by Annie Lewis

We all make decisions based on factual information. We get factual information from research and data. And when it comes to data on education technology, the numbers say a lot about the growing demand for technology in the classroom. Recently, Blackboard partnered with Project Tomorrow to delve deeper into demands for online education. The findings? More than two thirds of administrators and almost half of students… [Read More]

By Eloise Tan

The label “online lecturer” used to bother me. You didn’t see teachers in a traditional classroom calling themselves “in-the-flesh lecturers” or “face-to-face lecturers.” I feared that if I became an online lecturer, my colleagues might start to question the quality of my teaching or my reputation—as though the “online” bit would make what I did a little less important. Or a little less, well, good. Then I finished …[Read Article] 

All tegrity issues have been resolved. Please contact COLTT helpdesk at 956.665.5327 for additional information.

We are currently aware of a tegrity issue that keeps users from seeing their course(s) in tegrity. We hope to resolve this issue soon. Please check back for further updates.

On Sunday, October 21, 2012, between the hours of 01:00 am to 05:00 am, Blackboard will perform maintenance to our Blackboard Learn System. Blackboard support will be installing critical product patches which enhance the performance and stability of the Blackboard Learn environment. Blackboard Learn may be unavailable to students and faculty for up to an hour during this maintenance window. If you experience problems connecting to Blackboard outside of this time frame, please contact our help desk at 956-665-5327 or colthelp@utpa.edu.

On Friday, October 5th, 2012 between the hours of 01:00 am to 05:00 am, Blackboard will undergo maintenance. This maintenance is not expected to be service impacting, however we are notifying you just in case you experience any intermittent connectivity for few minutes during this maintenance window. If you experience problems connecting to Blackboard outside of these times, please contact our help desk at colthelp@utpa.edu or 956-665-5327.

Earlier this year, a handful of leader’s from higher ed institutions met at a symposium for a day-long session to chat about key topics and issues facing their institutions. One of the topics of the day was on Social Learning – what it is and what it isn’t, and no, it’s not new. What dawned on us after the conversations is that the term means a lot of different things to different people. [Read Article]

On Sunday, September 30th, 2012 between the hours of 01:00 am to 03:00 am, Blackboard will undergo maintenance. This maintenance is not expected to be service impacting, however we are notifying you just in case you experience any intermittent connectivity for few minutes during this maintenance window.

The University of Texas-Pan American’s Center for Online Learning, Teaching and Technology (COLTT) hosted an open house Sept. 14 to showcase upgrades and improvements made to the services they offer and introduce new ones to faculty and students.

Programs and other features shown by COLTT staff include improvements to the online learning program Blackboard and the creation of a studio to record podcasts and video.

The center has developed a more efficient system to handle requests by students, faculty and staff for assistance with online courses and other services.

In addition, COLTT staff introduced visitors to its plan of implementing massive open online courses (MOOC).

The University will first offer a MOOC to faculty to train them on how to conduct such courses before making classes available to students.

Pictured is Rita Vela, an instructional designer for COLTT, assisting a faculty member with the online learning program Blackboard. (Photo courtesy of COLTT.)

For more information about COLTT, call (956) 665-2979 or visit the center’s website.

By The Office of Public Affairs

At 4:00pm Sept. 3rd, all Blackboard learn services became fully operational. The issue causing intermittent user log-in failures and tool failures have been corrected. We are currently monitoring the Blackboard Learn service to ensure all the tools are working properly and users continue to have access. If you continue to experience problems accessing or using Blackboard learn or any other online learning resource, please contact our help desk at 956-665-5327 or create a help desk ticket here.