Modules and Folders in Ultra Course View

Blackboard Ultra Course View (UCV) has two primary options for organizing your course content: Folders and Modules. This document introduces both and discusses some of their key differences.

Their visual presentation is slightly different. Folders and Modules have their own distinct icon and allow for a title and description that is visible without opening it. Modules have an additional feature where you can add an image in place of the module icon. Clicking on each container type causes it to unfold and display the contents inside.

Navigation of the content they contain is slightly different. Clicking folder contents opens a new navigation layer displaying the content. To view another item a user must close it and click another, which subsequently opens in its own layer. Clicking module contents also opens a new navigation layer but modules contain additional navigation elements that allow the user to browse to the next item, rather than requiring them to exit before opening the next item.

Both folders and modules allow instructors to group and organize content in ultra course view. While folders are designed to group documents or related information in a single container, modules add the potential for organizing the material in a sequence. Once the content is ordered in a module, instructors can choose whether to allow students to complete the content in any order or enable the "forced sequence" option which requires that students complete each segment before gaining access to the next item. Forced sequence can be turned on/off by accessing the edit panel of the learning module. Note that forced sequence will override any release condition placed on an item within that forced sequence module.

By default, Progress Tracking is not enabled in Blackboard Ultra Courses; it must be enabled by the instructor on a course-by-course basis. When an instructor enables progress tracking, an indicator is added to each item in the course. When a student opens or views a piece of content, the indicator marks that the content is partially complete. For some items, content is marked complete when the student finishes the task. For example if a student completes a test, makes a required discussion board post, or submits an assignment, Blackboard will automatically mark the item complete with the indicator. For items without a completion step, such a reading, the student can click the indicator to signify that they have completed reviewing the content. If a student wishes to mark a complete item as incomplete, they can click it again to change the status to partially complete.

Regardless of whether Progress Tracking is enabled at the course level, modules that have "forced sequence" enabled will always display progress indicators, showing students which items are available to them and which are "locked" because they have not completed the previous step in the module.

Limitations

In general, both modules and folders can hold the same types of content, but there are some limitations about how they are used and combined:

Ultra course view only allows a nesting folder depth of three.
Folders can be added to modules, but modules cannot be placed inside of a folder.
All modules must live at the top navigation level of the course.