OFDIT Newsletter January 2023

January 2023

Dear Faculty,

Happy 2023 from your OFDIT team!

This month’s newsletter includes updates about Ally, a new accessibility tool enabled across all SPS course sites in Blackboard. We also share some details about the upcoming CUNY Games Network as well as Teaching Matters workshops, along with information to assist with your Spring course preparation.

We hope you had a wonderful break, and look forward to supporting your work with students in the coming year!

Course Accessibility with Ally

We’re excited to announce that Blackboard Ally, an accessibility tool, was enabled for all CUNY SPS course sites on January 3, 2023.

Ally provides the following:

Alternative content formats for a variety of devices and assistive technologies, available to all course users. Alternative formats can be accessed for both students and instructors by clicking on the Ally icon found to the right of the item, and includes format options such as HTML, ePUB, audio (MP3), electronic braille, and translated language versions, among others.

Accessibility scores and accessibility improvement guidance, for instructors only. Instructors will see an accessibility gauge icon next to all individual attachments and files in their courses, which indicates the accessibility score for that item. If the gauge icon indicates a low accessibility rating, clicking the icon gives instructors access to a Feedback Panel for detailed explanations and how-to steps for making that item more accessible.

Accessibility Report, for instructors only. Instructors can view a summary of the accessibility scores and issues for their course site via Ally’s Accessibility Report, available under Control Panel – Course Tools on the course menu. It includes a list of the course’s content items, accessibility scores, and issues.

Ally Resources and Support

See our Blackboard Ally Resource Page for more details, helpful links and resources, or watch this recording of an Ally instructor training.

OFDIT will also be offering Ally trainings for SPS faculty next month; details will be announced at the start of Spring semester.

Questions regarding Ally can be directed to Faculty Support (facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu). We are pleased about the tools Ally provides for creating more accessible courses for all at SPS, and know you will be, too!

Announcing Ally to Your Students

Below we’ve drafted some language explaining Ally, which you can share with your students via an announcement in your course, if you would like (please edit as you see fit):

Dear students, I have some exciting news: CUNY SPS now has a Blackboard accessibility tool called Ally. You may have noticed the Ally icon next to course content text and attachments. You can click on this icon to access available alternative formats for the course material. For example, you can convert a PDF into an HTML document for easier reading on mobile devices, or into an MP3 audio file for a text-to-speech version. You are welcome to explore this tool at your convenience but please note you are not required to do so.

For more details, see the resources listed below, or contact the Office of Disability Services (disabilityservices@sps.cuny.edu) with any questions about this new tool.

Upcoming CUNY Events

Interested in game-based pedagogies? Want to learn more about using observation and dialogue-based inquiry to connect with your students and extend their critical thinking skills? The following hybrid and online events are open to CUNY instructors:

CUNY Games Conference

January 23 and 24, 2023 (Hybrid – in-person and online) the CUNY Games Conference 9.0 will be presented by the Games Network of the City University of New York. See the CUNY Games Conference website for more information and to register.

Art as a Tool for Empathic Teaching

Teaching Matters Professional Development Series:

Friday, February 3, 10:00-11:00 AM (Virtual Event)

Art as a Tool for Empathic Teaching, presented by Cris Scorza and Dyeemah Simmons, from the Whitney Museum of American Art. See the event page on Eventbrite for more details and to register.

Preparing Course Sites for Spring

Our Course Site Checklist for Faculty can be helpful when prepping your online course for the new semester.

You will find useful SPS quick guides from our OFDIT team and links to Blackboard Help pages, as well as a checklist of all the elements that need to be updated in a live course site for an upcoming semester, including:

Welcome announcement
Instructor card
Syllabus/Course Schedule
Due Dates

Ensuring that all dates for your course are accurate for the new semester is especially important; this includes dates mentioned in text items as well as assignment and folder availability.

Though you will need to manually update any dates mentioned in any text, Blackboard availability and due dates can be reviewed and updated via Blackboard’s Date Management tool, either individually, as a group of items, or all of the dates at once. This is a great option if you are using content from a previous semester and would like to adjust your dates for the new semester. To learn more about how to use this tool, please see our quick guide, or contact our team for assistance.

Making Video for your Online Class

As the new semester approaches many of you will be recording video introductions and overviews. Making a video for your online class is really about making a connection with your students. Seeing and hearing their professor builds community in the classroom and increases engagement. If you’ll be making a video, please check out our guide: Making Video for your Online Class. This 2-page guide offers tips on increasing the production value of your recording, or in other words, how you can look more professional on camera. Alternatively, faculty are welcome to visit us on campus to use the OFDIT Media Studio for full video support.

Call for Faculty Corner Submissions

If you have a useful or interesting pedagogical or technical tip (in 200 words or less!) that you are excited about, we would love to hear from you and add your submission to our next Faculty Newsletter. Please use our Faculty Corner Submission Form to submit your pitch. Your submission can be in text or video format – whatever you prefer!

As always, OFDIT is here to help with any questions you may have. We are available for one-on-one support and would be happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. You can contact us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

January 19, 2023

OFDIT Newsletter December 2022

December 2022

Dear Faculty,

As you work to wrap up the semester, OFDIT is here with support and resources for you! January is a great time for reflection on pedagogy and for learning new teaching practices. In this month’s newsletter, we feature opportunities for professional development coming up: CUNY Central OAA’s Innovative Pedagogy team is offering their very popular Growth Mindset workshop and we at OFDIT are offering our Open and Active Video workshop. In other news, we share an exciting announcement about Blackboard Ally at SPS. Finally, don’t miss a fabulous video introduction to the resources and faculty support available through OFDIT’s Media Studio! Sit back, press play, and enjoy the tour!

We wish you a wonderful break and all the best in the coming year!

Faculty Professional Development Opportunities

In January 2023, CUNY Central OAA’s Innovative Pedagogy Team will offer a learning mindset course for 100 CUNY faculty from all CUNY schools. This 2-week, 15-hour asynchronous course will be online and run January 12-27, 2023. In this course, designed and led by the University of Virginia’s Motivate Lab, full and part-time faculty are invited to further explore evidence-supported tools and techniques that can help students succeed. The discussion portion of the course will be facilitated by Motivate Lab experts and the CUNY Faculty Mindset Fellows who have been chosen based on their experience with learning mindsets.

If you are interested in participating in the course, submit the following form by the end of Friday, December 16: Motivating Learners Course (MLC): Starting Strong — Mindset Course

Selected participants will be notified by Thursday, December 22. For any questions, email CUNY Central OAA’s Mari Watanabe-Rose and Dominique DiTommaso at CUNYMindset@cuny.edu

Blackboard Ally

We’re excited to announce that starting with courses in the Winter/Spring 2023 semester, Ally for LMS, an accessibility tool, will be available for CUNY SPS courses in Blackboard. Ally will be launched in all course sites on January 3rd, 2023.

Ally provides instructors with guidance on how to correct accessibility issues with digital course content. For students, the tool provides access to alternative content formats for a variety of devices and assistive technologies.

See Blackboard’s Ally support page for more details and links to helpful resources for instructors, or watch the recording of the Ally instructor training from November 2022.

