March Instructor News from the Center for Instructional Technology   

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

 

Launch of UA Accessibility Forum  

UA’s Technology Accessibility Team is excited to announce the launch of the Accessibility Forum.  The forum aims to unite the campus community and share accessibility wins, updates, and other accessibility-related information.  All UA faculty and instructors are invited to participate in the forum to learn more including accessibility in all aspects of teaching and learning at UA. Please join us for the first forum meeting scheduled for March 5 in A232 Gordon Palmer at 9:00 am.   

Kristen Kaylor, Sr. Accessibility Instructional Designer in UA Online Teaching Innovation and Digital Education (OTIDE) will be the guest speaker for this month’s meeting.  She will present A.I. Unleashed: Transforming the Accessibility of Images, Graphics, and Math Through Alt Text Automation. The team will also share important accessibility updates for the campus community. 

We are looking forward to seeing you at our first Accessibility Forum meeting! 

 

CIT at OLIS 

CIT was thrilled to participate in the Online Learning Innovation Summit, a professional development conference that brings together faculty, staff, graduate students, K-12 teachers and administrators from The University of Alabama and the region. Held March 1 at the Bryant Conference Center, OLIS featured presentations, workshops, demonstrations, and discussions around online learning and teaching technologies.  

Visitors to the CIT table were greeted with giveaway items and discussions of creative and effective ways to integrate instructional technologies into their classroom or online course. CIT staff Melissa Fortson and Dr. Rachel Thompson presented Artful Achievement: The University of Alabama’s Blackboard Learn Ultra Journey, a session on UA’s rollout of Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View. 

 


There’s more to Learn with Ultra – Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View  

From the simple, modern, intuitive, and consistent interface across devices to the streamlined experience for instructors and students, there is more to Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View. Instructors of non-OTIDE courses can teach with Ultra now, and all Blackboard courses will be designed and delivered in Ultra by Spring 2026. Visit the CIT site to learn more about Ultra and request a practice course: Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View 

Ultra Good Features 

Forms 

Do you need to collect information to place students in clinical experiences? Survey your class to gauge interests or opinions? Conduct formative assessments? Instructors teaching with Ultra can now create Forms!  

Ultra’s Forms page showing the dropdown menu for question types .

Available question types include Essay, Likert, Multiple Choice, True/False, Text, Local File, and File from Cloud Storage. Among other settings, you can adjust the due date, grade category, whether the form is graded or not, and how many attempts students have to complete the form. You can work with the responses in Learn or download them as a CSV file.  

Class Conversations 

Teaching with Ultra? You can enable Class Conversations for individual content items so students can discuss the content with you and their classmates: asking for help, sharing sources, or answering questions others have. As the conversation develops, it appears only with the relevant content. Conversations don’t appear on the discussions page.  

Conversations layer in an Ultra course 

You can enable conversations for these content items:  

  • Documents  
  • Assignments  
  • Group assignments  
  • Tests  
  • Group tests  
  • Offline submissions  
  • Links to teaching tools  

Check out Forms, Class Conversations, and other Ultra good features: Request a Blackboard Ultra Practice Course.    


 

CIT Technology and Tool Highlights  

Flip  

Did you know that 84% of educators see greater engagement from their students when using Flip.  

Here are some simple ways to use Flip to prompt student creativity throughout the school year: 

  • Introductions - A great way to start off the semester is to create an Introduction topic (assignment or activity) via Flip so students can share information about themselves and their learning goals. 
  • Prompt students to share their opinions and build presentation skills – Flip provides students with ongoing opportunities to share their experiences, opinions, or reflections any day of the year via videos vs writing. 
  • End of semester reflections - Ask students to set goals for themselves at the beginning of the semester and then revisit those at the end the semester.  

How are UA Instructors using the tools?  

