Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to FHSU Tilt Talk, a podcast about educational technologies, teaching and learning, scholarly research and service hosted by Teaching, Innovation and Learning Technology staff.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Welcome back to what's New and Ultra Tilted, your monthly guide to all the latest and greatest in Blackboard Ultra. I'm Thomas Matthews Horn.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: And I'm Dani Reilly. We're here with episode four covering the August 2025 release, version 3900.123 for those keeping track.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: And Danny, this month we've got some exciting visual enhancements and accessibility improvements that I think are going to make a lot of people very happy.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Absolutely. We're looking at updates across five instructional design, communication and collaboration, Gradebook, Blackboard, Core, and the process of upgrading to Ultra. Some thoughtful improvements this month.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: So where should we start? There's some great stuff here.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Let's kick off with something that's going to make course content pop. The new block styling options and documents. This one's been on instructor wish lists for a while.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Finally, we can add visual flair and structure to our documents beyond just bold and italic text.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Right. So now when you're editing a document, there's a new styling dropdown that gives you five different block styles. You've got question tip, key points, next steps, and highlights.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: And each one has its own icon and color scheme, right?
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Exactly. The question style has a question mark icon, tips. Get a light bulb. Key points have a pin icon. Next steps show arrows, and highlight has a star. It's intuitive and visually distinct.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: This is huge for guiding student tension. Like, you can use the key points style to highlight the main takeaways from a reading, or use the question style to post reflection prompts throughout your content.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Or use tips for study strategies. Next steps for assignment instructions. The possibilities are endless. And it's not just about making things pretty. It's about creating visual hierarchy that helps students navigate and understand content better.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's like having a visual language that students can learn to recognize. Oh, there's a light bulb. That must be a helpful tip.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Right? And if you change your mind, there's a reset styling option to go back to plain text. Super flexible.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: I love it. Now, speaking of communication tools, let's talk about VideoStudio. Coming to announcements.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Oh, this is fantastic. And here's the best part. You don't need a separate video studio license for this. It's built right into Core Blackboard.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Wait, really? So everyone gets this? I know. We use panopto for our video license. We aren't going to be adding additional licenses for features.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Everyone, they've replaced the old Capture tool with VideoStudio for announcements, which means you get all those great video studio features, automatic captions, transcripts, the whole nine yards.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: That's amazing for accessibility and for engagement too. Sometimes a quick video message is so much more personal than text, especially when it comes to announcements.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: Right? Like hey class, quick update about next week's exam. But you can see and hear your instructor. It creates that connection that sometimes missing in online courses.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: And since it automatically generates captions and transcripts, it's accessible from day one. No extra work needed.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Exactly. The button's right there in Announcement content editor. Click it, record or upload your video or audio and you're done.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: This might change how instructors communicate. I can already imagine weekly video check ins, assignment clarifications made easy, and celebration messages when the class does well.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Yes, it opens so many possibilities for more dynamic, engaging communication.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: So this is only available in announcements. I heard that originally it was going to be available in both announcements and assignment feedback.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Yes, it was originally going to be in both, but they have focused on announcements for August and will release feedback later. The legacy audio video feedback will remain in assignments until the updated features are added.
Now let's shift gears to something that's going to make a huge difference for students. The new table of contents and learning modules.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Oh, this is a game changer. Students have been asking for better navigation and learning modules forever. Additionally, this is one element I personally have been most excited about and blackboard delivered.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: There's now a collapsible table of contents panel that shows all the items in a learning module. Students can see where they are, where they've been, and where they're going.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Which is especially helpful in those longer, more complex learning modules. No more getting lost or wondering how much content is left. Those types of things.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Right?
And they have moved the previous and next buttons closer together at the top of the page, which seems small, but it makes navigation more intuitive.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: I also love that assessments are now open in full panel view within learning modules. No more cramped assessment windows all the way over to the right.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Yes, it creates a more focused system, distraction free testing environment. The whole learning module experience just feels more cohesive now.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Now what about for sequencing? How does that work with the new table of contents?
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Great question. So when instructors enforce sequencing, students can still see the full table of contents, but they can only navigate to items they've already completed. They can't skip ahead.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: So it maintains the instructional design while still giving students that overview of the journey Smart.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Exactly. It's the best of both worlds.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Now, let's talk about some of the accessibility improvements this month.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Yes. This is so important. They've updated both the student gradebook and the student overview page to use semantic.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: HTML table structures for our non technical listeners. Can you explain why that matters?
