CIT received multiple reports of issues with the Send Email tool and issues with Blackboard email notifications. Anthology Support is aware of this issue and they are working to resolve it.
This issue began around 9:30 AM on October 7, 2024.
Update, 10/8/24: Anthology’s investigations identified the issue was due to email notification infrastructure becoming unresponsive. The email infrastructure has been restarted to resolve the issue.
If you are still experiencing issues sending email notifications through Blackboard’s email tool, or through copies of an announcement or course message, please contact CIT.
Greetings from your Center for Instructional Technology! CIT provides training, support, and consultations for UA’s instructional technologies and technology accessibility. Visit cit.ua.edu to find step-by-step guides with pictures, discover upcoming workshops and webinars, or book an appointment. You can also reach us at cit@ua.edu or 205-348-3532 or visit us in A203 Gordon Palmer Hall.
This month’s CIT Instructor News features information and resources to support teaching and learning needs, with a focus on People.ua.edu changes, Blackboard Ultra, and Blackboard, Qualtrics, and Simple Syllabus highlights.
People.ua.edu platform and branding update
UA’s people.ua.edu sites, including faculty profile and some research websites, are moving to a new platform and will have refreshed branding by the end of 2024! CIT is shepherding sites from the older Weebly platform to CampusPress, an accessible and flexible service provider that aligns more readily with UA’s web policies and provides expanded site capabilities. Faculty and staff who manage people.ua.edu sites will be contacted when the newly migrated sites are ready for review. More information will be shared with individual site owners by Oct 31.
Explore – and teach with – the new Blackboard: Blackboard Ultra
Blackboard 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-supported courses can teach with Ultra now (OTIDE-supported courses are designated as OL or OLM). Visit the CIT site to learn more about Ultra and UA’s plans, join or watch a recorded demonstration/information session, or request a practice course: Blackboard Ultra Course View
Ultra course Messages options now available
Instructors can now adjust message settings in Ultra Course View. They can set the following limits on messages within the course:
Students can message anyone in their course
Students can only message staff and students in their groups
Students can only message staff
Students can only reply to messages
Turn all messages off, which sends all messages by email only
Check out these recent additions to Blackboard Ultra!
Send a copy to email when scheduling announcements
Instructors often plan certain communications in advance. Now instructors can schedule an Announcement for a future date and select that it will send an email copy. The announcement tool will send the email copy on the day and time the announcements are posted. This change was introduced with the July 2024 Ultra release.
When composing an announcement in Ultra, “Send an email copy to recipients” and “Schedule announcement” options appear below the editor.
Ultra’s Documents feature can be used to combine a variety of materials to view together, such as text, multimedia, and attachments. The August 2024 Ultra release introduced new options for content design, such as resizing and dragging/dropping blocks into columns and rows and the ability to convert PDF, PowerPoint, and Word files to Documents.
Content Designer: Knowledge Check in Enhanced Documents
The September 2024 – 3900.10 Release brought additional enhancements to Documents, including the addition of Knowledge Checks. Knowledge checks test student comprehension of a document by asking a multiple choice or multiple answer question. Knowledge checks include:
Feedback: You can pre-populate correct and incorrect answer feedback
Student interaction: Students receive immediate feedback on whether their answer is correct or incorrect. Knowledge checks allow unlimited attempts.
And Metrics: You have access to detailed metrics about how students are engaging with the knowledge check.
A couple more highlights from the September release:
The Student Overview page now has a Student Activity Log instructors and other higher roles can use the to check what a particular student did in a course. The Activity log can be filtered by event type and can look to the past 140 days. Any information older than that won’t be stored in this report. The log can take up to 20 minutes to update from the last time a student performs an action.
Student Activity Log listing several items with dates, times, and events
View items that need grading and posting in the new Overview tab
And also in the September release: The Gradebook’s new Overview tab displays grading tasks for you to complete.
Needs reconciling lists all items ready for reconciliation. Select Reconcile now to open the Submissions tab for the item. Then review grades and feedback from others before determining the final grade.
Needs grading lists submissions ready for grading with the oldest ungraded submissions at the top of the list, allowing you to prioritize grading tasks. Select Grade now to open the submission and begin grading.
And Needs posting lists graded assessments that are ready to be posted. Select Post now to immediately post the graded assessment.
Finally, a preview of the October release, coming to production on October 3. The release brings some badging capabilities, including course badges! Instructors can create course badges and set criteria for students to earn the badges.
Instructor view of the new course badge screen. You can set the title, description, badge image, and earning requirements.
The Blackboard Learn App is Now the Blackboard App – As part of Anthology’s ongoing rebranding, the Blackboard Learn App is now known simply as the Blackboard App. The name change is complete, and an icon update is scheduled for the October release.
Digital Teaching Symposium – A full day of free, peer-led virtual sessions on digital teaching strategies from Anthology.
Known Issue – Simple Syllabus Deadline Reminders – Some instructors received notifications about unpublished syllabi in error. We’ve reported this to the vendor, as they are working on a resolution.
