AI Initiatives

The Division of Information Technology’s AI site will help the UMBC community with information on using artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative AI (GenAI), to support UMBC’s Administrative, Instructional, and Research efforts. This site has been created to help employees advance their use of GenAI. We recommend that our UMBC community begin by visiting GenAI Tools, this page will highlight what free resources are available to use and what options exist to use GenAI while safeguarding UMBC institutional data safely.

For staff providing support, we encourage people to look at Administrative AI, as a starting point. Our goal is to save folks time and improve the quality of their work, thus increasing productivity. We highlight some tools that DoIT is providing for support.

Additionally, we have launched an AI-supported search bar called myUMBC Answers.  We are seeking partners to work with DoIT to expand myUMBC Answers. The key to your office leveraging myUMBC Answers is providing validated and accurate content, such as FAQs or a handbook produced annually.

For faculty, we encourage you to also explore instructional AI and research AI. An excellent resource in the College of Engineering is the UMBC Center for AI.  You can follow news about the UMBC Center for AI on social media through its sites on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, and Facebook. Members of the UMBC community can subscribe to the UMBC AI Group to receive email about AI-related news and events. If you have news to share with the UMBC AI community or suggestions or comments on the site, please send them to umbc-ai@cs.umbc.edu.

 

AI News

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Test Drive New Blackboard Faculty AI Course Design Tools

Discover how AI can support your course design process

The U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA)'s National Distance Learning Week focuses on how artificial intelligence (AI) impacts education and training.  Instructional Technology invites...

Posted: November 10, 2023, 8:24 AM

Sorting & submission enhancements for Ultra gradebook in Nov

Search & use stock images in Ultra docs, discussions, etc.

Continued enhancements to the Ultra gradebook provide greater flexibility and usability. In the November update to Ultra courses, additional sorting controls allow instructors to sort grade...

Posted: October 23, 2023, 12:56 PM

October brings delegated grading to Ultra courses

Gradebook reminders, SafeAssign Direct Submit & more

The October update to Ultra brings a new grading workflow to large Ultra courses, allowing instructors to distribute grading for an assessment to multiple graders. Instructors can assign graders...

Posted: October 3, 2023, 11:27 AM

62% of Fall 2023 Blackboard Courses Now Using Ultra

9 of 10 UMBC students are enrolled in an Ultra course

As UMBC finalizes its migration to Ultra, more faculty opted to use the new course experience during FA2023. Specifically, of 1588 total available Blackboard shells, faculty have enabled 991 using...

Posted: September 20, 2023, 2:55 PM

Call for Proposals: Blackboard's Digital Teaching Symposium

Submissions due September 18, 2023

Do you have a digital teaching best practice or experience to share with other educators? What strategies help educators excel and thrive in a shifting higher education landscape? Share your...

Posted: September 7, 2023, 4:02 PM