Four More Faculty Earn Quality Matters Certification
Nine of 14 USM’s QM certified courses are from UMBC
After participating in rigorous peer reviews of their online and hybrid courses, four additional UMBC faculty have earned Quality Matters certification as part of the campus’ Quality Matters Impact (QMI) pilot.
Faculty participants received feedback from certified Quality Matters peer reviewers at UMBC and other online learning experts in the QM community.
The four courses are:
EHS 115 - Medical Terminology Gary Williams Date certified: 06.01.2022 | 
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GWST 210 - Introduction to Critical Sexuality Studies Kate Drabinski Date certified: 05.23.2022 | 
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SOCY 351 - Health, Illness, and Medicine John Schumacher Date certified: 05.27.2022 | 
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CMSC 104 - Problem Solving and Computer Programming Chris Marron Date certified: 07.26.2022 | 
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These four faculty join those who earned QM Certification earlier this year:
- AGNG 355 - The Experience of Dementia (Louise Murray)
- CHEM 101 - Principles of Chemistry 1 (Sarah Bass)
- EDUC 667 - Structure of English for TESOL (Mary Tabaa)
- ENCH 300 - Chemical Process Thermodynamics (Mariajose Castellanos)
- PBHL 100 - Survey of the US Healthcare System (Katie Birger)
In partnership with the Provost’s Office, the QMI pilot launched in FA2021 as an extension of the award-winningPIVOT program to recognize exemplary course design.
A QM Official review provides independent validation of quality, learner-focused course design. As of August 2022, nine of the 14 QM certified courses in the University System of Maryland are from UMBC. The certifications are valid for five years.
To maintain QM certification, and be listed on QM’s website, courses may be re-certified for an additional three years or officially reviewed again. A course achieves QM Certification when it meets QM Rubric Standards at the 85% threshold or better and meets all Essential Standards.
The newly certified courses are eligible to display the QM Certification Mark, an internationally recognized symbol of online and blended course design quality. The QM Certification Mark represents these instructors’ ongoing commitment to creating learning environments that provide students with a clear pathway to success.
DoIT’s Instructional Technology team manages the formal review process and facilitates the fully online, asynchronous Applying the Quality Matters Rubric workshop designed to help instructors prepare for a formal course review. When a course is deemed having met QM standards, the instructor is eligible to display the QM Certification Mark on the syllabus or within the course.
For more information about the Quality Matters Impact program, please contact the QM coordinators for UMBC:
Dr. Mariann Hawken
Director, Instructional Technology
mariannhawken@umbc.edu
Dr. Susan Biro
Manager, Online Learning
sbiro@umbc.edu
Blackboard Learn Basics Ultra
This webinar is designed to provide you easy step-by-step instructions on how to upload course content, create discussion boards for students to engage, and provide an overview on the types of online assessments available in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View.
- August 18 @ 11 AM
- September 20 @ 11 AM
- October 5 @ 10 PM
- October 25 @ 11 AM
Grading and Managing the Gradebook in an Ultra Course
This intermediate session will provide a deeper dive into setting up grading criteria for assessments, utilizing different types of assessments, and creating gradable assignments in Blackboard Learn Ultra Courses.
- August 24 @ 11 AM
- September 21 @ 11 AM
- November 2 @ 11 AM
- October 12 @ 10 PM
Creating Assessments in an Ultra Course
In this session, we will focus on creating different assessments and assignments in Blackboard Learn Ultra courses. We will outline the steps to create an assessment or an assignment, including selecting different options in grade settings.
- August 25 @ 11 AM
- September 27 @ 11 AM
- November 3 @ 11 AM
- October 19 @ 10 PM
Improving Student Engagement Ultra
Discover how utilizing tools within Learn Ultra can encourage meaningful engagement among students. between your students and you, and with the content itself! In this session, we'll examine how to effectively use discussion boards, class conversations, interactive lectures, and other Learn Ultra tools to foster student engagement in your course. We will also explore different ways to promote communication and collaboration among your students to get them involved and to keep them engaged in online classes.
