October 10 Instructor News from the Center for Instructional Technology
- October 10th, 2023
- in -Instructional Technology News
Happy Fall!
Below, you’ll find announcements and events to assist you with teaching and learning needs. As always, email cit@ua.edu, call 205-348-3532, or stop by A203 Gordon Palmer Hall for assistance with UA’s instructional tech tools.
Instructional Tech Resources and Reminders
The CIT Knowledge Base is your clearinghouse for tutorials, known issues, and best practices.
Getting Started with Blackboard (includes helpful links for start of semester)
Midterm grades due Wednesday, Oct 11 at 11:59 PM
Midterm grades are required for 100- and 200- level courses. For more information, visit Grade Reporting – Registrar’s Office. If there are discrepancies between course rosters in myBama and in Blackboard Learn, contact cit@ua.edu.
Grade Center Assistance
- Resources about Grading in Blackboard
- How do I create/edit the letter grading schema in Blackboard?
- How do I download the Grade Center from Blackboard?
- Enter Midterm grades in Blackboard
- Import Midterm grade into myBama
Test and Exam Assistance
- Testing Tips for Instructors
- How do I create a test in Blackboard?
- How do I deploy a test in Blackboard?
- How do I add extended time or provide another test accommodation in Blackboard?
Ultra Course View Pilot Continues
Instructors interested in teaching with Ultra Course View in an upcoming academic term should submit a request via the CIT portal: Blackboard Learn Ultra LIVE Course Pilot Request.
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 it in your class. Just let us know who 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. Upcoming sessions include:
Teaching with Blackboard: Blackboard Learn Basics
- Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 PM – Meets online via Microsoft Teams
- Thursday, October 19, 2023, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Meets in A232 Gordon Palmer Hall
- Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 PM – Meets online via Microsoft Teams
Teaching with Blackboard: Creating Accessible Course Content
- Thursday, October 12, 2023, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Meets online via Microsoft Teams
- Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 PM – Meets in A232 Gordon Palmer Hall
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. Learn more in these upcoming sessions:
Teaching with Turnitin: Turnitin Basics
- Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 10:00 – 11:00 AM – Meets online via Microsoft Teams
- Thursday, October 19, 2023, 3:00 – 4:00 PM – Meets in A232 Gordon Palmer Hall
Teaching with Turnitin: Understanding Similarity Reports and Scores
- Thursday, October 12, 2023, 3:00 – 4:00 PM – Meets in A232 Gordon Palmer Hall
- Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 10:00 – 11:00 AM – Meets online via Microsoft Teams
Register for CIT-led Teaching with Turnitin workshops and webinars.
Introduction to Panopto
Tuesday, October 10, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Join CIT for a webinar that covers the basics of using the lecture capture and video platform, Panopto.
Register for introduction to Panopto
Zoom Basics
Tuesday, October 24, 10:00-11:00 am
In this CIT let webinar, you’ll learn the basic features for conducting a zoom meeting including an overview of Zoom’s web portal and desktop client, how to schedule a meeting and invite others, and we’ll review the in-meeting host and participant controls.
Zoom Advanced
Wednesday, October 25, 10:00-11:00 am
This webinar session builds on the Zoom Basics workshop. We’ll explore how to set up recurring meetings, breakout rooms, polls, and reports.
Build a digital portfolio and personal website
Join CIT as we explore tools and strategies to setup up digital portfolios and personal websites. Learn how to easily build creative webpages and portfolios using Adobe Portfolio and Microsoft Sway to capture, edit and publish a unique website.
- Wednesday, October 18, 11:00am – 12:00pm
- Thursday, October 26, 9:00 -10:00am
- Monday, October 30, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Register for Build a digital portfolio and personal website.
Microsoft Teams meetings for virtual class sessions
Friday, October 13, 10:00 –11:00am
Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, assignments, and apps together in one place. Learn how to use meet now and how to schedule a virtual class meeting, meeting tools, and settings to further control and manage your virtual class meetings.
Register for Microsoft Teams meetings for virtual class sessions
Using Adobe Portfolio in the classroom for any academic subject
Give your students the creative tools they need to build unique student portfolios in your classroom. Join the Center for Instructional Technology for an overview of Adobe Portfolio. Learn how students can easily create and optimize an online portfolio to fit your class requirements. Adobe Portfolio enables students to quickly and simply build a website to showcase their work. No web design knowledge required.
Register for Using Adobe Portfolio in the classroom for any academic subject session
Boosting Comprehension with Social Annotation – (Hypothesis)
Thursday, October 19, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Join us for an exploration into the groundbreaking research from Nicholas Denton, senior lecturer of pharmacy education and innovation at Ohio State University. During this episode of Liquid Margins, we’ll traverse the challenges Professor Denton faced with his students, especially when confronted with intricate research-oriented texts, and their imperative need for research literacy. We’ll dive deep into the transformative influence social annotation had that not only shattered barriers of complex jargon but also created an environment where undergraduate students achieved an impressive 2x increase in graduate-level comprehension.
Learn more and register at UA Calendar – Boosting Comprehension with Social Annotation
Flip Basics
Friday, October 20, 10:00 – 11:00am
Explore the features inside Flip and learn how to level up the ways your scholars communicate and share their learning.
Flip is a free app from Microsoft where educators create safe, online groups for students to express their ideas asynchronously in short video, text, and audio messages.
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