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While it’s not the same as attending in person, if you enjoy watching UMBC basketball or Commencement live online, soon you might also be able to watch other major campus events in the same way. In addition, like many of UMBC’s ESPN+ broadcasts now, most of the production crews will likely be staffed by UMBC students and young alums.
Through a competitive procurement process facilitated by UMBC Procurement & Strategic Sourcing over the summer, the University recently selected VPC, Inc. of Reisterstown, Maryland, to provide high definition (HD), live stream broadcast capabilities across campus. Over the past three years, the firm had partnered with UMBC Athletics, DoIT and Media & Communications Studies (MCS) to provide video production services, primarily for the broadcast of basketball games on ESPN+. UMBC Athletics and DoIT collaborated to solicit a partner with a shared strategic vision to expand live streaming beyond athletics, and continue the strong participation of UMBC students and young alums as production crew staff. The initial contract term with VPC, Inc. -- to be coordinated through DoIT’s New Media Studio -- is for three years, with optional renewals for up to an additional five years.
“VPC has been a strong campus partner for many years, having produced numerous commencements, alumni awards, anniversary celebrations and athletics events,” says Jack Suess, Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer (CIO). “We’re especially pleased to work with a partner so committed to higher education and training our students to work alongside industry professionals in live stream broadcasting.”
In addition to producing UMBC’s ESPN3 broadcasts, VPC, Inc. has provided production services for marquee events such as the AFL Arena Bowl, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby. VPC provides scoreboard production and engineering services for the United States Naval Academy and 3 NFL teams including the Ravens. In recent years, the firm has also “crossed over” into college and university commencements, capital campaign launches and alumni awards including involvement for the UMBC50 Celebration. Today, the firm routinely produces more than 250 events a year, with over 100 of them in live sports production. The University’s new contractual agreement with VPC also complements DoIT’s 2017 upgrade of the New Media Studio to HD.
“We couldn’t be happier to continue the campus partnership with UMBC,” says Eli Eisenberg, CEO of VPC, and a 1986 UMBC alum. “We’ve enjoyed working with Athletics and look forward to continue doing so under the relationship with DoIT for other major campus events. Regardless of the event or venue, our professional staff really enjoys working with students, and helping them grow their skillsets."
To learn more about the new HD live stream capabilities or to discuss a potential project, contact Dustin Roddy, manager of the New Media Studio, at 410.455.3214 or drod2@umbc.edu. ]]>During the summer of 2019, Blackboard archived our complete site, which provided individually backed-up copies of every course and organization through SP2019. As previously completed for courses from older semesters, courses from AY14-15 and AY15-16 will be retired by the end of January 2020. This includes the following terms:
Any courses older than five years
Fall 2014
Winter 2015
Spring 2015
Summer 2015
Fall 2015
Winter 2016
Spring 2016
Summer 2016
Additionally, any remaining organizations that are 2.5 GB in size or larger will also be retired. Community leaders with large archives will be contacted for migrating content to Google Drive. If those organizations need to continue with a Blackboard presence, they will be recreated with a fresh shell upon request.
The Blackboard system’s overall performance and efficiency will improve by removing files and database transactions from the content server and database. AY16-17, AY17-18, and AY18-19 will remain on the server. Finally, as of FA2019, we now begin a new academic year of data retention (AY19-20).
Is my content gone forever?
No, archived Blackboard courses capture all course data, files, student submissions, discussions, grades, etc. through SP2019. These archives will reside on a secure drive with the Division of Information Technology.
Can I save a copy of my own courses?
Yes -- and we certainly encourage it. Instructors canexport (course content) and/or archive (course content & student data) their courses. You should alsodownload a copy of your grade book. We recommend saving these files to your Google Drive to ensure long-term access in the event you change computer systems.
How long will you keep the retired courses?
We will keep the retired courses for 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 Google Drive.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:
Are your course materials accessible? Where would you go to check? Could you easily remediate your files for your current or future students?
Meet Ally, an accessibility tool that automatically scans your Blackboard course content and performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Ally provides you with an overall accessibility report for your entire course as well as tagging individual content items. Use the overall report to quickly identify easy issues to fix or urgent content that needs to be fixed.
Ally automatically generates alternative formats of your course files and makes them available to you and your students. The alternative formats do not affect your original file, but they do allow students to access an HTML version for their phones, an ePub version for their tablets, an MP3 version for audio players, and electronic braille for braille readers.
Improving the accessibility of your course content will not only help ensure students with different abilities can access your materials, but it will also improve the learning experience for students who use mobile devices as well as those who want to engage with the material in a different way.
Learn more about Ally by attending an orientation webinar or reviewing the Ally FAQs.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:
Are you passionate about teaching with technology? Do you have an Ultra course adoption story to share with other faculty? Would you like to be part of a growing community of Blackboard influencers at UMBC?