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Sure. So before, these pages were built with what we call div elements, basically generic containers that don't have inherent meaning for screen readers.
Now they're using actual HTML tables, which screen readers can interpret much better.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: So students using screen readers can navigate more easily, understand the structure better.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Exactly. So screen readers can announce table five with five rows and three columns per se, or let users navigate cell by cell. It's also better for keyboard navigation. You can use arrow keys to move through data logically.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Some of those behind the scenes changes. That makes a huge difference for students who rely on assistive technology.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Absolutely. So accessibility isn't just about compliance. It's about ensuring every student can succeed.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Well said. Now we've got a couple of updates that are more technical but still important.
The LTI tool management improvements, for example.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Right. So previously if you wanted to copy LTI tools between courses, you had to do a full course copy.
Now you can select and copy individual.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: LTI tools, which is huge for instructors who maybe just want to grab that one perfectly configured tool from last semester's course.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Exactly. Though important caveat, the behavior of copied LTIs depends on how each provider implemented the standard. Some will work immediately, others will need reconfiguration or to be deleted and reinstalled from the content market.
All rules sent out from Tilt still.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Apply, so pay attention to those emails sent out from Tilt and Blackboard support every semester and test, reconnect or reinstall your LTI links accordingly.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Always good advice. And speaking of consistency, there's an update about group conversions that's pretty neat.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Oh, the activity level to course level group conversion.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: That's the one. So now when you convert a course from original to ultra1 or when you copy course materials, all activity level groups automatically become course level groups and all.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: The associations are preserved.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Yep, no manual reassociation needed. It makes group management more consistent and easier to handle across the entire course.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Nice. Less work for instructors, more consistency for students. Win. Win.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Exactly. Now there's one more update we should mention about embedded LTI tools and visual consistency.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Oh, right, the 100% width default.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Yes. So before, embedded LTI tools could have gray letterboxing on the sides if the provider specified certain dimensions. Now everything defaults to 100% width. So responsive tools use the full available.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Space, much cleaner look and it matches how standalone LTIs display on the course content page exactly.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Though LTI providers still might need to test their integrations to make sure everything still displays properly within this change.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Good heads up. Oh, and Danny, there's also an update about direct submit for SafeAssign, right?
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So administrators can now control faculty access to Direct Submit based on institutional preferences. It's on by default, but gives institutions more control.
Plus they've added some nice enhancements like the ability to delete submitted items and.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Better mobile integration, more flexibility for institutions, more features for instructors. Always good to see.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: Definitely. So Thomas, looking at all these updates together, what's your takeaway from this month's release?
[00:09:35] Speaker B: I think this release is about enhancing the visual experience and accessibility of Blackboard. From the document styling to the learning module navigation to the semantic HTML updates, it's all about making content more engaging, accessible.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: And I love that video studio and announcements is included and built in for everyone that's going to democratize video communication and courses.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. These updates show Blackboard is thinking about both the instructor experience, making it easier to create engaging content, and the student experience, making it easier to navigate and access that content.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Well said.
And as always, if you want to learn more about any of these features, head over to bbultra fhsu Edu and where you most likely found our podcast that you're listening to now.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: That's your one stop shop for all things Blackboard Ultra at Fort Hays. You'll find links to the anthology community, the Idea Exchange.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: An important update is that our transition to Ultra Open Office hours have now ended, but we do have the tilthsu.edu email so you can reach out to us if you want to see those features in action or get hands on help.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: And of course the what's New in Ultra Blog Bly Anthology. If you prefer to read about these.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Updates in detail, well, that wraps up episode four of what's New in Ultra Tilted. Thank you for joining us for the August updates.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: These visual and accessibility improvements are really going to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Can't wait to see how instructors use.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: The document styling and those video studio announcements.
I predict you're going to see a lot more instructor personality coming through in course communications.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Great.
We'll be back next month with more Ultra enhancements. Until then, happy teaching.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: See you next month.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: See you next month.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this episode of FHSU Tilt Talk. Subscribe on Spotify, Amazon and check us out on the Tiger Learn Blog or the Tilt social media pages for updates. We'll see you next time.
