Have you ever wanted to promote your club, group, or organization's event or announcement on the front page of myUMBC? Well, here is a quick guide on what you need to know. 

The promotion feature allows you to share content from your myUMBC group to all myUMBC users on the front page, reaching a much wider audience than if it were just posted to a group's page. This is a free feature for departments and official student organizations to use that operates on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Before you are able to promote content to the front page of myUMBC, there are a few requirements that must be met. 

• The post or content you wish to promote must be published in an official and public myUMBC group run by a UMBC department or student organization

• To have the option to promote content, you must be an admin of the group from which the content originates. This does not mean you have to be the creator of the post. 

• There must be an approved thumbnail image to go along with the post

• The content should be appropriate for all UMBC audiences

• Content can be promoted by a group once every 3 days, and only 10 promotions can be scheduled in advance

If these requirements are met, you should have no trouble promoting your content.  

To start, you will need to create a post as normal on myUMBC, including your text, thumbnails, alt-text, and any relevant tags. After you hit publish on your post, you may have to refresh the page or navigate to the main page of your group to find the post. 

Here you should see a box on the right side with the posts analytics as well as buttons to "Edit", "Copy", "Mark Important", and "Pin". If you are an admin for this group and it qualifies as a department or official student organization, then you should see a purple button labeled "Promote".

While many of us have been busy digging out from the snow and trying to stay warm, this week, January 26–30, is Data Privacy Week. This international effort empowers individuals and organizations to respect privacy, safeguard data, and enable trust. For me, the timing prompted an important moment of reflection on the work I have been fortunate to be part of over the past two years, and on where UMBC is headed as we continue to build a mature, thoughtful, and values-driven approach to privacy.

From Research to Implementation

My name is Dr. Laura Mateczun, and my privacy work at UMBC began as a Ph.D. graduate assistant working with Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Jack Suess, on the implementation of Maryland's Higher Education Data Privacy Law during FY24, while I was completing my doctoral research. In April 2025, I successfully defended my dissertation and was conferred my Ph.D., and shortly thereafter, joined UMBC full-time in a hybrid role.

Today, I serve in two key roles: 

• Assistant Director of Digital Trust: Within the Division of IT's Cybersecurity Assurance & Digital Trust team, led by CISO Stacy Cahill, I focus primarily on privacy strategy.
• Assistant Director of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute: I develop partnerships to expand cybersecurity initiatives and research. In this role, I also direct the UMBC Cybersecurity Clinic, an experiential learning program where students help public-sector organizations—such as water systems and electrical grids—strengthen their cyber defenses.

Milestones in Transparency

One of our most significant privacy milestones has been the launch of privacy.umbc.edu. We intentionally designed this site to be more than just a compliance requirement. It is a living resource for our community. It explains how data is used, protected, and governed at UMBC in clear, accessible language. While we drew inspiration from peer institutions, including the University of Michigan, the content is uniquely tailored to reflect UMBC's culture, values, and operational realities.

The Path Ahead

Looking forward, our vision extends far beyond a single website or law. Alongside Stacy Cahill and partners across campus, we are working to embed privacy into everyday decision-making. This will impact how we procure new systems and how we share and eventually retire data.

Our goals include:

• Strengthening privacy governance and transparency.
• Supporting responsible research and innovation.
• Helping students and staff understand their vital role in protecting data.

We also launched UMBC's new cybersecurity newsletter, which highlights important developments in cybersecurity and privacy, shares timely tips and resources, and spotlights work across campus that helps us all protect data and manage risk. If you're interested in staying informed about privacy and cybersecurity efforts at UMBC, I encourage you to subscribe.

A Commitment to Stewardship

Data Privacy Week is a reminder that privacy is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing commitment to trust, stewardship, and accountability. I am grateful to be part of a community that takes this work seriously, and I am excited about where UMBC is headed as we continue to grow our privacy program in the years ahead.

For more information about UMBC's privacy efforts, I encourage you to visit privacy.umbc.edu, and to follow the work of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute as we continue to advance security and privacy in service of our campus and the broader public.

Dr. Laura Mateczun

Associate Director of Digital Trust

Assistant Director of UMBC Cybersecurity Institute

Director of UMBC Cybersecurity Clinic

lam6@umbc.edu

• Student Success and Retention: Projects exploring relationships between activities or learning in one course and outcomes in other courses, particularly critical progression points, low-success courses, or foundational skills.
• Faculty Development and Support: Proposals that leverage institutional data (via REX and Tableau) to inform instructional practices, contributing insights to the LA Community of Practice.

• Engage actively with the UMBC Learning Analytics Community of Practice (LA CoP).
• Produce and present a final report or scholarly product (conference presentation, external grant proposal, or publication).
• Consider leveraging results to apply for the prestigious Hrabowski Innovation Fund award.

• Brief Abstract: Suitable for publication on UMBC’s website (maximum 200 words).
• Research Project Proposal: Clearly outlining objectives, methodology, expected outcomes, and relevance (maximum 3 pages).
• Signed acknowledgement of support: Department Chair (through DocuSign)

• Proposal Deadline: Friday, June 6, 2025
• Notification of Awards: Early July 2025
• Grant Period: July 2025 – June 2026

• REX Data Warehouse (available to all faculty)
• Tableau training and support provided by DoIT’s Analytics & Instructional Technology group
• Access to prior workshops and resources to inform proposal development.

Dear Colleague,

I thought you might be interested in this webinar sponsored by MarylandOnline which will take place next Tuesday, March 31st. Please see the description and registration information below.

M.O.S.T. Commons: A Resource to Support the Shift to Remote Teaching

• Mindy Boland (Director, OER Services, ISKME/ OER Commons);
• Colleen McKnight (Director of Library Services, Frederick Community College, M.O.S.T. Commons Library Fellow)
• Moderator: Melissa Goldberg (Consultant, edBridge Partners)

The Coronavirus pandemic continues to cause major disruptions for Maryland’s communities, institutions, faculty, and students. We recognize the challenges of preparing programs and courses for remote delivery and are encouraging faculty and staff to consider the Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Commons as a resource for locating openly licensed educational resources to support learning.

During this webinar, presenters will discuss how M.O.S.T. Commons can support institutions and faculty in finding high-quality digital materials; how digital rights and responsibilities change when remote teaching; how colleges and systems in other states are using OER to address their transition to remote teaching; and ways the M.O.S.T. team can support your efforts.

There will be plenty of time to answer your questions and address your concerns. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CZF29Y6)

The M.O.S.T. initiative is here to support your efforts to ensure academic continuity and the well-being of your students during this stressful time.  Please let us know if there is something we can do to help at most@usmd.edu.  

For additional resources related to remote teaching from across the USM and beyond, please visit https://www.usmd.edu/cai/remote-teaching-usm


MJ

“We want to make sure these facilities are suitable for faculty and students…”

“It is important that all three offices are engaged in these projects.”

“We must develop more of these types of facilities... ”

Building on prior learning analytics research at UMBC, DoIT's John Fritz has co-authored "Learning Analytics Research for LMS Course Design: Two Studies" in the current issue of Educause Review Online. 

The two studies focus on complementary findings from a sample of 1,530 courses in Fritz' 2016 dissertation, and a sample of 70k Blackboard courses hosted by Blackboard itself. A key takeaway is the importance of the Blackboard grade center, which DoIT has recently been studying as well. 

For more information about learning analytics at UMBC, see http://doit.umbc.edu/analytics.