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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

Slurm Slow to Respond on Taki

Good morning, We are aware that slurm commands such as squeue and sacct are running slowly or even timing-out this morning. We are investigating the issue. Slurm documentation seems to indicate...

Posted: November 25, 2019, 8:12 AM

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

Reboot of taki-usr1

Good morning! Due to memory consumption on the taki login node, `taki-usr1`, we are rebooting the node to clear associated errors. When free memory on one of our machines drops below a...

Posted: November 13, 2019, 9:32 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

Best Practices for Duo Two-Factor Authentication

Increase your account’s security today!

Nearly 2,500 faculty and staff members’ accounts are now being protected by Duo, and the numbers continue to rise. Whether you’ve been using Duo for years, or you’re a new user, it’s nice to be...

Posted: October 30, 2019, 9:54 AM

Open Educational Resources Support Student Access, Equity

Faculty share OER experiences, use cases, resources

One in four students take some of their courses online, and two-thirds do so at a public institution (Allen, Seaman, Pouline, & Straut, 2016). In early November, UMBC celebrates National...

Posted: October 30, 2019, 8:25 AM