“I’ve found Flip to be a game-changer in my graduate-level courses! I currently use Flip for my in-person and online courses for class discussions, assignments, and project presentations. Flip has fostered a more dynamic learning environment where everyone actively participates, and I’m truly impressed by its impact on my teaching and student learning. I’ve been particularly impressed by how much my graduate students enjoy using Flip for discussions. The asynchronous nature of Flip allows them to contribute thoughtfully on their own schedules, fostering deeper reflection compared to traditional in-class discussions. They also appreciate the increased accessibility, allowing students juggling work and personal commitments to fully participate. The low-pressure video format has been especially helpful for students who might otherwise feel hesitant to speak up in class, leading to richer and more diverse discussions. Overall, Flip has created a more inclusive and engaging learning environment for my graduate students, and they consistently express their positive experiences with the platform.”  

Elizabeth McDonald, Elizabeth A. McDonald, Ph.D.  Assistant Director for Instructional Design  UA Online, Teaching Innovation and Digital Education

Elizabeth A. McDonald, Ph.D. 

Assistant Director for Instructional Design 

UA Online, Teaching Innovation and Digital Education

 

Respondus Monitor  

Respondus Lockdown Browser is a browser that locks down a testing environment within Blackboard. Respondus Monitor is an add-on feature for Lockdown Browser that uses a webcam to record student exam sessions and flags suspicious behavior for instructor review. 

Screen Recording  

Sometimes you want to see what’s happening on a student’s screen during an online assessment. Perhaps it’s to investigate a suspicious behavior or to verify a student’s claim that a question didn’t display properly. You might require students to provide an oral explanation of a spreadsheet or watch them type a translation. There are many ways to take advantage of the new screen recording feature in Respondus Monitor: Screen Recording for Respondus Monitor 

Show Your Work  

An optional setting in Respondus Monitor, the “Show Your Work” feature allows students to show their written work or notes at the end of an online exam by taking pictures of the written materials with their webcam. Submitted photos appear in the proctoring results. Learn more: Using the “Show Your Work” feature in Respondus Monitor

Video embed: Respondus Monitor: Show Your Work Feature, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-kf23JGTU
 

Live Chat Help 

Live chat help for students is available within LockDown Browser when using the Respondus Monitor webcam proctoring feature. Chat agents can assist test takers with pre-exam issues related to the webcam and microphone. Live chat is accessible within the pre-exam steps (select “It’s not working” at any time) and within Help Center (select the “Need More help?” button). Both options will walk users through troubleshooting steps before beginning a chat with an agent.  


 

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!  

 

03.04  |  Doing more with Panopto webinar  

03.04  |  Teaching with Blackboard: Creating Assessments in Learn Original webinar 

03.05  |  People.ua.edu workshop 

03.07  |  Build a digital portfolio and personal website 

03.07  |  Teaching with Blackboard: Fostering Student Engagement in Learn Original webinar 

03.07  |  Meet the New Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session 

03.08   |  Teaching with Blackboard: Using Groups in Learn Original webinar 

03.18  |  Teaching with Blackboard: Creating Accessible Course Content webinar 

03.19  |  Live polling with Microsoft Forms 

03.21  |  Teaching with Turnitin: Turnitin Basics webinar 

03.22  |  Meet the New Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session 

03.26  |  Flip Tech Support Office Hours 

03.28  |  Teaching with Gradescope: Gradescope Basics webinar 

03.29  |  Teaching with Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Basics webinar 

Launch of UA’s New Accessibility Forum

UA’s Technology Accessibility Team is excited to announce the launch of the Accessibility Forum. The forum aims to unite the campus community and share accessibility wins, updates, and other accessibility-related information. All campus members are invited to the first meeting scheduled for March 5, in A232 Gordon Palmer at 9:00 am.

We are excited to have Kristen Kaylor, Sr. Accessibility Instructional Designer in UA Online Teaching Innovation and Digital Education (OTIDE) as our guest speaker. She will be presenting A.I. Unleashed: Transforming the Accessibility of Images, Graphics, and Math Through Alt Text Automation. We will also be sharing important accessibility updates for the campus community.

