Base navigation

Owned by ellen bell
Last updated: Feb 13, 2024
5 min read

The left-hand menu that you see when you first log into Blackboard Learn displays the core features of the Ultra Base Navigation. This menu is always readily available and includes links to Courses and Grades as well as the Activity Stream.

 

Activity Stream

The Activity Stream is the default landing page in Blackboard Learn. The Activity Stream will notify you of relevant information from across your modules, related to your role. As an Instructor in a module, you will see announcements, notifications and some new features related to how your students are engaging with your module areas. Upcoming events from your personal Blackboard Learn calendar will also be displayed.

An example of the Ultra menu list showing the activity stream with no filter

Stream settings

From the Activity Stream you can go directly to course actions such as due dates, new materials and announcements. You can filter your stream to simplify the information it displays. You can decide the types of notifications you receive in your stream. As a best practice, it is recommended to configure your Stream Settings to your desired settings by using the cog icon.

For important notifications and communications, it is advisable to continue to check your staff email and Blackboard Learn modules.

To access your activity stream

  1. Select the Activity Stream button (shown below):

Activity stream icon and button

  1. The Activity Stream page will open. In the example below you can see that Blackboard has identified some students in specific modules who are showing online engagement that is lower than their peers.

 

Monitoring students in the Activity Stream

A new feature, for instructors, is the identification of students who show patterns of engagement that may need further investigation. These students will be identified in the Activity Stream with a text link stating how many students are falling behind.

On clicking the link you will see a list of the students identified as 'falling behind' on a chart showing Marks and Course Activity. 

Software is unable to understand a complete picture of a student’s learning experience and there are limitations with any approach that only uses accessible digital data. 

 

Courses

The Courses page helps you organise and personalise your courses list. Use it to access the modules or programme support areas you have been enrolled on.

To access the courses list:

  1. Select the Courses button (shown below):

  1. The Courses list will open:

 

Courses Tile/List View

Within the Courses tool, you can view your modules in tile or list view, using the view toggle button (highlighted in red in the image below):

List View

To see your modules displayed in list view:

  1. Toggle the course list view button:

  1. The modules will then appear in list view:

Tile View

To see your modules in tile view:

  1. Toggle the tile button:

The modules will then appear in tile view:

 

Finding your courses

Your modules and programme support areas will be listed under Current Courses. You can use the Current Courses drop-down list to show upcoming courses:

If you are teaching large number of modules, the Search your courses box is useful for filtering your Current Courses list:

 

Favourite Modules

If there are modules you access more often than others, they can be added to your Favourites. Making a module a favourite will ‘pin’ it to the top of your Courses list.

To mark a module as a favourite:

  1. Select the star icon next to the module title (highlighted in red in the image below):

  1. The star icon will change colour (to purple) to indicate that the module is a favourite and the module will be pinned to the top of the Courses list in the Favourites section (see image below):

Hidden/Private Modules

Any modules shown in the Courses list as Private are unavailable to students but will be accessible to you.

Organisations

The Organisations section is not currently used and can be ignored for now.

Calendar

The Calendar page aggregates teaching events and deadlines from all your courses in one place. You can change between day and month view using the toggle button:

To access the Calendar:

  1. Select the Calendar button (shown below):

  1. The Calendar view will open:

Messages

The Messages tool can be used to send messages to individuals, multiple people, or an entire cohort - within the modules you have access to. Messages only exist within Blackboard Learn; they are not sent to e-mail accounts and can only be accessed via the Messages tool.

To access Messages:

  1. Select the Messages button (shown below):

  1. The Messages page will open:

  1. If you have any new messages, it will be indicated by a red circle next to the Messages icon. For Example:

 

Useful links

 

 

 

Centre for Digital Learning Enhancement
ulster.ac.uk/learningengancement/cdle