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Blackboard Ultra LTI Advantage Usage Guide for Educators

The Team from Poll Everywhere
  • Updated

In this article:

    Learning Tools Interoperability 1.3, or LTI Advantage, is the newest standard defined by the IMS Global Learning Consortium for communicating student data between systems. This latest standard creates a consistent, secure, and agile framework that can be used across different LMS tools. Poll Everywhere is encouraging all of our LMS integration users to update to the new LTI Advantage tools before 2021, as they provide the latest practices for protecting student data and personal identifiable information.

    In the following sections, you will find the Blackboard Ultra LMS LTI 1.3/LTI Advantage integration guide for Blackboard educators, version 2.0.1.

    Import Roster

    Step 1: Open your course view in Blackboard Ultra.

    Step 2: Under the Details & Actions column click on the Books & Tools link

    Step 3: Find the Poll Everywhere tool under the Institution Tool then click the small plus icon at the bottom right of the tool.


    Step 4: Now click the Poll Everywhere link that you just created.
    Step 5: You will first see a screen to confirm you wish to make the LMS connection. Click through that screen, and you will land on the LMS course connection page.

    Step 6: Select Sync Roster.
    Screenshot 2024-07-18 at 13.42.10.png
    Note: The following screen will inform you that roster sync is happening in the background. You can click the button to continue to the Participants page.

    When this is done, a new Poll Everywhere profile will be created for each student who did not already have one. Students will automatically receive a notification email with a link to change their password. You can edit and manage the imported students at https://www.polleverywhere.com/participants.

    You can now remove Poll Everywhere as an External Tool from your Blackboard course, or you can continue to use the Poll Everywhere link in Blackboard to perform LTI actions.

    Course management 

    Course management streamlines course administration, simplifying class management for educators and administrators. This update enhances how professors integrate Poll Everywhere with their LMS.

    Key Features:

    • Scoring Assignments: Assignments can be scored based on correctness, participation, and attendance. These scores seamlessly sync with your LMS using both points-based and percentage-based models.

    Accessing Courses

    Helpful tip: Ensure your LMS is set up and integrated with Poll Everywhere to see the Course Management icon. A new navigation icon will appear on the left for users with LTI courses integrated. If a course isn't connected, the icon will appear once the integration is complete. 

    Step 1: Log in to your account at www.polleverywhere.com  

    Step 2: Click on the Course Management icon. You can find two ways to access Course Management below:

    a) Click on the course icon on the navigation bar shown on the left.

    Course Icon1.png

    b) Click on the Participants icon on the navigation bar shown on the left, then select Courses.

    Creating Assignments

    Step 1: Empty State Screen: Select a course, an empty state screen appears if no assignments have been created, and an arrow will prompt you to click the Add New Assignment card.Creating Assignment.png

    Step 2: Add New Assignment: Clicking the icon opens a flyout window called an "Action Sheet" for activating participation and correctness. Enter the assignment name and configure the participation and/or the correctness requirements.

    Note: You can't save until you enter the "Assignment Name." However, you can save the assignment name without activating participation or correctness. Instructors can configure grading settings after selecting activities to include in an assignment. You can choose either or both grading types:

    • Participation: Points for attempting activities
    • Correctness: Points for answering correctly

    To configure grading settings before syncing grades. There are two types of grading criteria: Participation and Correctness. You can select either or both.

     Learn more about Participation and Correctness Grading Options here: Understanding Participation and Correctness Grading Options

    Create Assignment.png

    Step 3: Save Assignment: After selecting settings, click Save to add the new assignment. The new assignment will appear within a new column. Initially, "sync grades" is inactive until activities are added.

    New Assignment.png

    Step 4: Adding Activities

    a) If activities have been created, click Add Activity to open the updated flyout, and all activities will now be displayed in a single window.