Questions regarding Ally can be directed to

Instructors: Faculty Support at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu
Students: Office of Student Disability Services at disabilityservices@sps.cuny.edu

Open and Active Video Workshop

Looking to increase student engagement and lesson effectiveness? Don’t miss the hands-on SPS Open & Active Video Workshop, Monday, January 9 to Monday, January 23, 2023.

This workshop combines the pedagogical why and the practical how to help you generate an interactive video to use in your courses. We start by identifying a course need that can be addressed by the addition of multimedia content presented in an active learning context. Then we’ll train you on how to script, record, and edit your video, adding interactive elements. In the second week, you’ll work independently (with our support) to create the video and accompanying activity.

Thanks to the SPS OER Initiative, eligible faculty participants will be paid for 7 Non-Teaching Adjunct hours upon successful completion of the workshop. To be eligible, faculty must be first-time participants in the workshop, be within their workload restrictions with an additional 7 NTA hours in the semester they complete the workshop, and have approval from their Academic Director.

See the full workshop description including learning objectives and workshop requirements on our Advanced Workshops page.

Registration is open through Wednesday, January 4: https://forms.gle/nBWwT62HLYge3doB8

OFDIT Media Studio

As most of us are teaching online, it may not surprise you to learn that student engagement and satisfaction increase when students feel a sense of connection, or ‘human touch,’ in an online environment. Using instructor-created video has a particular strength in conveying social connections across vast distances. For this reason, at SPS we encourage faculty to add video elements to their courses to build a stronger community of learners. The OFDIT Media Team is here to support you by helping with all aspects of video production, especially time-consuming technical aspects, so that you can focus on creating content and connection.

To learn more, watch our studio orientation to see how we help:

Faculty Corner: Grade Center Tip

The Blackboard Grade Center has several tools that help manage your course grades. In my BUS 325, Principles of MIS course, I use the Grade Center’s color coding feature to get a “birds-eye” view of my assignments and the entire class. With just a glance at the Grade Center, this feature lets me see if a student needs additional help with a topic, is struggling in the course, or if the class is struggling with a particular assignment. I’ve set up color coding to display high or low scores and the status of a grade. To get started with Color Coding in the Grade Center, I’ve prepared this brief tutorial. – Curtis Izen, Online Business Programs

Call for Faculty Corner Submissions

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

January 19, 2023

OFDIT Newsletter November 2022

November 2022

Dear Faculty,

Winter is coming! As you cozy up with your hot beverage of choice, we invite you to read this month’s newsletter and catch up on the latest OFDIT and CUNY-wide news.

First, we share information about the many faculty development opportunities that are taking place soon, including the CUNY IT conference, the Teaching Matters series, and events from the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy.

Please read on for tips on setting up your Final Grades column, as well as information about our captioning and transcription service which we encourage you to use for the instructional videos in your course.

Speaking of videos, we invite you to watch Dr. Jennifer Sparrow, CUNY SPS’ Interim Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, speak with Jeffrey Yan of the Digication Scholars Conversation Podcast. Last but certainly not least, don’t miss this month’s Faculty Corner! In this video, Dr. Linda Paradiso talks with OFDIT’s Matt Lewis about the benefits of incorporating reflective learning opportunities into your course.

Thank you for reading and happy sipping!

Faculty Professional Development Opportunities

The CUNY IT Conference, whose theme this year is “The Power and Perils of Scripting,” will be taking place in-person at John Jay College from December 1-2, 2022.

CUNY SPS speakers include conference co-chair Bronwen Stine (IT), as well as Tara Barca, Joe Foy, Ed Knox (all of Business) and Ruru Rusmin (OFDIT), who will be presenting “Paving the Path: Online Course Frameworks for Consistent, Frictionless Curriculum Delivery.” To register for this free event, please visit the CUNY IT Conference Events page.

Continue expanding your instructional practice with events from the Innovative Teaching Academy (ITA) as well as the Teaching Matters Series. Upcoming workshops include:

Teaching Matters: Modeling Your Assignments after Your Own Writing Practices with Karen Miller. Friday, December 2, 2022, 10 – 11 AM ET. Register here.
Community Inside and Outside of the Classroom (Online). Friday, December 2, 2022, 12—1:30 PM. Register here.
Not the Master’s Tools: Building Community in the Classroom (Online). Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 4—5 PM. Register here .
Equity through Creativity: Examples of Transformative Teaching Across Disciplines (Online). Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 4—5 PM. Register here.

Training is also available on Ally, a Blackboard tool which evaluates content uploaded into a course and provides instructors with steps on how to improve the accessibility of that file. In addition, Ally provides students with multiple formats of the original content so students can select a format which best fits their needs.

Friday, December 2nd – 12:00-2:00pm. Register here (Registration closes November 30th)
Tuesday, December 6th – 12:00-2:00 pm. Register here (Registration closes December 4th)

Open Pedagogy in the Teaching Matters Series

On Friday, September 16 from 2 PM – 3 PM, Shawna Brandle from Kingsborough Community College will present “Choosing Your Own Adventure: Increasing Student Engagement with Open Pedagogy.” For more details and to register, click here! To read more about Teaching Matters offerings, or to submit a proposal for a workshop, please see Teaching Matters – The City University of New York.

Calculating Final Grades Using Total Points or Weighted Total

Blackboard allows you to use Total Points or Weighted Total to calculate your final grades.

The Total Points column is created by default in Blackboard. The Total points column will calculate final grades by simply adding up all the points a student earned. If you have selected “Calculate as Running Total” and percentage as the Primary Display for the column, the total points the student has earned is divided by the total points possible for their graded work, displaying the student’s average grade on the work they have submitted. If a student has missed an assignment submission, this average won’t be affected unless you enter a manual grade for them in that column.

The Weighted Total column calculates a final grade based on the respective percentages assigned to categories or individual columns. The final grade is calculated independently of the points assigned to each graded item. It is important to note that the Weighted Total column is created by default in Blackboard, but it is empty unless you set it up.

Please keep in mind that you can change the format in which grades are displayed in both the Total and Weighted Total columns. When you change the Primary Display, this is the format that appears in the Grade Center and My Grades area for students. When you change the Secondary Display, this is only visible to you as the instructor in the Grade Center. Students do not see a secondary display. We recommend changing your Secondary Display to either SPS Undergrad Letter or SPS Grad Letter, whichever is appropriate, as this converts the final grade into the appropriate letter grade which you’ll have to enter into CUNYfirst.

Please visit our quick guides for further Grade Center help, or contact us for any questions!

Captioning Videos in SPS Courses

This may not be a big surprise to the SPS community, but captioning a video benefits everyone. At SPS we would like every video added to a course to have captions and/or a full transcript. SPS has contracted a professional captioning service, 3Play Media, to make the addition of captions as easy as possible. Recently, OFDIT updated our caption request form to allow for multiple video submission pathways.

No matter the location (YouTube, Panopto, Dropbox, etc.), you may submit videos used in SPS courses for professional captioning. You may also submit dual language videos (Spanish/English) for captioning. You can even submit videos for captioning that you did not create, such as YouTube links created by a 3rd party.

Get your videos captioned today using the OFDIT Caption Request Form. Please bookmark this link and in the future, when you need a video captioned, you’ll know where to go to get professional captions!

