Communications: Ultra Courses Activation Project

• monthly project progress reports to DLSC and DLPSC
• project plan presented to eLearning Operation Forum members including ITaLI managers, Library, ITS, and faculty leaders
• project plan approved by Digital Learning Program Steering Committee and DVCA (DLPSC) - 22 June 2023
• project plan approved by Digital Learning Sub Committee (DLSC) - 6 June 2023

Faciliated a range of central eLearning Ultra workshops for teaching staff to support adoption:

• Learn.UQ Ultra Basics for Tutors: 28 July 2025 (×3), 29 July 2025 (×2), 30 July 2025, 31 July 2025, 24 February 2026, 25 February 2026, 26 February 2026, 28 July 2026, 29 July 2026, 
• Learn.UQ Basics / Learn.UQ Ultra Basics: 14 January 2025, 22 January 2025, 30 January 2025, 8 April 2025, 16 April 2025, 23 April 2025, 20 May 2025, 23 May 2025, 27 May 2025, 3 June 2025, 18 June 2025, 8 July 2025, 10 July 2025, 14 July 2025, 15 July 2025 (×2), 16 July 2025 (×2), 17 July 2025 (×2), 18 July 2025, 21 July 2025, 24 July 2025, 25 November 2025, 27 November 2025, 3 February 2026, 9 February 2026, 11 February 2026, 17 February 2026
• Learn.UQ Ultra Assignments: 15 April 2025, 29 April 2025, 6 May 2025, 15 May 2025, 21 May 2025, 5 June 2025, 8 July 2025, 15 July 2025, 17 July 2025, 23 July 2025, 25 November 2025, 3 February 2026, 9 July 2026
• Learn.UQ Ultra Tests: 11 April 2025, 22 April 2025, 29 May 2025, 10 July 2025, 14 July 2025, 16 July 2025, 18 July 2025, 22 July 2025, 26 November 2025, 8 July 2026
• Learn.UQ Ultra Gradebook: 31 March 2025 (×2), 4 April 2025, 2 July 2025, 3 July 2025, 9 July 2025, 15 July 2025, 16 July 2025, 17 July 2025, 23 July 2025, 28 November 2025, 9 July 2026
• New Ultra Tips and Tricks workshop: 15 July 2026 for Ready to Teach Week

Facilitated a range of custom workshops for schools and faculties:

• 21 November 2024: Custom Ultra Basics and Gradebook for Medical School
• 22 November 2024: Custom Ultra Basics and Gradebook for Medical School
• 22 July 2025: Custom Ultra workshop for ATSIS Unit
• 11 July 2025: SCA custom Assignment and Gradebook a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; }
• 1 August 2025: Ultra Course Site Design

Facilitated Ultra conversion training workshops for staff:

• 23 September, 2025: Ultra Conversion Training Part 2
• 16 September, 2025: Ultra Conversion Training Part 1
• 7 August, 2025: Ultra Conversion Training Part 2
• 6 August, 2025: Ultra Conversion Update
• 5 August, 2025: Ultra Conversion Training Part 1
• 4 August, 2025: Ultra Conversion Update
• 13 March, 2025: Ultra course conversion training Part C
• 4 March, 2025: Ultra course conversion training Part A
• 4 March, 2025: Ultra course conversion training Part B
• 3 March, 2025: Ultra Conversion Update Workshop

Faciliated a range of workshops for Learning Designers to support adoption:

• 8 December, 2025: Ultra Gradebook for LDs
• 6 December, 2024: Ultra Gradebook for LDs
• 5 December, 2024: Ultra Assignments for LDs
• 3 December, 2024: Ultra Course Site Design for LDs
• 3 December, 2024: Ultra Course Tests for LDs
• 2 December, 2024: Ultra Basics for LDs
• 28 November, 2024: Ultra Tests for LDs
• 27 November, 2024: Ultra Gradebook for LDs
• 27 November, 2024: Ultra Assignments for LDs
• 26 November, 2024: Ultra Basics for LDs
• 25 November, 2024: Ultra Course Site Design for LDs

Faciliated a range of workshops for key staff in the Proof of Concept:

• 3 x 2 hour Getting Started with Ultra Courses workshops for Semester 1, 2024 Proof of Concept Course Coordinators 
  • 12 December, 2023
  • 17 January, 2024
  • 30 January, 2024
• 3 x 2 hour Getting Started with Ultra Courses for Learning Designers vendor-run workshops
  • 20 November, 2023
  • 29 November, 2023
  • 5 December, 2023
• 2 x 1 hour Getting Started with Ultra Courses vendor-run workshops for Library AskUs team
  • 1 November, 2023
  • 20 November, 2023
• 4 x 2 hour Getting Started with Ultra Courses vendor-run workshops for eLearning team
  • 4 October, 2023
  • 10 October, 2023
  • 11 October 2023
  • 17 October, 2023
• 6 Nov 2023: invited Semester 1 2024 Proof of Concept Course Coordinators to register for workshops
• 30 August, 2023: invited key learning design staff to 3 x Getting Started with Ultra Courses workshops
• 28 August, 2023: liaised with Library AskUs Tier 2 Support in regards to training

