By GENEVIEVE PRESLEY Ranger Reporter
With the fall 2026 semester officially underway at Amarillo College, there have been some changes made to Blackboard Ultra. Instructional Technologist and Designer Carrie Stangl said the changes include differences in the gradebook. “I’m not sure if it looks different for you guys, but it looks a little different for us. They just updated the gradebook, and then I think the feedback that the students get is in a different spot. And you can get to the feedback on your grades by looking at the view button next to a graded item,” she said. According to Stangl, the reason for the changes was to make it easier for faculty
and students to use with
regular updates.
Stangl also said that if students ever need help with using Blackboard, there are a wide variety of resources available to them. “So there is a student help section on the institution page of Blackboard. They can go to the Underground in the basement of the Ware building, or they can come to CTL on the second floor of Ware,” she said.
Some students say that Blackboard has gotten easier to use this semester with the new updates and
rarely experience issues when using it.
Business Administration major Janeth Cruz said that she noticed the layout is a little different which makes Blackboard easier to use.
Raul Basilio, a Physical Therapy Assistant major, said that he did not notice the changes in Blackboard, but thinks that it has gotten pretty easy to use this semester. Basilio also said that he likes the way that Blackboard is now and doesn’t think it is necessary to change it anymore. “I’m always open to change, but I like the way it is now,” he said.
According to Stangl, Blackboard does not change every semester. She also said there is a new dark mode feature being introduced sometime in the near future. “So if students and faculty like to use dark mode that’s going to be coming to Blackboard,”
she said.
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