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 built into Blackboard Ultra. An Ultra Document can include text, images, embedded PowerPoint slides and other MS documents, embedded Panopto and other media and more.
User friendly content can be created 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 Ultra is constantly updating and adding new features to Ultra Documents. For the most up to guide releases, go to the Blackboard Ultra Document Help Guide. Please note: that not all features may be available at the University of Southampton.
Creating a new Document
Wherever you want to create content, select the plus (+) icon and choose Create and then 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.
Then select the type of content block you want to add (see below for description of each content block).
Blocks
There are several different types of content block that you can add to an Ultra Document.
Content Block
Add content via the content editor. Here you can type free text or copy and paste from a formatted document. The content editor also allows you to format text as well as embed images, attach files and insert equations.
You can find out how to add text, headings, links, content market files and images in the Blackboard guide about using the Content Editor.
For more information about embedding Panopto videos into an Ultra document, please see our eLearn guide on how to Add Panopto content to Ultra Courses.
A guide on adding other content from the Content Market is coming soon.
Knowledge Check Block
This is a simple way to test students comprehension of document content by asking a multiple choice or multiple answer question. They are a great addition to an Ultra document as students get immediate feedback on their answer and can have unlimited attempts.
Note: whilst you can see how many students have engaged with a knowledge check, this information and student scores are not recorded in the Gradebook and individual students are not identified.
HTML Block
Add content via HTML or CSS in the document. Opens a blank box to enter or copy and paste your HTML text.
Note: It is important to check accessibility of HTML content when created and if there are any problems, please raise a serviceline ticket for Education Application Support.
File upload block
Upload files from your device to the document for students to access alongside other information. These files will appear with the original file name so ensure that the original file is named appropriately.
Students can view the file by selecting the dropdown arrow
This could be and document title with the 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. There is also an option allowing the viewer to download the document in current or an alternative format.
In the expanded view, students can scroll through the document to see all pages/slides in presenter mode from within Blackboard. Note that animations/transitions in a PowerPoint are not triggered, the view is more like a saved PDF view of the PowerPoint.
Cloud upload block
If you have allowed access from Blackboard, you can also upload files from your OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or similar.
Drag and Drop files
You can also drag and drop files from your computer into an Ultra document. These files will always be added to the end of a document but can be repositioned to the required location.
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 an Ultra 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 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.
Convert a file block
This allows a file to be uploaded which is then converted into an Ultra document. Supported files include PowerPoint, Word and PDF.
Always review converted content for accuracy.
Editing Blocks
Once content has been added to the document, select Save. If you want to edit the content, select Edit content at the top right hand corner of the page then select the content you wish to change. Don’t forget to select save after each edit.
The menu bar (see below) remains visible in the top left hand corner of the page allowing you to add blocks (plus icon) and undo/redo actions.
New blocks added from this menu are automatically to the end of the document. Alternatively, you can select the plus icon between any two blocks to insert a new block in a specific location.
Resizing and moving blocks
A new feature of blocks, released in December 2024, is to be able to create engaging layouts by resizing and dragging/dropping blocks into rows and columns.
Each content block item has a menu which allows you to move rows and/or expand and shrink the item.
Select edit content and hover over a block to reveal the block edit menu.
Select the pen icon to edit the content.
Select the 6 dots to show options to move or resize the block.
Select the bin icon to delete the block.
By moving and resizing content, you can create engaging and varied content to combine text, images, files, videos and knowledge checks.
In the example below, the first section (1) is a content block with text and images, the second (2) is a content block with a Youtube video, the third section (3) (only visible to staff) shows Knowledge Check results and the fourth section (4) is a Knowledge Check block. Blocks 1 and 2 have been resized to fit on the same row as each other to instruct students to watch the video. Then a knowledge check block sits below this for students to answer after watching the video.
Student View of Ultra Documents
It’s important to check Ultra documents not only with Student Preview but also by resizing the screen as many students access Blackboard content on a variety of devices including small screens like a mobile phone. When the screensize is reduced, document blocks are organised vertically based on reading them left to right and top to bottom.
So content that was arranged from left to right like this text and video below:
Would appear stacked vertically when the screen size is reduced as shown below, note that the image has also been resized to fill the width of the page:
For more information about this topic, see Blackboard’s guide to Creating Documents.
If you would like more information or help with designing Ultra Documents using blocks then please raise a Serviceline ticket.
Blackboard release monthly updates which improve user experiences, if you would like more information about these updates see eLearn’s Latest News.