Over the last year we have seen a number of academic and administrative departments begin to use Skype video conferencing service to interview candidates for positions at UMBC or graduate students applying for admission.

To aid in this effort, DoIT has set up a Skype-enabled conference room in Engineering 024. This room has 55" display with a web-camera, remote microphone, and speakers.  This room can accommodate a search committee of 6-10 participating in the conference.

This equipment can be reserved utilizing the AV Services Request form located athttp://doit.umbc.edu/request-av-services/ .  Users will need to bring their own laptop to attach to the system (Skype loaded on the laptop) or reserve a laptop from AV Services using the same AV Services Request form.  AV services will be glad to work with you to provide technical support in setting up the video conference.  For further information, contact AV Services at 5-2461.

The logic of carpooling is simple: it reduces the costs for all parties involved and takes at least one car off the road. If other students are coming from the same area and heading to UMBC around the same time, carpooling may be an easy way to meet other UMBC campus members, reduce UMBC’s carbon footprint, and save money as well as a number of other benefits.

Creating a carpool with UMBC students is easy—join the online “Casual Carpooling” forum just for UMBC members and discuss the details of a carpool (http://my.umbc.edu/groups/casualcarpooling).  The Casual Carpooling myUMBC group now has over 400 UMBC members! For an enjoyable and safe ride, we posted some suggestions and tips such as “carpool etiquette” on the webpage.

Face-to-face socials are also hosted by the office of Off-Campus Student Services throughout the year. The next carpool social is on February 14, 2014 with a Valentine’s Day theme at Lower Flat Tuesdays in The Commons from 12-1PM.

• Grade Center
• Adaptive Release
• Collaborate
• Camtasia Relay

1. Orientation (5 minutes): A quick overview of what the tool does. If all you want is a demo, come early.
2. Recommendations (10 minutes): 1-2 tips based on our observations from providing faculty support, as well identification of effective practices  and practitioners.
3. Q & A (40 minutes): This is your time. What do you want to know? What's a problem you'd like to solve or a new opportunity you'd like to explore?

• Monday, December 9: ENGR 025
• Monday, December 16: ENGR 025
• Thursday, December 19: Virtual Session
• Monday, January 6: ENGR 025
• Monday, January 13: Virtual Session
• Thursday, January 23: Grade Center
  
• Monday, January 27: ENGR 025
• Monday, February 3: Virtual Session
• Monday, February 10: ENGR 025

Please note that these are not formal Blackboard training classes. Additional dates and times may be added as demand warrants.

UMBC Blackboard (Bb) course shells for both SP2014 and WT2014 were created on December 2, 2013.  The course shells for SP2014 are located on the Bb production server at http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  

As previously announced at the start of this semester, due to the Bb upgrade January 8-10, all WT2014 courses will be run on a separate server at http://bb-winter.umbc.edu.  All courses and organizations on the Bb production server will be unavailable during the upgrade from January 8-10.  If you require any past Bb content for your WT2014 courses please make sure to export it prior to January 8, 2014.

Enrollments for both SP2014 and WT2014 courses will continue to be updated daily. Bb shells 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. The addition of new course sections and instructors will result in new Bb shells being automatically generated each morning. Student enrollment in Bb will continue to mirror the official registration in SA, and will update hourly.

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 get that issue resolved. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created and enrolled automatically.

Additionally, in situations where one instructor is teaching multiple sections of the same course, by default all sections will be combined into one Bb course shell. If you want to have separate shells for different sections, or if you need a shell for for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request or submit an RT ticket with your request.