The Better Business Bureau has has a website that tracks scams and fraud. BBB Scam Tracker
The Scam Tracker lists information about scams in general, but also has a section about COVID-19 scams. For the full list, please visit the BBB website. Example of scams the BBB is tracking include:
Price Gouging: Ex: Selling $10 health products for $79.99
Fraudulent Products: Ex: Ineffective face masks
Impersonating Officials: Ex: Requesting personal information by posing as an employee of “US Health Care”
Don't fall victim to these attempts to take advantage of vulnerable people. If you do come across a scam, please report it to security@umbc.edu. You can also report it to the BBB through their scam tracker website.
An Android app, advertised as a coronavirus tracker, mimics the display of the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center main page but also installs spyware into the phone.1
A similar app was offered from a malicious site that mirrored live data from a legitimate website and added a banner urging viewers to download the malware. If a person was tricked into downloading the malware, the malware would lock the person's phone and present the user with a ransom demand.2
A new phishing email has been hitting inboxes recently:
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 16:07:19 +0300
From: President Edu
hello good day, let me know when you are available. there is something
i need you to do. i am stuck in a seminar right now, kindly drop your
cellphone number to send text messageFreeman A. Hrabowski III
President
|
This is not a very well-crafted message. Some things to note:
The timezone on the Date, +0300, suggests that the message originated in Eastern Europe, East Africa, or the Arabian Peninsula.
The From header says “President Edu” which is not Dr. Hrabowski’s name.
The email address that the message was sent from does not come from umbc.edu.
The recipient is asked to provide a cell phone number for a text message. Why not just say what needs to be said in the email and provide a cell phone number for the reply?
The capitalization, punctuation, grammar are not professional or proper.
This type of phishing message has become common. If the recipient responds, they will receive a text message asking them to purchase gift cards, and send the relevant gift card information back to the scammers. Messages like this are sometimes texted directly to people’s phones at random. If the gift card information is sent to the scammer, the scammer will immediately drain the money from the gift card, and the money will be gone.
If you receive one of these messages, do not respond or reply. Just forward the message to security@umbc.edu and delete the message.
For more information on spotting phishing message and handling spam, please check out our FAQ: Phishing & Spam
]]>Here is the content of a likely phishing message:
Name of Company:
Asics
JOB TITLE:
Get Paid to Drive
JOB DESCRIPTION:
We seek interested applicants to go about their normal routine with the
advert of the World Athletics Championships OREGON 21 Logo IAAF on their
Car
Qualifications:
Must have a Car, Truck, Van or Motorcycle.
SALARY:
$300 weekly including $50 for gas
For more information interested Candidates should contact:
getpaidtodrive@wrapvertise.org with their personal email.
Micheal Manley
Hiring Coordinator/Logistic Supervisor
While we cannot guarantee that this is a scam, we encourage anyone interested by this advertisement to read https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/consumer-alert.html and to contact the company at the email address they provide: aac-PR@asics.com .
]]>https://fdc.umbc.edu/resources/keep-on-teaching/Following guidance from the University System of Maryland in the rapidly developing public health response to COVID-19, UMBC will transition to fully online instruction when classes resume after Spring Break. Per the announcement on March 10, we expect online instruction to continue for at least two weeks. As UMBC faculty shift to remote instruction using virtual tools, Blackboard has designed a series of free 30-minute webinars to help get started. Multiple dates & times are offered.
Teaching Remotely (Blackboard Learn Basics)
In response to growing concerns on the spread of the coronavirus, and institutions moving to fully online teaching, this webinar is designed to provide you easy step-by-step instructions on how to upload course content, create discussion boards for students to communicate, and provide an overview on the types of online assessments available in Blackboard Learn.
--> Register online with Blackboard
Getting Started with Teaching a Virtual Class
Moving from in-classroom instruction to the online classroom does not have to be difficult or stressful. Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is a communication tool that will allow you to continue to engage with your students in a synchronous manner, or record sessions for students to watch at a later time. In this 30-minute session, we will review the Collaborate interface and tools available to use while teaching online.
--> Register online with Blackboard
Guide to Building Mobile Content
In this urgent response to moving from in-person instruction to online instruction, instructors should prepare for students to access course information on the go. In this 30-minute session, we provide you with basic fundamentals for preparing online course content for mobile delivery. Additionally, we will review Blackboard mobile apps and provide you with a helpful worksheet on mobile content development.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following resources:
| Instructor Training: LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor |
| LockDown Browser is a custom browser that prevents digital cheating during an online exam. Respondus Monitor is a companion application for LockDown Browser that deters cheating when students take online exams in non-proctored environments. Students use their own computers with a standard webcam to record assessment sessions. The training will cover the student perspective using each application. We’ll also cover the instructor perspective, including the proctoring data collected, the Review Priority system, timeline, and milestone features. Best practices and tips for success with both applications will be included as well. This comprehensive training webinar is intended for instructors who plan to use LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor with online exams. The session provides a detailed demonstration of both applications, including new enhancements that make Respondus Monitor even more effective and easy to use. |
This article is a part of Instructional Technology's Planning Your Go Online (GO) Kit series. Explore communication, active learning, and assessment strategies in an online environment to keep your course on track in the event of campus closure. View our in-depth webinar recording from March 11.
