Blackboard Ultra

UAA is transitioning to Blackboard Ultra during academic year 2025-26. Ultra is a cleaner, more user-friendly course format based on student success research. For Fall 2025 through Summer 2026, instructors have the option to change their Blackboard courses from Original to Ultra course view before opening them to students. Once a Blackboard course is fully converted to Ultra, it cannot be undone.

Find more information on Ultra and our Ultra trainings below, and contact uaa_design@alaska.edu if you have any questions.

Ultra Help for Students

Looking for Ultra help for students? Start with the page.

Register for Blackboard Ultra course conversion training

The Blackboard Ultra course conversion training helps faculty convert their Blackboard Original courses to the updated Blackboard Ultra. Plan on 4 - 5 hours of work, including optional Zoom workshops. Dates for the training are in the registration form.

To review the training material (without feedback and workshops), you can also self-enroll in the shell.

Ultra Basics

Ultra is the new course view in Blackboard that we鈥檙e moving to at UAA. UAA started introducing it in 2024, and the university is in a multi-year process of transitioning to the majority of courses being in Ultra course view. It鈥檚 still within Blackboard, and the way you and your students access the courses is the same (classes.alaska.edu). The difference comes with how the course appears and functions once you鈥檙e inside of the course. The general rule of thumb for Ultra is that it's a little cleaner, a little simpler, a little more consistent between courses for students, but in exchange, it鈥檚 less customizable.

blackboard ultra screenshot

Comparing Blackboard Ultra and Original

The first difference is the course menu, In Original, you have the green customizable menu on the left hand side. In Ultra, it鈥檚 a horizontal menu at the top of the course that is consistent between courses and not customizable. Another thing that鈥檚 different is where you land when you open the course. In Original, you generally landed on the Announcements page, though that was customizable as well. In Ultra, you鈥檒l always land on the Course Content page when you open a course. This is because students spend a lot of time learning how to navigate each course, so having the structure and navigation be more consistent from course to course, simplifies the student鈥檚 experience.

Blackboard Ultra

Cleaner appearance
Easier to navigate and make edits
Better for group work
Works better on a mobile device
Student-facing progress tracker
AI tools (image and module generators, AI conversation role-play)
Landing page is Course Content

Blackboard Original

More customizable
More tools and tool settings (Wiki and Blogs)
Works best for tests/pools with complex feedback
Landing page is Announcements

Here are a few options to preview Blackboard Ultra before deciding if you want to make the change:

(video 4:43)
(UAA video 19:12)
(Blackboard/Anthology video 1:18)