News: Summer 2026
News: Summer 2026
Embedded Files
Training Opportunities
Training Opportunities
The next Quality Matters Improving your Online Course workshop is scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, June 9 & 11 from 10 am-2 pm: register for the June IYOC
UAA Faculty Success training courses
Video training resources for faculty and staff
UAA Teaching Academy recordings organized into playlists: Teaching Academy Kaltura Channel
UAA Faculty Success playlists (Accessibility, Blackboard, and more): UAA Instructional Design - YouTube
UAA Disability Support Services videos: DSS YouTube Channel
Blackboard playlist: Instructors: Blackboard Ultra
Blackboard Ultra Resources and Reminders
Blackboard Ultra Resources and Reminders
Blackboard Ultra Student Help and Blackboard Ultra Instructor Help and What's New
UAA Faculty Success: Teaching Tips in Bb Ultra
Learning Tools Interoperability or LTI is a common way to connect publisher content to Blackboard courses. For new integrations, submit an IT ticket at the same time as you adopt textbooks. UAA IT needs as much lead time as possible. (Tip: IT is more likely to approve the request if it will be used by multiple faculty.) In some cases, IT can't integrate the tool and faculty will have to create a link for students to go outside of Blackboard to access the publisher content and faculty will have to manually create grade center columns and enter scores.
UAA core tools (Zoom, Kaltura, Voicethread) are integrated into Blackboard Ultra under Content Market and/or Books and Tools. Note that you will see additional tools that have been purchased by a specific program and are not available to everyone.
Reminders
Reminders
Student End-of-Course Survey: The College of Health will continue to use the College of Engineering survey tool for student end-of-course evaluations. The link you were provided is the same link that students use to complete the survey. In addition, I recommend that you create a short mid-semester student survey using a Blackboard form, Google Form, or Qualtrics.
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. The COH compliance office checks all syllabi for an RSI statement (and student learning outcomes).
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. Note that linking to library resources instead of uploading PDF files to Blackboard will often be more accessible.
UAOnline continues to be updated. Visit the UAOnline Updates site for information and watch this video for how to enter final grades.
If you encounter weird issues in Chrome or Firefox, clear your browser cache (Chrome and Firefox) or try a different browser.
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
Accessibility of Course Content
Accessibility of Course Content
Course content in Blackboard must be accessible. Work on accessibility from the start, not as an afterthought. Your skills will continually improve, making the work easier. It is easy to get overwhelmed so think in terms of continuous improvement. Review COH Accessibility Training to learn how.
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 Blackboard Ultra course, click Books and Tools, Accessibility Report. ) These tools provide a helpful first step but they are not perfect. Some content needs to be checked manually (see the COH Accessibility Checklist). Be sure that there is more than one way for students to get the information (e.g., podcast with transcript, label content with text and color, provide an accurate description for visuals).
Kaltura is UA's media server. I recommend uploading the videos you make to Kaltura to make them accessible. Access Kaltura from Blackboard Tools outside a course (UAA Kaltura - My Media) or go to UA Mediaspace. To add a Kaltura video to a Blackboard course, use Content Market UAA Kaltura - Browse, Search, Embed. To add a course media gallery, you can find UAA Kaltura - Course Media Gallery on the right side of a Blackboard course in Books and Tools or in the Content Market (click the + to add the media gallery to the course but note that the location of the link in your course will vary depending on which way you do it).
Remember that your Zoom recordings automatically go into your Kaltura account.
Learn more about Kaltura at UAA and Creating Videos.
You can now work on the accessibility of Kaltura videos from within Blackboard.
UA Grackle Docs is used to check accessibility of Google Docs, Slides, etc. See Accessibility @ UAA: Grackle Docs (video).
Accessibility is more than compliance; it is good teaching. Accessible courses have higher student engagement and increased student retention.
Image generated using Google Gemini from the prompt "create an image of a college student interacting with an AI bot on a laptop"
Artificial Intelligence Resources
Artificial Intelligence Resources
It is important to discuss acceptable use of generative AI with your students. Note that Google Gemini and Microsoft Co-Pilot are recommended because they do not share our data if we log in with our UAA credentials.
UAA Guidance
AI in Blackboard
AI Design Assistant can provide a starting point for faculty. These AI tools are most helpful when faculty add detailed descriptions and select course items from their content. AI features in Blackboard Ultra are built on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service
Other AI Resources
Agentic Browsing: What UAA Faculty Need to Know (UAA, Andrew Harnish)
Effective Assessment in the Age of AI (UAA, Andrew Harnish)
AI Role Play (activities for students)
Prof. Ethan Mollick's One Useful Thing blog
Peer & AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR) | University Writing Program at UC Davis
Professional Development
Professional Development
Professional Development
Professional Development
UAA Faculty Success Office: Events, Teaching Resources, Learning Technologies, etc.
Upcoming and on-demand webinars from Anthology/Blackboard
Google Workspace: Learn by Product (Gmail, Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, etc.)
Microsoft 365 Training (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Copilot, etc.)
Foxit PDF Editor Tutorials (UA's Foxit PDF Editor is equivalent to Adobe Acrobat Pro)
Photo by Anna Shvets https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-writing-on-whiteboard-3727512/
Quality Matters
Quality Matters
Quality Matters provides standards for online course design and professional development to support your course design efforts. Ask me for a copy of the 7th edition rubric workbook. Here is a list of the revised course design standards.
You can log into MyQM to create a QM account and start a self-review and more. (Please do not register for professional development that has an associated cost without first consulting with me.)
You can complete a self-review of one of your own courses. I recommend that you start with just the essential (3 point) standards. (Self-reviews are private to you.)
Sign in to MyQM at https://www.qmprogram.org/myqm/
Select the “Higher Education” tab
Select the CRMS icon
Select the Start a Self-Review link
Enter the title of the course you are going to review
Select the Save Self-Review button
To edit the review, select the Edit Review link
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