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 blackboard. Show All

Faculty prioritize grading & assessments for Ultra’s future

About 76% of current & planned Ultra aligns with Original

When Ultra was first introduced at UMBC in SP2018, four adventurous faculty opted to use a newly redesigned Blackboard course interface in their courses. Ultra represented a new phase of...

Posted: May 11, 2021, 11:27 AM

SU2021 Courses Created in Blackboard on April 27, 2021

Blackboard course shells for SU2021 were created on April 27, 2021. The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in SU2021 courses to allow faculty adoption with anupdated support schedule...

Posted: April 28, 2021, 10:11 AM

12 Effective Practices for Delivering Blackboard Tests

Get ready for final exams with these test prep tips

Online tests and assignments are an effective and convenient way to assess students in the virtual environment. Throughout the semester, faculty can leverage many different options and settings...

Posted: April 26, 2021, 12:38 PM

New Update to Respondus Lockdown Browser Released

Students using Macs & Chromebooks must install update

A new update to Respondus Lockdown Browser (RLDB) is available for students to download and install. This update is for Mac users and the Chrome extension.  Students must make sure they are using...

Posted: April 22, 2021, 8:28 AM

Finalize Ultra gradebooks with new drop grades function

Much needed feature finally arrives to Ultra courses in May

An easier way to drop multiple grades from a category in the final grade calculation has been a frequent request from Ultra faculty for the Ultra course gradebook. With the May release, just in...

Posted: April 21, 2021, 10:12 AM