Staff Guide: To show you how to create and edit Ultra Documents which are like a webpage for your module
Top Tips
- Don’t forget to make content available for students once finalised
- Check accessibility of content using the Ally Tool
- Consider building an Ultra Document rather than uploading multiple files
Why use an Ultra Document?
Blackboard Ultra Documents are a fantastic way to present mixed media in one place for your students. Think of them like a webpage for module content like a document built into Blackboard Ultra. An Ultra Document can include text, images, embedded PowerPoint slides and other MS documents, Panopto and more.
You can create user friendly content to clearly introduce information, outline expectations, add images and video to engage students and include relevant resources for a specific week and task too.
Blackboard is constantly updating features of Ultra Documents and
Blackboard is constantly updating features of Ultra Document and new features can be available. For the most up to date guides, go to the Blackboard Ultra Document Help Guide.
Creating a Blackboard Document
Wherever you want to create content, select the plus (+) icon and choose Create and select Document from the Create Item menu.
Documents open as a panel across the page and are called ‘New Document [DATE]’ by default.
- Select the document heading to edit it.
Use a clear naming convention to allow staff and students to easily search for content. - Add Content opens the Content Editor
- You can Upload files from your computer or other storage
Adding Content to the Blackboard Document
Selecting Add Content, opens the Content Editor. Here you can add free text, as well as a variety of content types to engage students. You can copy and paste from a formatted document.
Content Editor
The Content Editor appears wherever you have the option to add formatted text in Ultra. It works like a normal word document but with a few more features. Within the Content Editor, you can add and format text, embed images, attach files, and insert equations, links, and tables.
When adding text in Content Editor, you can format text and structure your content by adding headers; adjust the font, font size, and font colour; format text as bold, underlined, or italics; insert tables, create lists and many more options.
You can also copy and paste text from a formatted word document into a Blackboard Document.
You can find out more in this Blackboard guide about using the Content Editor.
Add an image
There are multiple ways to add an image. The most simple is to drag and drop your image file straight into Content Editor box. The image will appear and you can resize it by dragging the corners.
Alternatively, you can click the Image icon on the Content Editor menu and select your source, either upload from your device or add Stock Images from Unsplash.
When adding an image, you can allow your students to:
- View the image, but not download (View Only)
- View and Download the image
- Download the image, but not view in the browser (Download Only) – this option replaces the image preview with an icon with the file’s name.
Edit File Options – Accessibility
When you add an image by any method, a pop up box appears asking you to edit the Display Name and add alternative text. Effective alternative text describes any content necessary to understand the purpose of the image. You can read more in this Microsoft guide on writing effective Alt Text.
You can also mark an image as decorative, if viewing the image is not necessary for understanding the content.
Adding a Table
You can add or edit tables within a Blackboard document by selecting the Table option on the Content Editor:
You can insert the number of columns and rows you need, and then you can start building content in the cells.
For accessibility purposes, the header row should contain meaningful content (i.e., making explicit in which way the content is organised under each row). Please also select the option ‘Header Row’ to highlight the row. If applicable, by selecting the option ‘Header Column’ this column will also be highlighted.
Known issues with tables
Tables on Blackboard Ultra are known to display some issues at the moment. One common issue is missing or disappearing content within cells while editing. Blackboard is currently working on such issues.
In order to circumnavigate such issues, an alternative we suggest is (1) creating any table content in a Word table and (2) copying and pasting the Word table into the Blackboard document – so any lost content can be replaced as the original content will remain in the Word table.
Add your own files to a Blackboard Document
There are multiple ways to add files, such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word etc. The simplest way is to drag and drop the file into the Content Editor from the appropriate folder on your device. Alternatively, click the paperclip icon / attachment which opens your local file explorer.
Uploaded files appear with an icon and document title with an arrow icon on the righthand side to expand the view. This expanded view can be opened or closed allowing the viewer access to content without having to leave Blackboard or download documents. There is also an option allowing the viewer to download in an alternative format if needed.
In the expanded view, students can scroll through the document to see all slides in presenter mode from within Blackboard. Note that animations/transitions are not shown in this view, the view is more like a saved PDF view.
When should I upload documents?
Consider carefully which documents you upload, it may be better to copy and paste text from a word document into a Blackboard document for better accessibilty and ease of reading rather than having to open another document.
A note on PDF files: PDFs are not good files to upload due to their lack of accessibility. Please ensure that you are giving students the best chance of accessing your resources by considering accessibility at all times through using word documents and PowerPoint files over PDFs. If you need any help then do ask how to make your content more accessible.
Adding content via Content Market e.g. Panopto/TurnItIn
You can also embed Panopto videos, TurnItIn assignments and reading lists within a Blackboard Document.
Within the content editor, select the (+) Add Content icon in the top right corner and select Content Market (final option of the list).
This opens a new window showing the available embedding tools e.g. Panopto, Talis. You can then select the appropriate tool and navigate to the required content e.g. Panopto video.
For more information on adding Panopto videos, see this guide: ELearn Guide to embedding Panopto videos on Ultra