• Consultations with school Professional staff to discuss the impact of Ultra on grade finalisation processes:

  • Professional staff in schools were contacted to arrange a Gradebook consultation - 21 February, 2024
  • Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - 28 March, 2024
  • Biomedical Sciences - 3 April, 2024
  • Mechanical and Mining Engineering - 19 April, 2024
  • Human Movement and Nutrition Science - 22 April, 2024
  • Pharmacy - 22 April, 2024
  • Chemial Engineering- 23 April, 2024
  • Economics - 23 April, 2024
  • Medicine - 23 April, 2024
  • Public Health - 23 April, 2024
  • Environment - 24 April, 2024
  • Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work - 26 April, 2024
  • Agriculture and Food Sustainability - 29 April, 2024
  • Civil Engineering - 29 April, 2024
  • Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences - 29 April, 2024
  • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - 29 April, 2024
  • Historical and Philosophical Inquiry - 30 April, 2024
  • Maths and Physics - 30 April, 2024
  • Social Science - 30 April, 2024
  • Law - 1 May, 2024
  • Business - 2 May, 2024
  • Education - 2 May, 2024
  • Languages and Cultures - 2 May, 2024
  • Veterinary Science - 2 May, 2024
  • Dentistry - 8 May, 2024

• Consultations with Faculty Learning Designers and ITaLI teams:

  • BEL - 26 February, 2024
  • HABS - 26 February, 2024
  • EAIT - 27 February, 2024
  • Science - 27 February, 2024
  • HASS - 27 February, 2024
  • Medicine - 28 February, 2024
  • ITaLI Digital Learning Uplift team - 28 February, 2024
  • ITaLI Learning Designers & Digital Assessment Team - 28 February, 2024

• met with faculty Associate Deans (academic) to brief them on the project and identify Summer Semester, 2023 and Semester 1, 2024 Proof of Concept courses:

  • BEL - 18, 21 September 2023
  • EAIT - 12 September 2023
  • HABS - 3 October 2023
  • HASS - 13 September 2023
  • Science - 21 September
  • Medicine - 18 October 2023

• met with key support stakeholders across UQ to brief them on the project -

  • UQ College - 10 August, 2023
  • HABS - 9 August, 2023
  • ELIPSE - 3 August, 2023
  • Faculty of Science, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Faculty of HASS - 2 August, 2023
  • ITaLI Learning Analytics - 1 August, 2023 
  • Library - 31 July, 2023
  • School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Economics, School of Public Health - 26 July, 2023
  • Busines School, Faculty of EAIT, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of BEL - 25 July, 2023
  • Examinations - 24 July, 2023
  • ITaLI Learning Designers Manager - 21 July, 2023
  • ITaLI Learning Designers - 18 July, 2023
  • ITaLI Digital Learning Uplift - 17 July, 2023

Regular presentations at the Learning Design and eLearning Update forum:

• 24 September, 2026: Jonathan Dawson to present on Ally/AI Conversation (planned)
• 27 August, 2026: Gradebook Update Demo
• 30 July, 2026: Gradebook Update Demo
• 20 April, 2026: Delegated marking in Ultra Assignment​, Grade finalisation in Gradebook
• 26 March, 2026: Ultra Journals as Assessment
• 2 February, 2026: Ultra Document
• 26 September, 2025: Ultra Activation Project Update
• 28 August, 2025: Ultra grade release across assessment tools, Ultra Activation Project Update
• 26 February, 2026: Ultra Documents
• 31 July, 2025: Ultra Activation Project Update, Ultra course experience – Dr Aparna Hebbani, Ultra change management from eLearning and academic’s point of view
• 29 May, 2025: Project Update – Ultra Activation​, From the Coalface – Ultra Course, self-serve​
• 1 May, 2025: Project Update – Ultra Tests, Project Update – Ultra self-pace modules 
• 27 March, 2025: From the Coalface – Ultra New Course Design​, Project update – Ultra Activation, Ultra demo – Gradebook 
• 27 February, 2025: Ultra, Ultra, Ultra, Project update – Ultra Activation
• 21 January, 2025: Project update – Ultra Activation, From the Coalface – Ultra courses​
• 7 November, 2024: From the Coalface – Ultra courses​, Ultra Project update
• 29 August, 2024: Ultra Project update
• 25 July, 2024: Ultra Project update
• 27 June, 2024: Ultra Project update
• 30 May, 2024: Ultra Project update - updates to template for S2, 2024
• 19 April, 2024: Ultra Project update - consultation on template changes
• 28 March, 2024: Ultra Project update - Original course design for Ultra, Declutter your course campaign
• 29 February, 2024: Ultra Project update - timeline and conversion process
• 26 October, 2023: Ultra Project update - Group feature demo​
• 28 September, 2023: Tool demonstration - Conversations and Discussions in Ultra courses
• 5 September, 2023: Stimulus Questions in tests
• 31 August, 2023: Tool demonstration - Ultra Courses test tool​
• 26 October, 2023: Group feature demo

