What’s New

7 Tips to Wrap Up Your Blackboard Course for the Semester

Checklist to close out your course as the semester ends

Ease stress during the final weeks of your semester with our closing checklist. Leverage these Blackboard course tools to complete helpful and simple tasks for a successful semester conclusion....

Posted: December 7, 2021, 9:46 AM

RESOLVED -- Blackboard Offline on December 1

UMBC is monitoring the issue & working with Bb support

At approximately 1:30pm, DoIT staff became aware of a potential outage with our instance Blackboard Learn. System admins immediately investigated the reports and opened a ticket with Blackboard...

Posted: December 1, 2021, 1:45 PM

Point-based rubrics arrive to Ultra courses in December

Accessibility, groups & grading enhancements also available

Point-based and point-range rubrics will be available to Ultra courses in the December update, providing extended flexibility for grading and assessment and marking a major milestone in meeting...

Posted: November 30, 2021, 11:56 AM

Free Training for Respondus Lockdown Browser & Monitor

Join an upcoming webinar to see the latest features

Join an upcoming training webinar from Respondus to see the latest features and integrations for LockDown Browser and Monitor. Learn how these applications are used with a range of online testing...

Posted: November 22, 2021, 9:40 AM

Panopto Downtime and Explorer Retirement

Jan 8: Maintenance and IE11 Sunset

Panopto Cloud Downtime The Panopto Cloud will have scheduled downtime Saturday, January 8, 2022. We anticipate announcing details regarding the system upgrades, along with the specific maintenance...

Posted: November 17, 2021, 12:27 PM

Expanding PIVOT with Proactive Course Design Peer Reviews

Six faculty seek Quality Matters certification in UMBC pilot

By most accounts, UMBC’s PIVOT initiative has been considered a success in that 70 percent of all faculty participated, and 85% percent of students in PIVOT courses felt they were well organized...

Posted: November 9, 2021, 9:23 AM

Course banners & table enhancements coming in November

New progress tracking improvements in Ultra courses

Customizing the course interface creates a visual identifier in a Blackboard course. In the next phase of the Ultra course's improved navigation and aesthetic redesign, course banners will be an...

Posted: November 8, 2021, 9:04 AM

National Distance Learning Week 2021 Lunchtime Series

Nov. 8-12, 2021: Teaching & Learning in a Hybrid World

One in four students take some of their courses online, and two-thirds do so at a public institution in the same state where they live (Allen, Seaman, Pouline, & Straut, 2016; Allen &...

Posted: October 28, 2021, 1:13 PM

October brings student receipts & bigger rubrics for Ultra

Tables also available in the Ultra content editor

Rubrics are grading tools that help instructors to assess student performance and give feedback in detail. Prior to the October update, rubrics were limited to 10 rows and 10 columns. Now faculty...

Posted: October 8, 2021, 9:15 AM