Are you a staff member who teaches or an instructor who wants to learn more about instructional theory? Then learn more about CI 881, Instructional Theory (CRN 32382).

Students will have the opportunity to learn about practical instructional theory in a fully online course in the summer at WSU. Everything you learn is immediately applied as you design and build your own mini course in Blackboard Ultra. This is an opportunity for instructors who are worried about the transition to Ultra, because they will have practical instruction.

If you work with GTAs who would benefit from the course, you can help spread the word. The course will meet for eight weeks in the summer.

Send any questions to Carolyn Speer at carolyn.speer@wichita.edu. Summer tuition assistance is also due no later than April 15 for those who benefit.

The Office of Instructional Resources is proud to announce the launch of a new Blackboard-based training course for all instructors and any interested others. The course, “Ultra Training for Instructors,” is now available in Blackboard in the “Courses” area, and all 2023-24 academic year instructors have been enrolled.

In addition to the course, all enrollees have received a sandbox course shell called “Ultra Practice for Instructors,” which can be found in the Blackboard Courses area. The practice course will allow instructors to follow along with the training and practice Ultra skills.  If you are not enrolled in the course and would like to be (and staff and others we welcome too), send an email to OIR@wichita.edu with your Shocker ID number.

Wichita State is transitioning from Blackboard “Classic” course format to the “Ultra” course format as of summer, 2024, and the Office of Instructional Design urges all instructors who work in Blackboard to register for a free training seminar offered by Anthology.

The seminar is only an hour and will provide instructors with the information necessary to get started in Ultra Course Format. There are four seminar times coming up over the next four months: March 19, April 17, May 14 and June 12.

All instructors should try to attend the seminar if it’s possible, and making time to attend the seminar on more than one date could be beneficial.

The new Ultra Course View has tools that make it easy for students to find upcoming assignments. All assignments can be accessed through either the “Gradebook” link or the “Calendar” link in your Ultra class, and assignments in the “Gradebook” area can be sorted easily using the column headings.

Students can sort by due date, submission status and by grade. In the “Calendar” area, students can look at due dates by day or by month. Each assignment listed in the “Gradebook” and “Calendar” is also a “clickable link” that takes the students directly to the assignment so they can begin work.

Share this valuable information with your students, and when you set up future courses in Ultra, try out the “Student Preview” (upper right corner) tool to see for yourself how your students will be able to access assignments.

Recent updates to the Ultra Course format for Blackboard has added an exciting new feature in the gradebook. You can now see key metrics such as minimum/maximum value, range, average, median, standard deviation and variance for individual gradebook columns.

Read more about Ultra Gradebook statistics and other February Ultra updates. For questions, send the Office of Instructional Resources an email at OIR@wichita.edu

The Office of Instructional Resources has recently begun offering meditations through a new program called Quiet Time, and it is now offering a newsletter to augment the Quiet Time program, which you can read the first issue of online.

The Quiet Time newsletter will come out bi-monthly and include research-based information about mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and related meditation habits. It will also include short MBSR trainings and links to recorded versions of its Quiet Time meditations.

Think of the Quiet Time newsletter as a little oasis of mental wellbeing info in a busy week. After checking out the inaugural issue, reach out to the Office of Instructional Resources at oir@wichita.edu to subscribe. As always, all OIR resources are free and available to everyone, so spread the word to those friends you think might be interested, whether they work at WSU or elsewhere. 

February’s issue of Teaching Today is now available. This month focuses on the many things to love about teaching.

There’s lots more to love in the issue. In addition to the love-fest, it takes a little time to introduce the Office of Instructional Resources’ newest newsletter, Quiet Time.

To subscribe to either newsletter and not miss an issue, let the Office of Instructional Resources know via email: OIR@wichita.edu

Starting with the summer term, Blackboard Classic course view will no longer be available. If you are teaching in Classic course view right now, you might be tempted to convert your current courses to Ultra, but if you attempt to convert a course that has any submitted student work, those submissions and their associated grades will be lost in the conversion process.

If you are in Classic, stay in Classic for the remainder of this term. If you have second eight-week courses and would like them to be in Ultra, it’s not too late. The Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) can help you get your courses into the Ultra format, so reach out to the office at OIR@wichita.edu for assistance.

If you are teaching in the summer term, you will see your new Ultra course format shells on or shortly after April 15. If you are teaching in the pre-session for summer and need assistance getting to Ultra, reach out to OIR.

Blackboard courses, especially those in the Ultra Course Format, rely heavily on the course messages feature over email. Many instructors prefer to receive emails from their students, however. The good news is that both are possible.

If you turn on the Blackboard setting that sends email notifications right away when a student sends you a course message, you will be notified of the message both via email and within your Blackboard class. Not only does this allow instructors to respond to course messages quickly, it also creates a permanent record of the contact within your course, so it is easy for you to refer to it later if necessary.

Learn how to turn on immediate email notifications. Have other questions about Ultra? Check back each Wednesday for a new tip, or reach out to the Office of Instructional Resources directly at OIR@wichita.edu. And remember: spring 2024 is the last semester Wichita State will offer courses in Blackboard Original course format. All courses will be offered in Ultra as of summer 2024.

The January issue of Teaching Today has a full index of all the session recordings from the January Academic Resources Conference (ARC). If you missed some sessions or are only now hearing about the event, you can catch up with the valuable training and discussion that just took place.

Check out Teaching Today for January, and if you like what you see, consider subscribing. To subscribe, simply send the request to the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu.