What's New in Ultra: TILT'Ed

This month on What's New in Ultra – TILT'Ed, Thomas and Dani celebrate the podcast's first anniversary while exploring the July 2026 Blackboard Ultra release. They discuss new description fields for discussions and journals, flexible time limits for AI Conversations, Favorites in the Course Switcher, and the long-awaited Rubric Evaluation Report that brings powerful assessment analytics to Ultra....

In this episode of What's New in Ultra: TILT'Ed, we explore the June 2026 Blackboard Ultra release, featuring updates that enhance flexibility, communication, and feedback workflows. Learn about locked answer positions for randomized assessments, improved rubric grading workflows, student-level announcement tracking, enhanced feedback reminder automations, and answer-level feedback for multiple-ch...

In this episode of What's New in Ultra: TILT'Ed, we explore the May 2026 Blackboard Ultra release, focused on streamlining everyday workflows and improving the user experience. Learn about the redesigned Groups Management interface, enhanced discussion due date visibility, inherited release condition transparency, group grading workflow improvements, document accessibility updates, and the new cou...

In this episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , Dani and Thomas break down the April 2026 Blackboard Ultra updates, highlighting improvements designed to simplify workflows and enhance usability. From clearer discussion due date visibility and AI conversation message limits to streamlined assignment submission options and more flexible group grading, this release focuses on real instructor and s...

In this episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , we highlight the March 2026 Blackboard Ultra release (version 4000.10). Learn about improved Course Message threading, larger SafeAssign file uploads, flexible discussion participation requirements, and updates to assessment tools like partial credit and anonymous grading. We also explore new AI-generated Knowledge Checks that help embed comprehens...

In this special edition of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , we begin a two-part conversation about digital accessibility and the upcoming April 24, 2026 compliance deadline. In Part 1, we discuss what the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard is, why the difference between accessibility and accommodations matters, and what the new Department of Justice regulations under Title II of the ADA mean for course cont...

In Part 2 of this special accessibility series of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , we focus on practical steps faculty can take to improve course accessibility before the upcoming course-copy cycle. This episode explores how to use Blackboard Ally to review your Course Accessibility Report, prioritize fixes, and address common issues such as missing alt text, inaccessible documents, and video captio...

In this episode, we break down the February 2026 Blackboard Ultra release (version 4000.8), featuring two thoughtful updates designed to reduce friction for instructors. We explore smarter automations that can automatically remind students to review unread feedback—helping close the feedback loop without extra manual follow-up—and new Document layout enhancements that allow blocks to be stacked ve...

In this episode, Dani Reilley and Thomas Mathews Horne kick off 2026 with a deep dive into Blackboard Ultra’s 4000.6 release, featuring a completely refreshed user interface. Learn how the new full-screen course experience, redesigned navigation, and improved accessibility aim to reduce friction and make everyday workflows more intuitive for instructors, students, and administrators. The episode a...

In this month’s episode, Thomas and Dani walk through Blackboard Ultra’s December 2025 release—version 4000.4—which brings clearer workflows, more instructor control, and thoughtful quality-of-life updates. Highlights include setting release conditions on any content item, adjusting group memberships mid-project, seeing accurate submission counts in the Gradebook, enjoying a consistent tabbed grad...

In this episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , Thomas and Dani celebrate a major milestone with the Blackboard Ultra 4000.1 release. This update focuses on practical, time-saving improvements that make teaching and grading more efficient. Highlights include the long-awaited ability to bulk edit question points in tests, simplified gradebook navigation with consistent “View Submissions” options,...

In this month’s episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , Thomas and Dani dive into the October Blackboard Ultra release (3902.1), packed with thoughtful refinements that make teaching smoother and communication clearer. From the sleek new Course Messages redesign—with chat bubbles and avatars—to consistent Save and Cancel buttons, smarter question tagging, and improved fill-in-the-blank formattin...

The September 2025 Blackboard Ultra release (3900.125) is one of the most significant updates yet, with improvements spanning instructional design, grading, assessments, communication, and accessibility. In this episode, Thomas Mathews Horne and Danielle Reilley break down the highlights, including: New block styling options for Documents AI-powered feedback features (Summarize & Rewrite) Ques...

In this episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , Thomas and Dani break down the August 2025 Blackboard Ultra release (3900.123), featuring new document styling options, Video Studio in Announcements, improved Learning Module navigation, accessibility upgrades with semantic HTML tables, and streamlined course management tools like enhanced LTI handling and group conversions—all designed to make te...

In this jam-packed episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT’Ed , Thomas and Dani break down the feature-rich 3900.121 release in Blackboard Ultra. From time-saving grading enhancements and QTI question imports to long-awaited upgrades like image captions, MathJax support, and retroactive achievements, this release is all about improving workflow and teaching flexibility. Whether you're deep into cours...

In this episode, Dani and Thomas walk through the latest Blackboard Ultra updates from the 3900.118 release. From new jumbled sentence question types (including AI-generated ones!) to improved discussion tracking and streamlined Knowledge Checks, this month’s enhancements are all about smarter assessments, clearer communication, and better mobile usability. Tune in for practical tips and quick tak...

In this inaugural May episode of What’s New in Ultra: TILT'Ed , Thomas Mathews Horne and Danielle Reilley from the TILT team at Fort Hays State University dive into the latest Blackboard Ultra release (3900.116). Discover how the new AI Design Assistant feature streamlines interactive learning, explore the long-awaited option for qualitative rubrics without points, learn about the new “view submis...