Copy & Import Course Content in Ultra Course View

Overview

You can add content to your Ultra course by creating your own content, or by copying or importing existing content. In this article, we'll look at copying and importing content.

In the Ultra Course View, you can easily copy content from other courses you have access to as an instructor. In Original, you may have been used to “pushing” content to another course - to copy content, you’d open the course you want to copy content from and tell it where to copy the content to. In Ultra, you “pull” content in. You can use the Copy Items feature to copy entire courses or select individual items from other courses you’re currently teaching or have taught in the past. You can also combine items from multiple courses with a full course copy or individual item copies.

In addition to copying, you can also import ZIP files, which could be an exported course package from a previous course or another instructor, or question pools or other question resources.

In this article:

• Copy Items
• Import Content
• Checking Exceptions for a Copy or Import

Copy Items

To get started copying content into your course, you can either:

1. Click the three dot menu next to the search option at the top of your Course Content
2. Click Copy Items
   

OR

1. Click the plus sign Add icon anywhere in your Course Content
2. Click Copy Content
   

Either method will open the same page: Copy Items. On this Copy Items page you see a list of all the courses that you are currently teaching or have taught in the past. You can search for the course you're looking for in the search bar at the top or navigate through the pages with the arrows near the top. Next to each item, you’ll see a checkbox to the left of it. 

To copy over the whole course:

1. Click the name of the course
   
2. Select each of the checkboxes next to the content items, so that it doesn’t bring in any irrelevant or hidden settings.
   
3. To copy over individual items from a single course or multiple courses, click the checkbox next to the folder or item you want to copy. You can review everything you have selected to copy on the right side of the screen.
   
4. When you've selected everything that you want to copy, click the Start Copy button at the bottom. You’ll be taken back out to the main Course Content page of your course. Depending on the amount of content that you’re copying you may see a loading icon at the bottom of your screen indicating that items are being copied. When the items are finished copying, you may see a pop-up that your copy completed and a warning that your copy completed with a few exceptions. This can happen when you bring in content from Blackboard Original into Ultra. For the most part it's simply a loss of formatting or settings. But it's a good idea to take a look at any of those exceptions and make sure your content came in as you need it to.

Import Content

1. Click on the three dots in the top right of your course content, next to the magnifying glass icon.
2. Click Import content
   
3. Click Import Course Content and navigate to the file you want to import.
   

You’ll be taken back out to the main Course Content page of your course. Depending on the amount of content that you’re importing you may see a loading icon at the bottom of your screen indicating that items are being copied. When the items are finished importing, you may see a pop-up that your copy completed and a warning that your copy completed with a few exceptions. This can happen when you bring in content from Blackboard Original into Ultra. For the most part it's simply a loss of formatting or settings. But it's a good idea to take a look at any of those exceptions and make sure your content came in as you need it to.

Checking Exceptions for a Copy or Import

If you want to check the exceptions after you've copied or imported items, you can do that on the Course Content page: 

1. Click the three dot menu next to the search option at the top of your Course Content
2. Click Course Tasks and Logs
3. On this Course Tasks and Logs page you'll see a log of tasks and you can click the "View Report" link to see any exceptions, and click into the exception to see more details.
   
   

There are certain restrictions about items that may not be able to be copied from Original into Ultra. This list of how content types are converted from Original to Ultra on Blackboard's Help site is a good reference point if you're not sure whether your content can be copied over.

Need additional help or have issues

On the Faculty Success Blackboard Ultra page, you can learn about using Ultra, the UAA timeline for transitioning, comparing Ultra and Original course views, and more. 

Though completing the Ultra training is no longer required to teach in Ultra for Fall 2025 and beyond, it is still a great resource! We encourage you to register for the Ultra course conversion training. We have compiled helpful walkthroughs, videos, and instructional design materials into an asynchronous training that you can complete at your own pace. Completing the training course doesn’t require you to teach in Ultra, so it is a great opportunity to explore and determine when you want to make the transition to Ultra.

You can also contact the Faculty Success Instructional Design team (uaa_design@alaska.edu) to request a workshop or presentation for your department.