News from OIT
These Office of Information Technology updates are of particular interest to instructors.
Auto-Archiving of Emails for UA Accounts – Starting October 10, 2024, OIT will begin auto-archiving emails over two years old for all students, faculty and staff.
Learn with us! CIT regularly hosts workshops and webinars on UA instructional technologies and technology accessibility. We are also pleased to offer individual consultations and group instruction by request.
All UA instructors of record are automatically subscribed to updates about Blackboard and other instructional technology. UA community members who would like to be added to the communications list for CIT news can contact us.
There is a known issue where pressing the function key that leads to the emoji menu can cause a freeze for the keyboard (Mac users).
This issue will be resolved by Respondus within the next few weeks. Until then, students must perform a hard shut down on the device, then start LockDown Browser again.
Contact CIT with questions – cit@ua.edu or 205-348-3532.
This month’s CIT Instructor News features Ultra Course Content page changes and summer Ultra happenings; Blackboard and Turnitin highlights; and other information and resources to support teaching and learning.
Get on Blackboard Day
Thanks to the UA Student Government Association and Cassidy Matwiyoff, SGA VP of Academic Affairs, for hosting Get On Blackboard Day on Tuesday, August 27 in The Student Center Forum. Targeted to new students who need assistance on how to access vital academic resources, the event offered information about Student IT Resources, instructional technologies and support, and instruction on Blackboard Basics for Students.
CIT Instructional Technologist Melissa Fortson presents at Get on Blackboard Day
Meet the Simpler, More Modern Blackboard – Blackboard Ultra
Blackboard 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-supported courses can teach with Ultra now (OTIDE-supported courses are designated as OL or OLM). Visit the CIT site to learn more about Ultra and UA’s plans, join or watch a recorded demonstration/information session, or request a practice course: Blackboard Ultra Course View
Ultra Course Content Page Changes
Ultra’s latest update includes some exciting user interface changes to the Course Content page that serves as the home page and entry point for all Ultra courses. The most apparent change is that areas previously on the left side of the page -Course Faculty, Details & Actions, etc. – have shifted to the right.
Student view: Course Content page
Other improvements include:
Greater visual depth – subtle gradients and softer edges, a more cohesive color palette, intuitive navigation which reduces cognitive load
Improved page structure
Differentiation among course elements – improved differentiation among learning modules, folders, and content items
An enhanced presentation of top-level and nested content
Summer is a great time to explore or prepare to teach with a new technology! This summer, we shared tips, tricks, and things to try in Ultra in a dedicated channel of the Ultra Team (a Microsoft Team that serves as a community of practice for those teaching or working with Ultra). Here’s an abbreviated list.
Ultra Good Summer Tip #1: Favorite your Ultra course(s)
View your Ultra course(s) quickly: If you access a course frequently, select Add to your favorites, represented by a star icon that turns purple. This will pin the course at the top of your course list.
A favorited course at the top of the Blackboard course list
To “un-favorite” a course, select the same star button so that it is no longer purple. This will unpin the course from the top of your course list.
Ultra Good Summer Tip #2: Set up a banner for your Ultra course
Instructors and administrators can upload an image to be the course banner inside courses in Blackboard. The course banner also appears in the grid view of the Courses page of Blackboard’s base navigation.
Course banner for the Introduction to Humanities course
Course banners have many uses:
Improve the way your Ultra Course View landing pages appear
Provide a visual identity for your course for students who are visual learners
Bring consistency between what the base navigation displays and the actual course
Help your students to identify your course and locate course details
Ready to give it a try? Follow these step-by-step instructions, with pictures, to set up a banner for your Ultra course: Set up a banner for your course
Ultra Good Summer Tip #3: Navigate inside your Ultra course
Ultra boasts a simpler, more modern course experience for students and instructors. Workflows and tools are easy to find and use in Ultra. Learn more about the Ultra environment by watching a video and exploring specific features.
Ultra users can create Documents that combine a variety of materials to view together, such as text, multimedia, and attachments. Select the plus sign to create a Document and design it by selecting from a variety of block types, including Knowledge check (a multiple choice/multiple answer question to check comprehension) and Convert a file (converts PDF, PowerPoint, and Word files to Ultra Documents).
Ultra Good Summer Tip #5: Copy Content from Other Courses
In the Ultra Course View, you can copy content from other courses you teach. You can copy entire courses and/or select individual items from other courses you’re teaching or have taught in the past. You can also combine items from multiple courses with a full course copy or individual item copies by selecting the checkboxes. Try copying an item to your Ultra course!
Turnitin Now Available for Blackboard Ultra Assignments
Instructors can now enable the Turnitin Originality Report when creating or editing a Blackboard Ultra assignment, allowing student submissions to be matched against the Turnitin database. When grading assessments, the Turnitin Originality score will appear in the Assessment Content panel of a student submission.
