Frequently Asked Questions
What will happen to my old Original courses in Blackboard?
There is no change to your old courses in Blackboard. Per the retention policy, your original courses that have already been created will still be available for you to access within blackboard. The main difference will be in the Blackboard Course Generator. When creating your courses, you will not see your Original Courses in the listing to copy from. You will need to create your Ultra Course and then follow the copy content process to bring over your Original content to an Ultra Course. Going forward all Ultra courses that are created in blackboard will show in the Blackboard Course Generator.
What happens if I created a “New-Ultra Course” in the Generator and started designing my course before the update to the Blackboard Course Generator?
If you created a “New-Ultra Course” (Non-Academic Course) and started designing your future courses, you will be able to choose this course in the Blackboard Course Generator when creating your courses. You can also use the copy content feature in Ultra courses to bring over your entire course content or pick and choose.
What happens to my “Original” Non-Academic courses?
Your Original Non-Academic courses will remain in blackboard. You can continue to use the old courses or you can update to the Ultra Course format. Going forward, when you create a new Non-Academic Course it will be in the Ultra Course format.
What happens to the Dossier/Tenure sites?
At this time, all Dossier and Tenure sites will remain in the Original Course format. When creating these courses in the Blackboard Course Generator, you will will choose Dossier and get a template course that was designed to help you create your content in the Original Course.
What if I teach at the Law School, how do I create my courses?
All Law courses can be created using the Blackboard Course Generator and selecting Academic Courses. All active courses that have a LAW heading will be created with the Law School template course. You can choose to copy over existing courses from previous semesters during the course creation process in the Blackboard Course Generator.
I used Blogs in my Original Course, what feature can I use in my Ultra Course that is similar?
While Ultra has many new features and more intuitive design elements, there are a few features in Original that are being retired and are not a part of Ultra. One of these retired features is Blogs. As an alternative to Blogs, please consider using Discussion Boards or a video alternative such as Flip. If you need blogging services that go beyond the duration of your course, you may also consider https://pages.wm.edu/.
