DoIT Alerts

The July 2025 release brings features designed to improve visibility into student engagement, better accessibility for images and equations, and tools that streamline how you monitor activity and manage grading. Whether you’re preparing for fall or refining your summer courses, these enhancements make it easier to connect with students and deliver content that works for everyone.

Add Captions to Images for Context and Accessibility

Instructors can now add captions above or below image blocks in Ultra Documents, providing valuable context to visual content embedded in course materials. This simple but impactful change helps students interpret images more effectively, improves comprehension for visual learners, and enhances digital accessibility by supporting screen reader users and reinforcing meaning beyond alternative text.

Image 1. Instructors can go to Edit File Options to add image captions and set positions.

Render Math with Clarity Using MathJax

MathJax will automatically render LaTeX equations when used in the Content Editor, offering a more precise and visually clean presentation of mathematical expressions across supported areas of Ultra. Especially helpful for STEM faculty, this update gives instructors more control over how complex formulas appear and improves the accessibility and readability of math-based content for students.

Image 2: Example of a formula formatted in LaTeX

Track Student Engagement with Announcements

The Announcements page now includes a viewer count, allowing instructors to quickly see which students have opened an announcement and which have not. Clicking the count reveals a list of viewers and non-viewers, with the ability to message students who haven’t read the post. This feature supports more effective communication by helping faculty ensure that important updates, reminders, and instructions are actually reaching students.

Image 3. The list of viewers for an announcement shows that two students have read the announcement and one hasn’t.

Additional updates include:

• Instructors can now import QTI v2.1 formatted questions directly into question banks.
• A new “No Category” option is now available in the Gradebook, allowing instructors to remove items from a grading category without needing to assign them to another one.
• The instructor Activity Page has been redesigned to show new course activity at a glance, including recent updates, grading needs, new messages, and alerts tied to student performance.
• Improvements to the pop-out rubric in the Gradebook include a save warning prompt when closing unsaved work and enhanced keyboard navigation using arrow keys and tab controls. 
• Instructors grading group assignments can navigate through submissions with new Previous and Next buttons in the group header bar.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around July 3-4 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on July 8, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff

Thumbnail-image: New to Ultra [decorative]

• More Information about Improve Course Accessibility with Image Captions & MathJax Formulas in July's Ultra Update

• More Information about Explore Jumbled Sentences and Gradebook Tools in Ultra’s June Release

The May 2025 Ultra release delivers several meaningful updates that improve how faculty assess student work, support engagement, and manage course tools. From expanded rubric options to accessible grading workflows, these changes are designed to align with effective teaching practices and support a more inclusive, student-centered experience.

Qualitative, No-Points Rubrics

Instructors can now create and use no-points rubrics in Ultra, a powerful option for qualitative evaluation. These rubrics allow instructors to provide rich, criterion-based feedback without assigning numerical values -- perfect for assignments focused on reflection, creativity, process, or formative assessment. In addition, faculty can leverage the AI assistant to generate descriptive evaluation criteria for no-points rubrics.

Image 1: Example of no-points rubric creation screen

Text-Based Columns in the Gradebook

A new Gradebook feature allows instructors to create text-based columns (up to 32 characters). These flexible columns are not restricted to text-only input and can include a description for context. Instructors can control student visibility, sort values in Grid view, and download the data. This update is especially useful for organizing students, tracking informal feedback, or adding flexibility to the Gradebook without tying everything to a numeric score.

Image 2: Inserting a text-based column in the gradable items tab

Test Submission Review – View Once

A new test setting, “View submission one time,” allows students to review their test responses and feedback just once after submission. Instructors must first enable the “Allow students to view their submission” setting, after which this option becomes available. This strikes a balance between transparency and academic integrity, offering students a chance to learn from their errors while reducing the risk of content sharing.

Image 3: Selecting the one-time view submission assessment setting

Enhanced AI Conversation Tool

The AI Conversation tool has been upgraded to optionally generate three key elements: a conversation title, a persona, and a reflection question. Instructors can further refine the suggestions by adjusting complexity, providing additional context, or pulling from course materials. This makes it easier to create rich dialogue prompts that encourage critical thinking and metacognition.

Gradebook Accessibility Enhancements

The Gradable Items view in the Gradebook has been redesigned to improve accessibility and navigation for users relying on screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. The new table-based layout provides more intuitive movement across cells using arrow keys and includes proper header and row announcements. These enhancements help ensure all instructors and teaching assistants, regardless of ability, can manage course grading with greater ease.