Enhanced Similarity Report – You can now choose between new and classic views of the Turnitin Similarity Report. See Using the New Similarity Report for an overview of the redesigned look and feel and new match groups, and check out a sample report here: View the New Similarity Report in Action
Upcoming Learning Opportunities
Learn with us! CIT regularly hosts workshops and webinars on UA instructional technologies and technology accessibility. We are also pleased to offer individual consultations and group instruction by request.
Partner events include offerings from Blackboard (Ultra User Group), Panopto (Weekly Q&A, Basic Training Webinar), Respondus (Lockdown Browser, Respondus Monitor, Respondus 4 and the Test Bank Network), and more. You can find a complete list of CIT and partner offerings on the CIT website and UA Events Calendar.
Update: The notifications error from Simple Syllabus is an issue within the syllabus management system. UA has reported this to the vendor, and Simple Syllabus support is working on a resolution.
CIT has received reports that instructors and faculty received notifications about unpublished syllabi in error. We are looking into this issue and will keep you updated.
Executive Director Dr. Ivon Foster-McGowan and Big Al at New Faculty Orientation
First Day UA greetings from CIT!
Program Manager Dr. Karen Burns and UAPD friends
Instructional Technologist Melissa Fortson leads a Faculty Prep Days session.
CIT staff handed out elephants, mugs, and other goodies during welcome events.
CIT Director Dr. Rachel Thompson presents at New Faculty Orientation.
Greetings from your Center for Instructional Technology! Happy #FirstDayUA and best wishes for a successful semester to students and instructors starting classes today.
CIT provides training, support, and consultations for UA’s instructional technologies and technology accessibility. Visit cit.ua.edu to find step-by-step guides with pictures, discover upcoming workshops and webinars, or book an appointment. You can also reach us at cit@ua.edu or 205-348-3532 or visit us in A203 Gordon Palmer Hall.
This #FirstDayUA edition features information and resources to support teaching and learning needs, with a focus on getting started and getting help with UA’s instructional technologies.
A Strong Start
Thanks to those who attended Faculty Prep Days, held August 15 & 16, 2024 in Gordon Palmer Hall and online. Faculty Prep Days is a CIT event designed to help you get your courses ready with in-person and virtual workshops and one-on-one help. Over 80 faculty members and other instructors registered to join two days of in-person and virtual workshops and one-on-one help. We are working on adding session recordings to our website and will email registered participants and share with the instructor listserv when they are available.
It’s Nice To Meet You
New Faculty Orientation was held August 19 & 20, 2024, at the Bryant Conference Center. In addition to offering Simple Syllabus and Blackboard sessions, CIT staff shared information about technology resources and support and welcomed new faculty to our table for conversation and giveaways. Many thanks to The Office for Academic Affairs for inviting us to join you in informing, guiding, and welcoming new faculty.
CIT also participated in Graduate Assistant Orientation and the Graduate Orientation and Welcome (GROW) social event at the Cypress Inn Pavilion, welcoming new graduate students to our table, sharing information about instructional technologies and supports for grad students and those teaching while learning. Thank you to the Graduate School for the opportunity to meet and greet incoming students (and give away many red elephants).
The CIT Knowledge Base – Tutorials, Known Issues, and Best Practices
The CIT Knowledge Base (“KB”) features quick answers to frequently asked questions and step-by-step instructions for common tasks, such as:
Getting Started with Blackboard Learn how to navigate your courses; create content; use discussions, course messages, announcements and other features for communication and engagement; create Blackboard and Turnitin assignments and tests; enable with accessibility features; continue your learning though workshops and webinars; and other start of semester essentials.
Using the Blackboard Browser Checker to find out whether your browser supports the most recent release of Blackboard.
How can I communicate with students? Options include the Blackboard Announcement, Course Messages, and Send Email tools and myBama roster email.
Issues with course materials listed in Simple Syllabus? Confirm that the right texts are listed with University Supply Store, textbook@ua.edu. If the correct materials are listed with the SUPe Store, they will update in Simple overnight. Email cit@ua.edu if they do not update in Simple.
Two new optional components have been added to Simple Syllabus. Instructors may include one or both of the following in their syllabi as they deem appropriate. These optional items will not be displayed on the syllabus if no information is entered in the respective components.
Generative AI Tools: Instructors may include a syllabus statement regarding the use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT. In the Help section of this syllabus component, instructors may review and select one of three suggested statements to be included on the syllabus based on their preference. These statements can be copied and pasted into the component text box.
Controversial Topics: Instructors may also include a statement in the syllabus if they believe there are topics in the course which may be considered controversial. The sample statement listed in the Help section of this component may be copied and pasted into the component text box.
Learn with us! CIT regularly hosts workshops and webinars on UA instructional technologies and technology accessibility. We are also pleased to offer individual consultations and group instruction by request.
All UA instructors of record are automatically subscribed to updates about Blackboard and other instructional technology. UA community members who would like to be added to the communications list for CIT news can email cit@ua.edu.
