New Blackboard Support Model!

UNC Instructional Designers and Technical Support Center (TSC) have formed a team to take care of Blackboard support needs at UNC. Calls for Blackboard support to the TSC (970-351-4357) will be recorded and immediately triaged to the best resource to resolve the issue. Beginning September 28th for a two to three week period, Instructional Designers (ID) will rotate into the Technical Support Center to respond to Blackboard calls. When an ID is not physically in the Center, one will be “on call” and readily available to assist with BB support during normal working hours. This support model will be monitored and evaluated for its performance and faculty satisfaction along the way. With time this model will become the long-term solution for Blackboard support; making it a more robust and reliable resource for UNC faculty and staff.

September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month, and October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month

We are currently in September, which is National Campus Safety Awareness month. The main goal of NCSA month is to create awareness on campus about how to make sure that its students, faculty, and staff exist in a safe environment. NCSA month emphasizes that the best way to create awareness for campus safety is through collaboration; between the different campus populations of faculty, staff, and students. For more information, please visit www.ncsam.org. October is upcoming, which is National Cyber Security Awareness month. One main element that is being emphasized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this year is that file-sharing can be dangerous. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs (e.g. sharing music, games, or software) you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files; even give them access to private folders. File-sharing can be an excellent method for viruses to infect your computer. This information and more about file-sharing is contained on table tents and post cards that will be deployed around campus. For more about cyber security, please visit UNC’s cyber security website.

Academic Alert, Which Helps Faculty Alert Advisors of Struggling Students, is now Live!

Currently, a new software program went live this past week that will assist faculty and advisors with struggling students. From the 3rd week through the end of the 4th week of the semester, the faculty will be able to use this reporting tool to help them identify struggling students to academic advisors. Academic Alert is a new program that can be found under the “Faculty” tab in URSA. When faculty open the Academic Alert channel, they will see all of their classes listed. Under each class, certain students will already be identified for the faculty as potentially “at-risk” students. This will be based on their enrollment status (e.g. first-time students, student athletes, and students already on academic probation). Faculty can then specify what is going on, if anything, with a brief synopsis under the students’ name. Academic Support & Advising runs a report frequently that will show which students were identified by faculty through this program, and then intervene appropriately. This new tool should be a helpful way to identify and reach out to students whom may need help to realize academic success. Please see above for screen shots of what you will see once inside Academic Alert.

Improvements in the New Version of Grader!

There is a new version of Grader that will be piloted soon. A few new features are available in this new version. The first new feature is called single sign on functionality; which means that once you have signed into Ursa, you do not need to sign in again to Grader; simply click the Grader tab to gain access. Another feature includes being able to look at previous semesters of Grader materials as they accumulate; you will be able to look at the four most recent semesters. The upgrade also advances the help that you receive when you are in the Grader application; help documentation is integrated into the application to better assist you with questions you may have. Finally, navigating the Grader tab has never been easier; many steps have been taken so that this upgrade delivers an improvement in finding what you need in Grader! If you are interested in being a member of the pilot group and helping determine the go-live date for the new version of Grader, please contact Bret Naber, the director of Applications Development and Database Support, at Bret.naber@unco.edu.