Dr. Jennifer Sparrow interviewed for the Digication Scholars Conversation Podcast

In this episode, “How to Make the Student Experience Better with Outcome-Driven A ssessment” on the Digication Scholars Conversation podcast, Jeffrey Yan chats with Dr. Jennifer Sparrow on topics such as outcome-driven education with an emphasis on the use of teaching and learning technologies to improve the student experience.

Highlights include:

The Need For Outcome-Based Education
Use of Technologies in Education (Teaching and Learning) for Improving the Student Experience
The Benefits of Going Online with Educational Technology
Measuring the Student Experience Through an Outcome-Driven Assessment

And more…

Faculty Corner Discussion on Reflective Learning

In our first ever Faculty Corner video, Dr. Linda Paradiso speaks to Matt Lewis about the use of reflective learning in the Nursing Organizational Leadership Program. Click on the image to view the video.

Call for Faculty Corner Submissions

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

September 16, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter September 2022

September 2022

Dear faculty,

We hope your semester is off to a great start!

In this month’s newsletter we share info about OER and Open Pedagogy opportunities you might be interested in, as well as our full schedule of faculty trainings for Fall. Whatever online teaching skill you want to pick up next, we’ve got you covered! And remember, Faculty Support Virtual Drop-In Hours are every Tuesday 3-4 pm via this Zoom link.

Open & Active Video Workshop Registration Extended through Friday!

Register by Friday, September 16, at noon

Looking to increase student engagement and lesson effectiveness? Don’t miss the hands-on Open & Active Video Workshop, Monday, September 19 to Monday, October 3, 2022.

This workshop, sponsored by the CUNY-SPS OER Initiative, involves one week of asynchronous discussions on the pedagogical role of video, active learning, and OER, and training on how to create a video. In the second week participants create a video activity to complement the materials in their courses. See the full workshop description including learning objectives and workshop requirements on our Advanced Workshops page. Eligible faculty who complete the OAV Workshop are compensated with 7 NTA hours and are eligible for OER Initiative funding to create an additional video during the semester.

Registration extended through Friday, September 16, at noon: https://forms.gle/nBWwT62HLYge3doB8

Open Pedagogy in the Teaching Matters Series

OER and Open Pedagogy

(Oct 17-20, 2022)

October is a big month for the Open community. OpenEd22 takes place Oct. 17- 20 online. This is a great conference for anyone interested in OER or Open Pedagogy, with talks from experts in the field, higher ed leadership, open activists, and faculty sharing their experiences of implementing, revising or creating OER with their students. Early registration rates run until Thursday, Sept. 15 & the CUNY SPS OER Initiative can support a few early registration fees for part-time faculty. If interested, please contact Sarah Kresh (sarah.kresh@cuny.edu).

Our OER & Open Pedagogy Workshop for SPS Faculty runs Monday, October 24 to Sunday, November 6, 2022. This workshop introduces the theory and tools that support OER and Open Pedagogy in online courses. Extending on the content of past sessions, this workshop is open to all SPS faculty, even those who’ve previously completed the OER Workshop or who’ve developed OER or ZTC courses. If you’re interested in creating materials with your students, giving them a more authentic way of demonstrating their learning, or simply replacing expensive materials with ZTC content and activities, this is the workshop for you!

Eligible faculty who complete the OER & Open Pedagogy Workshop are compensated with 7 NTA hours thanks to the CUNY SPS OER Initiative. More information and eligibility criteria can be found on our SPS Faculty Community Site’s Advanced Workshops page.

Registration open through Monday, October 17: https://forms.gle/SVZJuSVHxyRh4yYs8

We’ll be offering a short intro to OER and Open Pedagogy in early October as well, so if you are curious about the subject but would like to know more before enrolling in a two-week workshop, check out the Fall Trainings listed below.

Fall Trainings for SPS Faculty

Panopto for SPS Faculty

Creating video content just got a whole lot easier! Whether you need to record a welcome message, a lecture, or a recorded announcement for your class, Panopto, the SPS video platform integrated into Blackboard, can make it happen in a few clicks. Participants will learn how to access Panopto and its features through Blackboard, focusing on a workflow to create, organize, and publish your video content. Special attention will be paid to viewing permissions, sharing content between courses, and captioning. Join us to boost your video skills!

Weds, September 21, 4-5pm (Register Here)
Thurs, September 29, 10-11am (Register Here)
Tues, October 18, 1-2pm (Register Here)
Weds, October 19, 4-5pm (Register Here)

A Cut Above: Making Your Videos More Professional

Learn simple steps to present yourself on video to enhance your connection with your students by looking more professional. Nowadays, we have multiple opportunities to be on camera for synchronous virtual meetings or recording content for our classes. Having your students see and hear you builds rapport and sparks excitement for learning. No matter if you’re trying this for the first time or have been creating media for a while, this session we’ll give you a set of guides to make your videos look more professional.

Fri, September 30,10-11am (Register Here)
Thurs, October 20, 4-5pm (Register Here)

Personalizing Your Panopto Video

As many of us have learned, using Panopto to create a video is a simple process. But many of us have yet to unlock the powerful features inside Panopto that can transform video to maximize its impact. In this session, participants will look inside the Panopto video editor to discover tools for trimming or cutting video, adding additional content (ex. YouTube videos), or challenging students with in-video quizzes. Finally, we’ll review Panopto’s robust viewer analytics that tells us who has watched the video and for how long. Join us to make your next video go from good to great!

Mon, October 17, 4-5pm (Register Here)
Mon, November 14, 4-5pm (Register Here)

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

This training will introduce VoiceThread, an asynchronous video discussion board. VoiceThread allows faculty and students to create multimedia presentations that creates a classroom community through threaded audio and video discussions. You and your students can add commentary to a presentation by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or phone. The ensuing conversation feels like a live classroom, but in an online environment. In this session, SPS faculty will learn how to create a VoiceThread and integrate it into their Blackboard course.

Thurs, September 22, 10-11am (Register Here)
Tues, October 11, 4-5pm (Register Here )

Screencast-O-Matic: Effective Editing Techniques

Screencast-O-Matic (SCOM), a powerful video creating and editing tool, is available to SPS Faculty. In this session, participants will learn effective editing techniques that will direct your audience’s attention to what’s important. Used in conjunction with Panopto, the SPS video hosting platform, SCOM makes advanced editing features simple. The result, you can produce a polished video with a few simple steps.

Fri, November 11,10-11am (Register Here)
Mon, December 5, 4-5pm (Register Here)

Getting Started with Blackboard Mobile

In this session, we will explore the Blackboard Mobile application and gain an understanding of how students experience learning on the go. We will also discuss the major interface differences between Blackboard Mobile and Blackboard for Desktop and best practices for online course design for mobile devices.

Tues, September 27, 12-1pm (Register Here)
Tues, October 18, 10:30-11:30am (Register Here)

Making your Blackboard Course Content Accessible

Want to make your documents and Blackboard course content accessible but don’t know where to start? Join us for a training session to learn how! We will cover accessibility principles and provide practical tips on how to make your documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Blackboard course content (such as font, headers, images, charts, graphs, hyperlinks) accessible to all your students.

