News

To receive email updates, follow the DoIT group in myUMBC.

Showing items tagged online-learning. Show All

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

Creating Consistency in Course Sections with Ultra Templates

Templates available for course or department Ultra adoption

Since Fall 2018, the default Blackboard course template has had the Ultra Course Preview setting enabled, which allows faculty to convert a new Original course to see what it looks like in Ultra...

Posted: December 15, 2021, 1:55 PM

Tips for Choosing Instructional Technologies for a Course

Take Advantage of Approved LTI Tools in Blackboard

A wide range of technologies and resources are available to faculty at UMBC to support teaching and learning in various online or hybrid modes within Blackboard. Trends and tools evolve quickly,...

Posted: December 15, 2021, 8:45 AM

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

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

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

Synchronize Bb groups in Collab breakout groups coming soon!

Maintain student learning between course & live sessions

Breakout groups are a powerful engagement tool for active learning in a synchronous session, providing private audio, video, whiteboard, application sharing, and chat for small group...

Posted: September 7, 2021, 11:59 AM

PIVOT Selected to Receive OLC Effective Practice Award

70% of faculty engaged in largest online learning initiative

The Online Learning Consortium announced that UMBC's Instructional Technology team has earned an Effective Practice Award for its Planning Instructional Variety for Online Teaching (PIVOT)...

Posted: August 24, 2021, 4:22 PM

PIVOT Courses Associated with Improved SEEQs and Tool Use

Faculty training to support empirically driven course design potentially represents one of the most scalable options available for improving student outcomes at an institution. One strategy to...

Posted: August 19, 2021, 3:58 PM

13 Tips to Get Your Blackboard Course Ready

Checklist to optimize your course before the semester starts

Prepare your Blackboard course shell for the new semester with our updated baker’s dozen checklist. 1. Review new tools & features in Blackboard. Our Blackboard site receives updates and...

Posted: August 17, 2021, 12:02 PM