News

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

Spear Phishing Attacks On The Rise

Community members being targeted for gift card scams

The DoIT Security Group has received reports of a phishing scam targeting the UMBC community.  Please be aware that hackers are sending these email messages to students, faculty, and staff....

Posted: December 10, 2019, 4:36 PM

New campus VPN system available now

DoIT has released a new VPN system to replace PulseSecure

A new VPN system, named GlobalProtect, is now available to the campus to enable access to restricted services from off-campus. Global Protect is scheduled to replace the current VPN, PulseSecure,...

Posted: December 3, 2019, 3:47 PM

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

11-15-2019 5:00 pm Downtime for RT

As part of our ongoing commitment to security, DoIT's Unix Infrastructure group will be conducting its quarterly system patching on Friday, November 15th between 5:00pm-6:00pm for the RT system....

Posted: November 13, 2019, 10:00 AM

End of Semester Sprint Offers Customized Consults to Faculty

Three Sprints. One Day. Choose your time & topic.

The end of semester is a busy time of year for everyone, especially faculty. Instructional Technology will host three 90-minute sprint sessions on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 for faculty to...

Posted: November 11, 2019, 2:46 PM

Quarterly patching downtime on 11/15/2019 & 11/16/2019

As part of our ongoing commitment to security, the Unix Infrastructure group will be conducting its quarterly system patching on Friday, November 15th and Saturday, November 16th.  While many of...

Posted: November 6, 2019, 10:02 AM

Improved accessibility support for Ultra courses in November

Light update also features new icons throughout Ultra system

As a fully redesigned system, Ultra benefits from an intentional focus on accessibility and mobile responsiveness. In addition to extensive checks to meet accessibility standards, Ultra includes...

Posted: November 5, 2019, 9:52 AM