Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation

On July 5, we updated Blackboard to use the new Ultra Base Navigation. This update gives Blackboard a modern look and feel and provides easier access to important information.

Ultra Base Navigation has a modern, intuitive navigation menu that sits outside of courses and is always available.

Your courses will not change. They will look and operate exactly as they do now.

The benefits of Ultra Base Navigation include:

  • A modern, intuitive user experience.
  • Improved accessibility.
  • It works well on mobile devices. This navigation is designed to work well regardless of what device you’re using.
  • Just one click away. No matter where you are, UBN provides clearer paths to where you want to go, minimizing clicks and saving time.

Photo of students in a University of Bristol building. On top of a red overlay on the left, there is a button for staff and student login and another button for guests. There are 2 links for help for staff and students respectively under the first button and more helpful links at the bottom left of the page.

Blackboard Assist page, with 2 featured services, each with a button to Try it out and more services below that, all with a title, link and short description.

What to expect

Login page

Photo of students in a University of Bristol building. On top of a red overlay on the left, there is a button for staff and student login and another button for guests. There are 2 links for help for staff and students respectively under the first button and more helpful links at the bottom left of the page.

The redesigned login page is attractive and easy to use. University of Bristol staff and students log in with their usual ID and password by clicking on the “Staff and student login” button. There are links to help pages, as well as other useful information, like the Study Skills and Health & Wellbeing sites.

Home page

Blackboard Home page. Left: Staff view, Right: Student view. Both have Digital Education News and a list of useful links, the Staff page also contains a list of tools.

Home page - Left: Staff view, Right: Student view

Once logged in, you will land on the new Blackboard home page. Here, you’ll find digital education news and updates, and links to other relevant University information.

This will also be your first sight of the Ultra Base Navigation menu, down the left-hand side of the page. This menu is always readily available and has links to the most important parts of Blackboard, such as Courses, Marks, and Assist (the new help area in Blackboard).

The ‘support’ question mark, at bottom right, is also always available wherever you are in Blackboard. Clicking on this will let you search for support information from Blackboard or the University about how to use Blackboard.

Courses

3 displays of the Blackboard Courses page. The first shows the courses in a list, the second as tiles with images and 1 course is shown under Favourites, the third as tiles with images with no favourites distinction. In all views, the course names are visible. Above the courses, there is a search box and a Filter option.

The courses page shows all the courses you are enrolled in, but you can use the drop-down menu at the top middle of the page to show only those for a specific year. You can also search for a particular course, or click on the star to make a course one of your favourites, which will always appear at the top of the list. There’s also the option to choose a ‘tiled’ view of your course list.

A Blackboard course/organisation. There is an X close button at the top left.

Clicking on a course name will make that course slide out from the right of the screen. Inside a course, everything works the same as before. To leave a course, just click on the cross at the top left – the course will slide away, and you will return to the page you were on before.

My Marks

Left: Blackboard’s My Marks page for staff showing a list a of courses, each one stating how many pieces of work have been submitted, how many are left to mark and a link to view all work. Right: Blackboard My Marks page for students with a list of courses. Each course shows recently submitted work and the associated mark, and a link to view all work.

My Marks page - Left: Staff view, Right: Student view

Here, you can see all the work in your courses that needs marking (for staff), or all the marks you’ve received (for students). Clicking on any item takes you directly to the relevant place in the course.

You can use the arrows at the top left and right of the page to navigate between different subsets of courses (such as those for a specific year).

Assist

Blackboard Assist page, with 2 featured services, each with a button to Try it out and more services below that, all with a title, link and short description.

This page provides links to a wide range of University resources that can support you in your learning.

Profile

Blackboard's Profile page, with the user's photo, name and username at the top, more information on the left and system settings on the right.

You can access your profile page from then menu link showing your name. In this page, you can upload a profile picture for use in Blackboard, and change your privacy and notification settings.

Activity Stream

Blackboard's Stream page, showing the date of access at the top. Underneath, there is a vertical timeline with 3 entries, each showing that a new course is available, the course name and how long ago the entry appeared.

The stream pulls together notifications from all your courses. These can also still be seen in the individual courses.