Happy Spring Semester From the E-Learning Team!

The January E-Learning Team Digital Learning Day Symposium was a great success!

Thank you to everyone who attended the E-Learning Team Digital Learning Day Symposium event. We had fantastic presentations and interesting collegial conversations on copyright laws, creating interactive and engaging activities in Bb courses, tips for designing Blackboard courses and a stump the E-Learning Team with your Bb questions. Fortunately, there was no stumping. 😉 A special thank you goes out to Barb Biljan for her presentation on Copyright Laws for Every Classroom and to Marcia Bohn for her presentation on using Articulate Rise 360 and Storyline software for designing engaging gamified activities to enrich course content.

Mark Your Calendars for the May 17 Digital Learning Symposium!

Mark your calendars for May 17, 2022, for the May Digital Learning Days, hopefully on campus! Have a great topic, online learning lesson or activity that you would like to share with your colleagues? We have a lineup of faculty presenting, and are looking for 1 or 2 more interested presenters. Presentations are 50 minutes in length. We are eager to hear about exciting learning experiences you integrate into your Blackboard sections. Contact Mary Beth Scumaci at mscumaci@medaille.edu if you are interested in being a presenter.

Training Opportunities

The Office of Online Learning has many training opportunities for you! Check them out and see which versions work best for the way you like to learn.

  • Real-Time Training Sessions: The E-Learning 2021-2022 Blackboard (Bb) Training schedule has been developed to assist you with a safe space to learn about the Bb Ultra tools and features as well as to ask questions. Registration for all training sessions is on the same convenient registration link.

To sign-up for training session(s), please complete the Registration Form. Trainings will take place virtually again this semester. The training room link can be found within the registration. Be sure to save the link and add it to your calendar.

  • If you need to brush up on your Bb Ultra skills, the E-Learning Team is here to help. You can find Faculty/Staff and Student video tutorials and the Online Instructor and Student Handbooks on the Office of Online Learning webpage as well as the IT Blackboard resource webpage. Blackboard Help also provides excellent resources.

Keep up to date with new Blackboard tools and feature updates. Check out the tips and pointers below. Find updated tutorials in the Online Instructor Support Handbook on the Office of Online Learning website, (updated December 1). Click on the Faculty/Staff tab.

New Bb Feature: Add pronouns to your profile page.
You can now add pronouns to your Bb profile. Once added, they will show up throughout your courses. This video will show you how to customize your pronouns. Students can follow the same process.

Updated Bb Feature: Rubrics now have an option to use points and point ranges. Select the option from the dropdown menu when creating the rubrics. This video will show you how to create rubrics.

Bb Features Coming Soon (3-6 months):

  • Tests: One question at a time, no backtracking and prevent students from seeing feedback until a later date. Option, if timed tests start and if students are late, they lose that time taking the test.
  • Gradebook: Point options
  • Student Progress Tracking: New features for student progress and instructor tracking.
  • Late Submissions: Option to not accept after the due date.
  • Instructor Student Submission Reciepts: Ability to filter reciepts and see the size of the submission to an assessment. This will provide an indicator of content submitted and will continue to be updated.

Online Learning Quick Reads

Looking for some knowledge or inspiration to enhance your online teaching experience? Check out these articles:

Have Questions? Stop by the Office of Online Learning in 121/124 Huber Hall between 8 a.m. and 4p.m., call 716-880-2358 or submit a ticket to elearning@medaille.edu.

  • : Mary Beth Scumaci

Posted by: Mary Beth Scumaci