UMBC Migrates from Scantron to Akindi New Platform Easier to Use and Supports Campus-Wide Analysis
Last year, DoIT announced the pilot of a tool called Akindi, which serves as a Scantron alternative and allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. There has been nearly full campus-wide adoption since this time (while faculty also continue to use Blackboard for online exams). In Fall 2019, the TSC graded 354 Scantron tests. In just two years, that number was down to 16 tests scored in Fall 2021, and we've only graded 4 tests during the current term. At the same time, we've seen 52 faculty members deploy Akindi in their courses across 242 assessments, and scanning nearly 21,000 bubble sheets. On April 1, Jordan Wilson scanned Akindi's 9 millionth bubble sheet from Exam 1 in their CHEM 102L Introductory Chemistry Lab course.

"Scanning the bubble sheets in the department [is] easy and very convenient. Akindi always gives very detailed statistics related to student performance."
~ Math & Stats Faculty Member

After reviewing survey data of faculty who have used Akindi in their courses, coupled with the potential for pedagogical innovation, DoIT will only  support Akindi  assessments as of July 1, 2022.

The primary benefits from this transition are improved flexibility and ease of use for faculty, and scalable analytics for the university. In particular, UMBC's adoption of Akindi provides additional insights into the relationship between testing, course design, and student success. DoIT has completed an initial exploratory analysis of these data.

Given the available data, in general, the test design did not appear to predict DFW rates. However, controlling for test features, there is an impact of course design on DFW rates, which has a much more consequential relationship with DFW rates than does the internal consistency of the assessments, or other test attributes. The level of student engagement in a course, as measured by proxy using Bb course interactions, also reduces the potential for negative outcomes.

Future analyses would benefit from more diverse testing pools including additional courses, departments, and colleges. It may also be possible to join Akindi and Bb assessment data to get a more comprehensive view of the relationship between course outcomes and various indicators of assessment design.

~By Tom Penniston & Collin Sullivan

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After much consideration of the workshop facilitators and subject matter experts, we have decided not to offer a session during Fall 2022. We hope to offer a session during Spring 2023. Thank you for understanding.

In Fall 2022, an immersive, 10-week workshop launches for faculty and staff, designed to create and improve intentionally inclusive and equitable courses. Using conversation and reflection, the program leverages a variety of course design and instructional strategies to support faculty in creating and supporting their own responsive and inclusive classrooms.

This program is a collaborative effort, created and facilitated by Instructional Technology, the Faculty Development Center, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion & Belonging, Student Conduct and Community Standards, and the Office of Student Disability Services with faculty partners leading sessions.

The course learning outcomes include: 
  1. Create a personal philosophy of equitable and inclusive pedagogy.
  2. Evaluate strategies to address challenges of equity and inclusion.
  3. Identify key elements of course design that can promote equity and inclusion to benefit all students.
  4. Reflect on teaching and learning experiences as part of an inclusive community of inquiry.
Participants will be expected to complete an asynchronous module per week (approximately a 30-minute weekly time commitment) and attend 5 synchronous sessions to explore a variety of topics. Upon completion of the course, participants will earn a micro-credential to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course.  

The course is scheduled to begin in mid-September 2022. More information about registration will be shared on the Instructional Technology myUMBC group in early August. 

For any questions or additional information, please contact Josh Abrams or Collin Sullivan. 

