Instructional Technology News – March 29, 2022

• March 29th, 2022
• in -Instructional Technology News

Hello instructors,

Melissa from The Center for Instructional Technology here with the latest instructional technology news.

Blackboard Ultra Course Pilot

UA instructors now have the opportunity to explore Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View. Ultra Course View offers a simple, modern, intuitive, and consistent interface across devices and a simpler, more streamlined experience for instructors and students. Learn more and apply to participate in the Ultra Course View pilot by requesting a practice course: Blackboard Learn Ultra Course Pilot

Blackboard Digital Teaching Symposium

Faculty, instructors, graduate teaching assistants, instructional designers and technologists, and others who hold instructional roles – you are invited to the Blackboard Teaching Symposium, a day of peer-led sessions on digital teaching strategies. The event takes place online on April 21, 2022, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET (8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. CT). Event information and registration are on the Blackboard website: Digital Teaching Symposium

Turnitin changes May 11

A Turnitin change coming on May 11 will alter how instructors access the Turnitin tool; the tool will be located under a new menu, but its functionality will remain the same. CIT suggests instructors wait until after this transition to build summer and fall Turnitin assignments. More information about the upcoming update: Changes to Turnitin in 2022

Update Zoom for waiting and breakout room changes, new and enhanced features

The March 21 Zoom release brings many new and enhanced features, a complete list of which is available here:  Release notes for March 21, 2022 CIT staffer Karen Burns points out that several improvements to waiting and breakout rooms have been requested by UA instructors. Update your Zoom client to access them, and read about them here: Zoom: March 21 update brings waiting and breakout room changes, new and enhanced features

OIT Strategic Plan 2022-2025

OIT is seeking feedback for our next strategic plan. We want to know how we’ve performed the past three years, and what we can change in the next three years to better support you. Surveys are now open and available on the OIT website for UA students, faculty and staff to provide feedback. The feedback you provide in this survey directly determines the future of technology at UA. Surveys will close March 31.

OIT hosts Microsoft Meetups

OIT has planned a week of Microsoft Meetups to prepare and equip UA students to migrate content from Google to Microsoft. As a reminder, Crimson Google account service ends May 16, 2022. Sessions will showcase how to migrate content as well as tips and tricks for using the Microsoft 365 suite of tools. Faculty and staff are welcome to attend sessions to learn more about Microsoft 365.

Join OIT and UA’s Microsoft reps the week of April 11 – 13 to learn more, ask questions and get comfortable with using OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 apps. Learn more about Microsoft Meetups and see a full lineup of events on the OIT Events website.

We’re here to help

Your colleagues in The Center for Instructional Technology provide training, support, workshops, webinars, and consultations for UA’s instructional technologies and technology accessibility. Submit a help request or join us at an upcoming webinar.

Want more updates from CIT? Subscribe to our news updates and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Zoom: March 21 update brings waiting and breakout room changes, new and enhanced features

• March 25th, 2022
• in Announcements

The March 21 Zoom release brings many new and enhanced features, a complete list of which is available here: Release notes for March 21, 2022

CIT staffer Karen Burns points out that several improvements to waiting and breakout rooms have been requested by UA instructors. From Zoom:

Meeting features

• Rename participants in Waiting Room – Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
  Hosts and co-hosts can rename meeting participants in the waiting room before they enter the meeting. After locating a participant’s name in the waiting room section of the participant list, an option appears in the … menu to rename that participant. The participant is notified of this change.
• Save Breakout Room assignments for future use – Windows, macOS
  When breakout rooms are created, the host can save that current configuration and participant assignments, which can be used in future sessions. This is only available for recurring meetings and limited to 10 saved configurations per user.
• Share audio with content to all breakout rooms – Windows, macOS
  Hosts are able to share computer audio, along with shared content, to all breakout rooms. This can be enabled when beginning the share, or while sharing is in progress. This also supports the Share Video option as well for Breakout Rooms.
• Optional include co-host when automatically assigning breakout rooms – Windows, macOS, Linux
  When creating breakout rooms and choosing to assign participants automatically, any co-hosts will now not automatically be included in the assignments, but the host can choose to include them.

Zoom provides video conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging. Real-time information about Zoom status, as well as updates about scheduled maintenance and past incidents, is available on the Zoom status page.

Instructional Technology News – November 29

• November 29th, 2021
• in -Instructional Technology News

Hello instructors,

We’re in the home stretch! This is Melissa from The Center for Instructional Technology with some news and tips for this final week of fall semester classes.

Zoom Log in – Change to Log in with SSO

UA Zoom users should now log into Zoom through single sign-on using their myBama credentials rather than a unique username and password. SARS users should continue to log into Zoom with their existing usernames and passwords to continue to use the SARS + Zoom meeting functionality. Additionally, no changes will be made to HIPAA-compliant accounts at this time. Instructions and additional information are available on the OIT website: Log Into Zoom with SSO

Get ready for finals

Preparing to offer a final exam via Blackboard? CIT encourages you to:

• Book an appointment for an online exam settings review to help ensure a smooth experience for you and your students.
• Follow these recommendations to avoid common problems associated with Blackboard Learn tests: Testing Tips for Instructors
• Share tips for being prepared and getting connected with students: Testing Tips for Students

Final grades due December 14 at midnight

Final grades are due 12/14 at 11:59 p.m. Any missing grades as of the 11:59 p.m. deadline will result in grades of “N” being assigned as placeholders. Instructors will then be required to submit grade change requests to correct all “N” grades.

Helpful grading information:

• Entering Midterm or Final Grades in Blackboard Grade Center
• Importing Midterm or Final Grades from Blackboard into MyBama
• Assigning Non-Attendance Grade Reason in MyBama
• Non-Attendance Grading Information and Grading Help (from Registrar)

Reporting a non-attendance grade? Find the date the student last accessed your Blackboard course using the Performance Dashboard or by viewing the Last Access column in the Grade Center grid.

We’re here to help

Your colleagues in The Center for Instructional Technology provide training, support, workshops, webinars, and consultations for UA’s instructional technologies and technology accessibility. You can reach us at cit@ua.edu or 205-348-3532. Join us at an upcoming webinar or schedule a consultation with us.

Want more updates from CIT? Subscribe to our news updates and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Instructional Technology News – August 3

• August 3rd, 2021
• in -Instructional Technology News

It’s here. After more than one full year of preparation, the CIT is moving Blackboard Learn to the cloud! We’ve been buzzing about this upgrade since April, and we appreciate your patience as we perform the upgrade to make UA’s instance of Blackboard Learn a more flexible, scalable and resilient platform.

In case you missed it, Blackboard Learn will be unavailable Aug. 5-13 for a database migration and upgrade. With the upgrade comes an enhanced look known as Ultra Base Navigation. Ultra provides a new way to navigate course content that will save you time and help you stay on top of what’s important. Visit our website to see a preview of Ultra, along with answers to frequently asked questions.

While Blackboard is down, I encourage you to partake in an instructional technology workshop. Meet your new favorite tool: Flipgrid, or refresh your Zoom skills. We hope to see you in a workshop next week.

Our team will be offering a new workshop – Meet Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation, to introduce the new features that come with Ultra. Make plans to attend!

We’ll be in touch next week as we wrap up the migration to the cloud. As always, reach out to us with any questions or concerns. We’re here to help.