Ultra Base Navigation:
Self-Paced Training
Welcome to Ultra Base Navigation!
Ultra Base Navigation streamlines access to Blackboard courses, tools, and features.
Watch the brief overview video or review the Ultra Base Navigation slides with slide notes. Then, explore each topic at your own pace or return to the Ultra Base Navigation update page.
The Institution Page: what you see first
In Ultra Base Navigation, when you login to Blackboard you arrive on the Institution Page. The Institution Page includes campus wide announcements and links to resources. Faculty will see both information for faculty (outlined in gold), and information for students (outlined in maroon).
More information about the New Blackboard login page
Update your bookmarks: Blackboard login
Ultra Base Navigation Menu
You will use the Ultra Base Navigation Menu to access tools focusing on course management and student performance. The menu gives you easy access to courses, as well as tools such as the activity stream, calendar, messages, and grades.
Courses Page
The courses page lists all of the courses in which you are enrolled. You can change your view between:
List View
Tile View
Select the desired term:
Start in Current Courses
Return to previous terms
Advance to Upcoming Courses
Courses in development will be in the Development term
Courses for STCC clubs, campus activities, and CODL training will be in the Non-Academic term
For more refined view:
Search by keyword
Filter by courses you are teaching or taking, or open, private, and completed courses
Hide courses from view
With the update to Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation, the CODL has made improvements to the STCC course template that streamline how students find resources, and provide easy access to tools such as Messages and Calendar. Watch the template update video for step by step instructions.
Course Image and Banner
Course images and banners help to easily find the correct course and identify which course you are viewing. A course image is visible when you view your courses in Tile view. A Banner is visible at the top of the course Welcome page. You can create a custom banner based on STCC templates, or use your own image. Images need to be at least 1200x240 pixels.
Want to test yourself with a ScreenPal interactive quiz?
Activity Stream
Activity Stream will display all new course content, assignments, and assessment available as well as course announcements for all enrolled courses. Faculty will see assignments that need grading. This is similar to notifications as seen in the Blackboard Learn App. The Activity Stream will display activity for the courses in which you are enrolled. The Activity Stream can also include campus wide announcements visible to all students and faculty. Remember that you can adjust your notification settings by clicking on your name.
Calendar
The Calendar link will take you to the calendar tool. As faculty, any materials with due dates will automatically appear on your course calendar. You also have the ability to add events, create an availability schedule, and office hours for each course. Additionally, there are multiple view and calendar options. With the Ultra Base Navigation update, there will be an institutional calendar with important dates and deadline from the STCC Academic Calendar.
Messages
In the Messages area you can view and send messages in all of your courses. An indicator shows you the number of unread messages. Courses with new messages will display at the top of the list.
Note that messages are internal to Blackboard, and students will not receive them in an email. Both students and faculty can choose to be notified of new messages in their notification settings. Although similar to email, you must be logged into a course to read and send course messages.
Grades
In Grades, faculty see what needs grading across all courses. You will see blocks for every course you teach listing which assessments need to be graded or reviewed. You can click on the title of an assessment to grade submissions.
Assist
Assist is a new tool in Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation. Assist gives students quick access to student services and resources. The two services featured at the top of the Assist page can rotate based on student needs at the specific point in the semester.