Author: Carolyn Speer

Love the Academic Resources Conference but want to have some in-person interactions? Then the new ARC Unplugged is for you. The Office of Instructional Resources, in partnership with University Libraries, is bringing you three days of in-person training events in October and November, all conveniently located in 230 Ablah Library, Jane McHugh Research Lab.

First up on Oct. 2, join for a full day of one-hour sessions covering the intersection of AI and research. All sessions begin on the hour, starting at 11 a.m. and run through 4 p.m., with the last session being a panel discussion about the ethical implications of using AI in research. Snacks will be provided all day, so come when you can and go when you must.

Here’s the schedule:

• 11 a.m. – AI and the Dissertation (or thesis): Suitable for dissertation/thesis advisors, committee members and graduate students
• Noon – AI and Library Research: Suitable for faculty, staff, Innovation Campus partners and all students
• 1 p.m. – AI and the Literature Review: Suitable for faculty, staff and graduate students
• 2 p.m. – AI and Data Analysis: Suitable for faculty, staff, Innovation Campus partners and all students
• 3 p.m. – The Ethical Implications of AI and Research Panel Discussion: Suitable for faculty, staff, Innovation Campus partners and all students

Interested in learning more? Check out wichita.edu/ARCUnplugged where you can see session topics and register for the event. .Registration is not required, but it will help organizers plan food.

Did you know that Blackboard’s test question generator can create custom test questions for the materials you have loaded into Blackboard? The tool can create essay, matching, true/false, multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions tied to your readings and other materials, and once the questions are created, they are easy to edit.

The whole process is quick and easy and can be used to build both individual tests and test banks. Save time and improve the quality of test questions at the same time through the use of this simple Blackboard feature. Learn how to generate test questions.

Quiet Time, a short online meditation opportunity for staff, faculty and others interested in attending, takes place at 2 p.m. every Tuesday, starting today, Feb. 11. Participants meet for two meditations one beginning at 2 p.m. and one beginning at 2:15 p.m.

Come for either or both. No meditation experience is necessary and cameras can be off. Join from the privacy of your work space, while on a short walk or anywhere you feel comfortable.

Join the meeting via Teams, and if you would like to be sent a calendar invite, email Carolyn Speer at carolyn.speer@wichita.edu.

Reminder that the spring 2025 term is the final semester for Panopto use at WSU. If you are an instructor or staff member who has used Panopto in the past and would like to keep your videos, download the videos now using these instructions.

The Office of Instructional Resources supports this effort, so if you run into issues, reach out at OIR@wichita.edu. Videos that are not removed from Panopto will be lost when the contract expires, and there are no university services available to remove them for you.

If your class needs online proctoring services, check out Honorlock, which is easy to set up and use in your Blackboard classes. Be advised that the university no longer supports any other proctoring services including Examity or Responds Lockdown Browser.

Wichita State has long been a partner with Panopto for academic video capture and hosting. This relationship will end on June 1, 2025, and Panopto will no longer be available to staff, faculty or students. If you have videos stored in Panopto, you can download them for future use. OIR has designed training to help you move from Panopto to Stream, the new video capture and hosting solution. The Academic Resources Conference (ARC) for January 2025 also has training available. Most of that training will take place Jan. 14, 2025 online via Teams, and recordings of those sessions will also be available. To make an ARC training plan, consult the session schedule.

At this time, Panopto videos are still safe in Panopto, and any videos you would like to remove from Panopto can be safely removed. This process must be completed no later than May 31, 2025, however. Reach out to the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu for questions or help.

Do you need a moment of quiet in your day? That’s what Quiet Time, in-person and online meditations for staff and instructors, can offer.

Join every Tuesday online via Teams or in the faculty lounge in 204 Ablah Library. All staff and faculty are welcome. Meetings are from 2 to 2:30 p.m., and there will be have two meditations. One starts roughly 2:01 p.m. and the other starts roughly 2:16 p.m.

Come for both or stay for just one.

All new Wichita State courses are now in the Blackboard Ultra Course Format. All instructors need this vital information:

• Your old courses will still be in their original course format. Please do not convert Classic Blackboard courses directly to Ultra. Remember: copy, don’t convert.
• Your existing course material can be copied directly into an Ultra Course Format class. Please follow these directions to copy your existing course materials to your new Ultra course area.
• If you use Panopto, your videos will have to be relinked in your Ultra Course Format class.
• If you need help, instructors can email the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu for help. OIR staff runs that email during the week and checks it on the weekends for emergency needs.
• All instructors of any rank and all WSU staff are invited to attend the free Academic Resources Conference (ARC) being held online Aug. 5-9. The ARC will provide technical training in Blackboard, and that’s not all. ARC will also have sessions on pedagogy, mindfulness and generative AI. It’s also a great time to meet your accessibility training requirement for AY 24-25. Most sessions are also recorded, so if you miss one, you can grab the link directly from the schedule page and watch later.

Next week, around April 15, summer classes will populate in Blackboard. The summer Blackboard course shells will all be in Ultra Course Format. Blackboard Classic Format will no longer be available at Wichita State as of the end of the spring 2024 term. If you are going to teach this summer, you can improve your Ultra Course Format experience by adapting your original courses in the following ways:

• Review your “tests” area and delete any old test banks that you don’t use.
• Check your “grade center” area and make sure you don’t have any hidden columns. If you do have hidden columns, unhide them.
• Do not “convert” your original course to an Ultra course. Instead, wait for the Ultra course shell, go to that shell area and copy your content from original into the Ultra course.

For other advice about how to prepare and then copy an original course to an Ultra course shell, check out the information in the “Ultra Training for Instructors” Blackboard course. If you don’t have access to that course, contact the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu.

Quiet Time meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 for two short meditations. The first meditation starts a little after 2 p.m., and the second starts around 2:15 p.m. Come for either or both.

These mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) meditations are offered by a certified workplace mindfulness facilitator from the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) and are offered both via Teams and in-person in the Wichita State Connect building in the Technology Training room.

If you can’t make it in “real time,” you can participate in Quiet Time meditations from the podcast: Quiet Time at Wichita State, which you can subscribe to on Apple, Amazon or Spotify.

You can also add the Teams invitation link to your calendar.