Say hello to the Ultra Base Navigation

· Adam Massey

A new way of navigating Blackboard Learn.

A more modern, mobile first, and intuitive navigation providing quick access to the most critical information from across all of your Blackboard courses.

What is the Ultra Base Navigation (UBN)?

It replaces the Original Experience’s various tabs and modules which you see when you log into Blackboard. Instead of things being spread out across boxes on the Welcome Page, they’ve been moved into links on the left hand side.

Instructors

Neither the contents of your courses, or the way you build them, will change as a result of the UBN. They will function in the same way.

What will change?

The Welcome Page has been a part of Aston’s Blackboard for a long time. The UBN replaces this, it also adds new features, such as the Activity Stream, and improves access to others.

You will see the following links down the left hand side of your screen.

Institution Page

When logging into Blackboard, you will land on the Institution Page. This contains helpful links for staff and students.

Profile

View information about your account, and upload a photo.

 

Activity Stream

See up to the minute updates across all of your courses. Unlike the Original Experience, where you would only see a list of announcements made across your courses, you will now see more types of updates, including:

  • You having access to a new course (eg at the start of a term)
  • A new announcement has been posted
  • New content has been added
  • New discussion board posts
  • A mark has been posted

Click an entry in the Activity Stream to be taken to the appropriate place on Blackboard.

Courses/Organisations

View all of the courses you are enrolled on. Courses that have not yet been made available for you to view will be marked as Private. Click the star button next to a course to mark it as a favourite so it will be listed at the top, for easy access.

Calendar

Any calendar entries added to your courses will be collated here.

Marks

  • Instructors see a list of what needs grading (with some exceptions if they are Turnitin assignments).
  • Students see their provisional grades for work submitted to assignments in Blackboard.

 

Tools

Access global functions that are outside of your courses, such as Enterprise Surveys.

Admin

If your account has the School Administrator role, you will be able to access your school(s) courses and quick enrol onto them via here.