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

Showing items tagged blackboard. Show All

Free Webinar Series: Teaching with Ultra, Basics to Advanced

Free training opportunities for faculty, TAs, and staff

The Bb Instructor Webinar Series offers free 45-minute webinars designed for instructors who are getting started with teaching using Blackboard Ultra and Collaborate. Topics include getting...

Posted: January 25, 2022, 9:22 AM

Prevent late assessments after due date in Feb Ultra update

Copy Original content into Ultra, name pronunciation support

Robust assessment settings are necessary to support a range of different scenarios. Assessment settings are also important for academic integrity and honesty in courses. Ultra courses currently...

Posted: January 24, 2022, 9:40 AM

Akindi Bubble Sheet Training

Learn more about the Scantron replacement tool

Are you ready for the move? At the end of the Spring 2021 semester, DoIT announced that test scoring services were moving to Akindi, a Scantron alternative. During this transition, we will be...

Posted: January 20, 2022, 11:32 AM

5 reasons you should open your Blackboard course early

Benefits help students and instructors

At UMBC, courses are created in Blackboard about four weeks before a new semester begins, providing time for faculty to transition instructional materials and assessments into a new site for...

Posted: January 20, 2022, 11:01 AM

Register Now: Equitable & Inclusive Course for Faculty

An immersive cohort on equity and inclusive course design

In Spring 2022, a new immersive, 10-week course launches for faculty and staff, designed to create and improve intentionally inclusive and equitable courses. Using conversation and reflection, the...

Posted: January 18, 2022, 12:55 PM