The Center for Instructional Technology supports multiple tools for faculty. Below is a brief description of each as well as link to the respective support page.
Blackboard Learn (Faculty Support) (Student Support)
Blackboard Learn technology helps you make learning more effective in and beyond the traditional walls. Breathing life into educational content. Bringing efficiency to day-to-day tasks. Empowering instructors with tools to engage every learner. Motivating them on the devices they rely on. Promoting collaboration and streamlining processes.
Blackboard Mobile (Faculty Support) (Student Support) *The app is free for UMES users
Give your learners, educators, and community access to all aspects of the educational experience on their mobile devices and they’ll be able to go anywhere. That’s what Blackboard Mobile solutions are all about. Giving you the power to engage everyone on their terms and devices. Offering instant access to the information they need. Encouraging the interaction they crave.
Blackboard Collaborate ULTRA (Faculty Support) (Student Support)
This tool is built into all Blackboard courses at UMES. It can be found as a button on the course menu. Offer a more collaborative, interactive, and mobile learning experience that constantly evolves, and you’ll keep everyone engaged like never before. That’s what the Blackboard Collaborate online collaboration platform is all about. Helping you create virtual classrooms, offices and meeting spaces that open more possibilities to more students, wherever they are. Offering exciting new approaches to learning while involving each student on an individual level. More on Blackboard Collaborate ULTRA
Blackboard Web Conferencing & Collaboration
This tool is similar to the above but is for those non-classroom activities. It is a stand alone product which is not dependent of a Blackboard Course or Organization. Offer a more collaborative, interactive, and mobile experience for remote members of your team, virtual training’s, orientations, department meeting, search committee meetings, or other types of virtual meetings. There is no reason why you can’t connect with those who aren’t on campus. More on Blackboard Web Conferencing & Collaboration
Respondus 4.0 (Support)
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus will save you hours on each project
Respondus LockDown Browser (UMES Link)
LockDown Browser creates a “locked” testing environment for Blackboard assessments
Respondus Monitor (Support)
Respondus Monitor is a companion application that integrates webcam technology with LockDown Browser. Together they address the core issues of student identity and cheating, creating an essential layer of security for non-proctored assessments.
Echo360 (Support)
Echo360 is a lecture capture platform that combines rich media and ease-of-use to give students full and unbounded access to their classroom-based content through multi-platform replay. The Echo360 System helps to simplify the process of scheduling, creating, and publishing interactive course content, called echoes, for web-based student review.
SPECIAL NOTE: The software below is available for instructor use in the CITOL Tech Lab for Instructors:
Respondus StudyMate Author (Guide)
Respondus StudyMate Author is a Windows authoring tool that makes it easy to create web-based learning activities and games. Integrated with Blackboard, it enables the instructor to create interactive activities for students within courses. StudyMate allows instructors to create dozens of learning activities, self assessments and games such as quizzes, flashcards and crosswords.
Camtasia (Tutorial)
Create amazing videos and screen recording with this easy to use program. Use the Camtasia recorder to record directly from your computer screen or import a recording from another device. Camtasia makes it easy to animate you PowerPoint Presentations to give your students a real life experience.
