Supporting Your Efforts to Build Awareness and Drive Adoption

Getting ready to introduce the Ultra experience for Blackboard Learn (Learn Ultra) at your institution? Are you trying to figure out ways to build awareness and drive usage? If so, this page is for you.

The resources below have been created for you to use in communicating with your instructors, students, and staff. Feel free to repurpose and modify these resources in your efforts to build awareness, interest, knowledge, and adoption of Learn Ultra.

The resources on this page are available in English only.

What Exactly is Learn Ultra?

Learn Ultra is our most modern, intuitive, and personalized Blackboard Learn user experience. Learn Ultra is characterized by simplified workflows and an accessible, fully responsive design—making it easier than ever to teach and learn from any device.

Learn Ultra is comprised of Base Navigation, the Original Course View and the Ultra Course View.

  • Base Navigation: Modern, intuitive navigation that provides quick access to the most critical information from across all courses. When you enable Base Navigation for your users, by default your courses will remain in the Original Course View. There will be no changes to course features or workflows.

    If you’re not already using the Learn 2016 theme, your Original courses will have an updated look and feel (colors, fonts, spacing) and greater responsiveness on mobile devices. However, you'll see no change to the features, workflows, or content.

  • Ultra Course View (optional): New course view that offers a streamlined, more intuitive interface and workflows for maximum efficiency. The Ultra Course View is also fully responsive for optimal use on any device, and new functionality and enhancements are added regularly.

Watch a video about Learn Ultra

More on what's changed in the Ultra experience

More on how to enable the Ultra experience

View the Learn Ultra website

Step One: Turn on Base Navigation

Base Navigation offers a more modern, intuitive navigation that provides quick access to the most critical information from across all courses. It creates a more engaging, efficient, and enjoyable experience for students and instructors, without having to change their courses.

Benefits of turning on the Ultra Base Navigation:

  • Modern, intuitive experience
  • Responsive on mobile devices
  • Consolidated cross-course information
  • Quick access to the most critical information
  • One-click to take action

Quick tips to consider when turning on Base Navigation:

  • Review Base Navigation Administrator page on the Help Site.
  • Customize your login page: Create a custom login page to create a branded experience for students and instructors. You can download login page templates supplied with Blackboard Learn and configure them for your system.
  • Pick your landing page: By default, users are taken to the Activity Stream after they log in to Blackboard Learn. You have the choice to keep this page or change to the Institution page or Courses page, whichever is most relevant to your users.
  • Add branding to the Institution page: Personalize Blackboard Learn! Add your logo and make the environment more familiar to users. You also can include content and resources on the Institution Page.

Base Navigation resources for you to use and share:

Step Two: Decide What's Right for Your Institution: Ultra or Original Courses

When you turn on Base Navigation, you have two course types to choose from: the default Original Course View and the optional Ultra Course View. You decide which instructors, departments, and/or programs use each course type. You can use a mix of both course types—the dual course mode. Or, you can use just one course type for everyone—the choice is yours!

Stated another way, your move to Learn Ultra can include these options:

  1. Base Navigation with all Original courses—no change to your courses
  2. Base Navigation with a mix of Original and Ultra courses—what we call the dual course mode
  3. The full Ultra experience—Base Navigation and all Ultra courses

Step Three: Begin to Roll Out the Ultra Course View

The optional Ultra Course View provides a more modern, intuitive, fully responsive, course experience for both instructors and students. The Ultra Course View also offers redesigned workflows and capabilities—and adds some new ones—to improve instructor and student efficiency and success. You have the flexibility to roll out the Ultra Course View at your own pace—as you can make it available for specific instructors, departments, and programs you choose.

Ultra Course View resources for you to use and share:

Suggested post content Link Image
Video: Streamlined grading in Blackboard Learn with the Ultra experience http://bit.ly/2hecvIT
Video: Creating tests & assignments in Blackboard Learn with the Ultra experience http://bit.ly/2hhHFzL

To download the images in the table, right-click and select "Save Image As."

Get your message heard

Need ideas on how to get your message heard? Check out our main Adoption Tools and Best Practices page to learn some of the strategies we’ve seen work.

Additional resources

Feedback

Let us know if you have other strategies you've used to boost adoption, or if you have suggestions for how we can improve this toolkit.