Discussion Board Improvements

Several updates make Ultra Discussions more intuitive and user-friendly. Terminology has been streamlined, replacing “responses” with “posts” for clarity, and the input field now prompts users to “Post a response to the discussion.” Instructor posts are clearly labeled, reply boxes are directly below the topic for better flow, and unnecessary interface elements, such as avatars and large banners, have been removed or simplified. These changes reduce cognitive load, improve mobile usability, and create a smoother, more accessible discussion experience for both students and faculty.

When you can expect the update

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around May 1-2 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on May 6, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SU2025 webinar on May 12, 2025.

• More Information about New grading features include no points rubric & text-based column for Ultra courses in May update

The April release introduce several new features aimed at improving content management, grading flexibility, and student feedback tracking. 

Instructors and students can now print Ultra Documents or save them as PDFs. This feature facilitates offline content review, sharing with peers, or creating physical copies. Note that if knowledge checks are included and already completed, they will display selected answers and instructor feedback when printed.

Image 1: Example of new print Ultra Document feature

A major addition this month is the Learning Object Repository (LOR), designed to centralize resources across courses and organizations. Instructors can copy objects from the LOR while maintaining control over settings such as availability. Updates made to objects in the LOR are automatically reflected across associated courses, making it easier to manage institutional content like policy documents.

Content Creation & Management

• When performing a whole course copy, achievements are now automatically included, allowing instructors to maintain consistent recognition across course iterations. However, achievements are not included in granular content copies.
• Instructors can now access Achievements through the Student Preview.

Assessments & Grading

• Flexible Grading is introduced for group assignments and tests. Though some features (like per-question feedback on group tests) are not yet available, this update is part of ongoing improvements to group grading.
• A new feedback indicator on the student Overview page now shows whether students have reviewed their feedback. The indicator updates from “Not reviewed” to “Reviewed” with a timestamp, giving instructors greater insight into student engagement with their feedback.
• A new “Results” column in the Gradebook replaces the “Feedback” column, making it more intuitive for students to view their grades and feedback.

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around April 4-5 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on April 8, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

Curious about the all latest features in Ultra? Join our What's New in Ultra Courses for Teaching & Learning SU2025 webinar on May 12, 2025.

• More Information about April update to Ultra features flexible grading in groups, printing support for Ultra documents & accessibility support for Office Math

In March, Ultra's update includes two new course reports, an exciting rubric enhancement requested by faculty, and improvements to the AI Course Design Assistant.

Located on the Analytics page, the two new course reports focus on goals. The Course Goal Coverage Report provides a comprehensive view of goal coverage in the course, including a detailed breakdown of course items aligned with goals. The Course Goal Performance Report evaluates how a course meets selected goals, including a detailed breakdown for individual students and goals. These reports do not include third-party tools and uses snapshot data that is up to 24 hours old.

Instructors will be able to pop out the grading rubric into a separate window when grading an assignment. Formatted in a grid view, the pop-out rubric is a separate, movable window. Popping out a rubric allows an instructor to view a student's submission and the rubric side-by-side for a more efficient grading experience. However, the expand icon for popping out a rubric will only appear if the primary browser window is sufficiently large enough to display enough of the course page. Instructors will be able to print a blank or completed rubric using their browser's print function.

Image 1: Example of new pop-out rubric

Content Creation & Management

• When setting or updating release conditions, due dates for content items are now included with the release condition settings, reducing the need to navigate back to the item to check deadlines.
• Instructors can now copy banners between courses.

AI Course Design Assistant

• When using the AI Course Design Assistant, if no image is generated, a placeholder will maintain a consistent layout. A refresh button allows instructors to generate a new image easily.
• The AI Course Design Assistant now generates one image at a time instead of four, reducing energy and processing power. If an instructor regenerates an image, previous images are saved for comparison.

Assessments & Grading

• If an instructor hides an assessment while students are actively taking it, those with the test open can continue without disruption.
• Instructors can configure the visibility of calculated columns from Items Management, streamlining the gradebook view. (Note: The Overall Grade column remains visible at all times.)
• The layout for the Test Submission Page for students now mirrors the assignment submission page update from September 2024, ensuring feedback is clearly presented.

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around March 6-7, 2025. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on March 11, 2025; release notes are posted to the What's New in Ultra that same week. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

• More Information about Printable, pop-out rubrics & new course reports for goal tracking available in March's Ultra update