The Activity Stream lets you see an up-to-the-minute list of course activities. This includes new content, announcement, and grades in the Blackboard app.  It will help you prioritize the tasks that need attention. Users can select the notification in the activity stream and will be taken directly to that item. Users may set their activity stream notifications based on their own preferences. 

When adding content in the Ultra course view, you can embed files directly in the submission allowing instructors to view and grade your work. This makes for a more seamless course. No need to worry about papers lost in transition over email.

As you work through your courses, you will encounter different types of assignments. These can be discussions, journals, projects, papers, quizzes, video quizzes, presentations, and more. Along with individual assignments, you may have group assignments.

When completing an assignment, discussion, or journal post in Blackboard, you may need to attach a word document or other file. 

The calendar in Blackboard Learn Ultra view global calendar allows you to see all of your upcoming due dates and meetings across all courses. You can see and create events for one course or all courses, and course-specific meetings. Use the settings feature to add notifications for certain events.

Content Editor is a tool that has many new and enhanced features compared to the old text editor. Features include lists and bullet choices, symbols, block quotes, emoticons, table creation/editing, expanded support for files such as graphic images, media, mashup objects, and an easy-to-use visual mathematics editor.

Discussions are a tool used to enhance student engagement, encourage critical thinking, and increase interactions with fellow students’ ideas. Your instructors may assign discussions. They can adjust settings so that you must respond to the initial question before you can view/respond to your classmates’ responses.

Journals are a private communication tool between you and your instructor. Journals can be assigned for individual projects, ideas, and self-reflection. Instructors have two options to make journals a graded assignment and create a rubric for grading.

Use Kaltura Capture to record videos of your desktop and webcam then embed them directly in your Blackboard Ultra course. This tool can record two camera inputs simultaneously, a camera and a screen, or two screens. The recordings are automatically stored in your Kaltura My Media. You can even record and place it directly in your assignment for ease of use.

Express Capture allows you to record from the browser without needing to install any software. You can record and embed right in your assignment, journal, or discussion post. Record video or audio while you are already in Blackboard Ultra. Express Capture will not record the screen only audio and video.

This resource offers student-focused tutorials that demonstrate how ChatGPT can augment the writing process for assignments commonly given in a rhetoric and composition course. These tutorials cover the evaluation essay, rhetorical analysis, Rogerian argument, annotated bibliography, and research essay—all while promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI in writing and research. With this comprehensive resource, instructors and students can not only build confidence in their understanding of generative AI within academia, but also build digital literacy that will serve them in the world beyond.

Author: Mary Landry

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to utilize a specific formation of generative AI (GenAI)—the prominent Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT—as an aid within the annotated bibliography writing process to

explore, evaluate, and refine a research question
brainstorm and determine effective search components and keywords
decipher complex ideas within academic articles

Additionally, you will critically reflect on ChatGPT’s place within the citation practices of an annotated bibliography. Specifically, you will consider why and how ChatGPT should be cited according to both MLA and APA.

This resource offers student-focused tutorials that demonstrate how ChatGPT can augment the writing process for assignments commonly given in a rhetoric and composition course. These tutorials cover the evaluation essay, rhetorical analysis, Rogerian argument, annotated bibliography, and research essay—all while promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI in writing and research. With this comprehensive resource, instructors and students can not only build confidence in their understanding of generative AI within academia, but also build digital literacy that will serve them in the world beyond.

Author: Mary Landry

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to utilize a specific formation of generative AI (GenAI)—the prominent Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT—as an aid within the evaluation essay writing process to

develop specific assessment criteria
maintain a professional, unbiased tone
articulate the sociohistorical context of a subject

Additionally, you will be able to identify specific limitations with using ChatGPT for an evaluation essay, including its limited ability to perform evaluations itself.

This resource offers student-focused tutorials that demonstrate how ChatGPT can augment the writing process for assignments commonly given in a rhetoric and composition course. These tutorials cover the evaluation essay, rhetorical analysis, Rogerian argument, annotated bibliography, and research essay—all while promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI in writing and research. With this comprehensive resource, instructors and students can not only build confidence in their understanding of generative AI within academia, but also build digital literacy that will serve them in the world beyond.

Author: Mary Landry

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to utilize a specific formation of generative AI (GenAI)—the prominent Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT—as an aid within the research paper writing process to

survey the ongoing discourse of research on a given topic
draft with different reasoning strategies
integrate sources and quotes

Additionally, you will critically reflect on the possible pitfalls in regards to originality and time management when using ChatGPT as an aid for composing a research paper.

This resource offers student-focused tutorials that demonstrate how ChatGPT can augment the writing process for assignments commonly given in a rhetoric and composition course. These tutorials cover the evaluation essay, rhetorical analysis, Rogerian argument, annotated bibliography, and research essay—all while promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI in writing and research. With this comprehensive resource, instructors and students can not only build confidence in their understanding of generative AI within academia, but also build digital literacy that will serve them in the world beyond.

Author: Jonahs Kneitly

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to utilize a specific formation of generative AI (GenAI)—the prominent Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT—as an aid within the rhetorical analysis writing process to

identify rhetorical situations and strategies
evaluate applied logic within a text
locate bias and logical fallacies within a text

Additionally, you will be able to develop critical evaluation skills to avoid the possible pitfalls from using GenAI for performing rhetorical analysis.

This resource offers student-focused tutorials that demonstrate how ChatGPT can augment the writing process for assignments commonly given in a rhetoric and composition course. These tutorials cover the evaluation essay, rhetorical analysis, Rogerian argument, annotated bibliography, and research essay—all while promoting the responsible and ethical use of AI in writing and research. With this comprehensive resource, instructors and students can not only build confidence in their understanding of generative AI within academia, but also build digital literacy that will serve them in the world beyond.

Author: Jonahs Kneitly

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to utilize a specific formation of generative AI (GenAI)—the prominent Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT—as an aid within the Rogerian argument writing process to

determine and refine an appropriate topic argument
brainstorm effective counterarguments and concessions
locate faulty logic and explore workable solutions

Additionally, you will develop critical evaluation skills to avoid the possible pitfalls with using GenAI for argumentation.