REX-Finance reports will be improving over the weekend of February 2.  Exciting new functionality will be available for you to use on Monday, February 5!

New features will include:

·      New folder layout and report naming conventions to ease navigation

·      Direct drill to payroll details for employee information by department

·      Additional data including revolving and cost share funds (1113, 1114, and 1115)

·      Additional reports for grants (Funds 1253 and 1263) are coming soon

To enable the launch of the new reports, DoIT will be implementing the upgrade to the reporting system beginning on Saturday, February 3 at 8:30 a.m. to be completed by Monday February 5 at 8:30 am. If you currently have subscriptions set for reports, those settings will also be updated during the upgrade weekend. 

If you have questions, please contact Julia Golbey at golbeyj1@umbc.edu or 410-455-3729. 

Thank you in advance for your patience as we continue to make REX-Finance reports a useful, comprehensive source of financial data for all UMBC users.

“SEEQ Instructor Profiles by Mean” or Median report, provides the SEEQ survey results by Class and Instructor for a given term. Data can be queried by Organization, Subject, Course, Section and Instructor. This REX report mirrors the data in the Blue Instructor Report, but data are presented in a more compact format that prints more efficiently.  PDFs of the Means reports are publicly available on the IRADS website at https://oir.umbc.edu/university-data/sceq-profiles/.

The “SEEQ Instructor Data Over Time” report displays the results of the ‘Overall’ section of the SEEQ survey for an Instructor, which includes questions 30, 31 and 32.  Data can be queried by Begin Term and Instructor to Review.  Data are reported for each course section taught by the instructor from the Begin Term to the most recent term available and compare the instructor mean on the three items with the Org, UMBC and Course Level means.  This report may be useful for P&T review.

All three reports can be accessed by going to rex.umbc.edu, clicking on ‘Guided Reports’, and then navigating to the Census Data > Student Course Evaluations > SEEQ  folder.

Through a University System of Maryland partnership, DoIT has offered online training to UMBC full-time and part-time faculty via the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) over several years. UMBC remains a member of the Online Learning Consortium, but the partnership providing access to a large number of workshop seats is ending.

The OLC workshop format utilizes proven teaching strategies and learning activities while modeling best practices for online and hybrid learning. Participants engage with experienced instructors and collaborate with peers via synchronous (live) and asynchronous environments. Workshops are delivered online over 3-7 days. Faculty can take workshops through the end of the year, but registration must be completed by February 23, 2018. We have 100 seats remaining.

The following list identifies workshops and when they will be offered each semester. The workshop descriptions are linked in titles with the dates. If more than one date is available, it will be listed at the bottom of the description page.

Additionally, OLC offers three self-paced workshops with 365-days of access.

• Strategies for Increasing Interaction & Engagement 
• Giving Effective Feedback 
• ADA & Web Accessibility 

Finally, faculty who complete all four of OLC workshops on the topic of Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning in 2018 may receive a digital credential from OLC. The specific workshops are: 

• Fundamentals: ADA & Web Accessibility 
• Designing with Accessibility in Mind 
• Strategic Planning for Web Accessibility
• Applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles to Online Courses to Increase Accessibility and Engagement 

To register for a workshop, please open an RT ticket. Be sure to include the name of the workshop you would like to attend and the date(s). Instructional technology staff will assist with your registration, answer any questions you may have about the experience, etc. Please request your registration by Friday, February 23, 2018.

Prepare your Blackboard course shell for the new semester with our baker’s dozen checklist.

1. Review new tools & features in Blackboard.

Our Blackboard site is upgrade twice a year so check out the new features and updates. We are now using a new system theme to better support mobile devices and screen readers.

2. Copy your course content from a previous semester.

Bypass the long wait and digital file transfers required for export and import. Use course copy -- it’s faster and more convenient. 

TIP: Request a master course shell for ongoing content development and maintenance.

3. Check course links for broken or missing content.

If you use a lot of external links, check the validity of those resources. This tool will also let you verify permissions on course files copied from other courses.

4. Upload multimedia files & large files to UMBC Box or Google Drive.

Update course content with new resources, but put the big stuff in the cloud. Your Blackboard course will thank you for a streamlined delivery.

5. Update due dates, adaptive release dates, availability, etc.

Use the Date Management tool to modify nearly everything with a date in your course whether availability or adaptive release. (Collaborate sessions and publisher content are not supported by this tool.)

6. Evaluate & configure Qwickly Attendance for your course.

Check out the optional attendance tools for student self check-in or instructor tracking.

7. Set up the grade center.

Students benefit from knowing how they’re doing in your course throughout the semester. If your course uses a weighted grading system to calculate the final grade, set up your grade center as soon as possible.

8. Enable discussion board notifications.

Encourage students to subscribe to the discussion forum to keep updated on important threads and stay engaged with participation requirements.

9. Set up Bb Collaborate Ultra sessions.

Prepare for snow days, virtual office hours, and tutoring, or provide students with a virtual place to meet, prepare, and deliver team presentations.

10. Record an orientation video screencast & request closed captioning.

Invite students to explore the course with a course tour and orientation video. Let students know what to do first before classes start and where to find important content. 

TIP: Collaborate Ultra is a great alternative to screencasting software. Be sure to request captioning for accessibility!

11. Post a welcome announcement.

No matter what format you teach, create an online introduction to create a sense of connection and build community in your course.

12. Set your course availability.

Use one of three methods to turn your course on for students.

13. Download the Bb Instructor mobile app.

Keep up with your course on the go with Blackboard’s mobile app. Post announcements, engage in discussions, and deliver virtual sessions in Collaborate. 

~*~

Do you have a tip to share with other faculty? Please comment in this post and let us know!

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection

• New Features | Known Issues | Updates & Fixes

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

2018 High-impact OER Mini-Grant Program Informational Webinars

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for its 2018 High-impact OER Mini-Grant Program to strategically support 2- and 4-year Maryland public higher education institutions' efforts to adopt open educational resources (OER) as a means to greatly reduce textbook costs and address college affordability for students.  Sign up for one of this week's informational webinars to learn more about the 2018 program and walk through the application.  There will also be Q&A to answer specific questions about course eligibility, proposal ideas, curation of existing OER, and more. 

Register for one of this week's webinars (https://goo.gl/forms/m9jfDEJqolRXtaah1): 

• Wednesday, Jan. 10th, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.
• Friday, Jan. 12th, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
  

Two types of mini-grants will be awarded for Fall 2018 OER implementation: 1) Adopt/Adapt OER ($500 - $1,500) and 2) Scaling OER ($1,500 - $2,500).  Proposals must be received by 5 p.m.Eastern Time on Friday, February 2, 2018.

Maryland OER Summit Keynote Video and Other Resources

Access resources from Advancing Postsecondary Student Success Through OER: A Statewide Summit on Open Educational Resources, including the keynote address video and PowerPoint presentation from Cable Green and David Wiley, and handouts, PowerPoint presentations, posters, and additional resources from the OER Summit presenters.  To find the resources, go to the “Program” tab on the Summit event page: http://www.usmd.edu/cai/advancing-postsecondary-student-success-through-oer-statewide-summit-open-educational-resources. 

Sign Up for the M.O.S.T. Basecamp

To receive the latest news and updates from M.O.S.T., join the M.O.S.T. Basecamp.  The M.O.S.T. Basecamp will also connect you with other colleagues in the state adopting and scaling OER and provide you with a place to share resources and best practices.  To join, click here: https://3.basecamp.com/3233682/join/MQrvqxBnAFMp.