Blackboard course shells for WT2023 and SP2023 were created on November 29, 2022.

The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in WT/SP2023 courses, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to see what it looks like in Ultra. 

• Please review the release notes for the latest updates as well as feature parity charts -- more than 30 new updates were added over the last few months including hot spot questions, assessment page breaks, gradebook history, reports for course activity and student progress, points-based gradebook and rubrics, question banks, and more! 
• Learn more about What's New in Ultra for Teaching & Learning on January 9, 2023.
• 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.
3. 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.

• 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.

This year's National Distance Learning Week 2022 Lunchtime Series (November 7-11) at UMBC created space for candid conversations about online learning. These conversations featured 11 panelists who represented faculty, staff, and students sharing their challenges, accomplishments, and lessons learned. 

Instructional Technology will continue hosting monthly candid conversations about online learning starting in spring 2023. Follow us on myUMBC for the latest information about dates, times, and guests.  

If you missed one of these candid conversations during National Distance Learning Week check out the session takeaways below or watch/listen to the recorded session.

• Panelists:Dr. Louise Murray, Director, Undergraduate Programs and Clinical Associate Professor in the Erickson School of Aging Studies; Mr. Gary Williams Jr., Senior Lecturer, Emergency Health Services Department and Clinical Coordinator, Paramedic Concentration; Dr. Eileen O'Brien, Director, College Teaching & Learning Science (CTLS) Post Master's Certificate Program; and, Dr. John Schumacher, Professor, Department of  Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health, Co-Director Doctoral Program in Gerontology.
• Key takeaways: Faculty shared their experiences in online course design and how the Quality Matters framework strengthened their design after taking a course through a formal course review. The rigor of the QM peer-review process also presented faculty with challenges in understanding, learning, and designing for new technologies and methods of designing learning. As they applied what they learned about effective online course design, faculty shared that students reported a clearer understanding of what was expected in the online course, where to find content, and how they were going to be assessed.

Tuesday, November 8th topic: How do we engage disconnected students? (session recording) 

• Panelists:Gary Rozanc, Assistant Professor Graphic Design, Department of Visual Arts (CAHSS); Nancy McAllister, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science, Geography & Environmental Systems Department (CAHSS); and Dr. Sarah Bass, Lecturer of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry (CNMS). 
• Key takeaways: Faculty shared how their approach to engaging online students evolved from the start of the pandemic to more recent practices. During the fall of 2020, engaging students meant using multiple methods to help online students connect with one other, instructor, and content. In the fall of 2022 with a return to campus, our panelists reported rethinking how they use technology in-person. Today's students  enter college with more experience and comfort using technology and perhaps with a different motivation for learning. Panelists noted that how they taught pre-pandemic may not align with today's first-year students who are seeing the work they'll be doing in the future happening in asynchronous and remote formats. Our panelists asked, what does this mean to engagement in any class format and the ways students are choosing to learn post-pandemic?

Wednesday, November 9 topic: How do we counter the myths of online learning? (session recording) 

• Panelists: Thirandie Bambaradeniya, Director of Sustainability, Student Government Association (UMBC 23); Dr. Tara Carpenter, Principal Lecturer, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Dr. Toby Gouker, Acting Graduate Program Director, Engineering Management; and Dr. Delana Gregg, Director of Academic Learning Resources, Assessment, and Analysis. 
• Key takeaways: When it comes to the myth that online learning is easy, panelists were in agreement that online learning is not easier than in-person as it requires students to be even more disciplined in managing their time and asking for help. Debunking the myth that online students don't interact with each other or the instructor, our panelists noted that teaching online is often more intensive and intentional, as students cannot 'hide' in the back of the online classroom. When it comes to the myth that everyone cheats in an online course, panelists said faculty have since created multiple ways for students to be tested, including more formative or open-note assignments. In considering where UMBC could go with online learning, panelists noted that online learning has long been a useful tool for decades and in a post-pandemic time, it remains a viable choice for many students. They would encourage UMBC to consider how we can provide online learning effectively and continue to put services in place to help support our online learners.  

UMBC Instructional Technology

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

• PIVOT |Academic Continuity |Keep On Teaching |Student Technology Resources

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 

• What's new in Ultra? |Known Issues 

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow theInstructional Technology &DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult withinstructional technology staff

UMBC's National Distance Learning Week 2022 Lunchtime Series created space for candid conversations about online learning. The candid conversation on Monday, November 7th focused on course design and Quality Matters.   

The Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric (6th edition) is a set of 8 General Standards and 42 Specific Review Standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. QM Standards are research-supported and based on published best practices. The rubric's General Standard 8 focuses on course accessibility and usability, and is designed to assess whether "the course design reflects a commitment to accessibility and usability for all learners."

Creating and adding content to an online course offers students the opportunity to engage with customized course materials, but may not provide equal access if the content is not accessible. The following content creation best practices promote accessibility so that all learners can access course content.

Content Accessibility Best Practices

Media

• Add captions to videos. 

• Visual information that is critical to meaning should include an audio description.

• Panopto and VoiceThread offer automated captions. Edit and correct automated captions for accuracy.

• Add slide presentations in video lectures to Blackboard for student view.

• Provide transcripts for audio files.

• Audio files can be uploaded to Panopto for automated captioning.

Images

• Provide alternative (Alt) text for all images that are not decorative.

• Long descriptions may be appropriate for complex illustrations or graphs.

• Add alternative text for images embedded in slide presentations, documents, or individual image files.

• When adding an image to Blackboard, use the Alt text field to provide a meaningful description of the image. 

• Add labels to charts, graphs, and illustrations.

Text

• Use text heading levels to format text, instead of editing text size or style.

• Use heading levels in order (h1, h2, h3, etc).

• Avoid using underlined text unless the text is a hyperlink.

• Avoid using text color alone to convey meaning.

• Color combinations provide sufficient color contrast.

Links

• Hyperlinks in text should describe the link destination.

• Use "National Distance Learning Week Lunchtime Series" instead of "click here."

Tables

• Create tables with column and/or row headers.

• Avoid using tables to format a document. Use text heading styles instead.

• Create tables using text. Avoid using tables as embedded images. 

What UMBC Resources Support Course Content Accessibility? 

Blackboard Ally

Instructors can use Ally to gauge the accessibility of course content.

• Receive feedback on the accessibility of course content through an Ally accessibility report.

• Improve content accessibility with Ally's step-by-step instructions.

• Create alternative formats for course content.

Students and instructors can use Ally to create alternative formats for course materials. This feature allows students to choose the type of file they want that best suits their needs.

SDS Information for Faculty

This SDS faculty resource include

• Accessible online/remote teaching resources

• UMBC SDS information and tools

• Disability Resources for instructors

Quality Matters Impact

As an extension of the award-winningPIVOT program, the Quality Matters Impact program is a new initiative to formally recognize courses that meet Quality Matters standards and demonstrate exemplary online/hybrid course design.

UMBC Instructional Technology

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

• PIVOT |Academic Continuity |Keep On Teaching |Student Technology Resources

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 

• What's new in Ultra? |Known Issues 

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow theInstructional Technology &DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult withinstructional technology staff