Maintaining student learning during an academic disruption requires preparation to ensure communication is clear and active engagement opportunities are provided. Assessment of student learning is an important part of maintaining academic continuity. When classes must be canceled, faculty can leverage different instructional technologies to translate the assessment process into a virtual environment.
What assessment tools and tips help faculty plan and stock their own Go Online Kit?
Blackboard is the cornerstone of this process, allowing faculty to deliver tests, collect student submissions for assignments, and facilitate graded discussions. Any graded activity in Blackboard automatically receives a gradebook column for easy tracking. Rubrics and virtual feedback tools help streamline the grading process.
If you use paper exams or collect papers from students, consider posting a practice quiz or low-stakes assignment in Blackboard to get used to the tools. Many UMBC students are already familiar with using Blackboard, which reduces their immediate adjustment to a new delivery format.
Panopto, Collaborate, and VoiceThread are great alternatives to class presentations and group work, allowing students to narrate their slide decks and demonstrations. Post links to discussion forums where peers can provide feedback and ask questions.
Reduce cheating by checking for originality with SafeAssign on written assignments or creating unique tests for each student with questions pools (Ultra) and random blocks (Original) in Blackboard.
Faculty can also use Respondus LockDown Browser with Monitor enabled to secure the high-stakes assessment environment. This custom browser locks down the testing environment within Blackboard, preventing students from using other applications or system tools, and recording students via webcam. A proctoring AI flags potential exam violations for faculty to review.
Third party tools* offer additional assessment opportunities via Blackboard. Publisher tools provide interactive exercises, self-check activities, and quizzes built on textbook curriculum. Most third-party tools send grades back to Blackboard.
Google Assignments allow faculty to distribute assignment templates for graded activities and provide feedback during creation or after submission with reusable comment banks.
Flexibility is important, not just in the selections of tools. Review your syllabus and identify areas where you can adjust expectations for assessment collection. It’s also important to remember students may have time management or emotional needs to navigate during an emergency (Gravenberg, Carey-Butler, & Horowitz, 2008) so faculty should be prepared to adjust due dates for one, some, many, or all students in a course. Also, ensure students who require accommodations can receive needed support.
Whether classes are postponed due to weather, illness, utility and infrastructure, or other emergencies, DoIT offers many resources beyond Blackboard to support academic continuity. Know which instructional technologies you can use in your Go Online (GO) Kit to maintain academic continuity when your class cannot meet in person. Join instructional technology for this interactive webinar. Click this link to register for the session.
Reference
Gravenberg, E. V., Carey-Butler, S. R., & Horowitz, R. (2008). Learning from disaster: The lessons of Hurricane Katrina. Fairfax, VA: United Negro College Fund Institute for Capacity Building. Retrieved from https://www.uncf.org/pages/FDPRI-Reports
*With the exception of publisher integrations and licensed tools that have their own support staff, you should avoid requiring software or services that are unsupported by UMBC. If students encounter any technical issues, they will not be able get help from the Technology Support Center or Instructional Technology staff.
]]>This article is a part of Instructional Technology's Planning Your Go Online Kit series. Explore communication, active learning, and assessment strategies in an online environment to keep your course on track in the event of campus closure. View our in-depth webinar recording from March 11.
Campus may be closed, but that does not mean there has to be disruption to your course schedule. After creating and sharing a communication plan with students, you can take steps to foster an active online learning environment. Active online learning takes two primary forms: content creation and course engagement.
Content Creation
How can you share course content and materials to keep students on track? To get started, be sure that you have shared the course in Blackboard, specifically reminding students of your expectations when campus is closed. Next, identify course content that can be converted into a digital format using a variety of different tools:
G Suite for Education: Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Create content on the web using a rich text editor, and files that are easily shareable for collaboration.
Google Drive File Embed: Instructors can directly link items from their Google Drive, like a Google Doc, into a Blackboard course. A view-only copy is accessible to students.
Microsoft Office 365: Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are available to download for all members of the UMBC community. Save your files to your OneDrive with 1TB of storage, and access Office 365 from the web.
Panopto: Create lecture recordings and screencasts with Panopto, a video platform for instructors to easily publish and share their videos. Panopto adjusts the size of the video, depending on the viewer's screen size and internet connection.
Especially in an online learning environment, the abilities of all learners should be taken into account. Ally is a tool built into Blackboard courses that scans uploaded course content, performs a series of steps to make them more accessible, and provides alternative formats for both students and faculty to read or listen to content.
Active Online Learning means Continuous Learning
Captivating content and encouraging active participation will keep students on track to meet learning objectives. Even with campus closure, students will be able to meaningfully engage and participate online. Engage with your students using synchronous and asynchronous tools in Blackboard.
Whether classes are postponed due to weather, illness, utility and infrastructure, or other emergencies, DoIT offers many resources beyond Blackboard to support academic continuity. Know which instructional technologies you can use in your Go Online (GO) Kit to maintain academic continuity when your class cannot meet in person. Join instructional technology for this interactive webinar. Click this link to register for the session. ]]>