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.
Learn about 5 flexible teaching and learning activities you can facilitate in your course.
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!
Tips and resources on best practices for teaching online.
A quick guide to set expectations for use of cameras in virtual spaces.
1-5 minute video tutorials that cover the basics and best practices for using digital tools like Zoom, Blackboard, Adobe, and more.
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.
List of resources available to students to get familiar with the online environment.
Schedule a one-on-one appointment with one of our Teaching, Learning & Digital Transformation Consultants to discuss strategies for your course design.
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.
Quick information on meeting learner accommodations.
Checklist for basic readability, colors, tables, and hyperlinks.
Quick guidelines to create accessible content.
Request a caption support service for your course.
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.
Office hours with our team of Instructional Designers to cover different topics, from Blackboard essentials to strategies for gamification and more in Blackboard.
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.
A syllabi template for each of the class modalities offered in Spring 2022.
The UTSA Libraries offers no-cost and low-cost course materials to help your students succeed in online or hybrid modalities.
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.
Faculty Champions and Faculty Mentoring
- 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
- Include a Student Disability Services statement within your course. Consider accessibility for all students, not just those who require accommodations.
- Understand the Essentials of Course Accessibility.
- Review these Digital Accommodation Resources.
- Make sure your students know about ReadSpeaker, a free text-to-speech tool available to all Roadrunners.
- Visit Student Disability Services for more.
- Contact our digital learning accessibility experts by emailing digitalaccessibility@utsa.edu or dropping by during their virtual office hours.
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
Simple video solution in Bb for hosting live classes/lectures, discussions, virtual office hours, with up to 200 students or one-on-one
Zoom
Zoom is a video meeting platform that is now available for free to all UTSA faculty, staff and students.
Content Creation Tools
Blackboard Learn
UTSA’s Learning Management System (LMS) and your primary tool for teaching and sharing your course content online
Qwickly
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
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Contact Panopto 7:00am to 7:00pm CST (855-765-2341)
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After-hours phone support (1-855-765-2341)
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Go to trainer office hours! Just click the links below to join.
Video Production
Offers instructional and informational video production
Adobe Creative Cloud
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
Padlet
Visually appealing, interactive discussion board solution in Bb that allows students to respond to their peers and collaborate beyond words/text.
SoftChalk Cloud
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
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
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
A plagiarism detection software solution in Bb used to prevent dishonest formatting and character substitutions.
Resources
Library Resources
- Open Educational Resources
- Online Services and Library FAQs
- Request Library Instruction and Add Librarians to Blackboard
- Faculty Course Reserve Request
- Licensed, free and fee-based streaming media you can use in your classes
