This article covers how instructors can preview their HuskyCT Original Course View course in the new Ultra Course View.
Previewing Your Course in Ultra Course View
The HuskyCT Development platform (LMSDev) has been updated as of March 2023 to reflect the production version of HuskyCT (the version you teach in), and faculty can now use LMSDev to preview courses in the Ultra Course View (UCV) version of Blackboard. This allows instructors to preview UCV and make plans for transitioning to it without affecting their active courses. HuskyCT administrators need to set courses in LMSDev to “Instructor Choice” to allow instructors to convert their courses from Original Course View (OCV) to Ultra Course View. The HuskyCT Admin team will set courses to instructor choice by request.
To preview the layout and functionality of a course in Ultra Course View, instructors must complete the steps outlined below.
Step 1: Retrieve Course Information
Navigate to LMSDev https://lmsdev.uconn.edu/ and log in with your NetID and password.
From the Courses tab, click on the course you would like to convert.
While in the course, copy the URL which contains the course information.
Step 2: Request the “Instructor Choice” Option
Email the ITS HuskyCT Admin team (huskyct@uconn.edu) and include the following information:
Your Last name, First name
NetID (e.g., zlj10293)
The URL copied in Step 1
Any other information or comments etc.
This will create a request ticket with the HuskyCT Admin team, who will then turn on the “Instructor Choice” option for your course(s) in LMSDev and notify you once it has been turned on.
Step 3: Convert your Course to Ultra
Once you have been notified by the HuskyCT Admin team (via ticket) that “Instructor Choice” has been turned on, navigate back to https://lmsdev.uconn.edu/ and log in with your NetID and password.
From the Courses tab, click into the course.
When in the course, click the lock icon in the upper-righthand corner to make the course private.
You will then see an option to convert your course to Ultra Course View. Click the pencil icon.
Then click Try the Ultra Course View.
Once you click “Try the Ultra Course View,” your LMSDev course will to Ultra. This is an automated process, (explain how will they know when it’s done)
Step 4: Preview your Course (this section needs improvement)
Depending on how your course is designed in Original Course View, some content may need to be rearranged or rebuilt. Reviewing your course and determining how much rearrangement or rebuilding will be necessary is a key part of your decision to transition to the Ultra Course View. The conversion will take some time to complete. You will receive an email when the conversion process is complete.
Enter your course. You will receive a report of all the things that were not able to be converted.
You will be looking at the course in Ultra Course View preview mode. At this point, it is still possible to return to the original. To return to the original course view, click Back to Original Course button on the page footer.
Take a look around the course and see if you like it.
If you do like it, click Use the Ultra Course and follow the prompts to finish the conversion and make it permanent.
If you do NOT like it, click Back to Original course which will roll back any changes made to the course. This step can only be performed in the preview mode.
If you choose to return to Original Course View, you will need to make the course Available again. To make the course Available, click the Red Padlock in the upper Right hand corner. Alternatively, navigate to Course Management >> Customization >> Properties and under Set Availability, select Yes. Once the course is available the visibility is controlled by the Course Duration dates found under, Course Management >> Customization >> Properties and under Set Course Duration. If you want to change this date, refer to Changing Course Availability
It is not possible to rollback a HuskyCT course to the Original Course View once it has been converted to the Ultra Course View. If you need to go back to the Original Course View, the LMSDev version of your course will need to be deleted and you will lose any changes that you made to the course.
Please note that Kaltura media and other 3rd party platforms will not be functional the Ultra preview course while in LMSdev. Embedded Kaltura media will state “This is not the Production Environment.”
Video Instructions
Common Issues with Converting Courses to UCV
Problem | Resolution |
|---|---|
Pencil icon does not appear |
|
Can’t find where to roll back to Original Course View | It is not possible to change back to Original Course View once a course has been converted to Ultra Course View |