Reminders

• Student End-of-Course Survey: The  College of Health will be using a tool that was created by the College of Engineering this semester for student course evaluations instead of Qualtrics. An email was sent from the Dean's office on 11/12.

• Blackboard: Spring 2026 Blackboard courses (202601) have been created by UAA IT and are set to "instructor choice." To convert to Blackboard Ultra, click the orange pencil icon at the top of your course to “Experience the New Learn” then click “Try the Ultra Course View.” It will take a few minutes for the course to convert to Ultra; then delete unnecessary content items such as empty modules and links to Student and Instructor help (the help links already appear on the right side of your Ultra course).Before you open the course to students, you must confirm your choice by clicking the button on the bottom of your screen to "Use the Ultra Course."  Learn more about Blackboard Ultra at UAA and see my Blackboard Ultra Getting Started document.

  • Navigating Blackboard: What’s Changing and Why and more from the Anthology Community

• Foxit: There is a new version of Foxit PDF Editor that we need to install. Go to your computer Settings, Apps, Installed Apps, and uninstall Foxit PDF Editor.  Reboot. Then go to the Software Center (type "Software Center" in your computer's search bar) and install the new version. Call IT for help. 

• eWolf ePortfolio support:  Visit the Help with eWolf site and find informational videos for Faculty and Students on UA MediaSpace (Kaltura).  For technical support with ePortfolio for teaching or P&T, contact the Instructional Media Studio at uaa_instructionalmedia@alaska.edu or book a session on the Media Studio appointment calendar. For support with the requirements for P&T portfolios, contact Faculty Success at uaa_facultysuccess@alaska.edu.

• Register for training from the UAA Faculty Success Office

  • Training for Teaching Online (RSI)

  • Training for Blackboard Ultra

  • Training to Make your Content Accessible 

• UAA's Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) policy requires faculty to clearly explain how RSI is met within each online "no set time" course. Your syllabus should clearly state that the course has no set meeting times and explain how you will provide regular and substantive interaction with students. Go to the RSI page of this site for examples and to learn more.

• Want to use Honorlock for remote proctoring?  Faculty must register each semester to use Honorlock. If you have any questions about remote proctoring or need help with Honorlock, email uaa_design@alaska.edu.

• Take advantage of our amazing resources and staff at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. See their Services for Faculty & Staff page and reach out for more information. 

• UAOnline continues to be updated. Visit the UAOnline Updates site for information and watch this video for how to enter final grades.

• Resources for new COH faculty: Faculty onboarding and COH syllabus checklist

• If you have weird issues in Chrome or Firefox, clear your browser cache (Chrome and Firefox)!

• Read about file storage options at UAA. This article will walk you through how to Free up Storage Space Google Workspace. 

• Review these University of Alaska Artificial Intelligence resources, then scroll down this page for more AI resources

• • Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) at UA 

  • Generative AI Security Standard | Office of Information Technology 

Accessibility of Course Content

• Course content in Blackboard must be accessible. Review COH Accessibility Training to learn more. 

• How do you know if content is accessible? Use accessibility checker tools like Foxit, Word, PowerPoint, and Ally to help you determine if content is accessible. You can use Ally Accessibility Course Reports  in Blackboard to help you find and prioritize needed changes. (To find the Ally Course Report: Go to your Ultra course, click Books and Tools, Accessibility Report or  in your Original course, click Course Tools, Accessibility Report. ) Some content needs to be checked manually (see the COH Accessibility Checklist). Bottom line: Make sure that there is more than one way to get the information (e.g., podcast with transcript, text and color to identify stop/go, image with description).

• Kaltura is UA's media server. I recommend uploading the videos you make to Kaltura to make them accessible. Remember that your Zoom recordings automatically go into your Kaltura account. Access Kaltura from Blackboard Tools (UAA Kaltura Browse, Search, Embed) or UA Mediaspace. Learn more: Kaltura at UAA and Creating Videos.

• UA Grackle Docs is used to check accessibility of Google Docs, Slides, etc. See Accessibility @ UAA: Grackle Docs (video). 

UAA Key Teaching Resources

• Academic Catalog

• Other UAA Academic Policies

• Curriculum (find your official course student learning outcomes)

• COH Syllabus Checklist incorporates the official UAA Syllabus guidance with additional recommendations for creating an effective course syllabus

• College of Health Faculty Onboarding Checklist and Staff Onboarding Checklist can be found on the COH Intranet