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As the campus begins the migration to TurningPoint Cloud this summer, students who purchased and registered their clickers on Blackboard prior to March 1, 2016  will receive Turning Account license codes via their UMBC email. Students will use these license codes to create their Turning Accounts and register clicker information on Blackboard.

License codes will be sent out to students starting the week of May 23. The length of a student's license subscription is based upon the student’s enrollment status during the Spring 2016 semester (e.g., freshman, sophomore etc). Please see below for more information.

Once students receive their license codes, they will need to log into Blackboard to create a Turning Account and register their clicker information.

The updated clicker registration link will be available in Blackboard starting on May 26.

Students who have not previously purchased and/or registered a clicker on Blackboard will be able to buy a clicker bundle from the UMBC Bookstore.

If you have any questions or concerns, please visit our Clicker FAQ page and/or contact Holly Owens at holly3@umbc.edu.

Through a University System of Maryland partnership with the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), DoIT is pleased to offer an exceptional online training opportunity to UMBC full-time and part-time faculty.

The OLC workshop format utilizes proven teaching strategies and learning activities while modeling best practices for online and hybrid learning. Participants engage with experienced instructors and collaborate with peers via synchronous (live) and asynchronous environments. Normally these workshop cost about $300 each, but our partnership provides a limited number of seats at no cost to UMBC faculty.

These workshops require a time commitment of 3-7 days on average with some lasting up to 3 weeks. All workshops are delivered online with either a synchronous or asynchronous component. A full list of workshop titles is available through this year.  

Below you will find a list of recommended workshops for the SU2016 semester. The workshop descriptions are linked in titles.

June 2016

• Designing Gamified Learning Environments, 6/6-6/12

• Creating Rubrics, 6/8-6/10
• Exploring Open Education Resources (OER), 6/8-6/10
• Facilitating Group Work Online, 6/20-6/26
• Creating Effective Presentations, 6/20-6/26
• Exploring Learning Analytics, 6/20-6/26
• ADA & Web Accessibility, 6/20-6/26

July 2016

• Creating Infographics for Learning, 7/11-7/17
• Designing a Flipped Classroom, 7/11-7/17
• Creating Effective Assessments, 7/25-7/31
• Giving Effective Feedback, 7/25-7/31
• Designing Courses with a Multimodal Approach, 7/25-7/31
• Supporting New Online Learners, 7/25-7/31
• Strategies to Improve Retention, 7/25-7/31

August 2016

• Intro to Mobile Apps & Tablets, 8/8-8/14
• Exploring ePortfolios, 8/8-8/14
• Exploring Competency Based Instruction, 8/8-8/14
• Creating an Interactive Syllabus, 8/8-8/14
• Creating Interactive Video Tools, 8/10-8/12
• Facilitating Group Work Online, 8/22-8/28
• Increasing Interaction & Engagement, 8/22-8/28

To register for a workshop, please open an RT ticket. Be sure to include the name of the workshop you would like to attend and the date(s). Instructional technology staff will assist with your registration, answer any questions you may have about the experience, etc. Sign up early -- some workshops fill up due to popular demand.

[Note: The Mastery Series workshops are not eligible for the coupon code.]

Grading & The Blackboard Grade Center

The Alternate Delivery Program (ADP) provides financial, technical, and pedagogical support to faculty who agree to redesign an existing face-to-face (F2F) course for online or hybrid (part online, part F2F) delivery in summer or winter session.

The expansion of the ADP includes three tracks: 

I. Skill Builder Track

The Skill Builder track offers modular training in core components of Blackboard and supporting technologies (Bb Collaborate, TechSmith Relay, Box) to help faculty better utilize the features available in Blackboard and to prepare for the Course Designer track.

II. Course Designer Track

This track, which most closely resembles the "old" ADP, is available to faculty who have either completed the ADP Skill Builder track or demonstrated competency with the Skill Builder components. The Course Designer track typically requires at least a semester for course development before the redesigned course is offered in summer or winter session. It includes a one day training workshop and an opportunity to work one-on-one with an Instructional Technology Specialist in the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Faculty who participate in the Course Designer track should have prior experience teaching in summer or winter sessions and convert courses that have a proven enrollment “track record” in Summer or Winter Sessions. 

III. Quality Booster Track

The Quality Booster track is designed for faculty who are already offering hybrid or online courses, but who have either not previously participated in formal course redesign training through the ADP or participated in ADP prior to the Quality Matters (QM) process integration. Quality Matters is an internationally recognized peer review process to assess the design quality of an online or hybrid course. The goal is to carefully evaluate the components of a hybrid or online course to ensure that it meets nationally identified quality standards.

The Skill Builder workshops are on our training schedule; sign up for them now on the Instructional Technology Events page. The Call for Participation for the Course Designer Track is available now; access it here. We are also currently seeking participants for the next Quality Booster Track.

To learn more about the Alternate Delivery Program and Quality Matters, attend the Quality Matters-Focused Course Design Workshop on June15, 2016.