January 4– Instructor News from the Center for Instructional Technology
- January 4th, 2023
- in -Instructional Technology News, Announcements
Faculty Prep Days
IT’S TIME! Time to get your Spring courses polished and ready to go. CIT is here and ready to offer technical assistance, pedagogical assistance, a quiet space, moral support, and coffee and yummies! Come see us!
CIT will be joined by representatives from OIT Security, Research Computing, and Audio Visual Solutions classroom support to answer your questions. Space will be available to help you focus and prepare your course for the semester.
Friday, Jan 6, 9-11AM and 2-4PM
Monday, Jan 9, 9-11AM and 2-4PM
Gordon Palmer Hall, Room A232
Start of Semester How-Tos
- How do I access my Blackboard courses as an instructor?
- How do I create my course in Blackboard?
- How do I combine my Blackboard sections?
- How do I copy content from a Blackboard course to another Blackboard course?
Instructional Tech Changes and Announcements
Qualtrics now requires Duo
Duo is now required to access Qualtrics accounts. Users will receive a Duo prompt after logging in with myBama credentials at Qualtrics.ua.edu. For more information about Duo, visit OIT’s Duo two-factor authentication page.
No More People.Ua.Edu Sites for Graduate Students
Effective January 1, 2023, new People.ua.edu sites will no longer be created for graduate students. All existing site owners who are graduate students will be contacted in early 2023 about their next steps. UA offers two alternative solutions: Adobe Portfolio (part of Adobe Creative Cloud) and Microsoft Sway (part of Microsoft 365 Education). Both products are available to all UA staff, faculty, and students.
- Adobe Portfolio is part of Adobe Cloud which provides several apps and services. Get started with your site by visiting Adobe Creative Cloud. Log in using your UA credentials. Look on the left side panel and you will see Portfolio. Alternately, you can go directly to Adobe Portfolio and login using your UA credentials. There are tutorials available through Adobe and OIT.
- Microsoft Sway is part of Microsoft 365 Education which includes many applications for work essentials, collaboration, organization, and even apps for fun. Visit OIT’s Microsoft 365 Education page to access MS Sway. Tutorials and training can be found at Microsoft 365 Training.
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.
Turnitin Class Expiration – Known Issue
When a Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS) assignment is created in a Blackboard Learn course, Turnitin automatically assigns a default class expiration date as 6 months in the future, or the latest TFS assignment due date in the course, whichever is farther away. When the Turnitin class expires, students can no longer submit papers or access TFS activities. To extend the Turnitin class expiration date, make a new Turnitin assignment with due dates that match the last date when students should be able to view the TFS assignments and tools for the course. For more information visit Turnitin Assignment Settings.
Supe Store Access Granted changes + social annotation tools
Access Granted’s primary vendor is changing from RedShelf to VitalSource for Spring 2023. Links to VitalSource in Blackboard Learn courses may now be labeled Access Granted. With permission from Academic Affairs, a SupeStore support user may access Fall and Spring courses in Blackboard as a Course Builder. This means the user will have access to edit existing RedShelf and VitalSource links to reflect the correct information. This user will not have access to student submissions or grades.
This change enables the creation of Hypothesis assignments in Blackboard using documents from VitalSource’s extensive collection of texts and ebooks. In CIT’s Knowledge Base article, Hypothesis & Access Granted e-books, you can learn to:
- Access VitalSource
- Find the VitalSource bookshelf URL of the text you will be assigning
- Create Hypothesis assignments in your Blackboard course
Cleaning Out Older Blackboard Courses
Academic courses in Blackboard Learn are subject to removal two (2) years following the end of the semester in which they are taught per UA’s LMS Course Retention Policy. Courses taught prior to Fall 2020 are now eligible for removal. Instructors should save any needed course content or student grades. Students should save any necessary coursework as well. Non-academic courses, referred to as non-integrated courses, are subject to removal following two (2) years of inactivity. Steps to save content are linked below.
More information on the policy and instructions for backing up Blackboard content are available in the LMS Course Retention Policy FAQ.
Upcoming Learning Opportunities
Jan 5, 11:00-12:00 – Get Started with Gradescope
Learn how you can use Gradescope to deliver and grade all your assignments, whether online or in person. The Gradescope team will walk you through how to cut down on time spent grading and get a clear picture of how your students are doing in your courses. Register at https://info.gradescope.com/noa-workshops
Jan 6, 12:00-12:30 pm – Annotation starter assignments with Hypothesis
This workshop is ideal for instructors who are interested in using social annotation in their courses but aren’t exactly sure how to provide guidance to students. Registration is required.
Jan 10, 10:00-11:30 – People.ua.edu
Create a professional faculty website using People.ua.edu. Pre-registration is required at http://people.ua.edu.
Jan 10, 1:00-2:00 – Flip
Explore the features inside Flip and learn how to level up the ways your scholars communicate and share their learning. Registration is NOT required. Join us on Zoom.
Jan 11, 11:00-12:00 – Hypothesis: Make the Most of the Margins
Learn how to make reading active, visible and social, create community in the classroom by fostering peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, give students agency over their own learning. Registration is required.
As always, we are available Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:45 to assist you. We wish you all the best in 2023 and look forward to working with you soon.
- Email – cit@ua.edu
- Phone – 205-348-3532
- Website and Knowledge Base – http://cit.ua.edu
Dear instructors,