    Add activities.png

    • You can select all activities in the visible list by toggling on the activity flyout window box and selecting all. This will only apply to the activities shown on the screen, not the entire folder.

    b) If no activities are created or you need to "Create a New Activity", the new activity button is more visible with a plus icon, making it easier to locate for creating new activities.

    Course Gradebook.png

    • You can also click the + (plus icon) at the bottom of the assignment fly-out to create a new activity. 

    Course Gradebook - no activities.png

    • Follow the activity creation flow

    Add_New Activities.png

     

    c) Refresh Activity List: If you create new activities, "hit the refresh button". to update the activity list instantly. Newly added activities will appear after refreshing.

    Course Gradebook - Refresh.png

    • The activities are displayed in the assignment. Click on an activity to view its summary. You can add or remove activities and make changes to the assignment.

    Managing Multiple Assignments and Activities

    a) Manage multiple assignments and activities in a populated state.

    Helpful tip: When navigating through nested folders, breadcrumbs will appear at the top of the screen, allowing you to easily backtrack to previous folder levels. If there are multiple subfolders, the breadcrumbs will display them for quick navigation. If subfolders exist, a drop-down appears to help navigate through multiple layers of activities.

    Example: You create subfolders (e.g., Course PM 2, within Course PM 3), and as you navigate through them, breadcrumbs will change to reflect your current position. The master Activities folder will always be visible for easy navigation.

    • Edit an activity by following the same process flow used during the activity creation. Edit activities.png
    • The interface includes a folder breakdown showing all activities and assignments.Breakdown folder.png

    Grade Synchronization

    Grade sync activates once activities are added to an assignment. Click Sync Grades to start the synchronization process, similar to roster sync. Sync grades.png

    Helpful tip: "Sync Grades" becomes active when activities are in the assignment, and will only appear after grading options (participation and correctness) have been configured and saved. You can select either one or both, depending on your use case. Visit the LMS integration section to learn more about Sync Grade.

    Viewing Grades

    a) Click on "View Grades" for a specific group (e.g., Customer Support 101).View grades.png

    b) The new page displays participation and/or correctness settings configured earlier. Both tabs show the respective settings. A side tab, similar to a config panel, allows users to update settings.

    • View grades for participation and configure Settings:Participation.png
    • View grades for correctness and configure Settings:Correctness.png
    • If participation or Correctness is turned off, a notification with an image and text will inform the user that they need to activate participation and or correctness for the assignment.Participant off.pngCorrectness off.pngNote: If both Participation and Correctness are selected, we send two separate grade columns to your LMS (e.g., Canvas). 

    Deleting Synced LMS Assignments in Poll Everywhere

    April 2025 Update- You can now delete LMS-synced assignments directly within Poll Everywhere, improving alignment between your LMS (e.g., Canvas) and Poll Everywhere when managing course assignments. This prevents confusion when assignments are removed from the LMS but still show in Poll Everywhere. To delete a synced assignment:

    1. Navigate to your Course Management page.

    2. Click on the desired course,

    3. Locate the assignment and click the Delete button just under the Delete AssignmentDelete Ass.png

    4. A confirmation prompt will appear, informing you:

      • Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

      • This action does NOT affect the assignment in your LMS (e.g., Canvas).

    5. Confirm deletion.

    Optional Course Start and End Dates Pickers

    April 2025 Update - To help manage response data across academic terms, you can now set optional course start and end dates. This filters LMS-synced assignment responses based on when they were submitted. This is ideal if you:

    • Reuse polls or activities across semesters.

    • Want to ensure only current-term student responses are included in LMS grade sync.

    • Need a lightweight way to control when participation counts, without managing poll-level settings.

    To set the optional course dates:

    • Go to your Course Management page.

    • Select the course you want to configure.

    • Optionally enter a Start Date, End Date, or both.

    • Click Set Start and/or Set End to save changes.Course mgt Date picker.png

    To learn more, please click here: Getting Started with Course Management

    If you have any questions or run into issues, please contact the Technical Support team

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