Category: Technology and Security

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.

Blackboard will have intermittent downtimes Thursday, Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day). The system is being upgraded to improve its performance. Users should avoid using Blackboard during this time. For more information, contact OIR@wichita.edu.

The University Applications Training and the Registrar’s Office will host Summer 2022 and Fall 2023 Schedule Building Training sessions Dec. 7-8 for new Banner schedule builders. Both Sections 1 and 2 are required for new schedule builders.  Attendees will learn to enter the course schedule and view information using Banner 9, Self-Service, and Wichita State Reporting.

New schedule builders are those who have not been through the training previously and will be building the upcoming schedule. To attend the new schedule builders session, an employee’s supervisor must submit a request for approval at stusecurityaccess@wichita.edu before registering. Registration is required. The sessions are posted at myWSU > myTraining. Due to COVID and the need for social distancing, spaces in these sessions are limited and restricted to new schedule builders only.

Current schedule builders are welcome to attend the remote Schedule Building Overview Session which will be posted in myTraining Dec. 1. Please visit Wichita State’s Schedule Building webpage for schedule building-related information.

For more information, contact Madelyne Toney in Applications Training at 316-978-3083 or madelyne.toney@wichita.edu.

Thank you to the many of you who provided (Who, or office here) insight and feedback to help streamline the current Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI) form and workflow. Because of this feedback, tactics will now be optional and the workflow is only one step to update an SPI. The (Who, or office here) will update current SPIs to the new format on Nov. 15.

To learn more, visit wichita.edu/strategicplan/<site of new directions>.

Now is the time for instructors to consider converting one Blackboard course to the Ultra Course format for spring 2022. Converting a course now gives instructors time to learn the format before all courses convert to this format in spring 2023. The Ultra Course format has both design, layout and grading interface differences from the past versions Blackboard.

The Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) knows this conversion is a big ask for instructors. OIR is here to help and support instructors throughout the process, and they have compiled many of their support materials on a single webpage to help instructors get started.

The Office of Instructional Resources has developed a curriculum packet for faculty who want to add more information about freedom of speech and expression to their fall or spring courses. The packet offers information representing multiple points of view as well as an optional short quiz faculty can provide to students for extra credit.

For more information or help setting up the freedom of speech and expression packet in your Blackboard class, please contact the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu.

Want to know how to find a proposal in workflow or create a permanent course from an experiential course?  Check out the Curriculum Management (CIM) user guides for these tasks and many more:

User Guides (updated frequently)

You can also bookmark these other popular links for quick access:

• CIM Course Form
• CIM Program Form
• CIM Misc Admin Form
• Approval Page
• Curriculum Change Guidelines

You can also attend one of the following one-hour Zoom CIM training sessions, which include a  30-minute question and answer session. The Zoom links to these sessions are available via myTraining:

• 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20
• 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov 10

To lower student costs for proctoring services, Wichita State University has joined the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) proctoring contract with Examity. This service will replace ProctorU for the spring 2022 term.

Because proctoring adds expenses to students and can increase stress in the testing environment, we encourage faculty to first consider options for exam integrity that do not require proctoring. For more information please view the information on test integrity from the Office of Instructional Resources.

Examity can be set up for four different levels of proctoring:

• Automated Proctoring Standard: Recorded with artificial intelligence flagging irregularities — without a proctor audit ($3.75 per test)
• Automated Proctoring Premium: With a human audit of the recording ($5.75 per test)
• Live Proctoring Standard: Live authentication, session recorded and reviewed by AI, followed by Examity review of the session ($11 for the first hour and $5 for each additional hour)
• Live Proctoring Premium: Overseen by a live proctor the entire session ($12 for the first hour and $5 for each additional hour)

Faculty wanting to use student-paid proctoring options in their classes are encouraged to learn about Examity directly from the Examity website.

We will be working on installing Examity’s Blackboard integration during December to make it available for spring 2022 courses.

Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor (recording that uses AI-flagging) are both still available to the university at no cost to students. There are a limited number of Monitor licenses for the entire year, so we ask faculty to consider how many Respondus exams they use.

Instructors of all ranks have been asked to learn new educational technologies and methods quickly this past year. The Media Resources Center (MRC) would like your feedback about how effective you have found our service, training, and technology by taking part in a short survey.

The data you provide will be valuable as the MRC works to improve the services they provide to its customers. Your response and ideas will help in our effort to reach our Strategic Enrollment Managements and Kansas Board of Regent priorities and to provide an excellent learning experience for our students.

As you know, Wichita State is in the process of becoming a full Blackboard Ultra school. At this time, all Blackboard users are in the Ultra Navigation area when they log in to Blackboard, and approximately 100 instructors are also offering their courses in Blackboard Ultra Course format.

To assist all instructors in the move to Ultra courses, WSU has been working with a vendor to provide an Ultra version of most of your previously offered courses. Beginning Sept. 20, most instructors will receive an Ultra course version copy of their current and previous courses going back about two years. Here is what you need to know:

• Most courses on the Blackboard server have been copied and the copy has converted to an Ultra version. This Ultra version of the course can be found in the Development/Sandbox Course Shells area in Blackboard and can be identified as a copy by the U at the end of the course name.
• These Ultra version courses are copies of the original courses and the original courses also still exist. The original versions can be found under their associated semester in Blackboard.
• Instructors are not required to use these new Ultra course version courses. This version is provided as a gift and is intended to help instructors as they develop their courses in Ultra. Instructors are welcome to use these new versions in the future, but it is not required.
• Eventually, all courses at WSU will need to be in the Ultra course format. The Office of Instructional Resources recommends that instructors work in only one Ultra course format initially to get used to the new tools and then adopt the Ultra course format for the rest of their courses over time.

All courses at WSU must be in the Ultra Course format by the spring 2023 pre-session.