What’s New

Advancing Student Success with Open Educational Resources

Supporting the UMBC Mission and Vision

Using Open Educational Resources (OER) is not just about inexpensive textbook alternatives, it is about advancing student retention, grades, and graduation rates. Given UMBC’s Mission and Vision...

Posted: January 22, 2020, 9:23 AM

Moving from “What is that?" to Data-Informed Practice

A Faculty Member Shares Her Experience Using REX

For all those interested in data-driven decision making, there is a rich trove of data available to research thanks to the data warehouse Reports Exchange (REX). Although all faculty have had...

Posted: January 14, 2020, 10:18 AM

Google Assignments and File Embed Available for Bb Courses

Use Google's Rich Editor to Provide Student Feedback

In January 2018, Box discontinued Crocodoc in favor of the Box inline grading tool. The goal of this transition was to provide a similar and simpler experience users know from the traditional Box...

Posted: January 8, 2020, 11:32 AM

Urgent TurningPoint Update for Instructors effective 12/23

ACTION REQUIRED: Transitioning to TurningPoint 8

Turning Technologies is discontinuing their product TurningPoint Cloud for the release of their newest software TurningPoint 8.  Starting December 23, 2019, UMBC will transition to...

Posted: December 19, 2019, 1:31 PM

Students like Ultra design, organized courses

User surveys reveal consistent satisfaction with Ultra style

More than 70% of 606 student survey respondents who took a course that used Ultra during the FA2019 semester said they were satisfied with the experience. When asked, students described Ultra as...

Posted: December 17, 2019, 2:20 PM

Submit a Proposal for the M.O.S.T. 2020 OER Grant Program

Three grant programs (2 new!) announced for 2020

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals for the 2020 OER Grant Program. For 2020, M.O.S.T. is seeking proposals for two grant...

Posted: December 16, 2019, 11:01 AM

New group enhancements scheduled for December Ultra update

Ungraded assignments also coming this month

Managing large numbers of students and groups is an important tool in Blackboard. In the current version of Ultra, faculty had to create assignments and discussions before they could create and...

Posted: December 3, 2019, 11:26 AM

WT/SP2020 Courses Created in Blackboard on December 2, 2019

Blackboard course shells for WT2020 and SP2020 were created on December 2, 2019. The Ultra Course Preview setting is again enabled in WT/SP2020 courses to allow faculty adoption with an updated...

Posted: December 3, 2019, 8:06 AM

DoIT Adjusts Support of Bb Ultra Rollout

All faculty still decide when to migrate before FA21

Based on new analysis of how Blackboard (Bb) Ultra has been adopted across campus, DoIT has decided to modify its approach to faculty support across colleges.  Specifically, DoIT will focus on...

Posted: November 26, 2019, 7:57 AM

Why CNMS Student Bb Use is So High

Use of Assessments is Key -- and Informs Ultra Rollout

When DoIT announced the phased rollout of Blackboard (Bb) Ultra on April 4 of this year, we did so based on the number of courses typically using Bb in each college as of Spring 2019, starting...

Posted: November 25, 2019, 10:59 PM