We are looking forward to seeing you at our first Accessibility Forum Meeting!

February Instructor News from the Center for Instructional Technology   

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

Safeguard your and your students’ rights and data. 

Please ensure that all official UA communications, including email communications between students and faculty, are conducted via approved tools such as Blackboard or your UA email account. The use of personal email accounts for conducting University business is prohibited by the Terms of Use of University Technology Resources.

Please contact cit@ua.edu if you need assistance with communication with students via Blackboard or if you have any questions or concerns. 


Simplify your Blackboard Learn course – Ultrafy it!  

Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (“Ultra”) offers a simple, modern, intuitive, and consistent interface across devices and a more streamlined experience for instructors and students. All Blackboard courses will be designed and delivered in Ultra by Spring 2026, and instructors of non-OTIDE courses can teach with Ultra now. Visit ultra.ua.edu to learn more about Ultra and UA’s plans, join or watch a recorded demonstration/information session, or request a practice course.

Ultra Good Feature: Course Activity Report 

Table view of the Course Activity Report in an Ultra course.

Table view of the Course Activity Report in an Ultra course. 

Ultra’s Course Activity Report helps you understand how well your students are performing and how much they are interacting with your course. When you use the report in conjunction with the Overall Grade, you can:  

  • Identify potentially struggling students based on their overall grade, missed due dates, the number of hours they spend in your course, and the number of days since their last access. 
  • Message students who are falling behind and encourage them to increase their course activity. 
  • Congratulate students performing well in your course and ask them to be mentors. 
  • Customize your course alerts to identify potentially struggling students when their overall grade drops below a specific value, they’ve missed due dates, or they haven’t accessed the course for a certain number of days. 
  • Download data to analyze with other tools or share with other instructors or mentors of the course. 

Check out the Course Activity Report and other Ultra good features: Request a Blackboard Ultra Practice Course. 

Adobe Academic Essentials for UA Faculty  

Looking for ways to explore how you can supercharge your creativity in Higher Education and learn the essentials of digital creativity, focusing on presentations, podcasting, video, data visualization and how Adobe tools can support student outcomes? The Adobe Academic Essentials series is for you. 

Join us starting on February 6 for the Academic Essentials learning series hosted by Adobe’s Authorized Training Professional Learning Partner EdgeGain. 

This series is free, with workshops from 60 to 90 minutes, created by faculty for faculty. 

Go to Adobe’s live Professional Learning calendar and sign up today. 


CIT Technology and Tool Highlights  

Hypothesis  

Looking to increase student engagement? Check out the upcoming events hosted by Hypothesis, UA’s platform for social annotation. 

AI and the Future of Learning – Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

This session is designed to offer valuable insights on AI in your classroom and provide strategies for AI and social annotation for 2024. Expect to gain practical tips and immediately applicable strategies for your courses.

Feb 15, 12:00-1:00 pm 

CIT Knowledge Base  

Need a quick answer? There’s a guide for that.  

You’re in luck, CIT offers a self-serve information library called the Knowledge Base. The CIT Knowledge Base supports all UA users seeking help or answers to instructional technology questions.   


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   

  • Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session  
    • Thursday, February 8, 11 – 11:30 AM, Online 
    • Monday, February 19, 2 – 2:30 PM, Online 
  • Blackboard Learn Basics  
    • Thursday, February 15, 2 – 3 PM, Online 
  • Creating Accessible Course Content  
    • Friday, February 9, 10 – 11 AM, Online 
  • Fostering Student Engagement in Learn Original  
    • Friday, February 2, 10 – 11 AM, Online 
  • Grading and Managing the Gradebook in Learn Original  
    • Thursday, February 29, 2 – 3 PM, Online 
  • Using Groups in Learn Original  
    • Thursday, February 8, 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  
    • Tuesday, February 5, 2 – 3 PM, Online 
  • Thursday, February 22, 2 – 3 PM, A232 Gordon Palmer Hall
    • Friday, February 23, 10 – 11 AM, Online 
  • Understanding Similarity Reports and Scores  
    • Monday, February 12, 2 – 3 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  
    • Thursday, February 22, 11 AM – 12 PM, Online 

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

 

People.ua.edu Workshop 

Create your professional faculty website using our easy, drag and drop web platform. In this session, you’ll learn how to add text and pictures, create column layouts, add video, audio, and hyperlinks, and add and rearrange pages.

