Ultra courses have seen major improvements over the summer.  Here are some highlights.

Grading

A number of new features have been added to the Gradebook on Ultra, allowing you to calculate grades in a manner that matches your syllabus.  

Points-Based Grade Display.

You can now display the overall grade as a point value in addition to the Letter and Percentage values.  Simply select the grade display method in the Overall Grade Settings menu.

Points-Based Grade Calculation

Now, when you set up an overall grade for the first time, you'll be asked to choose whether to use Points or a Weighted Grade.  Points add up all of the points earned for assignments and then divide by the points possible.  Weighted grades ask you to enter in weights for categories, individual graded items, or (in the updated gradebook) both.

You can switch between points-based and weighted grades at any time with the toggle at the top.

You can still use categories and dropped grades with the Points grading system.

Calculate Grades Independent of Category and Exclude Grades

Some grades may need to be individually weighted regardless of the category that they're in. To do so, click on the Unlink icon next to the grade.

The grade will be removed from the category for grading purposes. You can click the link icon to re-add it to the category.

To exclude a grade from the overall grade, just click the exclude button

Click the button again to put it back into the calculation.

Auto-Adjusting Grades

When you add or remove categories or items from the calculations, Blackboard can automatically recalculate all other grades.  If everything is weighted equally, Blackboard will do it for you.  You'll notice that this is taking place by the grade having an unlocked symbol by it.

Manually enter a grade or click the lock icon to lock the grade and make it not auto-adjust.  If you want it to auto-adjust again, click the lock symbol again.

Viewable Documents

Ultra can now display Word, PDF and OpenOffice documents directly within the page.  When you drag and drop a file into your course, or include one in an Ultra Document with the upload button, you'll be asked whether you want students to be able to view the file, download it, or both.

If you select either "View and download" or "View only," students will be able to click on the document to view it.

Reset Student User

You will now be able to reset the student user when you're done using it.  To do so, simply click the preview menu from with student preview mode and choose Reset Preview. This will remove the preview user from your course.

New Test/Assignment Features

There are several features that have been added to the test/assignment tool (they're the same thing in Ultra courses).

One Question at a Time/Prohibit Backtracking

Tests can now be displayed as one question at a time.  You can also prevent students from returning to questions they've already viewed.  To set up the display options, click the gear by Test Settings.

Then, check the box next to "Display one question at a time" and, if desired "Prohibit backtracking'.

Students will then see only one question at a time, and if you've prohibited backtracking, a notice that they can't go back.

Calculated Numeric Questions

Original courses include a number of question types not included in Original.  One is Calculated Numeric, which is a short answer question with a numeric answer.  It allows you to set up an answer range, and allows students to format numbers differently (for example, a zero before a decimal point). To add a Calculated Numeric question, you can just select it from the list.

Enter the question and the numeric answer.  You can use whole numbers, decimals, or scientific notation using a capital E.

To allow students to submit a range of answers, you can check the "Allow an answer range" button, and enter the amount by which the answer can be greater or less than the value by.

Control When Grades Post

In Ultra courses, you have to "Post" grades for anything that Scholar cannot automatically grade.  In the past, auto-graded tests would automatically post to the Ultra gradebook.  Now, you will have the option to select whether the grades automatically post, or whether you have to click to post the grades.  

Check the "Post assessment grades automatically" box to release the grade immediately; uncheck it to manually have to post the grade. Note: if your assessment contains faculty-graded questions (or is just a document submission), you will still have to manually post the grade when you finish grading.

Test Question Banks

You are now able to create, search and copy your own question banks in Ultra.  These were formerly called Pools in original courses.  Previously in Ultra, you could import Question Banks from textbook publishers, but could not create them on your own.

To create a Question Bank, click "Manage banks" under Question Banks on the left.

Click the plus sign at the bottom and choose New.

Give your Question Bank a name.

You can then add questions with the plus sign at the bottom.  These questions are identical to the ones offered in the regular test interface.

When you create a question, you'll see a list of the questions in the Question bank.  Click the plus sign to add another question, or the three dots next to the question to edit or delete an existing question.

There's no need to save the Question Bank; it's automatically saved.

Once you've created one or more Question Banks, you can click on the Question Bank to edit it, or the three dots to delete it.