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, a page that highlights free resources and provides guidance on using GenAI while safeguarding UMBC institutional data safely.

For staff seeking support, we encourage people to look at Administrative AI, as a starting point. Our goal is to save folks time, improve the quality of their work, and increase productivity. We showcase tools that DoIT provides to support these objectives.

We have launched myUMBC Answers, an AI-supported search bar. We are seeking partners to expand this tool. The key to leveraging myUMBC Answers is providing validated and accurate content, such as annual FAQs or handbooks.

Faculty, are encouraged to explore Instructional AI and Research AI. The UMBC Center for AI in the College of Engineering is an excellent resource for AI-related research and innovation.  Stay informed by following the center’s social media chnnels 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

Showing items tagged ultra-update. Show All

More UMBC students like Ultra and want Ultra courses

86% of UMBC students express satisfaction with Ultra

In a survey of 608 students taking Ultra courses during the SP2021 semester, 86% indicated satisfaction with Ultra, marking a 14% increase compared to the last survey in FA2019. Students again...

Posted: August 19, 2021, 9:04 AM

Enhanced whiteboard tools coming to Collaborate in August

Draw freehand customize text & retain session annotations

A whiteboard is an important pedagogical tool to support handwritten expression and annotation, especially in a virtual classroom. Over the last year, Blackboard has been redesigning the...

Posted: August 2, 2021, 10:30 AM

Gradebook filters, progress tracking, badges ready for Ultra

New course navigation & other enhancements coming in August

This upcoming FA2021 semester features new development in the Ultra gradebook, starting with gradebook filters. This function allows faculty to view data and content in the gradebook by multiple...

Posted: July 27, 2021, 8:50 AM

Groups & gradebook enhancements planned for Ultra in July

Improved functionality for groups support larger enrollments

The groups tool in Ultra has been redesigned for the July update to improve overall performance, particularly for large courses. This redesign includes functionality to make it easier to find...

Posted: June 25, 2021, 9:18 AM

June update supports written feedback via Ultra rubric rows

Also coming: Record short audio/video course announcements

6/5 update: The June release is delayed. As soon as we have more information, we will post it. 7/1 update: The June release was rolled into the July update. Rubrics can be an essential tool for...

Posted: May 13, 2021, 1:44 PM