- August 30 @ 11 AM
- September 29 @ 11 AM
- November 8 @ 11 AM
- October 26 @ 10 PM
Using Groups in Blackboard Learn Ultra
Collaborative learning offers many benefits over traditional instruction. Studies show that when students work as a team, they develop positive attitudes, solve problems more effectively, and experience a greater sense of accomplishment. This intermediate session will show you how to use the Groups tool in Blackboard Learn Ultra to facilitate student collaboration and enhance student engagement in your course.
- September 1 @ 11 AM
- October 5 @ 11 AM
- November 10 @ 11 AM
- November 2 @ 10 PM
Ultra Advantage -- Converting Original to Ultra
It's time for a little Spring clean-up! Let's look at suggestions on how to effectively clean-up, reorganize, and sort through the content in your Learn Original course before bringing all the content over to the Learn Ultra course. This webinar is designed to provide tips and tricks on streamlining the conversion over to the Learn Ultra courses.
- September 7 @ 11 AM
- October 11 @ 11 AM
- November 16 @ 11 AM
- November 9 @ 9 PM
Blackboard Learn Ultra Best Practices
Now that we know the buttons to click to create and setup many of the online learning tools, let's take a step back and determine what are the features of each of the tools and what are some of the best practices to use them in facilitating our online courses. These sessions will take on more of a pedagogical nature to assist in readying your course and yourself to enhancing the teaching and learning of your students. The sessions will coalesce around the lifecycle of each tool including instructor creation and considerations, student completion, instructor grading, and finally the student accessing their grade. Think broadly in terms of groups, assignments, assessments, journals, and discussion boards -- how can I make these more effective for me and for my students.
- September 13 @ 11 AM
- October 13 @ 11 AM
- November 16 @ 9 PM
All webinars will be recorded and emailed to you after the session. Even if you can't attend live, please register for a Live Webinar! so you can receive the recording.
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The Bb Instructor Webinar Series offers free 45-minute webinars designed for instructors who are getting started with teaching using Blackboard Ultra and Collaborate. Topics include getting...
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Mon, 08 Aug 2022 11:32:29 -0400
FA2022 Courses Created in Blackboard on July 28, 2022
Blackboard course shells for FA2022 were created on July 28, 2022.
The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in FA2022 courses, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to see what it looks like in Ultra.
Ally, an accessibility tool, is also 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.
For faculty who will be teaching hybrid or online, the instructional technology team would like to share several resources to support online course development and instruction.
- Choose from our PIVOT Solo lessons to refresh or enhance your online teaching preparation. Five key topics cover course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students.
- Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
- Learn about the Quality Matters Impact program, a new initiative to formally recognize courses that meet Quality Matters standards and demonstrate exemplary online/hybrid course design.
About Course Creation
- 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.
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.
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
]]>
Blackboard course shells for FA2022 were created on July 28, 2022. The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in FA2022 courses, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to...
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Tue, 02 Aug 2022 10:26:56 -0400
Free Training for Respondus Lockdown Browser & Monitor
Join an upcoming webinar to see the latest features
Join an upcoming training webinar from Respondus to see the latest features and integrations for LockDown Browser and Monitor. Learn how these applications are used with a range of online testing environments, virtual proctoring and Blackboard. Discover enhancements that make Respondus Monitor even more effective and easy to use.
Instructor Training: LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor
This comprehensive 45-minute training is intended for instructors who plan to use LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor to protect academic integrity and ensure student identity during online testing. The training will cover:
- How to use LockDown Browser to prevent digital cheating in proctored testing environments
- How to use Respondus Monitor in non-proctored environments, to protect exam integrity and confirm student identity
- The student perspective using each application
- Efficient review of the assessment data collected, including the Review Priority system, timeline, and milestone features
- Best practices and tips for success with both applications
Pick your date/time and register directly with Respondus:
All attendees will receive a link to a recording after the session.
NOTE: Students should not register for any instructor training session but instead, contact use the Respondus support tools embedded in RLDB, or
review this FAQ for further help.
