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DoIT is excited to announce that during January we will be replacing more than 1,000 wireless access points throughout academic, administrative and support buildings on campus. We are taking measures to minimize disruptions however, some areas may see momentary impacts to wireless service.
We expect that each building will require approximately 3 days of work to complete and we will complete each building before moving on to the next. During the work for your building please be patient as we try to complete your area as quickly as possible while also making our best efforts to maintain stable service.
Replacing wireless access points will modernize the wireless infrastructure and provide faster connections, better wireless coverage and an overall improved experience to the UMBC community.
If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ray Soellner
Assoc. Director - DoIT
Tonight, Tuesday December 21st, beginning at 6pm we will be performing emergency software upgrades on the new campus phone system. This work is to address a recent security vulnerability that exists in the software of the servers running the campus phone system. We expect the work to require less than 2 hours to complete.
We don’t anticipate any service disruptions during the maintenance window, however we appreciate your patience and understanding should you experience any abnormalities. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this work please feel free to contact me directly.
Ray Soellner
Assoc. Director - DoIT
The DoIT Technology Support Center is looking to hire additional consultants to work during the spring semester and beyond. Please see our job description below and visit our job posting on UMBCWorks to apply. (Search for TSC Student Consultant.) The application will be open until January 7, 2022.
We're specifically looking for students available to work during the following hours:
Technology Support Center (TSC) student consultants are the first points of technical contact for the UMBC community and those who do well often go on to work in other areas of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Minimally, consultants are expected to provide initial triage and support for a wide range of information technologies including accounts, hardware, instructional technologies, networking, software, telecommunications, and basic web development.
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The UMBC Instructional Technology Update is provided by the Division of Information Technology for students, faculty and staff. If you have questions or need help, please consult the Blackboard Help FAQs or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help. You can also contact the Technology Support Center at 410.455.3838 or submit an RT (Request Tracker) ticket via the myUMBC Help Menu or directly at my.umbc.edu/help.
What's NewSince 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 and adopt Ultra. During the Fall 2021 semester, 735 courses adopted the Ultra Course View, the largest adoption of Ultra courses to date.
A significant increase in adoption of Ultra has come from individual faculty converting their courses. Though, there are a growing number of departments and program coordinators that are intentionally creating Ultra courses templates which has also increased Ultra adoption. These templates allow instructors to receive a copy of content, materials, and assessments natively designed in Ultra for their specific courses. All sections are created from one template that is updated and maintained by a course coordinator to ensure consistency in curriculum, program outcomes, and course design.
Customized Ultra Templates
English 100:
Beginning in Spring 2022, ENGL 100 courses will utilize an Ultra template that has materials and assessments pre-populated by program coordinators, following an opt-in pilot of the Ultra template that began in Fall 2020. Content includes library resources, grammar tutorials, self-check quizzes, and resources to improve scholarly writing.
IHU:
Since Fall 2020, IHU courses have employed a Blackboard Ultra template that includes 19 weeks worth of content, including CourseArc modules co-created by campus offices and faculty partners. The shell allows for part-time instructors to choose content that is suitable for their course and utilize pre-made assessments that align with course learning objectives.
Spanish:
Leveraging open educational resources, the first year of Spanish language courses (101-102-103) uses an Ultra template that integrates content and assessments across several learning modules for students to complete. Likewise, the second year of Spanish language courses (201-202) also uses an Ultra template with content and assessments from the McGraw-Hill Connect platform.
Department Adoption of Ultra
Even if customized templates may not be of interest, departments can request to receive a default UMBC Ultra template. The Ultra template means that faculty receive Ultra course shells natively, and are not required to complete the steps to convert new Original shells. FREN 101 is utilizing the UMBC Ultra template, and the Theatre Department is the first department to make the switch from Original to the new Ultra template.
Next Steps
If your department is interested in a customized template or receiving the UMBC Ultra template, please place an RT ticket to get in touch with an Instructional Technology Specialist. Our staff will work with you to determine the next steps and design an appropriate timeline for your department to make the transition.
As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:
PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources
Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
Request a consult with instructional technology staff
~ by Mariann Hawken & Collin Sullivan
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