Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources Academic Innovation works in partnership with faculty and students to deliver a world-class education. The Academic Innovation team has prepared the following resources for faculty and students to create unique teaching and learning experiences for all modes of course delivery.

Embrace Flexible Learning

During this pandemic, we have learned how the class mode of delivery can change during the semester. Our team can assist you to adopt a flexible course design to deliver your teaching in all modalities.

1
Flexible Course Design

Learn about 5 flexible teaching and learning activities you can facilitate in your course.

2
Faculty Panel

A panel of faculty will share their lessons learned from Fall 2021 and how they adjusted their course design strategy and teaching practices to focus on improving the student’s learning experience, enhancing communication, and creating empathy with their students. Join us on Zoom!

3
Best Practices for Teaching Online - Faculty Guide

Tips and resources on best practices for teaching online.

4
Best Practices for Student Cameras in Virtual Spaces

A quick guide to set expectations for use of cameras in virtual spaces.

5
On-Demand Video Tutorials

1-5 minute video tutorials that cover the basics and best practices for using digital tools like Zoom, Blackboard, Adobe, and more.

6
FERPA

If you plan on recording any of your classes or other educational events, review the Student Privacy in Virtual Classrooms policy and the decision tree to help determine whether you need your students’ to fill out a student consent form, as once you capture any student names, voice, image, it's most likely a FERPA record.


Prepare the Online Start of the Semester

The spring semester will start virtually with most scheduled classes meeting online for three weeks. Faculty scheduled to teach a face-to-face or hybrid class can refer to the following resources to start their courses online and smoothly transition to the regular format once the COVID emergency ends.

1
Announcement Draft for Temporary Online Course Delivery

List of resources available to students to get familiar with the online environment.

2
Flexible Teaching Consultation

Schedule a one-on-one appointment with one of our Teaching, Learning & Digital Transformation Consultants to discuss strategies for your course design.

3
Lessons Learned from Fall 2021

Coming soon.


Create Accessible Learning

Being able to access all content is a key component for student success. Consider the following resources to make sure your course is accessible despite the mode of delivery of your class.

1
Digital Accommodations in an Online Learning Environment

Quick information on meeting learner accommodations.

2
Syllabus Schedule Accessibility Checklist

Checklist for basic readability, colors, tables, and hyperlinks.

3
Accessibility Quick Tips Guide

Quick guidelines to create accessible content.

4
Caption Support Services

Request a caption support service for your course.

5
Personalized Consultations

The Digital Accessibility team is available for personalized consultations to provide a solution for your or your students’ needs.


Improved Course Design

A well-organized and intuitive course design supports student learning. Whether your course format will be impacted by the online start or not, we have prepared for you specific resources for the course design process.

1
Teaching Support Hours

Office hours with our team of Instructional Designers to cover different topics, from Blackboard essentials to strategies for gamification and more in Blackboard.

2
Checklist for Online Course Design

Based on internationally recognized standards for quality courses, provides a six-week, step-by-step process with instructions and resources to help you prepare your course following best practices for alignment, instructor presence and student engagement.

3
Course Syllabi Instructions and Templates

A syllabi template for each of the class modalities offered in Spring 2022.

4
OER at UTSA

The UTSA Libraries offers no-cost and low-cost course materials to help your students succeed in online or hybrid modalities.

5
Workshops

List of workshops for faculty professional development focused on effective teaching practices, educational innovation and digital fluency.


Support

Visit the System Alerts page to find out the latest on system status and maintenance.

24/7 Blackboard Support

  • Phone: Call 210-458-4520 and press option 1 to access Blackboard Support anytime.
  • Email: Blackboard Support can be emailed directly at utsa@edusupportcenter.com (for faster service, please use your UTSA email account)
  • Self Help Portal : Live chat; create a case; access Bb knowledgebase articles (log in for full experience)
  • Blackboard Support Virtual Consultation: Book a virtual appointment with a Blackboard Support Specialist for a 30-minute consultation, Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Click on the  book a consultation link  to get started.
Tech Support
University Technology Solutions
Support Hours:
Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Flexible Teaching Support
Academic Innovation
Support Hours:
Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Faculty Champions and Faculty Mentoring

Reach out to:

  • Faculty Champions - faculty who are experienced with teaching online and are willing to help their fellow faculty
  • Faculty Mentoring - UTSA Faculty Success champions several initiatives and programs to support faculty at all stages and prepare excellent mentors to ensure that all faculty benefit from their peers.

Tools & Resources

Check Your Tech

Make sure that your computer is kept up to date and has Google Chrome for increased Blackboard compatibility. It’s free, and available for Apple's Mac OS, Windows PCs, and most mobile devices.

If you use a UTSA issued laptop or tablet, please bring it on campus and connect to our network so it can be updated. It should be noted that this process may take a few hours depending on the number of updates that need to be installed. If you require assistance, contact University Technology Solutions at 210-458-5555 or techcafe@utsa.edu For more, review this list of available resources to assist with working and learning remotely. 

Accessibility

FERPA and Classroom Recordings

The U.S. Department of Education recently provided guidance to schools and colleges regarding the sudden transition to distance learning due to the COVID-19 outbreak and issues of student privacy covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). To ensure FERPA compliance in virtual classrooms and other educational recordings, please review the following UTSA guidelines.

Video Conferencing Tools

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Support / User Guide

Simple video solution in Bb for hosting live classes/lectures, discussions, virtual office hours, with up to 200 students or one-on-one

Zoom

Support / User Guide

Zoom is a video meeting platform that is now available for free to all UTSA faculty, staff and students.

Content Creation Tools

Blackboard Learn

Support / User Guide

UTSA’s Learning Management System (LMS) and your primary tool for teaching and sharing your course content online

Qwickly

Support / User Guide

Qwickly is available on the Blackboard landing page, requires no installation or setup to get started, and makes it easier for you to manage the Blackboard courses you teach. Post announcements, send email, create content, and more to multiple courses at one time.

Panopto

Easy-to-use software for recording, editing, and captioning asynchronous videos that integrates with Bb

Video Production

Offers instructional and informational video production

Adobe Creative Cloud

Support / User Guide

This set of applications and services provides access to a suite of graphic design, video editing, web development and photography software. Creative Cloud Express is a great one to start with. It's an easy to use design app that allows users to easily create interactive and engaging content with minimal time and effort.

Interactive Tools

PlayPosit

Support

Interactive video solution in Bb that allows students to learn at their own pace, while allowing for tracking, embedded quizzes, and engagement that can by synced to your gradebook.

Padlet

Support / User Guide

Visually appealing, interactive discussion board solution in Bb that allows students to respond to their peers and collaborate beyond words/text.

SoftChalk Cloud

Support

The latest version of SoftChalk is a web-based application which allows you to easily create existing course materials into interactive and engaging e-learning content with minimal time, effort, and resources.

iClicker Cloud

Support / User Guide

A polling Student Response System (SRS) that enables instructors to ask questions, gather student responses, display those responses in real-time, grade responses and sync them to your gradebook.

Assessment Tools

Respondus

Support / User Guide

An exam solution for PC users that allows for the creation and management of exams using a familiar Windows environment, to publish into Bb.

Proctorio

24/7 Support: Faculty, Students / User Guide

An academic integrity software solution in Bb with state-of-the-art facial detection technology and a robust suite of fully automated software. Its remote monitoring platform ensures end-to-end learning integrity before, during, and after the assessment.

Unicheck

Support / User Guide

A plagiarism detection software solution in Bb used to prevent dishonest formatting and character substitutions.

Resources