About Respondus Lockdown Browser
RLDB is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard. Students are unable to copy, print, access other applications, or visit other websites during an online exam. For additional information, please review
our FAQ collection.
]]>
Join an upcoming training webinar from Respondus to see the latest features and integrations for LockDown Browser and Monitor. Learn how these applications are used with a range of online testing...
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Wed, 27 Jul 2022 08:42:51 -0400
August Release Brings Major Question Banks Update to Ultra
New mobile app, more assessment and grading improvements
It's another massive update for Ultra in August, bringing a significant improvement to question banks, a unified mobile app experience for faculty and students, and overall enhancements to assessment, grading, content, and engagement.
ASSESSMENT & GRADING
- Question banks: Create, edit, and manage - Last month, Ultra added the option to copy question banks between courses. With this update, faculty can create new question banks in a course, search for questions in a bank, as well as add, edit, and delete questions within a bank.
Image 1: Example of new question banks interface
- Set due date exceptions - Instructors can add due date exceptions for a student per assessment as well as existing exceptions for additional attempts or item visibility.
- Submission filter improvements - Quickly sort the list of submissions on an assessment's grading page to view which students have opened or completed an activity and which submissions need to be graded.
- Advanced calculation for Overall Grade - In addition to points (added in July) and weighted options for calculating the Overall Grade in your Ultra gradebook, you can also create a bespoke formula in a customized column for greater flexibility and evaluation needs.
- Auto-save for student written responses - Student responses entered in the content editor will be auto-saved every 2 seconds after the student stops/pauses typing. Ultra will post a last saved date/time in the lower right corner of the page. [Update: This feature is delayed.]
CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT
- Create, import/export groups and membership with CSV file - Instructors can create group sets and add members with a CSV file. You can also export your groups and memberships to reuse in another course. The update to the Ultra groups tool will replace the custom tool licensed by UMBC.
Image 2: Example of updated groups management interface
- LaTex equation support - Create and edit LaTex equations using the Ultra content editor.
- Send messages in private/unavailable courses - Instructors can send messages (email) to students in courses that are not yet available.
- Messages automatically go out as emails - Messages will automatically go out as emails (except Announcements) to align to the Send Email tool in Original. Messages will still be retained as part of your course archive.
Finally, Blackboard consolidated the mobile app for both instructors and students rather than have separate apps. Instructors can use the updated Blackboard app for both Original and Ultra courses since the user experience will change based on the assigned role within a course.
This new Blackboard mobile app will be available August 8, 2022, from the iOS and Android app stores. Students using the current Blackboard app should simply update. Instructors, assistants, and graders should remove the Blackboard Instructor app as support ends in September 2022.
The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on August 9, 2022. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Additionally, our Ultra feature tracker is updated and now includes a filter for functional category (e.g., assessment, course management, grading) so you can sort only those items you might be interested in tracking the status. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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It's another massive update for Ultra in August, bringing a significant improvement to question banks, a unified mobile app experience for faculty and students, and overall enhancements to...
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Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:10:43 -0400
Thu, 11 Aug 2022 10:29:04 -0400
PIVOT Receives Blackboard Award for Training
Initiative highlighted effective, campus-wide use of Ultra
Planning Instructional Variety for Online Teaching (PIVOT) has received a 2022 Catalyst Award from Blackboard/Anthology for Training and Professional Development. Designed and delivered by DoIT’s Instructional Technology team in response to the pandemic shift to online learning, PIVOT also received an Effective Practice Award from the Online Learning Consortium in 2021.
The Catalyst Awards honor innovation and excellence in the global community. UMBC previously received a Catalyst Award in 2017 for Leading Change using innovative data analytics to support student success. The Catalyst Award for Training and Professional Development recognizes institutions that display an organization-wide dedication to innovative training and development programs for their educators and staff. The Catalyst Awards are evaluated based on four criteria:
- Design (goals/outcomes);
- Structure (process/people/activities);
- Impact (analytics); and
- Significance (best practices for education).
The use of Blackboard solutions is also an important factor.
