5/9/24 - Transition to Ultra - Fall 2025

Email to Faculty  - May 9th, 2024 

Dear faculty and Academic Affairs leaders,

During the past year, faculty at Tulsa Community College have had the option to use the Ultra interface in Blackboard. Forty-four percent of all TCC classes taught through Blackboard Learn now are in Ultra, and forty percent of our faculty teach one or more courses in Ultra. It’s been a great start to our Ultra transition. Anthology has put tremendous resources into the new interface. It is more modern, has better accessibility, and offers numerous features that the original interface does not. At least 95% of the features in the Original interface are now available in Ultra.

Therefore, beginning in Fall 2025, all courses will be created in the Ultra interface, and we will phase out the old interface. This change will make the online experience more consistent and user-friendly for students. It also will allow us to integrate more smoothly other resources such as the Library, Campus Store, and course feedback surveys into our Blackboard course sites.

Transitioning to a new interface can be challenging for some. That's why we have various support options to assist you during the next 15 months. Feel free to check out any of the following:

• The Ultra Start-Up Workshop is divided into four two-hour sessions and can be completed in-person or online.  Ultra Start Up Schedule and Registration

• Our Online Learning Technologists can provide links to resources and videos, or you can schedule a face-to-face or virtual meeting. Contact them at bbsupport@tulsacc.edu. 

• If you would like input on feature use or course setup,  you can schedule time with Dr. Christal Strickland, our Online Learning instructional designer, who has spent the last 18 months studying Ultra.

• If your program wants to take the opportunity to create a template to use within your program, reach out to Dr. Jennifer Campbell to schedule a consultation appointment.

• If you are interested,  you can join the Anthology Teaching and Learning Idea Exchange.  This is a community site where features are discussed and ideas are upvoted. 

This transition will create a more consistent and user-friendly teaching/learning experience for you and our students. The Online Learning team will be here to support you as we move ahead, so please reach out for any support you need to make this transition between now and August 2025.

Thanks for your support,

Greg

Greg Stone, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President of Academic & Campus Operations

About Instructor Choice view

New Blackboard courses for Fall 2023 will automatically be added in Instructor Choice view. That means you will be able to choose whether to continue using Blackboard Original for your course or change it to Ultra to preview it. Don't worry--if you don't like Ultra, you can change it back! You can learn about Instructor Choice view in our Knowledge Base article "Using Instructor Choice view to preview Ultra."

Ultra Cheat Sheet

Online Learning has added an Ultra Cheat Sheet to our Knowledge Base. You'll find links to information directly from Blackboard, as well as links to our own Ultra articles as we add them.