Thurs, October 27, 3-4pm (Register Here)
Thurs, November 10, 10:30-11:30am (Register Here)

Accessible Multimedia

In this session, we will discuss tools for multimedia such as Collaborate and Zoom. We will cover tips such as how to add captioning and transcription for audio and video as well as how to write alt-text for images.

Wed, November 2, 11-12pm (Register Here)
Wed, November 16, 10:30-11:30am (Register Here)

From Open Educational Resources (OER) to Open Pedagogy

In this one-hour session, we’ll introduce the why and how of OER—materials that are free and openly licensed for you or your students to reuse, retain, revise, remix, and redistribute. We’ll also explore how student-created or student-remixed OER can fulfill the goals of open pedagogy—an approach that invites students to create knowledge rather than to merely consume it. If you’re curious about OER & Open Pedagogy, but aren’t sure you want to commit to the two-week workshop, this training offers an intro to the topic and the types of projects possible in the workshop.

Frid, Oct 7, 12-1pm (Register Here)
Wed, Oct 12, 9-10am (Register Here)
Thurs, Oct 13, 5-6pm (Register Here)

ePortfolio for SPS Faculty: An Introduction

If this is the first time you are using Digication’s ePortfolio in your course or you need a quick refresher, this workshop will help both new and existing faculty get acquainted with ePortfolio. We will discuss the current practice of using ePortfolio at CUNY SPS, navigate through the tool in a course site, review the responsibilities of instructors when using ePortfolio, and showcase the various support resources available for both students and instructors. There will also be time to answer any questions you might have about ePortfolios at CUNY SPS. Click here to register for this workshop.

Thurs. Sep 29, 1-2pm
Weds. Oct 12, 10-11am
Tues. Oct 25, 6-7pm

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

September 16, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter August 2022

August 2022

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

The Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology (OFDIT) is excited to welcome you to our Fall 2022 semester! In this newsletter, we share news about our completed transition to Panopto’s video platform.

Speaking of videos, our Open & Active Video Workshop will also be offered again, starting up on Monday, Sept 19th, and we would love for you to take part. Please find details below.

As always, please feel free to reach out to us for any assistance you may need as we begin this new semester and throughout the term. Below, you will see information about our Faculty Support Drop-In Hours which we hold every Tuesday afternoon via Zoom. We welcome any and all questions you may have!

Last but not least, we kick off our Fall Faculty Corner with a useful idea shared by Curtis Izen about using an Outlook distribution list to stay in touch with your students.

Stay tuned for more information about our Fall training sessions in our next newsletter!

Panopto is Here! Updated Video Tools in Blackboard

The Panopto video platform has been fully integrated within Blackboard. In previous newsletters, we announced that our original video system, Ensemble Video, was purchased by Panopto. Over the summer OFDIT and Panopto migrated all SPS content to our new service. Faculty that were using Ensemble Video will now find their content located in their Panopto account. All links and embeds created with Ensemble Video will be maintained.

Moving forward, to ensure the best experience when using Panopto with Blackboard, all users must allow their web browsers to open pop up windows from Blackboard. When accessing Panopto from Blackboard a pop up window is needed to log in users (instructors and students). The pop up opens, logs in the user, and closes in a couple seconds. This needs to happen once per Blackboard session. We’ve documented steps you can share with your students if video playback is interrupted by a user’s browser blocking the pop up. Please visit our support site Panopto for SPS Faculty for these resources.

Please feel free to explore Panopto and its myriad of features including in-video quizzing, deep viewer analytics, and interactive transcripts, just to name a few! Access Panopto in Blackboard by clicking on the “Tools” link in the left-hand navigation menu, and then clicking on “Panopto Content.” You can also log in to the Panopto portal directly here: CUNY SPS Panopto (use your CUNYFirst login). Be on the lookout for upcoming trainings on using Panopto with your courses. In the meantime, please contact facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu for any questions related to Panopto.

Open & Active Video Workshop

Looking to increase student engagement and lesson effectiveness? Don’t miss the hands-on Open & Active Video Workshop, Monday, September 19 to Monday, October 3, 2022.

What’s more, thanks to the OER Initiative, participants can be compensated for their work. Upon successful completion of the workshop, eligible participants will be paid for 7 Non-Teaching Adjunct hours. To be eligible, faculty must be first-time participants in the workshop, be within their workload restrictions with an additional 7 NTA hours in the Fall 2022 semester, and have approval from their Academic Director. See the full workshop description including learning objectives and workshop requirements on our Advanced Workshops page.

Registration is open through Friday, September 9: https://forms.gle/nBWwT62HLYge3doB8

Faculty Support Virtual Drop-In Hours

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Office Hours every Tuesday 3-4pm via the Zoom link. An OFDIT team member will be on hand to assist with any Blackboard questions

Faculty Corner: Notifying Your Students Outside of Blackboard

“The archetypal method to send announcements or email to your entire class is through Blackboard. How would you contact your students if Blackboard was down or you are traveling and don’t want to use the Blackboard app to inform your class of important information?

I create an Outlook distribution list of my student’s SPS emails each semester by downloading the roster from CUNY First. Follow this link to learn how to Notify your Students Outside of Blackboard.“ – Curtis Izen, SPS Adjunct Faculty, Business

Wishing you a very successful Fall semester!

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

September 16, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter May 2022

May 2022

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

The Spring semester is winding down and the summer is almost upon us!

In this edition of our OFDIT newsletter, we share a short recap of this year’s Faculty Development Day and give a big thank you to all our presenters and session chairs. We also announce the migration of Ensemble to Panopto, and invite you to learn about upcoming faculty development opportunities at SPS and CUNY: a free webinar from ICAI on group collaboration online, SPS’s own Adult Learners, Andragogy, and Active Learning workshop, and the CUNY Mindset June mini-course. In addition, we highlight the benefits of becoming an Online Learning Consortium member.

At the end of our newsletter, you will find a short grading tip for the end of the semester as well as information about our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour.

Faculty Development Day Resources

Thank you again to all those who presented and participated in this year’s Faculty Development Day. The theme was Inclusive Teaching: Reaching All Students. Faculty members presented on various topics including engaging students using renewable assignments, how to use Ensemble to create video lessons, techniques when using voice and video threads, integrating self-evaluation style assignments within course design, and empowering students through language choice.

If you missed a presentation or want to catch up with colleagues’ contributions, please visit the Faculty Development Day webpage for recordings. Also, check out the padlet site where participants provided their ideas and insights on Inclusive Teaching.

Once again, thank you to all who attended and a special thanks to our presenters and session chairs!

Ensemble Video Migrating to Panopto

Our video hosting service, Ensemble Video, has been acquired by Panopto and SPS will be managing the transition over the summer. All current content, including all video, playlists, and quizzes, will be seamlessly migrated to the new service. There will be no impact on videos currently published in courses or elsewhere. Moving forward, we will refer to Panopto rather than Ensemble as the service that hosts our video content, and we will be able to take advantage of the wider range of features offered by Panopto. More details and training opportunities will be announced soon!

Free Webinar: The Changing Nature of Group Collaboration in the Online Environment (May 27th, 2022)

Sign up for the free ICAI webinar that will take place May 27th, 2022 from 12pm to 1pm: The Changing Nature of Group Collaboration in the Online Environment. The webinar will cover the nature of group work in online courses and engage participants with a discussion on creating and managing expectations throughout a group project.

