Author: Carolyn Speer

The January issue of Teaching Today is now available. This issue includes highlights from the Academic Resources Conference earlier in the month. It also includes important technical information and updates that all instructors need to know including how to obtain human captions in lecture videos.

To subscribe to Teaching Today or to make recommendations to Teaching Today, send a request to the Office of Instructional Resources know at OIR@wichita.edu.

Students, please check your Blackboard Courses area and make sure you can see the links to all of your full-term and first-eight-week courses. If you are missing one or more classes, please submit a ticket to the Blackboard Support website. When submitting a ticket, you will need to provide the course reference number, the five-digit number that identifies the specific course, and your WSUID.

There was recently a glitch in reporting between Banner and Blackboard during the spring 2022 enrollment period. This means some spring 2022 classes have a mismatch between their Banner rosters and their Blackboard rosters. If a student is on a faculty member’s Banner roster, they should also be on their Blackboard roster.

To resolve this issue, faculty first need to review their rosters as soon as possible. If they find a mismatch between their Banner rosters and their Blackboard rosters, they can send the course registration number and the WSUIDs of students that need to be added to Blackboard to the Office of Instruction Resources at OIR@wichita.edu.

Today, Jan. 13 is the last day of the Academic Resources Conference (ARC) at Wichita State. The ARC happens three times a year and is free and open to the campus community. All sessions are online via Zoom. You can view the full schedule, including links to recorded training and LinkedIn Learning challenges, at the WSU January 2022 ARC Events website.

All of Thursday’s events will take place in Central Standard Time. Captioned recordings will be available on the ARC Events website approximately one week after the session completes. Here is a list of the events for today, Jan. 13:

• 9-9:50 a.m., Keys to Successful Courses: Organizing Your Blackboard Course: Do you have content in Blackboard but feel like it needs a bit of organization? This session is for you. The session will cover ways to organize Blackboard courses and answer questions about making the tools work for you.
• 10-10:50 a.m., Get Creative with Academic Creative Services: Did you know the Office of Instructional Resources now has a visual design group? Come to this session and learn about Academic Creative Services and what they offer.
• 11-11:50 a.m., What Do Great Courses Have in Common? A discussion: This session is designed to spark a discussion about what it means to have a great class. The session will also  discuss a home-grown course quality program for Wichita State, replacing Quality Matters on the campus.

Today, Jan. 12 is the third day of the Academic Resources Conference (ARC) at Wichita State. The ARC happens three times a year and is free and open to the campus community. All sessions are online via Zoom. You can view the full schedule, including links to recorded training and LinkedIn Learning challenges, at the WSU January 2022 ARC Events website. Here is a list of the events for today, Jan. 12:

All of Wednesday’s events will take place in Central Standard Time. Captioned recordings will be available on the ARC Events website approximately one week after the session completes. Here is a list of the events for today, Jan. 12:

• 9-9:50 a.m., Building a Course in the Ultra Course Format: Are you interested in trying out a course in the Ultra Course Format for spring or fall 2022? If you are, join this session and learn how the Ultra Course Format works and getting started.
• 10-10:50 a.m., Ultra questions: This session is designed for people who have questions about the Ultra Course format and other Ultra questions.
• 11-11:50 a.m., Ultra questions, advanced: Do you have advanced or in-depth question about Ultra? Join this session and make your life easier with Ultra.

Today, Jan. 11 is the second day of the Academic Resources Conference (ARC) at Wichita State. The ARC happens three times a year and is free and open to the campus community. All sessions are online via Zoom. You can view the full schedule, including links to recorded training and LinkedIn Learning challenges, at the WSU January 2022 ARC Events website.

All of Tuesday’s events will take place in Central Standard Time. Captioned recordings will be available on the ARC Events website approximately one week after the session completes. Here is a list of the events for today, Jan. 11:

• 9-9:50 a.m., What’s New with LinkedIn Learning: Have you used LinkedIn Learning for professional development or in your classes? Would you like to? This session will cover the basics of the platform and show you what’s new with LinkedIn Learning’s Blackboard integration.
• 10-10:50 a.m., Accessibility Update (satisfies mandatory accessibility training for instructors for the 2021-22 academic year (AY)). Instructors who have not yet done their mandatory accessibility training for the AY 2021-22 should plan to attend.
• 11-11:50 a.m., Keys to Successful Classes: Aligning Course Outcomes, Activities, and Assignments: this session will cover the basics of writing measurable outcomes and aligning them to course assignments and activities.