]]> After much consideration of the workshop facilitators and subject matter experts, we have decided not to offer a session during Fall 2022. We hope to offer a session during Spring 2023. Thank you... https://beta.my.umbc.edu/api/v0/pixel/news/119215/guest@my.umbc.edu/db395729f4aa10103c25b2a35d87def0/api/pixel ally blackboard calt disability-services faculty-development fdc i3b itnm oei online training Instructional Technology https://beta.my.umbc.edu/groups/instructional-technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/original.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/large.png?1446126703 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/medium.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/small.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxsmall.png?1446126703 Instructional Technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/xxlarge.jpg?1651765991 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/xlarge.jpg?1651765991 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/large.jpg?1651765991 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/medium.jpg?1651765991 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/small.jpg?1651765991 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/xsmall.jpg?1651765991 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/215/2515dc3d592c45d2ac38bc3d52e30d9d/xxsmall.jpg?1651765991 6 1 true Thu, 05 May 2022 11:55:41 -0400 Thu, 11 Aug 2022 08:50:35 -0400 Workflow improvements for Ultra grading & assessments in May New test question filter for student assessment experience
As the semester concludes, the May update to Ultra brings some improvements centered on assessment and grading workflows and usability improvements.
  • Weighted Calculations: With this upgrade, instructors can configure the weighted overall grade using an empty grade category. You will no longer need to have an empty assessment or any assessment in the category to assign a weight.
  • Prohibit Late Submissions: To prevent instructors from inadvertently triggering submission of in-progress and saved assignment attempts, instructors cannot change the due dates to a date in the past when students have submitted attempts. Moreover, if a due date has passed, the instructor cannot select the prohibit late submission setting. 
  • Journal enhancements: Choose how many entries display on the page with improvement navigation and pagination. Students may make unlimited entries now and instructors will see a count of graded journals.
  • Undo and redo setting in Bb Annotate: This enhancement allows instructors and graders to easily undo or redo an annotation to a student's file submission when grading. It is not applicable to comments.
A major improvement to the student test taking experience is a new question filter with unanswered question warning. The question filter allows students to complete questions they know first and skip harder ones, using the filter to quickly return to skipped questions or to find specific formats of questions such as essay responses. If a student submits a test with unanswered questions, Ultra with alert students with a warning, showing the number of unanswered questions. If a student continues to work on the test, the filter will automatically display only the unanswered questions. 

Example of question filtering option for student
Image: Example of question filtering option for students

Additionally, based on feedback from students in Ultra courses, students may now choose to hide the timer on a timed test, which may reduce pressure and anxiety during assessments. While the timer may be hidden, the timer icon will remain visible to alert students that the test is timed and allow them to easily view the remaining time on the test as needed.

A session time-out warning is available to both Original and Ultra courses. When a user is idle for over three hours the session ends, but there are times when a user may be working, but the system considers them idle -- for example, authoring a discussion post. In this update, users will receive a warning at least six minutes before the session ends. If you close the warning before the session ends, your session will extend for another three hours. However, if you are away from the session when the warning appears, even if you close the message, you will be logged out because you were away too long.

The next update to our test environment will take place on May 10, 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. 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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Blackboard course shells for SU2022 were created on April 29, 2022.

The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in SU2022 courses, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to see what it looks like in Ultra and adopt Ultra. Please review the release notes for the latest updates to compare Original and Ultra tools since many new features and tools are available to increase Ultra's parity with Original. Have a question about Ultra? Ask an Ultra Ambassador!

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.

  1. 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. 
  2. Explore our Panopto folder for a wide variety of recorded webinars on various instructional technologies available at UMBC.
About Course Creation

Bb shells for SU2022 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 by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

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. NOTE: Courses should not be split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

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, please consider the following options:

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The quantitative data, as illustrated below in Figure 1, indicate that faculty teaching larger courses and those teaching courses with high percentages of the overall grade contingent on a small number of tests (i.e., high-stakes testing) are considerably more concerned about academic integrity. Also, the survey's open responses suggest instructors believe assessments are important, but were not of a single voice in regards to balancing formative and summative approaches in face-to-face and virtual environments.

Figure 1: Percent of Final Grade from High-stakes Testing, by Course Enrollment


The majority of respondents (59%) taught classes of 50 or fewer students, and about one in five (19%) taught classes with more than 100 students. Additionally, of those instructors teaching courses with at least half of their students' final grades determined by high-stakes tests, 72% agreed or strongly agreed that "Academic integrity on high-stake assessments is a major concern in my course(s)." That same level of sentiment is shared with less than half (49%) of instructors with grading schemas that are not as dependent on high-stakes testing.

Academic integrity is approached in several ways, including the use of psychology (lecturing students and/or acknowledgment of an "honor" statement or pledge) and overall design of the assessments, such as question banks, randomization, synchronous testing, and, in direct conflict with student accomodation concerns, time constraints.1 These approaches are carried out in two different environments: in-person and online. In the case of the former, respondents indicated traditional means of face-to-face proctoring. With the latter, instructors may use Blackboard, along with the Respondus Lockdown Browser, and potentially the Monitor option. Other respondents described having their students turn their computer cameras on during the assessments. Plagiarism checkers such as SafeAssign and Turnitin are also leveraged.