Regular updates to the Learning Design & eLearning community and Semester 1, 2024 proof of concept participants through Microsoft Teams:

• 2 September, 2026: Gradebook Grid View Update
• 11 August, 2026: Blackboard Learn August update
• 16 July, 2026: Blackboard Gradebook grid view update
• 29 July, 2026:  Ultra course optimisation is now complete
• 14 July, 2026: Enhancements to Groups functionality available now
• 7 July, 2026: Getting started guides updated for S2 2026
• 8 June, 2026: Blackboard June 2026 update 
• 1 June, 2026: Getting started with Learn.UQ staff and student guides
• 11 May, 2026: Blackboard Learn May update
• 9 April, 2026: Blackboard Learn April update 
• 9 March, 2026: Blackboard  Learn March update
• 9 February, 2026: Blackboard  Learn February update 
• 4 February, 2026: Set up a course email in Ultra 
• 12 January, 2026: Blackboard Learn January update
•   25 November, 2025: Quick Enrol Feature Now Available for Ultra 
• 24 October,  2025: Assessment grades in Ultra for unenrolled student
• 16 October, 2025: Ultra Gradebook, Ultra Analytics 
• 7 October, 2025: Resources to support Gradebook set up 
• 3 October: Blackboard Learn October update 
• 8 Septmeber, 2025: Blackboard Learn September update
• 12 August, 2025: Blackboard  Learn August update
• 28 July, 2025: Ultra: Disabled tools (Ultra and 3rd party) 
• 28 July, 2025: Ultra staff guides are completed! 
• 25 July, 2025: Friendly Reminder – Ultra Course Issue Reporting  
• 4 July, 2025: Blackboard Learn July update
• 3 July, 2025: Copying tests from Original courses
• 1 July, 2025: Year of Ultra - Project update
• 20 June, 2025: Accidental release of results in Gradebook
• 16 June, 2025: Hurdles in Gradebook
• 16 June, 2025: Blackboard Learn June update
• 27 May, 2025: The year of Ultra - project update
• 10 April, 2025: Ultra Assignments self-paced module
• 9 April, 2025: Text columns in Gradebook are coming!
• 8 April, 2025: Ultra course feature comparison
• 7 April, 2025: Ultra issues register updated
• 4 April, 2025: Ultra Basics self-paced workshop
• 4 April, 2025: Blackboard Learn April update
• 1 April, 2025: The year of Ultra - project update
• 31 March, 2025: Content Collection in Ultra courses
• 18 Feburary, 2025: The year of Ultra - project update
• 17 February, 2025: Blackboard Learn February update
• 11 February, 2025: The year of Ultra - project update
• 6 February, 2025: Ultra use case: Text grades
• 4 February, 2025: The year of Ultra - project update
• 21 January, 2025: Ultra Project Update
• 14 January, 2025: Please review the 'Convert your course to Blackboard Ultra' guide
• 14 January, 2025: Blackboard Learn January update
• 6 December, 2024: Blackboard Learn December update
• 18 October, 2024: Ultra Summer Workshops for Learning Designers
• 11 September, 2024: Blackboard Learn November update
• 17 October, 2024: Ultra Project update: Updated project resources
• 6 September, 2024: New Ultra resources: Ultra Template Guidelines & Learning Module icons
• 5 September, 2024: Blackboard Learn September update
• 9 August, 2024: Blackboard Ultra updated 9 August
• 5 August, 2024: Newly announced Ultra features
• 22 July, 2024: Messages in Ultra
• 2 July, 2024: Ultra Tip Tuesday Summary
• 24 June, 2024: Ultra Example Course
• 11 June, 2024: Declutter your course - change management pack
• 7 June, 2024: Blackboard Learn updated 7 June
• 4 June, 2024: Ultra Tip - 5 Tips for end of semester
• 28 May, 2024: Ultra Tip - Blackboard Mobile App
• 14 May, 2024: Ultra Tip - Roles in Ultra courses
• 8 May, 2024: Ultra template updates for Semester 2, 2024 courses
• 7 May, 2024: Ultra Tip - Improved Gradebook navigation
• 3 May, 2024: Blackboard Learn updated 3 May
• 30 April, 2024: Ultra Tip - Content release conditions
• 23 April, 2024: Ultra Tip - Complex calculations in Gradebook
• 10 April, 2024: Blackboard Learn updated 5 April
• 9 April, 2024: Ultra Tip - Improved navigation for learning modules
• 2 April, 2024: Original course design for Ultra
• 2 April, 2024: Ultra Tip - Accommodations and Exceptions
• 26 March, 2024: Ultra Tip - Functionality limitations for improved accessibility
• 19 March, 2024: Ultra Tip - Column and user statistics in Gradebook
• 12 March 2024: Ultra Tip - Posting marks in Gradebook
• 5 March 2024: Ultra Tip - Copying content between courses
• 27 February 2024: Ultra Tip - Group Discussions
• 20 February 2024: Ultra Tip - Delegated Marking
• 20 February 2024: Support for S1 Ultra participants
• 19 February 2024: Ultra courses settings
• 16 February 2024: Ultra Courses Project update
• 13 February 2024: Ultra Tip - Course Schedule & Calendar
• 6 February 2024: Ultra Tip - Unsplash image integration
• 15 January, 2024: Ultra sandboxes available
• 30 November, 2023: Ultra course activation project update
• 21 November 2023: UItra Tip - Ultra Accessibility Checker
• 14 November 2023: Ultra Tip - Additional randomisation options for Blackboard Tests
• 7 November 2023: Ultra Tip - Automatic zeros for unsubmitted work
• 31 October 2023: Ultra Tip - Students can move between self-enrol groups
• 24 October 2023: Ultra Tip - Assign Primary Instructor(s)
• 17 October 2023: Ultra Tip - Adding and moving content in Ultra courses
• 10 October 2023: Ultra Tip - Improved accessibility with up to 3 content levels
• 3 October 2023: Ultra Tip - Unsplash for course banners
• 27 September 2023: Extra spots available in early bird Ultra courses workshops
• 26 September 2023: Ultra Tip - Search within a course
• 19 September 2023: Ultra Tip - Enabling conversations on content items
• 12 September 2023: Ultra Tip - Searchable Gradebook with multiple views
• 5 September 2023: Ultra Tip - Blackboard Test questions with stimulus
• 30 August 2023: Ultra course access plans for November
• 29 August 2023: Ultra Tip - Automated functionality for Groups
• 22 August 2023: Ultra Tip - Learning modules and progress tracking
• 27 July, 2023: Ultra Courses Activation Project​ update