The PIVOT program also used Ultra as part of DoIT’s larger migration to Blackboard’s new course interface. Content was delivered in an Ultra course using assessments, discussions, groups, and third-party tools. PIVOT webinars were also delivered in Collaborate using content, polls, and breakout rooms for increased engagement and demonstration of essential web conferencing tools. Faculty peer mentors and Ultra Ambassadors offered personal experiences, course tours, feedback and support to their colleagues throughout the PIVOT experience.
Use and demonstration of Ultra tools encouraged faculty to try Ultra for their own courses, which positively impacted our larger migration to the new experience. Our Ultra adoption increased by 148% between FA2019 and FA2020, representing 46% of all active Bb courses with a substantial surge occurring during the pandemic. Students are also consistently satisfied with Ultra. Finally, as a result of the PIVOT program, more faculty are willing to teach online and student satisfaction with PIVOT courses is consistently higher than non-PIVOT courses.
Dr. Mariann Hawken, director of Instructional Technology, will represent the Instructional Technology team at the Anthology Together conference in Orlando, FL, to receive the award and present on UMBC’s Ultra migration plan. The Catalyst Awards Livestream will be broadcast on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 10 AM ET. Register online.
ASSESSMENT & GRADING
- Calculating & Displaying Points in Gradebook Overall Grade - The Overall Grade will support and display a points-based calculation (e.g., 745/800). The setup wizard guides the instructor to select points or weighted calculation, and includes examples of each calculation type.
- Prohibit backtracking of test questions - This option allows instructors to force a sequence through questions in an assessment. If students skip a question, an alert informs them that they cannot go back to the question.
- Edit points earned on an assessment question - Instructors can now change the points a student earns on an assessment question. The points field supports negative and positive values with up to two decimal points.
- Download grade center history - The first phase of this feature, provides a download (.xls or .csv) of changes to grades in the gradebook.
- Copy question banks between courses - The first phase of question banks improvements allows you to copy question banks from Original to Ultra courses and Ultra to Ultra courses.
- Recategorize discussions & journals - There is now a "Grade category" selector in the settings panel for graded discussions and journals to allow reassigning of the category to another default or a custom category.
CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT
- Inline file rendering of files in Course Content, Folders, and Learning Modules - Various files will now render inline in Course Content, folders, and learning modules. As with files uploaded to Ultra Documents and Assessments, instructors can set the behavior of these files for users to view and download (default), view only, or download only.
- Original Blank Pages converted to Ultra Documents - When Original courses are converted to Ultra courses, Blank Pages will be converted to Ultra Documents.
- Accessibility improvements of math formulas - Ultra will render math formulas as images in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format, allowing users to zoom in or enlarge formula images without losing quality. This change improves accessibility for users with low vision.
- Messages Improvement: Larger Panel for Reading & Writing - Messages will use a larger panel for viewing and composing messages rather than the smaller panel.
We'll have 1-2 more updates to share after the Blackboard conference in mid-July and the August release announcement -- with those notes, we'll update
our parity tracker to confirm the increased compatibility with Original courses by the end of 2022.
The next update to our test environment will take place on July 19, 2022. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Additionally, our Ultra feature tracker is updated and now includes a filter for functional category (e.g., assessment, course management, grading) so you can sort only those items you might be interested in tracking the status. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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The July update to Ultra courses brings ten new features and improvements, focusing on assessment, grading, and content creation. As with previous updates this year, the continued focus aligns...
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Panopto 6/25 Downtime and New Features
Panopto Cloud Updates and Downtime on 6/25
Cloud Downtime
On Saturday, June 25, Panopto Cloud customers will be upgraded to the latest cloud release. The vendor anticipates up to 3 hours of downtime, with a target start time of 9:00 PM EDT. See the cloud upgrade FAQ article for more information. There will be several platform enhancements, including additional captioning options, content retention and archiving, new user roles, and faster video creation and publishing.
Panopto Support
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Cloud Downtime On Saturday, June 25, Panopto Cloud customers will be upgraded to the latest cloud release. The vendor anticipates up to 3 hours of downtime, with a target start time of 9:00 PM...
