The Office of Information Technology is thrilled to announce St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s timeline for transitioning to Ultra course view in Blackboard Learn. This modernization marks a significant step forward in providing a dynamic, future-ready learning environment designed to enhance faculty engagement and improve the student experience. Specifically, Ultra Course View offers important accessibility tools as well as coaching for faculty and alternative formats for students.
Starting with the Winter 2026, all Blackboard courses will be provisioned in Ultra course view, bringing a fresh, streamlined interface and powerful new capabilities to support teaching and learning. We are excited for instructors and students to explore Ultra’s intuitive design, improved workflows, and innovative features. During the Fall semester, OIT and Blackboard will be offering live online training, office hours, in person training beginning October 14th and 15th, and asynchronous online training to support learning the Ultra course view and ADA tools. We will be creating sandbox courses for faculty to work in. Faculty can choose between an empty course shell or request a “copy and convert” of a previous semester’s course content.
To learn more and explore the features of Blackboard (Ultra), please visit the following resources:
- Learn Ultra In-Person workshops hosted by SMCM and Blackboard
- Live Seminars: Ultra Course Seminar hosted by Blackboard
- Blackboard’s Training & Quick Guide: Blackboard YouTube
- Learn More About Blackboard Ultra: Blackboard Help
We are proud to partner with Blackboard on this journey, and we look forward to seeing how Ultra enhances teaching and learning at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.