Regular Teaching and eLearning News articles:

• 14 September 2026: Familiarise yourself with the updated Gradebook Grid View 
• 17 August 2026: Convert files to native Ultra documents
• 17 August 2026: Gradebook Grid View is now updated
• 3 August 2026: Declutter your Learn.UQ course
• 3 August 2026: Updated Gradebook Grid View: column and posted marks visibility
• 20 July 2026: Updated Gradebook grid view coming 7 August 
• 20 July 2026: Enhancements to Groups functionality now available 
• 29 June 2026: Get ready for Semester 2! 
• 8 June 2026: New Groups functionality – coming soon 
• 11 May 2026: Ultra feature focus – Gradebook finalisation   
• 20 April 2026: Ultra feature focus – document design 
• 23 March: Ultra Focus – Conversations 
• 2 March 2026: Ultra Focus: Progress tracking 
• 12 January 2026: Refreshed Learn.UQ course landing page 
• 25 November 2025: Finalise results in Ultra Gradebook 
• 13 October 2025: Ultra feature focus – Gradebook finalisation 
• 15 September 2025: Ultra feature focus – block styling 
• 18 August 2025: Set up your assessment and Gradebook in Ultra!
• 18 August 2025: Control the release of results in Ultra – Posting
• 4 August 2025: Communicating with students in Ultra
• 21 July, 2025: Support your students with Ultra!
• 21 July, 2025: Ready, set, Ultra!
• 24 June, 2024: Blackboard Ultra Example site 
• 24 June, 2024: Declutter your Semester 2 course site to make it more manageable
• 4 June, 2024: Have you ordered a Blackboard Ultra Preview site? 
• 4 June, 2024: Declutter your Semester 2 course site to make it more manageable 
• 20 May, 2024: Does your course contain old undeployed Blackboard Test? 
• 16 April, 2024: Have you ordered a Blackboard Ultra Sandbox site? 
• 16 April, 2024: Delete hidden folders containing unused content 
• 26 February, 2024: Blackboard Ultra sandbox sites available 
• 8 January, 2024: Ultra Course sandboxes now available 
• 8 January, 2024: Declutter your Learn.UQ course site 
• 28 August, 2023: Ultra Courses Activation project 

Articles published in the ITS Tech Times:

• 30 April, 2024: Blackboard Ultra courses trial

Articles published in the UQ Update:

• 28 September 2026: AI conversations in Learn.UQ (planned)
• 8 July, 2024: Declutter your Learn.UQ course site
• 1 July, 2024: Learn.UQ Ultra course preview