To UMBC Students, Faculty and Staff,
As the semester and year come to a close, we wanted to share highlights from the most recent DoIT News Update. First, as previously announced, UMBC Blackboard will now be hosted by Blackboard itself:
- The ONLY thing that will change is where current UMBC Bb links in and outside of myUMBC are pointing: To Blackboard's Managed Hosting (MH) site instead of one provided by DoIT.
- In fact, faculty can now access the new Managed Hosting (MH) Bb site by logging into my.umbc.edu/go/bbnew to prepare for Winter and Spring courses. | More Info
NOTE: This link will be active through 12/28/14. On 12/29, the myUMBC Bb icon/link and blackboard.umbc.edu will be used to access our new Blackboard system.
- Winter and Spring 2015 course shells were created on the new MH site on 12/2.
- Review the FAQ article for instructions on logging into the MH site.
- You may also be interested in a list of new tools and updates available to faculty in the new MH site.
- Course content from AY12-13 and AY13-14 has been migrated to the new MH Bb site.
Second, Fall 2014 Bb courses will be migrated to our Bb managed hosted (MH) system after final grades are submitted on 1/5/15, the same day Winter 2015 courses begin. To access FA2014 Bb courses between 12/29/14 and 1/5/15, faculty can do so through my.umbc.edu/go/bbfall that will be prominently displayed in myUMBC.
Finally, DoIT's Instructional Technology staff are offering several scheduled training sessions to help faculty prepare for Winter and Spring courses, and to learn about helpful resources in Blackboard such as the Grade Center. These sessions will be delivered simultaneously in person and virtually via Bb Collaborate. Faculty may also want to check out the following:
January 14 Hybrid Course Design Workshop Open to All Faculty
30-minute Blackboard Boot Camp training sessions
FYI: DoIT hosted 4 faculty info sessions this Fall and published the presentation (pdf).
As always, if you have questions, please consult the Bb FAQs inside Bb or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help, submit an RT ticket or contact the Technology Support Center (TSC).
Sincerely,
John Fritz
Asst. VP, Instructional Technology
UMBC Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
