The UMBC Instructional Technology Update is provided by the Division of Information Technology for students, faculty and staff. If you have questions or need help, please consult the Blackboard Help FAQs or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help.  You can also contact the Technology Support Center at 410.455.3838 or submit an RT (Request Tracker) ticket via the myUMBC Help Menu or directly at my.umbc.edu/help.

HEADLINES

What’s New

• Anthology to Change Layout of Ultra Courses on September 6
• DoIT Support for Collaborate Will End Next Summer, 2025
• Fall 24 Bb Courses to Use Ultra by Default
• Ultra Courses to Support Additional Level of Nested Folders

• Ally Now Supports AI-Generated Descriptions for Images

• New Course Management Features in Poll Everywhere

• Reminder: Google Jamboard to Retire in Fall 2024

• FA2024 Blackboard Courses Created (05.13) & Students Enrolled (07.31)

Training & Professional Development (recording archive | view upcoming events)

• Tips & Tricks for the Ultra Gradebook (8.21)

• Create Assessments in Ultra (8.21)

• New Faculty Orientation to Blackboard (8.21)

• Getting Started with MS Teams (8.23)

• Poll Everywhere New Course Management Features Training (8.23)

• Ultra Essentials for Teaching Assistants (8.26)

In Case You Missed It: Course Prep Tips

• Reminder: Enhancing Media and Accessibility Using Panopto  

• Course Prep Checklists

• 8 Steps to Migrate Your Course to Ultra 

• 4 Reasons to Use Copy Content to Prepare an Ultra Course

Other DoIT & UMBC News

• Damian Doyle Named Deputy CIO at the University of Virginia

• Ada Crutchfield joins Instructional Technology team

• Stay Alert: Tips for Password & Duo Security

• YouTube change impacts ad blockers, increases ads on 8/1

• Updated myUMBC Features New Unified Apps Menu and Improved Spotlights Area

• New Voicethread launches for all UMBC users

• Reminder: Why & How Getting Help is Changing @ UMBC

• FYI: Successful Peoplesoft Campus Solutions Migration to AWS

Blackboard course shells for FA2024 were created on May 13, 2024 per our previous announcement to support faculty preparation for Ultra in advance of the fall semester. Student enrollments, as well as course shells that were not created in May, were processed on July 31, 2024. 

Ultra will be the default in Blackboard with nearly 70 percent of all UMBC courses using Ultra since spring 2024. If COEIT or CNMS faculty wish to “roll back” their Fall 2024 Ultra shells to Original, they can do soby RT ticket for this semester only; the last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. DoIT strongly recommends faculty request a roll back before the first day of classes to ensure sufficient time for course preparation. Please review the conditions for requesting a roll back.

Training & Support for Ultra

• Attend an upcoming August training to prepare for the fall semester.
• Request a consult from our staff Ultra “office hours” or download our 8-step migration guide.
• Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
• Have a question about Ultra? Askan Ultra Ambassador!

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about theaccessibility indicators on course content and alternative formats, or attend a training session. Use Ally’s new AI alt-text generator to add alt text to course images. 

About Course Creation

Bb shells for FA2024 are available for all courses (designated as lecture, lab, field or discussion) listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), provided that there is an instructor of record listed. As new course sections and/or instructors are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

• If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically. 
• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
• If you need a Bb shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will find those enrollments merged into one Bb course shell. These sections may be split upon request by an RT ticket, which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Student enrollment in Bb mirrors the official registration in SA and updates hourly. However, courses are not accessible to students by default until the instructor of record makes them available.

Connect with Instructional Technology

Blackboard course shells for FA2024 were created on May 13, 2024 per our previous announcement to support faculty preparation for Ultra in advance of the fall semester. Ultra will be the default in Blackboard with nearly 70 percent of all UMBC courses using Ultra since spring 2024.

If faculty wish to “roll back” their Fall 2024 Ultra shells to Original, they can do so by RT ticket for this semester only; the last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. DoIT strongly recommends faculty request a roll back before the first day of classes to ensure sufficient time for course preparation. Please review the conditions for requesting a roll back.

Training & Support for Ultra

• Attend an Ultra Boot Camp or 30-minute Ultra Quick Start session. Additional training will be posted throughout the summer and into early fall.
• Request a consult from our staff Ultra “office hours” or download our  8-step migration guide.
• Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
• Have a question about Ultra? Ask an Ultra Ambassador!

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content and alternative formats, or attend a training session.

• If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically. 
• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not see your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.
• If you need a Bb shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course will find those enrollments merged into one Bb course shell. These sections may be split upon request by an RT ticket, which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Student enrollment in Bb mirrors the official registration in SA and updates hourly. However, courses are not accessible to students by default until the instructor of record makes them available.

Connect with Instructional Technology