Blackboard Learn Ultra Launch with rocket heading upward
Celena Kusch Calendar, Online Learning, QM, Technology

USC Upstate Blackboard Day 2024: Preparing for Transition to Blackboard Learn Ultra Courses

Join us for our 5th Annual Blackboard Day in the CLC Ballroom, by accessing Collaborate in the CAIFS PD Course, or by using the links below!

Register Now

9 am to 9:30 am

Welcome and Blackboard Learn Ultra Transition Updates

Blackboard Learn Ultra Launch with rocket heading upwardJoin Celena Kusch to hear about the latest updates in the Blackboard Learn Ultra Transition and new developments coming in Summer/Fall 2024. Discuss how changes to Anthology, Collaborate, and soon Zoom may make it easier for you to access the tools you need.

Join virtually via the CAIFS PD Course or the Morning Session Guest Link.

9:45 am to 10:30 am

Blackboard Learn Ultra Navigation Basics

Blackboard Learn Ultra Basics with screenshot of sample course content areaLet’s dive into Ultra and learn our way around the updated course view.  Discover where to find key features and settings so you can start to feel comfortable in a new course format.  We will also discuss how to create different types of assignments. Facilitator: Jennifer Bland, Learning Experience Designer.

Join via the CAIFS PD Course or the Morning Session Guest Link.

10:45 am to 11:25 pm

Transitioning Your Course from Original to Ultra: Steps for an Easy Course Conversion

Blackboard Learn Ultra Basics Original course view to Ultra course view screenshotsWhat happens after you click Ultra Course View Preview? Take a step-by-step tour of converting your original course into an Ultra student experience. We’ll discuss strategies for achieving a consistent, sequential, logical, and accessible course structure as you go. Facilitator: Celena Kusch, Executive Director, Academic Innovation & Faculty Support.

Join via the CAIFS PD Course or the Morning Session Guest Link.

11:35 am to 12:20 pm

Inclusive and Welcoming Blackboard Courses for All Students

Student interacting with a course on a smartphone and getting an idea (lightbulb overhead)In this session, we’ll think together about creating inclusive and welcoming Blackboard courses by exploring strategies that foster a sense of belonging for students, implementing accessible content, and using communications tools embedded in Blackboard. The goal is to ensure that all students feel supported and guided through their learning journey with Blackboard.

Facilitator: Lillian Reeves, Director of Transformative and Inclusive Pedagogy.

Join via the CAIFS PD Course or the Morning Session Guest Link.

12:30 pm to 1 pm

Lunch

Small chalkboard with the word BreakTake a break, and drop by the CLC Ballroom with your laptop for brainstorming and troubleshooting within your course.

Do you need a sandbox course for playing around in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View? Email academicinnovation@uscupstate.edu.

1 pm to 2 pm

Concurrent Sessions

Computer animated hand reaching out to a human hand reminiscent of Michelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
AI-Human Interaction

AI-Enhanced Courses with Blackboard Learn Ultra AI Design Assist

Anthology, Blackboard’s parent company, has partnered with Microsoft Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop easy-to-use tools enhanced by generative artificial intelligence and large language models. In this session, we will go over several key AI Design Assist tools embedded in every Blackboard Ultra course to support you in creating assessments, rubrics and even discussion boards tied to different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Facilitator: Yamil Ernesto Ruiz, Director of Online Learning and Program Support

Guest Link

Using the Gradebook in Blackboard Learn Ultra (CLC 309)

Looking for your Needs Grading list or how to drop the lowest quiz grade? In this session, we’ll get to know the Ultra Gradebook and where to find all the features you need. We’ll also explore a range of student activity and student support features for accommodations, extensions, and exemptions in the Ultra Gradebook. Facilitator: Celena Kusch, Executive Director, Center for Academic Innovation & Faculty Support

Guest Link

2:15 pm to 3:15 pm

Concurrent Sessions

Embedded Tools in Blackboard Ultra

In this session, we will discuss the tools within Blackboard that you and your students can access for free.  We will show how to embed YouTube videos, Padlets, Microsoft Forms, and Sway presentations, and how to use Perusall and VoiceThread activities for social learning and student-student interaction. Facilitator: Jennifer Bland, Learning Experience Designer

Join via the CAIFS PD Course or the Guest Link.

Remote students working on laptops in various settings while professor preps course writing on lightboard
High-Quality Online Courses

Preparing for Quality Matters Certification in your Online Course Design

Quality Matters (QM) is Upstate’s quality assurance process for ensuring that online courses are built with accessibility and our learners in mind. In this session, we will discuss concepts such as alignment, learning objectives, accessibility and more! Facilitator: Yamil Ernesto Ruiz, Director of Online Learning and Program Support

Join via the CAIFS PD Course or the Guest Link.

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm

Conclusion

three roads leading to three different people on computers
Toni Dimella Active Learning

Three Steps to Active Learning: Encounter, Engage, Reflect

image of three different people at different computers from 3 different roads.
Image from Top Hat’s “How Active Learning Engages Students in The Virtual Classroom”

By Jennifer Bland

When teaching in online and hybrid courses, you may find it helpful to think through the framework of Encounter, Engage, and Reflect.  How will your students encounter the information you are presenting?  How will your students engage with the information they need to learn?  How will you have students reflect on their learning?

Encounter

In online and hybrid courses, students may encounter information through outside videos, short instructor-created lectures, readings from the textbook, articles, or case studies.  Students could listen to podcasts, complete lab work and experiments, read or create a project, play games or participate in simulations, or read a blog.   

Engage

Students could engage with content by participating in a group read on Perusall, completing discussion board or VoiceThread activities, and applying course topics to real-world examples and case studies.  Students could have debates in small groups on VoiceThread with assigned perspectives.  They could record themselves working out a math or chemistry problem and talking through how they found their solution.  Students could create a concept map to show connections between course content or draw pictures to show a process.  Maybe you have students working collaboratively on Office 365 documents to brainstorm ideas or topics or create a glossary of terms for the course. 

Reflect

How are students going to gauge what they have learned BEFORE the major assignment, test, or essay?  How will students reflect on what they have learned and need to work on more before that summative assignment?  What formative assignments are you providing in your course?

Are you including end of lecture questions?  Are you using exit tickets or end-of-module reflection questions?  Could you include a Muddiest Point or a one-minute paper?  If you were writing a quiz for this topic or module, what 2 questions would you include?  How did ____ go?  What can you do to improve next time?

Want to learn more? Listen to the full hour-long webinar recording from the Active Learning in Hybrid and Online Classes session in August 2021 or visit the Columbia CTL Active Learning for Your Online Classroom page. See the CAIFS Active Learning Innovative Course Design page for tools and resources available to you at USC Upstate.

If you would like to learn more about how to use educational technology in your classes, teaching strategies, or course design, contact academicinnovation@uscupstate.edu or book an appointment with a CAIFS team member.