Wednesday, February 7, 10 – 11:30 PM 

Register for the People.ua.edu workshop.

Introduction to Panopto 

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

Thursday, February 8, 1 – 2 PM 

Register for the Introduction to Panopto workshop.

Flip Tech Support Office Hours 

Join CIT for a virtual Flip office hour pop-in session. Drop-in at any time during the virtual session to receive personalized assistance or guidance for using Flip.

Tuesday, February  27, 2 – 3 PM 

Join the FLip Support Office Hours for February.


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

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

Known Issue – Panopto Video Playback

An issue, starting January 29, 2024, causes attempts to view Panopto videos to fail intermittently. Panopto Support is working to resolve this issue. 

CIT will update this post as we receive more information.

Resolved – Panopto errors

Update 1/6/24 @2:45 PM: The errors with student submissions and video playback are resolved.


There is a known issue regarding error messages while using Panopto lecture capture software. Users may experience an error while submitting a panopto video assignment or viewing videos with clips.

Panopto Support is investigating this issue. We will keep you updated as we receive more information.

Known Issue – Turnitin maintenance Jan 27

Upcoming scheduled maintenance notice

Turnitin will have a planned 4 hour maintenance window on Saturday, January 27, 2024 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM. The following services will be impacted:

  • Turnitin Feedback Studio
  • Turnitin Draft Coach
  • Gradescope

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.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

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  

Known Issue – Third-party tools may give errors in Blackboard

Users may receive an error message when accessing third-party tools and integrations within Blackboard. Third-party tools and integrations allow you to easily access information, documents, and services outside of Blackboard Learn. Textbook publisher content is an example of a third-party tool.

Old integrations are phasing out

Some integrations are phasing out and being replaced with newer versions. If a course uses an outdated version of an integration, instructors and students may not be able to access the tool as expected. If you are unable to access a tool or integration in your Blackboard course, please contact CIT to troubleshoot this issue.

Google Chrome changes in 2024

Starting January 2024, Google will roll out changes to its Chrome browser, restricting all third-party cookies by default. In January, a random 1% of all Chrome users will receive this change, called “Tracking Protection.” The change will be rolled out to all users throughout 2024. View the workaround in the CIT Knowledge Base.

Spring 2024 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.

Register for a session Register for a one-on-one consultation

Registration is appreciated, but it is not required. Questions? Contact us at 205-348-3532 or cit@ua.edu.


Schedule of Events 

Monday, January 8 

9:00 – 10:00 AM | Teaching with Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Basics (Original) | Gordon Palmer A232

10:00 – 11:00 PM | Live polling with Microsoft Forms | Meets virtually via MS Teams

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Meet the New Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session | Gordon Palmer A232

1:00 – 2:00 PM | Simple Syllabus | Virtual

Tuesday, January 9

9:00 – 10:00 AM | Meet the New Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Ultra Demonstration and Information Session | Gordon Palmer A232

10:00 – 11:00 PM | Introduction to Panopto | Meets virtually via MS Teams

10:00 – 11:00 PM | Simple Syllabus | Gordon Palmer A232

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Teaching with Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Basics (Original) | Gordon Palmer A232


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 – http://cit.ua.edu

Known Issue – 12/15 Box Service Disruption

11:50AM – Box has announced they have identified the root cause and services are returned. Visit status.box.com/ for updates.

11AM – Box has announced a complete service disruption and has confirmed this issue is impacting all Box Services. Users attempting to use Box may see errors and timeouts, but for the most part, services will be completely inaccessible. Visit status.box.com/ for updates.