Navigating an Ultra site

Summary

An introduction to the key areas and structure of an Ultra site.

Overview

There are three navigation bar menus used to navigate an Ultra site:

1. Top Menu: Access course tools including the Gradebook and Messages.
2. Course Content area: The main site area. Create and access course content here.
3. Details & Actions access site tools including the Class Register and Course Image.

Top menu

The navigation menu below the site name gives access to a number of course tools:

Menu item	Description
Content	Return to the Course Content area
Calendar	View the Calendar showing events within Ultra for this site (eg. assignment deadlines). This is not integrated with Google Calendar or the University's timetabling system.
Announcements	View or create an announcement email to all site users.
Discussions	Quick access all of the course's discussion boards.
Gradebook	Grade information and access to submissions for all of the markable items in a course.
Messages	Send private messages to individual students or groups (off by default, but you can turn on). Students can't reply to Messages.
Analytics	Not currently used at York
Groups	Use Groups to manage teaching, administration and assessment activities in your course
Student Preview	View the course as it appears to a student

Course Content

Content is created and accessed in the Course Content area appearing in teh main body area of the site.

Items can be organised in content containers such as Folders or Learning Modules. Click a content container to expand it to show the items within, and click again to collapse.

To open an item, click on it in the Course Content area. This will open the content in a new layer across the site. To close the item and return to the Course Content area, click X.

Tip

For more information on Folders and Learning Modules, see the Folders vs Learning Modules guide.

Details & Actions

This menu on the left hand side of the screen gives access to a number of different tools:

Menu item	Description
Class register	List of everyone enrolled on the site, including staff members (by default this is hidden from students)
Course Image	Upload, edit or remove the site's Course Image
Course is open / Course is private	Set site availability as visible or hidden to students
Class Collaborate	Access the Blackboard Collaborate virtual classroom
Attendance	Not used at York
Books & Tools	Access LTI tools such as Reading Lists and Panopto/Replay
Question banks	Build and manage sets of questions shared between Tests