If so, consider applying to the Ultra Faculty Ambassador Program!
Faculty engagement throughout the transition to Ultra is an invaluable component of UMBC’s Blackboard innovation roadmap. With the increased investment in support for Ultra and instructional technology, we’d like to invite five faculty to join our Ultra Faculty Ambassadors.
What makes a good Ultra Ambassador?
User-friendly - You are collegial and share best practices, resources & information with peers.
Learned - You seek opportunities to acquire new knowledge & skills.
Transformative - You perceive change as an opportunity.
Responsive - You pass constructive feedback back to Instructional Technology staff.
Accomplished - You stand out as an expert in using Blackboard for teaching.
Throughout the transition to the new course interface, Ultra Faculty Ambassadors communicate information to departments and college peers, respond to basic questions about using Ultra, coordinate training for their peers as needed, and provide feedback to the Instructional Technology team about any concerns or functionality requests.
All Ultra Faculty Ambassadors are required to attend a full-day of customized training to better prepare for their important role and receive a $300 stipend and additional support for their own Ultra course conversion or redesign.
Submit your nomination with this online form.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:
Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
Request a consult with instructional technology staff
Review your course content with Ally
It is my pleasure to both introduce and welcome the three newest members of the Instructional Technology team in DoIT: Chimaobi (Mobie) Nwaokomah (pictured at left), Laura Wyatt, and Collin Sullivan. They round out the team that added Dr. Susan Biro in her new role as Online Learning Coordinator in early May of this year. These new staff members add depth and breadth to the existing team as DoIT continues its investment in Instructional Technology.
Chimaobi (Mobie) Nwaokomah joins the team as an Instructional Designer. Mr. Nwaokomah graduated with a Master of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore and completed his Master of Arts in Instructional Systems Development from UMBC in Spring 2019. He also completed graduate certificates from UMBC in Instructional Technology and Distance Education. He previously served as an Instructional Designer and LMS System Administrator at the University of Baltimore, and an e-Learning Specialist at that same institution.
Laura Wyatt also joins the team as an Instructional Designer. Ms. Wyatt graduated with an M.S. degree in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College. In her most recent position, she served as the Associate Director of Instructional Technology at McDaniel College and previously served as their Learning Management System Administrator.
Collin Sullivan joins the team as a Learning Management System (LMS) Support Specialist. Mr. Sullivan earned both his Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics here at UMBC in May 2019. He served as an intern in the Instructional Technology office from 2015-2018 where he demonstrated his technical skills and abilities, giving him the foundation to thrive in his new role and support UMBC’s migration to Ultra.
Please join us in welcoming these three dynamic individuals into the UMBC family. We look forward to their future contributions to our community and the institution.
Sincerely,
Sherri Braxton
Senior Director
Instructional Technology
UMBC Division of Information Technology
The Ultra Course Redesign Challenge offers faculty an opportunity to share their redesigned courses using the new Ultra interface for a chance to win a Kindle Fire.
The challenge is open to any UMBC instructor who is currently using or planning to use Ultra in a Blackboard course in the FA2019 semester during the phased roll-out of Ultra. Courses will be evaluated using the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program (ECP) rubric, which is aligned to the Quality Matters rubric.
Courses submitted to the challenge must be redesigned using the Ultra Course View.
Courses must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Monday, September 30, 2019.
Review the Exemplary Course Program Rubric to familiarize yourself with the criteria.
If you do not already have an Ultra course shell to develop your submission, request a blank Ultra course shell and redesign your course.
Course shells with existing student data (grades, submissions, discussions, etc.) may not be submitted for the Redesign Challenge.
Complete your reflection for each criterion in the rubric.
Please create a folder called “For the Challenge Team” in your course for licensed tools and platforms that may be unavailable to the reviewers. This folder may also contain screenshots and recordings of great discussion boards, multimedia interactions, test questions, your course design strategy, etc.
Submit your course and reflection by the submission deadline.
Courses will be reviewed by the Instructional Technology team and at least two Ultra Faculty Ambassadors.
The winner will be announced during National Distance Learning Week (November 4-8, 2019).
The ECP rubric defines key characteristics of quality courses within the framework of Course Design, Interaction and Collaboration, Assessment, and Learner Support. It was developed by faculty and leaders in instructional design, based on years of their collective practice and expertise. Thousands of instructors, teachers, instructional designers, and faculty trainers have used the Exemplary Course Program to evaluate and improve their courses with recognized best practices. Those courses meeting exceptionally high standards are recognized at Blackboard’s annual conference.
All participants in the Ultra Course Redesign Challenge will be encouraged to submit their courses to the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program.
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