January Instructor News from the Center for Instructional Technology 

Happy New Year from your colleagues in CIT!  Below, you’ll find announcements and events to assist you with teaching and learning needs.   

 

Join CIT for the 2024 Spring Faculty Prep Days  

Save the date for the Center for Instructional Technology’s 2024 Spring Faculty Prep Days on Jan. 8 & 9. Join CIT for two days of workshops and one-on-one technical and pedagogical assistance to get you ready for the Spring semester. View the full schedule of events online.  

Register for a session

Register for a one-on-one consultation

UA instructors can now teach with Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View! Schedule a demo and info session for your area. 

A simpler, more modern Blackboard is here! An alternative to the traditional Blackboard Learn experience, “Ultra” offers a simple, modern, intuitive, and consistent interface across devices and a more streamlined experience for instructors and students. CIT and the Office of Teaching Innovation and Distance Education (OTIDE) have established a goal of having all courses designed and delivered in Ultra by Spring 2026. Learn more about Ultra and UA’s plans: Blackboard Learn Ultra Course Pilot 

We invite you to learn more and begin to prepare by scheduling a demonstration and information session for your department, program, or area. Contact CIT to request a presentation. We will also host several open sessions this term: 

  • Friday, January 19, 10 – 10:30 AM, Online  
  • Monday, January 22, 2 – 2:30 PM, A232 Gordon Palmer Hall 
  • Thursday, February 8, 11 – 11:30 AM, Online  
  • Monday, February 19, 2 – 2:30 PM, Online  
  • Thursday, March 7, 2 – 2:30 PM, A232 Gordon Palmer Hall 
  • Friday, March 22, 10 – 10:30 AM, Online  
  • Thursday, April 4, 11 – 11:30 AM, Online  
  • Thursday, April 18, 2:00 – 2:30 PM, A232 Gordon Palmer Hall 
  • Monday, April 29, 2 – 2:30 PM, Online  

 

Register for a Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session.  

 


CIT Technology and Tool Highlights  

Hypothesis  

Learn from experience! In this short article, learn how an English professor at Modesto Jr. College uses Hypothesis to ensure their students actually read the syllabus. 

Annotate the Course Syllabus Assignment – https://web.hypothes.is/resources/annotate-the-course-syllabus-assignment/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=285655738&utm_content=285652686&utm_source=hs_email 

Panopto 

Panopto is rolling out significant enhancements to its user design and interface, focusing on refining the overall look and styling of key components, along with a few helpful updates in the form of stability improvements for its Blackboard integration and Remote Recorder features used by some UA colleges. For further details, visit Panopto’s Community page. https://community.panopto.com/discussion/2226/14-10-ui-ux-changes?mkt_tok=NTc1LUJLRi00MTQAAAGQJrdsP8PNuSI-9G-dB6b_b84vnP8vdbhnGMVGNVp-LWibDuKAO0BSZ9XioCVpJTNZLkGJCdDACC1BTahQS53o-Z-sIh7nAhtxAr0M1XUq6T3X0Q#latest 

 


Upcoming Learning Opportunities  

New to one of our instructional tech. tools? We would love to guide you step-by-step or provide tips and ideas for using technology in your class. Just let us know how we can help!  

 A few workshops are highlighted below.  Keep up to date on all the training sessions at https://cit.ua.edu/workshops/ 

Teaching with Blackboard Sessions  

These CIT-led workshops and webinars aim to help you get started with and get the most out of Blackboard Learn, UA’s learning management system.  

  • Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session 
  • Friday, January 19, 10 – 10:30 AM, Online  
  • Monday, January 22, 2 – 2:30 PM, A232 Gordon Palmer Hall 
  • Blackboard Learn Basics 
  • Thursday, January 11, 11 AM – 12 PM, Online 
  • Grading and Managing the Gradebook in Learn Original 
  • Friday, January 12, 10 – 11 AM, Online 
  • Creating Assessments in Learn Original 
  • Thursday, January 25, 2 – 3 PM, Online  

Register for CIT-led Teaching with Blackboard workshops and webinars.  

 

Teaching with Turnitin Sessions  

Turnitin provides tools for grading and peer review and helps deter and prevent plagiarism by checking student-submitted work against an extensive online database. 

  • Turnitin Basics 
  • Thursday, January 25, 11 AM – 12 PM, Online 

Register for CIT-led Teaching with Turnitin workshops and webinars.  

 

Teaching with Gradescope Sessions  

Gradescope helps instructors quickly grade and provide feedback on paper-based and online assessments: exams, quizzes, bubble sheets, homework, problem sets, programming assignments (graded automatically or manually), and more. 

  • Gradescope Basics 
  • Monday, January 29, 2 – 3 PM, Online 

Register for CIT-led Teaching with Gradescope workshops and webinars.  

 

Simple Syllabus Session 

Learn how to navigate and add your Spring 2024 syllabus content to Simple Syllabus, UA’s new syllabus tool. By default, Simple Syllabus will populate section information and materials, as well as instructor information, from other UA systems, such as CourseLeaf and Banner. We’ll learn how to add and rearrange content, and how to publish and share a syllabus.  

Face-to-face sessions are held in Gordon Palmer Hall, Rm. A232.  

  • Tuesday, January 9, 10 AM 
  • Monday, January 15, 10:30 AM 

Register for a face-to-face Simple Syllabus session.  

Virtual sessions are held via Teams webinar. Please click on the appropriate link to register. 

  

Editing Videos in Rush 

Tuesday, January 23, 10 – 11 PM

Learn the essentials of creating video presentations using images, video, and audio in Adobe Rush. Develop your storytelling skills whether it be for a class project, department presentation or personal story.

Register for the Editing Videos in Rush workshop.

 

Introduction to Panopto 

Thursday, January 25, 2 – 3 PM

This webinar aims to cover the basics of using the lecture capture and video platform, Panopto.

Register for the Introduction to Panopto workshop.

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Check out more instructional technology workshops at https://cit.ua.edu/workshops/   

As always, we are available Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:45 to help you. We look forward to working with you soon.  

Email – cit@ua.edu Phone – 205-348-3532 Website and Knowledge Base