In the final nine months of UMBC's Ultra migration, the overall faculty adoption rate continues to grow. For the spring 2024 term, Original course usage decreased by 33% between fall 23 and spring 24. Overall, Ultra adoption increased to 69.49% this semester, representing 1091 courses out of 1567 available in UMBC's Blackboard site.
In addition, more departments and programs have opted in to using Ultra as the default course experience for students, allowing faculty to quickly prepare their courses. Two weeks before the SP2024 semester started, Ultra course availability to students outpaced Original courses by a margin of 63% to 2%.
Ultra continues to bring more than 200 enhancements to the gradebook, content creation, and assessments. Unique to Ultra are progress tracking reports and the AI Course Design Assistant tools, designed to facilitate course development and improve student engagement with course materials. These updates offer a more intuitive and feature-rich platform for both faculty and students.
Preparing For Ultra Course Migration
While it is possible to convert courses from Original to Ultra, DoIT's Instructional Technology team recommends starting fresh. This approach allows for copying content from Original or rebuilding courses from the ground up to ensure an optimal experience for both faculty and students. Starting fresh in Ultra enables you to take full advantage of the platform's new features and design capabilities.
UMBC remains committed to ensuring a smooth transition for its December 31, 2024 timeline for completion of Ultra course migration.
Connect with Instructional Technology
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
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UMBC is committed to providing a consistent learning experience for everyone. The last day we will support Blackboard Original is December 31, 2024. Please check out our training and support: umbc.edu/go/ultra
]]>Instructors have many options available when they select course materials each term. As you select materials for the upcoming term, will you participate in the Course Materials Initiative (CMI), incorporate technology tools, or adopt Open Educational Resources (OER)?
Course Materials Initiative
The Course Materials Initiative (CMI) provides access to digital course materials through Blackboard. The digital course materials include ebooks and courseware such as WebAssign, MindTap and ALEKS, if applicable, from publishers under contract with UMBC. The course materials are integrated into Blackboard via VitalSource (the common digital platform) for all participating courses and sections. A course materials charge is included on the student bill when they have registered for a participating course or, for some courses, after the CMI Status Change Deadline. Students can elect not to participate in CMI and obtain their own access to materials.
For more information about the Course Materials Initiative program, please contact Jocelyn Ochoa-Garcia (ochoa1@umbc.edu) at the UMBC Bookstore.
Technology Tools
Blackboard supports a variety of third-party tools through Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) integrations. These integrations support single-sign on between third-party content or services and improve instructor/student efficiency by streamlining usage or synchronizing grades. In addition to publisher tools, instructors may incorporate content using CourseArc, Google, Library Reserves, Microsoft, Panopto, Poll Everywhere, and VoiceThread.
Occasionally, instructors may have an interest in integrating a new technology in their Blackboard courses. New integrations must be reviewed through a formal Procurement process to ensure the tool meets standards for security, privacy, data retention, and accessibility, even if the technology does not have any associated financial cost. As a reminder, students should only access technologies via SSO or LTI integrations in Blackboard to remain in compliance with UMBC cloud computing requirements.
Request support with technology tools:
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium (digital or otherwise) that are released under an open license that permits no-cost or low-cost access, use, adaptation, or redistribution (UNESCO, 2002). OER can include textbooks, syllabi, supplementary materials, quizzes, assessment rubrics, homework, or labs.
Explore how you can adopt OERs for your course:
Follow the Open Educational Resources group on myUMBC
Explore the M.O.S.T. OER Commons
Check out the OER research guide
Contact OER co-chairs Erin Durham (edurham@umbc.edu) or Susan Biro (sbiro@umbc.edu) for more information on OER at UMBC.
Reminders
Course material adoptions for Summer/Fall are due the third Friday in March. Summer and fall textbook adoptions should be submitted by April 24th to permit compliance with USM Board of Regents policy. For inquiries related to course materials, contact textbook@umbc.edu.
Connect with Instructional Technology
Designed for mobility, Ultra supports a condensed hierarchy for content nesting on the main course content page. Student preference and support were the primary purpose for Blackboard to reduce the number of folders that can be nested from unlimited in Original to two in Ultra. Many faculty adopted the streamlined approach to redesign and organize their courses for efficient access.
Two levels of folders, however, could be somewhat limiting for certain types of courses and organizations. Beginning in mid-March, Ultra will support an additional level of nested folders to faculty as they develop and teach their Ultra courses. The top level applies to either learning modules or folders, and within this top level, two additional levels are then supported. This change aims to provide faculty with greater flexibility in organizing course materials, especially for complex topics that require a more hierarchical content structure.
Preparing For Course Migration to Ultra
While it is possible to convert courses from Original to Ultra, DoIT's Instructional Technology team recommends starting fresh. This approach allows for copying content from Original or rebuilding courses from the ground up to ensure an optimal experience for both faculty and students. Starting fresh in Ultra enables you to take full advantage of the platform's new features and design capabilities.
The first faculty member from UMBC has earned Quality Matters (QM) certification for an online course utilizing the new 7th Edition Higher Education Rubric as part of the Quality Matters Impact (QMI) program. This brings to 19 the total number of certified courses at UMBC. More than half of the QM certified courses inthe University System of Maryland are from UMBC.
Faculty participants received feedback from certified QM subject matter experts and peer reviewers as part of a formal course review. They also earned a digital credential for completing the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) online workshop in preparation to take a course through the peer review process.
The most recently certified using the 7th Edition Rubric is:
PSYC 306 - LIfespan and Human Development - Eileen O'Brien
Date certified: 01.10.2024
O'Brien joins others who have earned QM Certification since 2021:
In partnership with the Provost's Office, the QMI pilot launched in FA2021 as an extension of the award-winning PIVOT program to recognize exemplary course design. A QM Official review provides independent validation of quality, learner-focused course design.
QM certifications are valid for five years. 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, on the syllabus or within the course. 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.
For more information about the Quality Matters Impact program, please contact the QM coordinators for UMBC:
Director, Instructional Technology\
Manager, Online Learning
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