There is an acknowledgement by some, however, that there may not be anything that can be done to fully redress issues concerning academic integrity "other than theatrics." As one respondent noted, "it is impossible to keep students from posting the questions (from memory) on the Internet as soon as they are done with their own test." Some stated, however, that they believe their tests are relatively impervious to cheating due to the tailoring and formatting of the questions. Others stated they didn't think they have a big problem with cheating, or did little to curtail it beyond making sure students aren't using their phones or looking at other students' papers, which can be of particular concern when rooms are at full seating capacity.

The student disability-based testing accommodations described universally involve faculty providing more time on assessments for individual students, or through the course of the pandemic, expanding the testing window for all students. Few faculty indicated a pervasiveness of need, with some emphasizing how few occurrences of student accommodations they've received in their teaching careers. Additionally, multiple respondents seemed to be under the false impression that SDS has a testing center to support this need, rather than just ad hoc space allocation that is only available for SDS registered students with disabilities. Meaning it is not for general make up test proctoring for all students, can only seat 15 students at a time, and has computer stations only intended for specialized assistive technology needs..

Interestingly, when asked about the possibility of a dedicated UMBC testing center, only 14% of respondents teaching 50 or more students don't believe a testing center would help them; none of the respondents teaching more than 100 students are of that opinion. In fact, several respondents voiced support for this kind of facility, with one saying "I would be THRILLED for a testing center at UMBC!"

Some faculty, however, never use high-stakes testing. They may choose not to due to a lack of familiarity or experience with it (e.g., having begun teaching during the pandemic), while other instructors stated they did not believe in using high-stakes assessments on pedagogical grounds, or employ qualitatively graded assessments, such as case studies or written assessments, rather than discrete answer assessments. These types of assessments, of course, can still be high stakes, although much more difficult to scale for larger classes than multiple choice bubble sheets. Other faculty described offering more "smaller" assignments or quizzes. One respondent specifically cited their PIVOT training for adoption of this "best practice."2 Of those who did make use of high-stakes assessments, some stated they were important to encourage students' motivation to learn. "You have to have some high-stakes testing to get students to study," responded one instructor.

In short, faculty vary in their approach to testing, but there are similarities based on course enrollment size and discipline/college. Also, adoption of a testing center could potentially benefit faculty conducting testing, particularly in high-stakes/enrollment environments to support academic integrity and accessibility needs.

[1] As one respondent points out, "Many institutions also offer disability accommodations within a broader testing center, which helps to reduce stigma for students with disabilities."
[2] About one in five respondents are now offering fewer high stakes tests since the pandemic shift to online learning.

~By Tom Penniston
]]> In an effort to gather information on how faculty design and administer tests, DoIT collaborated with the Faculty Development Center (FDC) and Student Disability Services (SDS) to create and... https://doit.umbc.edu/post/119088/ Image https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/attachments/d301316209b47d9c1e1e235133b76c31/69e7f444/news/000/119/088/91ae48805e8e96055d454f043054059b/graph.png?1651516050 https://beta.my.umbc.edu/api/v0/pixel/news/119088/guest@my.umbc.edu/ae416d0c70ca650c993873d57b444f0b/api/pixel doit fdc high-stakes itnm penniston sds testing Instructional Technology https://beta.my.umbc.edu/groups/instructional-technology https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/original.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xlarge.png?1446126703 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/large.png?1446126703 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/medium.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/small.png?1446126703 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xsmall.png?1446126703 https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/avatars/groups/000/001/164/dec3b026b81ee6d890a8f82f75c94a2e/xxsmall.png?1446126703 Instructional Technology https://assets3-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/xxlarge.jpg?1651504119 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/xlarge.jpg?1651504119 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/large.jpg?1651504119 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/medium.jpg?1651504119 https://assets2-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/small.jpg?1651504119 https://assets4-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/xsmall.jpg?1651504119 https://assets1-beta.my.umbc.edu/system/shared/thumbnails/news/000/119/088/b77b1b6769516e44273d6690970ff019/xxsmall.jpg?1651504119 6 0 true Mon, 02 May 2022 13:30:19 -0400 Mon, 02 May 2022 14:56:49 -0400 Generate & embed captions for Collaborate recordings in May Support accessibility for recorded sessions in your classes
Creating captioning for recordings from scratch can be very time consuming for instructors or accessibility staff. Beginning in May 2022, instructors can leverage the help of artificial intelligence to improve the accessibility of their Collaborate recordings with captioning.  

