Welcome to the Ultra Pioneers!
Grand Valley's learning management system (LMS) migration has three stages:
- Moving the campus Blackboard system to "the cloud."
- Getting used to Ultra Base Navigation, the new "portal" for our Blackboard system.
- Rolling out Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View.
The first stage was successfully completed on Sunday May 8, moving the campus to stage two. As Ultra Pioneers, though, you'll be forging ahead to stage three. While the rest of the university will adopt Ultra Course View for Spring/Summer 2023, you will be developing Ultra courses for Fall 2022 and Winter 2023.
This page will be the main source for information about the Pioneers program, and will be updated over time with additional details and resources.
About eLearning's Ultra Pioneers Training
There are three parts to the training for Pioneers
Self-Paced Training
This will allow faculty to get a preview of all the topics in the training series. Many faculty may find that this training is enough to get them started developing their course in Ultra Course View.
Weekly Topical Webinars
Each of the topics from the Self-Paced training will be covered in a series of weekly Zoom webinars. These sessions will be recorded so that faculty unable to attend can still benefit from them.
Weekly Lab Sessions
Each week will also feature a series of open "drop-in" lab sessions where faculty can join eLearning staff to work on building their Ultra courses and receive one-on-one assistance.
Because it's still early in the Ultra adoption period and because this training is still under development, these dates are tentative and may change. Participants will be informed of any changes to this timeline.
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The self-paced training for Ultra Course View was made available on Blackboard
Faculty confirm their choice of which courses they will be developing as a Pioneer, and template course sites are created.
Topical webinars and labs offered on a weekly basis..
Training Schedule
To reduce confusion and to simplify communication, our goal is to provide a consistent schedule each week.
There are five weekly topics total, and the whole sequence will be offered twice over the course of the summer. After that point, we anticipate that similar training sessions will be offered for the university as a whole.
Webinars
- Tuesdays at 11am
- Recordings available afterwards
Labs
- Zoom: Wednesdays at 1pm
- Zoom: Thursdays at 1pm
Series 1
|
Week & Topic |
Webinar |
Labs |
|---|---|---|
|
Week 1: Ultra Essentials Monday June 6 – Friday June 10 |
Tuesday June 7 @ 11am |
Allendale Lab: DeVos Lab: |
|
Week 2: Building Content Monday June 13 – Friday June 17 |
Tuesday June 14 @ 11am |
Allendale Lab: DeVos Lab: |
|
Week 3: Communication Monday June 20 – Friday June 24 |
Tuesday June 21 @ 11am |
Allendale Lab: DeVos Lab: Health Campus Lab: |
|
Week 4: Assessment Monday June 27 – Friday July 1 |
Tuesday June 28 @ 11am |
Allendale Lab: DeVos Lab: Health Campus Lab: |
|
Week 5: Gradebook Monday July 11 – Friday July 15 |
Tuesday July 12 @ 11am |
Allendale Lab: DeVos Lab: |
Series 2
|
Week |
Webinar |
Labs |
|---|---|---|
|
Week 1: Ultra Essentials Monday July 18 – Friday July 22 |
Tuesday July 19 @ 11am |
Wednesday July 20 @ 1pm Thursday July 21 @ 1pm |
|
Week 2: Building Content Monday July 25 – Friday July 29 |
Tuesday July 26 @ 11am |
Wednesday July 27 @ 1pm Thursday July 28 @ 1pm |
|
Week 3: Communication Monday August 1 – Friday August 5 |
Tuesday August 2 @ 11am |
Wednesday August 3 @ 1pm Thursday August 4 @ 1pm |
|
Week 4: Assessment Monday August 8 – Friday August 12 |
Tuesday August 9 @ 11am |
Thursday August 11 @ 1pm |
|
Week 5: Gradebook Monday August 15 – Friday August 19 |
Tuesday August 16 @ 11am |
Wednesday August 17 @ 1pm Thursday August 18 @ 1pm |
About "Template Courses" and Pioneer Development
There are two different approaches to building Blackboard course sites. To simplify the development process for Ultra Pioneers, we're asking faculty to use the "Hub-and-Spokes" approach explained below.
The Lily Pad Approach
Many faculty develop their Blackboard sites by working on one semester's course, copying that course into the next semester's site, then that into the next semester's site… This approach works, but if you ever take a break from teaching that class you won't have an available copy of the content or a place to work on it. And it also means that you won't be able to prepare for a semester until the Blackboard sites for the term have been created—usually six weeks in advance.
The Lily Pad Approach also creates a challenge if you ever teach variations of a course—a face-to-face as well as online version, for example.
The Hub-and-Spokes Approach
Many faculty don't realize they can always request a "template course site." Unlike each semester's courses, these template sites do not disappear. Like your practice test course, they are always available. They serve as a great place to work on building your courses over time, as well as a great place to keep track of resources or ideas that you might use in the future. Once a new semester arrives, the content from your template site can be copied into the new term's site.
If there's a particular reason to, you can even have additional template sites (e.g. for courses that get team taught, different template sites for an online versus face-to-face course).
The Process
- Ultra Pioneers are asked to identify which courses they'd like to build in the Ultra Course View. They're free to choose as few or as many courses as they'd like.
- A template site will be created for each course identified. Once a faculty member's template sites have been created, they can be used for course building immediately.
- Once the instructor is satisfied with how far they've gotten in the course building process AND their fall (or winter) semester course sites are available, template sites can be copied into the individual semester sites for each course section.
- If the instructor intends to merge the Blackboard sites for multiple sections, this request should be made before the template site is copied into the semester sites.
Blackboard Learn Ultra Resources
Grand Valley Resources
Ultra Base Navigation Videos
- UBN Overview
- The Institution Page
- The Profile Page
- The Activity Stream
- Courses and Organizations
- Calendar
- Messages
- Grades
- Blackboard Assist
- The Tools Page
Knowledge Base Articles
Resources by Blackboard
Collections of Resources
Selected Topics of Interest
Bird Tangram Puzzle by irene hoffman from NounProject.com / Frog by Chanut is Industries from NounProject.com / Wheels by ENDRU DESIGN from NounProject.com