Mastery View for Faculty Available at the Course Section Level in Blackboard
We’re excited to introduce Mastery View, available for faculty at the section level directly within their Blackboard Ultra courses and in Outcomes. This new capability empowers instructors to monitor and visualize student progress toward learning outcomes in real time—enabling more personalized, mastery-based teaching and learning experiences.
What’s New
Section-Level Access: Faculty can now access a dedicated Mastery View within each Blackboard course section to see how students are performing against aligned learning outcomes.
Outcome-Based Insights: Visualize overall achievement across the class and drill down into individual student outcome achievement to inform instructional decisions.
Dynamic Scales: Mastery levels are calculated using dynamic performance scales, allowing different achievement thresholds to be defined per assessment.
Actionable Data: Easily identify students who are excelling or falling behind and adapt instruction accordingly, all within the flow of your course.
This functionality requires the use of Blackboard (Ultra Course View) and institutional use of the Blackboard Foundations data for Outcomes.
How Mastery is Calculated
Mastery for Outcomes is calculated using a dynamic, flexible approach that reflects student performance across multiple assessments aligned to a specific learning outcome.
Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model, the system supports custom mastery scales—allowing institutions to define achievement thresholds per assignment or outcome. A weighted median is used to calculate each student's mastery level.
Here’s how it works:
Student results are aggregated across all assessments aligned to a particular outcome.
Each assessment is weighted proportionally based on its maximum score.
A weighted median is calculated using normalized result categories (for example, Exceeds, Meets, and others).
This mastery score is then aligned to your institution’s custom scale, dynamically applying a status (for example, “Met,” “Not Met”) and color-coded indicators based on defined thresholds.
This approach ensures that outcome measurement is accurate, consistent, and adaptable—supporting instructional goals and providing faculty with reliable, actionable insights.
Why It Matters
This update strengthens outcome-driven teaching and learning by giving instructors real-time insight into student mastery—without leaving Blackboard. Whether for formative feedback, targeted intervention, or broader program assessment, the Mastery view helps faculty focus on what matters most: improving student learning outcomes.