With this feature, piloted last summer by UMBC, Collaborate creates recording captions based on speech to text recognition technology. After a live session concludes, an instructor can generate the captions for a recording, which can be reviewed, downloaded, and edited if necessary. Captions immediately appear in the Collaborate player for anyone who has access to the recording.

Captions are a valuable instructional resource, improving the accessibility of content for individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired. Moreover, students gain new opportunities to access information in ways they need or want it, thanks to captions. For example:
  • Anyone working in a noisy environment can read captions.
  • Non-native speakers can read captions to reinforce their understanding.
  • Students learning to read can follow along with the speaker.
  • Students can see the spelling of terms that will be on a test.
In Collaborate, the recording transcription feature is enabled by the instructor through the recording settings page for the session. Please review this FAQ for step by step instructions.

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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Interested in attending an Instructional Technology Essentials session but unsure when it will be? Sign up for one of our sessions by May 20, 2022. Interested participants will be sent a Doodle poll on May 23rd to determine a time when all participants can attend. 

The Essential tools that will be offered in June include: 


Ultra Essentials I - Content & Engagement | 60 minutes | Sign up here
New to Ultra or need a refresher? This hands-on overview focuses on the essentials of using the Ultra Experience Blackboard course interface for communication and content creation. Topics include:
  • Create and organize folders
  • Upload files & link to Google Drive
  • Post announcements & send messages
  • Create discussions forums
  • Access Collaborate for virtual web conferencing


Ultra Essentials II - Assessment & Grading | 60 minutes | Sign up here
New to Ultra or need a refresher? This hands-on overview focuses on the essentials of using the Ultra Experience Blackboard course interface for tests, assignments, and grading. Topics include:
  • Creating assignments and tests
  • Using the new inline grading tools
  • Entering grades in the Ultra grade center


Collaborate Essentials | 60 minutes | Sign up here
New to Blackboard Collaborate or need a refresher? This overview focuses on the essentials of using Blackboard Collaborate in your courses. Topics include:
  • Using the Sharing Content Tools 
  • Examine active learning strategies to get participants involved in the sessions
  • Create breakout rooms and polls
  • Identify Collaborate features that support the needs of users with disabilities
  • Describe how gallery view can be used for live remote proctoring


VoiceThread Essentials | 60 minutes | Sign up here
VoiceThread is a learning tool for enhancing student engagement and online presence. Instructors and/or students can create, share, and comment on images, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio files, documents, and PDFs, using microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload. Session topics include: 
  • Upload media, comment and annotate on that media, and share it with others
  • Create graded VoiceThread assignments in Blackboard
  • Use comment moderation to formatively assess student work, give private feedback, and use threaded commenting
  • Use VoiceThread as a catalyst for class discussions


Panopto Essentials | 60 minutes | Sign up here 
Are you interested in learning how to create video screencasts? Using Panopto, faculty can capture and narrate anything they see on their computers, and then publish an online screencast video tutorial or mini-lecture for students to watch and replay on their own time. Panopto provides multiple recording and editing options for video and audio output and a cloud-based video storage platform for new and pre-existing media content. It is available for both Blackboard Original and Ultra courses. Session topics include: 
  • Getting started with Panopto 
  • Launching Panopto from your Blackboard course
  • Recording videos using the Panopto application or browser-based capture tool
  • Creating videos by uploading your own media content
  • Creating automatic captions. 


Something else? | Suggest a new topic for July! 


A Doodle Poll will be sent to interested participants by May 23 to determine when the session will be offered. Webinars will take place in a Blackboard Collaborate virtual conference room. 

Prior to the event

For the best viewing experience, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox, preferably the most recent updates to those browsers. Closing any unnecessary browser tabs will help conserve your bandwidth.   

If this is your first time joining one of our webinars, please review the Bb Getting Started Guide or our Quick Start Guide for All Users. You will also find additional helpful information for using Blackboard Collaborate at our extensive FAQs.