Adult Learners, Andragogy, and Active Learning Workshop

OFDIT invites CUNY SPS faculty to participate in the Adult Learners, Andragogy, and Active Learning asynchronous workshop.

As an institution that primarily serves adult learners, we recognize they have unique strengths and needs that require additional support and approaches to teaching. Learn the theories, strategies, and activities that will enable you to better meet the needs of your students. When student learning needs are met, they are both successful and satisfied with their learning experience. Use this training to help improve your own teaching. If you are an instructor, a trainer, or if you are a leader who works with adult learners, this workshop is for you.

This asynchronous workshop is open now to all CUNY SPS faculty/staff. A limited amount of grant money is available for compensation to eligible adjunct faculty starting now until June 13, 2022.

For details please see: Adult Learners, Andragogy, and Active Learning Workshop

Intro to Learning Mindsets Mini Course

In June 2022, CUNY Central OAA’s Innovative Pedagogy Team will offer an Intro to Learning Mindsets course designed by the University of Virginia’s Motivate Lab. For more information about the CUNY Mindset Mini-Course, check out the flyer: Motivating Learning Mini-Course Flyer.

If you are interested in participating in the CUNY Mindset Mini-Course, please register here by Monday, May 23rd, 2022.

Online Learning Consortium Membership

The Online Learning Consortium is the leading professional organization for online educators. CUNY SPS is an institutional member of the OLC, so faculty can benefit from a number of high-quality resources and workshops. Member benefits include:

Free webinars
Member pricing on workshops ($100 savings)
Discounted pricing ($300 – $500 savings) on all OLC Certificate Programs, including Online Teaching and Advanced Online Teaching
20% discount on all OLC publications
Discounted member pricing on OLC conferences

To create a free OLC account affiliated with CUNY SPS,

Go to the Online Learning Consortium homepage and Log In
Click on “Create an Account”
Enter your email address — please use your work address so that your account will connect to your organization and its membership
Complete the profile form
Set your password – you may be asked to reset your password
Select your account to update your profile.
Once logged in, the system will now recognize you as a member and you can use your OLC Institutional member benefits.

For more information, please visit the OLC Member Resources Page.

Grading Tip: Setting Letter Grade as Secondary View

Instructors who use Weighted Total or a Total column with 100 points can choose to display the CUNY SPS Undergrad or Grad Letter Grade as the Secondary View. This does not appear to students, but it is visible to instructors so that they can type this letter grade into their CUNYfirst course roster.

Please follow the below steps to ensure your Secondary View displays the appropriate Letter Grade:

1. Go to your course’s Full Grade Center

2. Click to edit your Total or Weighted Total column, whichever is used to calculate final grades.

3. For Secondary Display, select either SPS Undergrad or SPS Grad Letter grade.

4. Click Submit.

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

As this is our last edition before the end of the Spring semester, we would like to wish you a wonderful and restful summer!

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

April 27, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter April 2022

April 2022

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

It is the home stretch for the Spring 2022 semester! We hope your classes are going smoothly.

In this edition, we invite you to participate in our upcoming “Inclusive Teaching: Reaching All Students” Faculty Development Day on May 5th, 2022. We welcome any submissions related to inclusive teaching practices and technology. Please consider submitting a proposal if you have created an OER/ZTC course or used Open Pedagogy. We look forward to reading your submissions!

We also bring to your attention some Blackboard items including Blackboard mobile application messages and course archives.

In exciting news, we provide details about the “Inclusive Zoom Practices” presentation led by OFDIT’s own Antonia Levy and Matthew Lewis, a call for nominations for the upcoming ePortfolio Showcase, and a request for faculty feedback on recognizing and rewarding teaching excellence.

Please read on to find information for the next Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group meeting and our faculty trainings.

Deadline Extended: Faculty Development Day Call for Participation

CUNY SPS OFDIT is hosting

Faculty Development Day 2022

“Inclusive Teaching: Reaching All Students”

Thursday, May 5th, 2022, 2-5pm

Virtual

Have you been experimenting with any new and inclusive teaching practices such as ungrading, assignment choices, and technology?

We would love to learn what you are doing in your courses to increase equity by actively identifying and removing barriers to learning.

Proposal topics can include:

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Accessibility
Anti-racist Pedagogy
Representation (e.g. LGBTQI+)
Alternative Assessments and Ungrading
Building Community and Connection
Culturally Inclusive Pedagogy
Pedagogy of Kindness/Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
CUNY SPS Open Showcase (OER/ZTC and Open Pedagogy)

If you have created an OER/ZTC course or used Open Pedagogy, we invite you to share that as one of the approaches to inclusive teaching. In this spirit, the inaugural CUNY SPS Open Showcase will be one of the day’s afternoon sessions.

To send in your proposal, please submit one paragraph to this short proposal form by Sunday, April 17th, 2022.

Be sure to indicate one of the three formats below and the time you would like allotted for your presentation (10, 20, 30 minute slots). We will try to accommodate requests as best we can while including as many presentations as possible.

Presentation formats:

How-to Mini-workshop/Immersive Demo (on a teaching tool or a process that works well for you)
Presentation on a teaching practice (ex., a new assignment, alternative assessments, a structure for engagement, etc.)
Student/Faculty Presentation (joint presentation that discusses teaching strategies and its impact on the student experience)

We also invite everyone to attend on May 5th, 2-5 pm!

Blackboard Mobile Application Messages

Due to a recent update to the Blackboard mobile application, the “Messages” feature is now prominently displayed in the course homepage. If your students use this feature to message you, you will only see a notification if you use Blackboard mobile.

If you do not use the Blackboard mobile app, we recommend that you either ask your students to avoid the Messages feature, or update your notification settings on desktop.

For more information on updating your notification settings, visit our Quick Guide page on Blackboard Mobile messages.

Blackboard Course Archives

Spring Break is a good moment to make an archive of your course!

We would like to remind you about creating and downloading archives of your courses on a regular basis as a recommended practice, and particularly following significant course activities such as the administration of a critical exam (such as a midterm) or the submission of important student work. We recommend downloading the archive file to personal storage at the time it is created.

For more information on creating archive files of your courses, visit our Quick Guide page on the Blackboard Archive Courses feature.

Workshop: Accessible and Engaging Class Meetings on Zoom

Matthew Lewis and Antonia Levy (OFDIT) have been selected to lead a live, virtual workshop with the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy as part of its workshop series Teaching Matters.

In this session, participants will learn about the accessibility features offered in Zoom, review best practices for leading accessible and inclusive online meetings, and discuss the implementation of these principles in their own teaching practice.

Please join them on Thursday, April 14th from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m ET.

Call for Nominations for ePortfolio Showcase

We invite you to nominate your students to the CUNY School of Professional Studies 2022 ePortfolio Student Showcase! The showcase gives students an opportunity to share their journey as an online learner at CUNY SPS. Winners receive a $100 cash prize, a digital badge, and are shared through social media feeds.

Faculty may nominate students using this link, https://bit.ly/ePFacultyApplication, by May 4, 2022. This marks the 7th year CUNY SPS has held an ePortfolio Showcase, take a look at our past winners here: ePortfolio Showcase Site .

