Academic support services — the Centre for Teaching and Learning, the Office of Open Learning, and the Leddy Library — have released information of interest to UWindsor instructors.
Blackboard upgrade
An upgrade essential for maintaining and supporting the system will take Blackboard offline Thursday, April 23, from 6 a.m. to noon. Features for the upgrade are mainly behind-the-scenes technical updates and a few interface updates. More on the next upgrade. One exciting feature is piloting an integration with MS Teams. The LMS team is looking for instructors comfortable with technology to help pilot an integration of MS Teams with Blackboard. If that’s you, email Lorie Stolarchuk at lorie@uwindsor.ca.
Introduction to teaching online
The Office of Open Learning is offering a pragmatic online course preparing instructors to take their courses online. The course has a mix of live online classes and self-paced activities with the goal of building a framework and several elements of the course by the end of the week. Throughout the week, participants will have access to help from the Open Learning facilitators, and resources to help them build communication strategies, learning activities, and assessments for their online summer course. Multiple offerings of this course at different times will be available to fit your needs. http://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/openlearning/workshops/23/#134.
Sprint sessions in the Bb Café Virtual Classroom
Stop by for a half-hour (or slightly more) sprint session in the Bb Café Virtual Café hosted by the Centre for Teaching and Learning to see demonstrations of various Blackboard tools or dive deeper into a hot topic. Quick informal sessions to help get you back into your day with a little more insight.
Upcoming topics are:
- Troubleshooting Blackboard’s Grade Centre; Monday, April 20, 9:30 a.m.
Join us to unearth the common problems instructors face every semester with the Grade Centre and learn how to avoid them yourself. - MS Teams - How to capitalize features for student engagement and communication; Tuesday, April 21, 9:30 a.m.
MS Teams has the ability to manage live chats, do collaborative document sharing, conduct virtual sessions, schedule meetings, do presentations, and control who can join in sessions. There is a mobile app to keep you informed as well as a desktop app rich with features. Also, you can access online with other tools in the Office 365 tool group. While not a substitute for Blackboard, MS Teams can enhance your use of Blackboard and will be available as a pilot project for the Spring/Intersession for selected instructors. Drop in to find out more. - Leveraging the Virtual Library: Managing Library Resources in Blackboard; Wednesday, April 22, 9:30 a.m.
Learn how to use Leddy Library’s Course Resource List system to discover and access online resources that will help you quickly build your course content. Further, while tempting and easy to go searching on the internet for course materials, you still need to consider copyright implications, so highlights of what instructors should know will be featured.
More details on the COVID-19 Preparedness Workshops page.
Blackboard online courses available
If you like to work at your own pace online and want to learn more about using Blackboard, register for one or more free online courses at http://www.uwindsor.ca/bbonline.
Using electronic resources to support research and teaching
The library provides access to a large and varied collection of online resources including articles, eBooks, streaming videos, and other resources to support research and teaching. At this time, the library cannot circulate physical materials and digitization of print materials is not available. Librarians encourage faculty to review and utilize electronic resources as much as possible. Contact your department or faculty’s liaison librarian for help with identifying resources.
How to integrate library resources with Blackboard
The library’s Course Resource List system is the best way to connect online resources to your Blackboard course site and your students. Get started by adding the Library Resource List Tool Link to your Blackboard course site. Get Started with Course Resource Lists.
Support available for Blackboard
Instructors and assistants may visit the Bb Café Virtual Help Desk from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until exams are over. Click the Guest Link to access the room – you will need to have internet access, a microphone, and optional webcam.
Students may contact Service Desk at 519-253-3000, ext. 4440, or by submitting a ticket at http://www.uwindsor.ca/itshelp.
Instructors and assistants may submit a Service Request for Blackboard support at http://www.uwindsor.ca/bbhelp.