the latest | Make your new Ultra organisation visible to students, and make your old (‘Original’) organisation unavailable |
Requesting an Ultra organisation
Please liaise with colleagues in your School / Support Centre to agree what organisations are required, and to avoid duplication of effort.
For each organisation that you need in 2023/24 and beyond, you will need to complete an Ultra organisation request form.
You should do this for:
- Blackboard Learn Ultra organisations which will replace an existing Original organisation
- Completely new organisations
The form will collect information on:
- Which staff are responsible for the organisation
- Which students should be enrolled on the organisation
- Which School or department it relates to
- The type of organisation (e.g. School / Departmental ‘Briefcase’ organisation, Programme space, central university service)
The type of organisation requested will determine which template is used to create the new Blackboard space. All School / Departmental organisations will be created from a standard template, to aid consistency across the university. Other types will essentially be a blank space, but with some guidance materials, to provide basic help to staff who are building the new organisation.
Training , support and staff development
We have scheduled training in two parts: an introductory online briefing and a follow-up hands-on workshop.
TEL: Blackboard Learn Ultra – Organisation Briefing (Webinar)
- Wednesday 14 June 2023, 09:15-10:15
- Thursday 22 June 2023, 12:30-13:30
Book your place for a webinar here
If you cannot attend a Briefing online, please watch this recorded version before attending a workshop.
This webinar is for support centre, professional services and academic staff involved in the creation and editing of Blackboard Learn Organisations. In this session the TEL Team will:
- Introduce Blackboard Learn Ultra – an improved version of Blackboard
- Explain the rationale behind moving to Blackboard Learn Ultra Organisations in September 2023
- Allow participants to explore a Blackboard Learn Ultra Organisation
- Describe the process of creating and copying content into a Blackboard Learn Ultra Organisation
- Collect feedback and questions from attendees.
By the end of this session attendees will be familiar with the Blackboard Learn Ultra project timeline and will have selected a follow-up hands-on workshop to attend. This session aligns with A2, A4 and K4 of the UKPSF.
TEL: Blackboard Learn Ultra – Organisation Workshop
- Tuesday 06 June 2023, 12:30-14:00
- Monday 26 June 2023, 14:00-15:30
- Wednesday 05 July 2023, 12:30-14:00
Book your place for a workshop here
This workshop is for support centre, professional services and academic staff involved in the creation and editing of Blackboard Organisations. (Please note the prerequisites for participating below).
The workshop will give you a guided introduction to building content items in Blackboard Ultra Organisations and the time and space to develop their specific Ultra Organisations, adding materials to the Ultra versions. Help and oversight will be provided by the TEL team, allowing attendees to ask questions and format their organisation in a consistent manner. By the end of the session attendees will:
- be familiar with how to add or transfer content to their Ultra Organisation and
- have worked and completed part of their new Ultra Organisation
Before attending participants must:
- attend a Briefing or watch the subsequent recording (recording link will be made available on 17 May) and
- have requested their new organisation before attending (link available soon).
This session aligns with A2, A4 and K4 of the UKPSF.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell which organisations I am enrolled on?
Go to the Organisations page in Blackboard.
You can filter the list to show organisations where you are
- Leader (Organisations I lead)
- Assistant or Builder (Organisations I support)
- Participant (Organisations I participate in)
Can I convert my existing organisation to Ultra?
No. This is not possible – you need to request and build a new Ultra organisation.
Can I copy content from my existing organisation to my new Ultra organisation?
Yes. Guidance will be provided on the best way of doing this.
When should I make my new organisation visible to students?
As soon as you have finished building the new organisation, you should make it visible to students.
At the same time, you should set your Original organisation as Private (Unavailable) to make sure that students only have access to the up-to-date version.
What is the deadline for migrating my organisations to Ultra?
In the week beginning 11th September (the week before Welcome Week for UG courses), DTS will make all Blackboard Original organisations unavailable. From that point, only Blackboard Ultra organisations should be in use with students.
Subsequently, at a date to be agreed, Original organisations will be disabled, and then deleted from Blackboard.
How can I ensure my External Examiner organisation is available beyond September 2023?
We are well aware that Blackboard organisations for External Examiners are a special case, operating on a different timescale to other, student-facing organisations, and the organisations you are using now need to be kept available to your external examiners until later in the Autumn term.
If you are responsible for an External Examiner organisation, you may submit your request for an Ultra version now. However we will not create the new Ultra organisation until later in the Summer (once a revised template has been agreed), and we will not expect you to build the new organisation, or make the current one unavailable, until after September 2023.
What if I need to retain content from my current organisation for archive purposes?
You can download content and store it in OneDrive / SharePoint or on a shared network drive.