After joining the session, please configure your audio. Having trouble accessing Collaborate? Please see our Troubleshooting Audio Problems or Networking Issues for Collaborate guides.

At least 5 registrations are needed for sessions to proceed. Sessions will be recorded if two or more people attend and the link will be distributed to everyone who completed the sign up form.

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

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While teaching a synchronous session using web conferencing tools, instructors juggle content, conversation, and context. Engaging participants and maintaining a high level of interaction is an essential outcome of an online experience. Even when webcams are on, how do you know if students are engaged? 

In late SP2022, Collaborate launches a new Engagement Insights Panel as a companion tool for faculty moderators to reveal how the student audience is engaging while the session is occurring. In this first release, instructors will be able to toggle a panel at the bottom of their live Collaborate session to show the percentage of hands raised and chat messages sent in both the main room and in breakout rooms. As the data refreshes, faculty can use this information to note high and low engagement in the live session.

Example of Collaborate Live Engagement Insights
Image 1: Example of Collaborate Live Engagement Insights

Collaborate will also offer metrics for session recordings including how many students have watched the recordings or downloaded the recording file (if downloads are enabled). Faculty can also see the last date and time when a recording was viewed or downloaded. This information will be available on the Recordings tab.

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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At the end of Spring 2021, DoIT announced a pilot of Akindi, a tool that serves as a Scantron alternative that allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. Akindi has been deployed with institutions across the country including Rutgers, Duke, USC Marshall, and the University of Tennessee. 

Since UMBC's roll out, over 18,000 Akindi bubble sheets have been scanned by UMBC faculty and teaching assistants over 200 unique assessments. 

On April 1, Jordan Wilson scanned in bubble sheets for Exam 1 in their CHEM 102L Introductory Chemistry Lab. That scan hit a milestone for our partners at Akindi: it included their 9 millionth scanned bubble sheet. Wilson has been awarded a complementary pair of socks from Akindi to celebrate. 


As the end of the semester approaches, DoIT reminds faculty of the advantages of Akindi bubble sheets over Scantrons. Resources are made available through our FAQs, or faculty can request an Akindi consult by placing a ticket via RT.
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Beginning in late spring and moving into summer, faculty will see extensive upgrades to Ultra courses, particularly in the areas of assessment and grading. This focus aligns with feedback from UMBC faculty to Ultra developers, prioritizing need on key areas. Six updates will be applied to assessments and grading:
  • Display questions one at at time: Instructors can enable this Settings panel. 
  • Improved feedback display controls: Supporting academic integrity and protecting assessment content is important. If selected, the instructor defines when the student can view their assessment submission.
  • Post grades automatically: When selected, an assessment grade appears to the student as soon as the attempt is graded. 
  • Calculated numeric question type: This assessment question type is important for math and other STEM courses. Students enter a number as an answer and the answer field will only validate numeric digits.
  • Download test results: Instructors can download test results for external analysis and evaluation from either the gradebook grid or list views.
  • Search for student submission receipts: For each attempt a student makes, the instructor can search for a receipt confirmation number. This helps instructors find student submissions when extra verification is needed. 
Learn more about these new features and more in our What's New in Assessment & Grading in Ultra webinar on April 19, 2022. We will also offer a dedicated workshop on Grading and the Ultra Gradebook on April 14, 2022.

Further updates to Ultra courses support content creation. Earlier this semester, Ultra courses were updated to more easily allow copying content from Original courses. In April, Ultra courses can now copy content from within the course itself, including folders, documents, tests, assignments, web links, discussions, and journals. This internal copying workflow also includes learning modules and individual items within those learning modules. 

Additionally, instructors and students will be able to author and share computer code in the Ultra content editor using a new Code Snippet tool. The content editor identifies eleven programming syntaxes (such as Python, Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and others) to better support STEM courses. 

Finally, the Blackboard Instructor app will include a fully Responsive Web Design interface for Ultra courses, allowing faculty to:
  • build courses, including create and upload content
  • grade students work, including update assessment settings
  • communicate, including participate in discussions
The enhanced Blackboard Instructor app will be available in mid-April from the iOS and Android app stores. If you have already downloaded the app then it will be automatically updated if you have this choice enabled on your device or will require a manual update if this choice is not selected. 

The next update to our test environment will take place on April 12, 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. 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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