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!

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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.

• Ally for Students in Blackboard Learn (Video – 0:45)
• Ally Quick Start for Students
• Alternative Formats in Ally
• Student FAQs about Ally

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

 

 

 

 

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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

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!

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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

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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

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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

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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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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

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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!

 

 

 

 

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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.

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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

 

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!

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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)

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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.

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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!

• Calculating Final Grades Using Total Points
• Calculating Final Grades Using Weighted Total

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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!

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Dr. Jennifer Sparrow interviewed for the Digication Scholars Conversation Podcast

In this episode, “How to Make the Student Experience Better with Outcome-Driven Assessment” 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…

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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!

 

 

 

 

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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.

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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