Today, Jan. 10 is the first day of the Academic Resources Conference (ARC) at Wichita State. The ARC happens three times a year and is free and open to the campus community. All sessions are online via Zoom. You can view the full schedule, including links to recorded training and LinkedIn Learning challenges, at the WSU January 2022 ARC Events website. 

All of Monday’s events will take place in Central Standard Time. Captioned recordings will be available on the ARC Events website approximately one week after the session completes. Here is a list of the events for today, Jan. 10:

• 9-9:50 a.m., Proctoring with Examity: Learn about Examity, the online proctoring solution that replaces ProctorU beginning spring 2022.
• 10-10:50 a.m., Building Assignments that Work, a Discussion: This discussion will include a few instructors who will share  successful assignments they have used in their classes. Participants can come prepared with their ideas. This discussion is meant promote to conversation and an exchange of ideas.
• 11-11:50 a.m., Keys to Successful Courses: How to Run a Successful Discussion in Your Class: Are you challenged by running discussions, in-person or online? This popular session is back with new ideas and guidance on improving in-class discussions.
• 6-7 p.m., Special session with TAP instructors: During this event, Teacher Apprentice Program (TAP) instructors will cover Ultra Courses. All participants are welcome to this event, but it will focus primarily on TAP needs.

As part of the January Academic Resources Conference (ARC) Jan. 10-13, the Office of Instructional Resources is offering LinkedIn Learning challenges. No challenge is more than an hour, and are free to WSU student, faculty and staff and include the following:

• Introduction to Gratitude Meditation (16 minutes)
• Becoming an Ally to All (30 minutes)
• How to Train Your Brain for Happiness (54 minutes)
• Aligning Your Values with Work, Life, and Everything In Between (38 minutes)
• Making Big Goals Achievable (16 minutes)
• How to Set Goals When Everything Feels Like a Priority (15 minutes)
• Becoming a Great Conversationalist (21 minutes)

If you have not yet set up your LinkedIn Learning account, please follow the instructions at the Wichita State LinkedIn Learning website.

The January Academic Resources Conference (ARC) will take place Jan. 10-13. Two of the highlighted events at the conference will include the following:

•  Building Assignments that Work, a Discussion, 10-10:50 a.m. Monday, Jan. 10 via Zoom: This discussion will include a few speakers who will share their ideas while allowing participants to speak about what works, what doesn’t work and what they plan to try for the spring 2022 semester.
• What Great Courses Have in Common, 11-11:50 a.m. Thursday, Jan.13 via Zoom: This discussion is a prelude to a larger campus conversation that will attempt to lead to a home-grown course quality program that can replace Quality Matters at Wichita State.

The ARC will also host the annual mandatory accessibility update for instructors, 10-10:50 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11 via Zoom. The conference will provide other opportunities for the WSU community to come together to discuss teaching and share ideas. The full schedule is available at the January 2022 ARC Events website.

Wichita State’s plan has long been to move fully to the Ultra Course Format no later than Dec. 31, 2022, but recent experiences with the pilot program and Blackboard’s ongoing commitment to improving the Ultra Course Format have led the university to make a change to the deadline.

In consultation with the Accessibility and Technology subcommittee of the Faculty Senate, the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) has decided to suspend the deadline to move to Ultra Course Format for the time being. OIR is committed to supporting instructors in both formats through the end of the 2022-23 annual year. That means that WSU will not be moving to Ultra Course Format fully before the end of May 2023, and it could be after this date.

OIR will continue to support students, faculty and staff in both formats, and will continue to encourage instructors to move to the Ultra Course Format over time. Ultimately, the Classic Blackboard Course Format will sunset on our campus, but OIR wants to make sure that the Ultra Course Format does all the university needs it to do before it takes that step.

If you would like to begin your move to the Ultra Course Format, now is a good time. OIR has a new webpage designed to help instructors of all ranks know their options and choose a personalized path to Ultra Course Format.

For more information, please contact OIR@wichita.edu, or make a plan to drop into online lab times.