FACULTY: ULTRA: Alternatives to Blogs and Wikis

Have you used blogs and wikis in your Blackboard Learn Original courses? If so, you may have already discovered that Anthology, the parent company of Blackboard, has discontinued blogs and wikis in the new Ultra format. Below are alternatives for your consideration.

Alternatives to Blogs

• The Discussions feature: This feature preserves much of the functionality of blogs but does so in a different format. Instead of blog posts and comments, students post to a discussion thread and can enter replies to posts.
• The Journal feature: Journals are like Discussion boards except that they have a default setting of “private.” Thus, the journal feature is typically used for student posts intended to be shared with only the instructor.
• Padlet: Padlet offers many fun and appealing visual templates that students and faculty report as easy and enjoyable to use. The image below is of a blog using the "stream" template.

Alternatives to Wikis

• Microsoft Word: With a few easy steps, BSU faculty and students can use Word to collaboratively build a wiki. First, the instructor should create a Word document in which the class will build their Wiki. Next, the instructor will need to share that document with students and give them editing permissions. Students can be notified from within the share permissions window and begin to build their wiki right away.
• Padlet: Wikis come in many different formats and the Wall template may be a particularly good fit. You can also build a map-based wiki or timeline wiki using Padlet templates specific to those formats.