CUNY Recognizing and Rewarding Excellence in Teaching Task Force

With the aim of prioritizing teaching and innovative pedagogy at CUNY, Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and the Office of Academic Affairs have established the CUNY Recognizing and Rewarding Excellence in Teaching Task Force.

The Members of the “Rewarding Teaching” Subcommittee is seeking feedback from instructional faculty by April 25, 2022. Please click this link to respond to a four question survey.

Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group

The Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group meeting will be Tuesday, April 26th, at 2pm. The focus will be on Chapter 1 from bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress. All are welcome! For more information, please contact Elizabeth Alsop (elizabeth.alsop@cuny.edu).

OFDIT Faculty Trainings

Making Efficient Use of Blackboard

During this session, we will cover tools which can make your grading and communication more efficient. Some of the tools we will cover include discussion boards, Needs Grading, Color Coding, Smart Views, Single Student View, Grade Reports, and the Email tool.

April 22nd – 10-11am Registration Link
May 5th – 9:30-10:30am Registration Link

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

This training will introduce VoiceThread, a collaborative, multimedia program that allows faculty (or students) to upload various media like slides, images, or video and engage the class in an enhanced discussion. You and your students can add commentary by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or phone. In this session, SPS faculty will learn how to create a VoiceThread and how to integrate it into their Blackboard course.

Friday April 29th 10am-11am Registration Link

The VoiceThread Grader

VoiceThread, an asynchronous audio/video discussion board integrated into Blackboard, can be set up for efficient grading. Join this session to learn about the three different assignment types, their advantages/disadvantages, and common obstacles students encounter. By using the assignment builder your VoiceThread will be contained inside a grading tool that aggregates student comments, provides a gallery of student work, and pushes grades to a column in the Blackboard Grade Center.

Tues April 26th 4pm-5pm Registration Link

More VoiceThread Workshops Available

If you’re interested in VoiceThread, you can find several workshops offered by VoiceThread. Please visit https://voicethread.com/workshops and review their sessions to find one fits your schedule.

Student Engagement in Online Learning

Review approaches to enhance student engagement, including different ways to present content, the role of feedback in sustaining engagement, activities to promote student interaction, active learning approaches, and connecting your course content to the real world. Discuss your engagement successes and challenges with colleagues.

Monday, May 2 – 5-6 pm Registration Link

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

March 18, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter March 2022

March 2022

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

Warmer weather is fast approaching and we hope you are enjoying the rising temperatures and longer days. In this newsletter edition, we bring to your attention the new Blackboard Archive Course Retention Policy. We share information about the CUNY-wide events our OFDIT team will participate in and other exciting events such as the Pedagogy of Kindness series (Queens College CTL), Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Courses sessions (City College CTL), and the next CUNY SPS Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group.

We also announce our next Open Spring event and share the date for our annual Faculty Development Day so you can mark your calendars!

Please also read on to find a Faculty Corner submission by Curtis Izen on grading low stakes assignments, followed by our Spring semester training sessions.

Blackboard Archive Retention Policy

Creating and saving export/archive files of your Blackboard courses for your personal records is always recommended. After creating an export/archive file, most of you know to save it to your computer or other location, though the file also remains in Blackboard. However, starting March 2022, any new faculty-created export and archive files will only remain in the Blackboard course site for 30 days after they are created. In addition, existing faculty-created course export/archive files will be automatically deleted in 90 days.

We recommend downloading the export/archive file to personal storage at the time it is created. Faculty will be alerted to the expiration date of their export/archive files when creating the file, and in the email notification that the file is ready for download. Additionally, the deletion date for export/archive files is displayed within the Blackboard course.

Please note there is no change to the storage or retention of long-term system-wide archives of CUNY’s Blackboard courses.

For more information on creating export/archive files of your courses, visit Blackboard’s Export and Archive Courses Help Page.

OFDIT Team at CUNY-wide Faculty Development Events

Our team will offer two CUNY-wide training sessions this semester, in collaboration with the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy. Please save the date – registration will be announced soon!

Teaching Matters: “Accessible and Engaging Zoom Meetings”, facilitated by Antonia Levy and Matthew Lewis – Thursday, April 14 from 11am-12pm ET
CITA Summer Series: Creating Inclusive Classrooms: “Adult Learners, Andragogy, and Active Learning”, facilitated by Vicki Caruana and Matthew Lewis – Thursday, June 16, 1:30-3pm ET

Pedagogy of Kindness (Queens College CTL)

Antonia Levy and Michelle Gastulo will lead a session of the Queens College Center for Teaching and Learning Pedagogy of Kindness Series, “A Universal Design Learning (UDL) Approach to Inclusive Teaching,” on March 16th, from 12-1:30pm ET. For more information on this session and the series, see Pedagogy of Kindness: Faculty Excellence through a UDL Approach Across CUNY. (Register here)

Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Courses (City College CETL)

City College invites CUNY faculty to two sessions on Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Courses. The first will be a teaching panel, with faculty panelists describing the queer content in their courses and how they use that content to create queer inclusive courses for LGBTQIA students. In the second session, the CCNY LGBTQ+ Student Center provides guidance on best practices for LGBTQ+ inclusivity, from the syllabus to the classroom, and where to direct students for resources.

Session 1 (3/9, 12:30-2 pm): Teaching Panel: Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Courses Register here.
Session 2 (3/16, 12:30-2 pm): Supporting LGBTQIA+ and Questioning Students Register here.

Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group
(March 22, 2pm)

The Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group meeting will be Tuesday, March 22, at 2pm. The focus will be on a chapter in the Blum Ungrading book authored by a fully online instructor, Laura Gibbs, “Let’s Talk about Grading.” All are welcome! For more information, please contact Elizabeth Alsop (elizabeth.alsop@cuny.edu).

Open & Active Video Workshop (Mar 28 – Apr 11, 2022)

The OER Initiative at CUNY SPS invites faculty to participate in the Open & Active Video Workshop, March 28 to April 11, as part of Open Spring at CUNY SPS. The Open & Active Video Workshop will be hands-on! Each participant will create an accessible OER video, enhanced with an interactive element, to address a pedagogical need in their course. Successful completion is compensated. For more information and to register, see Open Spring at CUNY SPS.

Faculty Development Day – May 5, 2022 – Save the Date

CUNY SPS OFDIT is hosting Faculty Development Day 2022 on Thursday, May 5th, 2022, 2-5pm.

The theme this year is “Inclusive Teaching: Reaching All Students,” and we would like to hear about any tools, approaches, and strategies you have employed in your courses to increase equity by actively identifying and removing barriers to learning.

Call for proposals will be sent out shortly!

Faculty Corner: Grading a Low Stakes Assignment by Curtis Izen

A low-stakes assignment may require the student to complete a task (e.g., adding a BlackBoard profile avatar), which is not included as a calculated grade. In my BUS 325 class, I accomplish this by choosing the “Complete/Incomplete” for my Primary Display (1) and typing a zero for Points Possible (2).

When a student submits the assignment and a numeric 0 is entered for the grade, it will convert to a green check symbol (√) in the Grade Center and My Grades. If the student doesn’t submit anything, that student’s grade will not change (3).

