UMBC Blackboard 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 tab inside Blackboard 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

Blackboard & Instructional Technology

• Blackboard Upgrade Scheduled Dec. 26, 6:30 AM - 6:30 PM

• WT/SP2017 Courses Created in Blackboard on 11/29/2016

• Faculty Can Make Blackboard Courses Available in 2-Clicks

• Archive of Old Blackboard Courses Complete

• Take Attendance Qwickly with New Tool in Blackboard

• Using Blackboard to Leverage Lynda.com

Training & Professional Development

• Beat the Next Snow Day with the Skill Builder Boot Camp (January 24-25, 2017)

• Hybrid & Online Course Designer Workshop (January 17-19, 2017)

• TechFest 2017 Coming Soon: Submit Your Proposal Today!

Other DoIT News

• Nearly All UMBC Students Own Laptops AND Smart Phones

• UMBC Gmail Now Accessible Through Google Inbox App

• DoIT Supports Video Captioning and Transcription

• Kudos to Holly Owens on Her Clicker Advisory Board Appointment

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection

• Open a ticket via RT

• Drop-in to one of our walk-in clinics

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult with a member of the instructional technology team

Last year, the Instructional Technology team held UMBC’s first TechFest. TechFest is designed to bring together UMBC students, faculty, and staff to share their favorite technologies with the campus community through workshops and presentations.

There are two types of sessions that will be offered at TechFest 2017:

• Workshop Session (35 minutes)-Presenter(s) provide a brief overview of the instructional technology and offer information based on best practices and use. Participants are provided with at least three take aways implementing use of the technology.

• Power Session (70 minutes)-Presenter(s) provide a more in-depth overview of the instructional technology and offer information based on best practices and use. In Power Sessions, participants are given the opportunity to explore the technology through "hands-on" activities.

Deadlines and Notifications

Proposals must be submitted no later than 5pm on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 by completing this Google Form.  Applicants will be notified about acceptances approximately two weeks after the submission deadline. Selection will be based on how well the proposal connects to the themes, goals, and overall contribution to TechFest.

Mark your calendars: TechFest 2017 will be held on Monday, April 10, 2017. More details are forthcoming. Sign up here to be notified when registration opens for this event.

For more information, please contact Holly Owens at holly3@umbc.edu or Collin Sullivan at csulli1@umbc.edu.

Blackboard engineers will perform a system upgrade and maintenance on Monday morning, December 26, 2016, from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM. Blackboard will be offline during this period.

The downtime window will allow UMBC to update all courses to the new Blackboard Collaborate interface, which uses a new browser-based option. More than 900 faculty, staff, and students have tested the new “Ultra Experience” in Blackboard Collaborate since SU2015.

Collaborate with the Ultra Experience opens right in a web browser, so users do not have to install any software to join a session. The tool supports a basic whiteboard, PDF and PowerPoint file sharing, audio/video conferencing, breakout rooms, and polling. Two new roles, Presenter and Captioner, are now included. The Captioner role allows faculty to provide accessible alternatives to audio content for participants who are hearing impaired, as well as for participants whose native language is different from the moderator. The Participant role is designed to allow students to present without giving them full moderator privileges.

Additionally, UMBC students will enjoy the new Bb Student mobile app. The Bb Learn mobile app will be retired at end of 2016 and we encourage UMBC students who wish to access their Blackboard courses via mobile device to download and use the Bb Student app instead. UMBC students can download the Bb Student app for free from the Apple, Google, and Microsoft app stores.

Finally, support for competency-based learning allows instructors to align program objectives to evidence-based assessments. In the future, instructors and students will enjoy improved workflows such as drag & drop files, assignment submission receipts, and assignment reminders for missed work. New course activity reports will also be available for large enrollment courses with filters for groups.

In preparation for this downtime:

• Instructors: If you need access to your gradebook during the downtime, please review this FAQ for information on downloading a copy of the Blackboard Grade Center to Excel.

After Blackboard is back online, please clear your Internet browser cache and cookies before logging in using these step-by-step instructions.

The UMBC Blackboard team identified a time period that should have a reduced impact on our users. If our Blackboard site is down longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances, updates will be posted to this news article. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve our systems to bring you a better Blackboard experience.

For more information about Instructional Technology:

• Follow our Instructional Technology group page

• Visit our FAQ collection

• Open an RT ticket

• Request an appointment with an instructional technology specialist

Concerned about Mother Nature's icy influence this winter? New to UMBC or teaching with Blackboard? Need to refresh your skills? Interested in an existing technology or resource?

The Skill Builder Boot Camp is a comprehensive 2-day workshop to provide hands-on training in core components of Blackboard and supporting technologies (Bb Collaborate, TechSmith Relay, etc.) available to faculty at UMBC. 

Blackboard course shells for WT/SP2017 were created on November 29, 2016.

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. As new course sections and/or instructors are added to the SOC, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. If you need a 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 can be split upon request by an RT ticket. 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 makes them available.

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 not, please submit a support request by an RT ticket.