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Tue, 14 Jun 2022 11:38:19 -0400
Reminder: Blackboard Courses Scheduled for Server Retirement
Courses before Summer 2019 to be retired beginning 7/1
During Summer 2022, DoIT staff and Blackboard will archive our entire instance of Blackboard, which will save individually backed-up copies of every course and organization through SP2022. Courses offered before and including AY18-19 will be retired by the end of FA2022.
Beginning July 1, courses offered from the following terms will be scheduled for retirement:
- Any courses older than five years
- Fall 2018
- Winter 2019
- Spring 2019
- Summer 2019
The Blackboard system's overall performance and efficiency will improve by removing files and database transactions from the content server and database. AY19-20, AY20-21, and AY21-22 will remain on the server. Fall 2022 will begin a new academic year of data retention (AY22-23).
FAQs about Course Retirement
Is my content gone forever?
No, Blackboard archived courses captured all course data, files, student submissions, discussions, grades, etc. through SP2022. These archives will reside on a secure cloud storage location.
When will I lose access to courses that are being retired?
Can I save a copy of my own courses?
Yes -- and it is strongly encouraged! Instructors can
export (course content) and/or archive (course content & student data) their courses. You should also
download a copy of your gradebook. We recommend saving these files to UMBC’s cloud storage to ensure long-term access in the event you change computer systems.
Can I restore (regain access to) only course content?
Yes. Course content consists of files and course structure (menu, folders, etc.). Faculty can only
import course content to an existing Blackboard course shell.
Can I restore course data?
Course data consists of student submissions, discussions, and grades. We generally prefer not to restore full courses to avoid reinstating user accounts and confusing students with old content. If you must restore archived course data, please open an RT ticket with justification included.
How long will you keep the retired courses?
We will keep the retired courses for approximately 2 years after Blackboard archives the courses. Faculty who may need content beyond 2 years should plan to save copies of their exported courses to UMBC Box or other cloud storage.
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology, please consider the following options:
The Open Education Network is accepting applications for faculty and librarian partners to receive a certification for open educational practices (OEP). Applicants should be higher education faculty who have a lesson, unit, or other educational experience that they wish to transform through the use of open educational practices and teach in the spring of 2023 and practicing librarians ideally from the same institution as the faculty. The Certificate in OEP offers formal training in open educational practices grounded in the principles of social justice, a community of peers, and expert instructors in order to transform learning to be more accessible and inclusive. Librarians and faculty who successfully complete the full program will receive a Certificate in Open Educational Practices from the Open Education Network.
About the Certificate in Open Educational Practices
The Certificate in OEP is a professional development program that will create actionable pathways for faculty and librarians to implement open education for the transformation of learning.
Faculty and librarian partners will complete a nine-week long, asynchronous course in the fall about the range of open educational practices with modules on the hallmarks of open educational resources, copyright, and Creative Commons licensing, the hallmarks of open educational practices, the benefits and limitations of OEP, accessibility, and student empowerment and agency. Together, the faculty and librarian pairs will create an Action Plan to be implemented in the spring that seeks to transform learning through the power of open education.
In addition, the cohort will benefit from close engagement with program faculty -- open education leaders who have gained expertise through experience, professional development, and participation in various national initiatives. The integrated components of the certification program include online content, instructor-led cohorts, and action plan support and assessment.
In order to assure personalized attention to participants throughout the program, the cohort will be limited to 15 teams or 30 participants total.
*Note: To apply you will have to create an account. Once you log in, you will be redirected to a home page where you can find the application called "Open Education Network's Certificate in Open Educational Practices."
Important Dates
Application deadline: August 5, 2022, 11:59 pm Central
Notification: by August 26, 2022, 11:59 pm Central
Costs
Questions?
About the Open Education Network
The
Open Education Network (OEN) is an alliance of hundreds of institutions working together to advance open education, locally and nationally. We believe in the power of open education to transform higher education. The leadership, actions, and results of our network members drive this transformation, and OEN connects these efforts to pool expertise and promote best practices.