If you wish to put a notation for a missed or incomplete assignment, there is a way to achieve this. In the Primary Display, choose “Text.” If a student earns a completion, you will need to put in the ASCII equivalent of the check symbol. In the Grade Center for that student, turn on NUM Lock on your keyboard. Hold down the ALT key and type the number 251 from the numeric keypad. This will convert to a check symbol (√). If you wish to add a negative (minus) sign, it will appear as (√-). If you find yourself using this method, copying the symbol from a prior student and pasting it in the grade for the next student, etc., works well. Since this particular method is a workaround, the check symbol(√) or check minus (√-) will not appear in a green font (4).

If you have a useful or interesting pedagogical or technical tip (in 200 words or less!) that you are excited about, we would love to hear from you and add your submission to our next Faculty Newsletter! Please use our Faculty Corner Submission Form to submit your pitch.

SPS Faculty Trainings

Making your Blackboard Course Content Accessible

March 17th – 10-11am Registration Link

Getting Started with Blackboard Mobile

March 21st – 1:30-2:30pm Registration Link
April 1st – 10-11am Registration Link

Student Engagement in Online Learning

March 28 – 12-1 pm Registration Link
May 2 – 5-6 pm Registration Link

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

March 29th 4pm-5pm Registration Link
April 29th 10am-11am Registration Link

The VoiceThread Grader

April 1st 1pm-2pm Registration Link
April 26th 4pm-5pm Registration Link

More VoiceThread Workshops Available

If you’re interested in VoiceThread, you can find several workshops offered by VoiceThread. Please visit https://voicethread.com/workshops and review their sessions to find one fits your schedule.

Accessible Multimedia

April 4th – 1-2pm Registration Link
April 11th – 4-5pm Registration Link

Making Efficient Use of Blackboard

April 22nd – 10-11am Registration Link
May 5th – 9:30-10:30am Registration Link

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

March 14, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter February 2022

February 2022

The below newsletter was originally sent out in February 2022 and was not posted to the blog at that time.

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

Spring classes are in full swing and we hope they are going well! In this newsletter edition, we bring to your attention a Blackboard login issue that you or your students may experience. We share information on CUNY SPS and CUNY-wide faculty development opportunities, and announce our Spring series of faculty trainings and workshops.

Empty Course List on Blackboard Homepage

We have received a few reports from users who, when logging into Blackboard, saw “You are not currently enrolled in any courses” in the My Courses module (My Organizations is similarly empty). To resolve the issue, you can simply select “Login” in the top right hand of the Blackboard homepage. If this does not resolve the issue, we recommend clearing your browser’s cache and cookies.

Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group (February 22, 2pm)

The CUNY SPS Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group is holding its first meeting of the spring semester on Tuesday, February 22nd, at 2pm. The group will be discussing the introduction to Susan Blum’s Ungrading (West Virginia UP, 2020). For more information, a PDF of the reading, and the meeting link, please contact Elizabeth Alsop (elizabeth.alsop@cuny.edu). All are welcome!

Open Spring at CUNY SPS (Registration open now)

Join our growing community of open practitioners!

This spring the OER Initiative at SPS invites faculty to participate in two workshops, the OER & Open Pedagogy Workshop, February 28 to March 13 and the Open & Active Video Workshop, March 28 to April 11. Both workshops are open to all SPS faculty, including those who have previously completed the OER Workshop. The goal of the new OER & Open Pedagogy workshop is to deepen faculty’s awareness of open pedagogical approaches and participation in open practice with final projects shared with the SPS community in the CUNY SPS Open Showcase (details TBA) and the wider CUNY community on OpenEd CUNY. Upon successful completion of each workshop, faculty will be compensated for 7 hours at their NTA pay rate. See our Open Spring at CUNY SPS page for more info.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL, applications due March 15)

The CUNY Faculty Innovative Teaching Academy is initiating a new program to support the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). All full-time CUNY faculty at all professorial ranks are eligible to apply to 1) participate in a week-long intensive professional learning program on SoTL, 2) receive one-to-one feedback to develop a SoTL study, and 3) develop a manuscript for publication. Faculty members would receive supplemental support of $500 per individual participant. The application deadline is March 15th, 2022.

For further information, please visit this information sheet.

LaGuardia Presents the CUNY Cripping the Curriculum Showcase (applications due March 27)

LaGuardia invites all CUNY faculty to participate in the CUNY Cripping the Curriculum Showcase on May 13, 2022, from 10:30 am – 12:00 noon, by attending or presenting. Collaborations with student presenters are encouraged.

The reference to the historically derogatory term “cripple” is intentional. It draws on Crip Theory and the Crip Justice movement, which posits disability as a valuable identity and challenges the traditional understanding of disability as tragic and undesirable. Cripping points to the systemic exclusion of disabled people, especially those who are of color, members of LGBTQ+ community, linguistically diverse speakers, and those with other intersecting identities.

This event will present assignments, activities and other instructional materials that integrate issues of dis/ability in the context of social justice in teaching. We’re especially interested in forefronting course content that (1) directly addresses ableism and disability and (2) centers students’ experiences. We invite participation from full- and part-time faculty teaching in any division.

If you have already cripped your course or are planning to do so in the Spring 2022 semester, and would like to share your experiences and reflections […], please consider contributing to the Showcase. Applications due March 27th.

Queen’s College Pedagogy of Kindness Discussion Series (March-June)

The Queen’s College Center for Teaching & Learning invites all CUNY faculty to participate in their second annual Pedagogy of Kindness Discussion Series, both as discussion leaders and participants.

The Pedagogy of Kindness is an instruction style that is rooted in the care of the classroom, students, and of the educator. In the past, we have had a combination of both panels and individual faculty presenters to discuss various topics, tools, instruction styles, and so forth, that lend kindness and thoughtfulness to the classroom setting. Previous discussions have included Gamifying Multilingualism; Mindfulness in the Classroom; Trauma-Informed Teaching; Alternative Assessment Panel; Inclusivity, Engagement, and Neurodivergence; and more.

If you would like to participate as a discussion leader or presenter on any aspect of creating a kinder classroom environment, see the Call for Presenters. For more information on the Pedagogy of Kindness, see last year’s discussion series or this article that explains the philosophy of PoK. Look for updates about attending the series in future newsletters.

SPS Faculty Trainings

The New Blackboard Text Editor

You may have noticed that Blackboard’s Content Editor has undergone some changes. Join us to review the new shortcuts for the tools you know and love as well as added features that will enhance your content. This session will cover how to add images, enable spell-checker, embed videos, check accessibility, and more!

February 23rd at 12pm Registration Link
February 28th at 6pm Registration Link
March 9th at 12pm Registration Link

A Cut Above: Making Your Videos More Professional

Learn simple steps to create engaging media for your class. Many of us are finding ourselves in front of a camera for synchronous virtual meetings or recording content for our online courses. Having your students see and hear you can create a sense of connection, build rapport and spark excitement for learning through seeing your passion for the discipline. No matter if you’re trying this for the first time or have been creating media for a while, this session we’ll give you tools to make your videos look more professional.

March 1st 4pm-5pm Registration Link
March 11th 10am-11am Registration Link

Screencast-o-matic Pro: Level 1

This session will cover the basics of how to create and edit audio/video screencasts for your course using Screencast-o-matic Pro, an online tool offered by SPS. The session will demonstrate a production workflow including set up, recording, and post-production (editing). Finally, we will discuss options for captioning and sharing your newly created video.

March 4th 10am – 11am Registration Link
March 8th 4pm – 5pm Registration Link

Making your Blackboard Course Content Accessible

March 11th – 3-4pm Registration Link
March 17th – 10-11am Registration Link

Getting Started with Blackboard Mobile

March 21st – 1:30-2:30pm Registration Link
April 1st – 10-11am Registration Link

Student Engagement in Online Learning

March 28 – 12-1 pm Registration Link
May 2 – 5-6 pm Registration Link

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

March 29th 4pm-5pm Registration Link
April 29th 10am-11am Registration Link

The VoiceThread Grader

April 1st 1pm-2pm Registration Link
April 26th 4pm-5pm Registration Link

More VoiceThread Workshops Available

If you’re interested in VoiceThread, you can find several workshops offered by VoiceThread. Please visit https://voicethread.com/workshops and review their sessions to find one fits your schedule.

Accessible Multimedia

April 4th – 1-2pm Registration Link
April 11th – 4-5pm Registration Link

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

Need live faculty support? Stop by during our Faculty Support Drop-In Hour every Tuesday 3-4pm to speak to an OFDIT team member who can help.

You can access the drop-in hour session via the Zoom link.

Faculty Corner

If you have a useful or interesting pedagogical or technical tip (in 200 words or less!) that you are excited about, we would love to hear from you and add your submission to our next Faculty Newsletter! Please use our Faculty Corner Submission Form to submit your pitch.

All the best,

Your OFDIT Team

January 28, 2022

OFDIT Newsletter January 2022

January 2022

Dear CUNY SPS Faculty,

Happy New Year! We hope your Winter classes are going well and you are gearing up for the Spring semester which will be here soon. In this edition of our newsletter, we offer trainings about Blackboard’s content editor, which was upgraded after the SaaS migration, and answer frequently asked questions. We announce that Michelle Gastulo has taken over Blackboard Admin responsibilities for CUNY SPS. We also circulate an invitation to an information session about EAB Navigate, our student success system, and share our “Course Site Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty”, which you can reference when preparing your course site for the Spring 2022 semester.

Please also read on for our latest Faculty Corner submission from Curtis Izen about how to use VoiceThread as an icebreaker assignment. Thank you, Curtis!

Training Sessions on the New Content Editor

Vanessa Leonardo will be facilitating training sessions on the new content editor on the following dates. We look forward to seeing you there!

Friday, January 21st at 2pm Register Here
Monday, January 24th at 6pm Register Here
Wednesday January 26th at 10am Register Here

Blackboard’s New Content Editor FAQs

How can I remove formatting from my content?

The Content Editor will prompt you after copy and paste to keep or remove formatting. You can also clear formatting after a paste by highlighting the text and selecting the Remove Formatting icon. By selecting this option, all formatting will be removed including bullet points, numbered lists, bolding, line spacing, sizing, and italics.

How can I add files?

Click on the plus button, and a pop-up menu will allow you to insert Local Files from your computer, files from the Blackboard Content Collection, or files from Cloud Services such as OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

How can I add videos?

For videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo the upgraded Content Editor allows you to simply paste in the URL (the direct link to the video on YouTube or Vimeo) and when you hit the return or enter key, the video will be automatically embedded. For videos hosted in our Ensemble Video Platform, not much has changed. You’ll find the Ensemble integration button in the Plus (+) menu. As a general rule, we strongly discourage anyone from uploading a video file directly into Blackboard. It causes issues for students to view the video and negatively impacts the size of your course.

How can I use the spellcheck tool?

The Spellcheck tool is not automatically enabled. In the previous content editor, Spellcheck automatically underlined misspelled words in red; however, in this new editor, Spellcheck works only when you select the Spellcheck icon. A pop-up window will appear with the misspelled word and suggestions.

From the pop-up window, you can choose to change, ignore, ignore all, or close the window.

In the background of the pop-up window, you can see the word is underlined but essentially you will not see the word in context.

For further information on the Content Editor, you can reference the below guides and videos:

Quick Guide: Blackboard Content Editor
Blackboard Help: Work With Text
Video: The New Content Editor for Blackboard Learn’s Original Experience

New CUNY SPS Blackboard Administrator

Michelle Gastulo has taken over Sylvie Richards’ responsibilities as Blackboard Administrator for CUNY SPS. Michelle joined OFDIT in February 2020 as an Instructional Design Specialist. She is looking forward to continuing to assist the CUNY SPS Faculty community in her new role.

EAB Navigate Info Session for Faculty and Advisors

The offices of Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management and Student Services invite you to a webinar to learn about how CUNY SPS is using the EAB Navigate student success management system to help faculty and advisors communicate with students and with each other. In this session you will learn about:

EAB Navigate progress reports
Changes for Spring 2022 based on user feedback
How to open alerts for at-risk students and how to give kudos

When: Friday, February 4, 2022, noon-1PM
Where: https://eab.zoom.us/j/94552221358

Course Site Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty

Please reference our Course Site Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty which contains information on what you should update in your course sites for the new Spring 2022 semester. The checklist contains links to Blackboard Help pages for further assistance.

Faculty Corner: Using VoiceThread to Break the Ice

One of the challenges with online pedagogy is students and instructors going through the entire course without knowing their classmates. In my BUS 325 Principles of MIS course, everyone has an opportunity to see, hear and learn from their peers. An effective way to accomplish this is through VoiceThread, an asynchronous video discussion tool.

In week one I ask students to make a video comment and introduce themselves via their webcam. It also allows those who may not be comfortable speaking in front of a camera to break out of their comfort zone. Since VoiceThread integrates with BlackBoard and uses a web platform, no download is required and it works on Windows and Apple platforms.

Next, students watch and listen to their classmate’s video comments. They are required to reply to one or more video comments using either audio or video. I appreciate how this creates relationships among students. I’ve seen them make connections from prior classes, working in the same company, living in the same town, and more.

Using VoiceThread for this initial assignment generates implausible enthusiasm among the students. They have a sense of belonging and are ultimately more engaged throughout the course.

All the best,
Your OFDIT Team

January 2023

December 2022

November 2022

September 2022

August 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

Blackboard Archive Retention Policy

OFDIT Team at CUNY-wide Faculty Development Events

Pedagogy of Kindness (Queens College CTL)

Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Courses (City College CETL)

Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group (March 22, 2pm)

Open & Active Video Workshop (Mar 28 – Apr 11, 2022)

Faculty Development Day – May 5, 2022 – Save the Date

Faculty Corner: Grading a Low Stakes Assignment by Curtis Izen

SPS Faculty Trainings

Faculty Support Drop-In Hour

February 2022

January 2022

Training Sessions on the New Content Editor

Blackboard’s New Content Editor FAQs

New CUNY SPS Blackboard Administrator

EAB Navigate Info Session for Faculty and Advisors

Course Site Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty

Faculty Corner: Using VoiceThread to Break the Ice

Reflective Pedagogy Reading Group
(March 22, 2pm)