Technology Workshops and Educational Offerings

Instructional Technology is committed to supporting faculty by providing training and educational resources for developing on-line and blended learning environments as well as providing training and support information for classrooms enhanced with technology. We offer courses on Blackboard Learn, additional tools in Blackboard Learn and Course Design. In addition to our traditional classroom courses we also offer an on-line course on using the “Teach Tab” in Blackboard Learn and two different individual hands-on labs that can be scheduled: Blackboard Learn Blended Learning and Classroom Technology.

If you are a faculty member or adjunct instructor within the college of Arts and Sciences and would like to avail of blackboard training opportunities, please contact i2T2@uab.edu for information on training that is required for certain teaching environments.

For more information about our educational offerings please select the course below.

Select Event Type <Instructional Technology Training Schedule Wimba Live Classroom Workshop Consultation Sessions ePortfolios: A Hands-On Introduction Sloan-C Workshop Series

Blackboard Learn is Here!

As of the Fall 2011 semester, All UAB course shells will be moved from Blackboard Vista to Blackboard Learn. The new Bb Learn system looks and feels very different from the Blackboard Vista system. Instructional Technology has created a series of hands-on training sessions that are geared toward preparing faculty and staff for the new Bb Learn system. Below are brief descriptions on the courses that will be offered.

Bb Learn Foundations

The Blackboard Learn foundations course is intended to introduce you to basic best practices for organizing, optimizing, and uploading content into a blackboard course. The course is intended for novice and new users of Blackboard who anticipate limited use of the system in their course offerings.

Bb Learn Basic

The Blackboard Learn Basic is designed for non-experienced users of Blackboard Learn who wish to extend their knowledge of the system. The Basic workshop will cover use and functionality of Vista's essential tools.

Bb Learn Enhanced Workshop

The Bb Learn Enhanced Workshop trains users who have already attended the Bb Learn Basic Workshop or are relatively proficient in their use of learning management systems.

Bb Learn Grade Center

The Bb Learn Grade Center workshop trains participants on how to calculate grades using the grade center. The workshop is for users who have already attended the Bb Learn Basic Workshop or the Bb Learn Enhanced workshop.

Wimba Live Classroom Workshop

Wimba Live Classroom is a fully-featured, live, virtual classroom solution that includes audio, video, application sharing and content display. Its pedagogical design and ease-of-use ensures that educators and students engage as if they were meeting face-to-face. It supports audio, video, application sharing, and content display is just the starting point of Wimba Classroom's capabilities. Advanced features such as polling, whiteboarding, presenter on-the-fly, re-sizable chat areas and participant lists, usage analytics tools, and MP3 and MP4 downloads enable further dynamic interaction between students and educators.

Instructional Technology Training Schedule

Click for a full listing of workshops. This link provides details on registration, session date, time, and location. You can also access training and support materials on UAB’s BBLearn Support site.

Consultation Sessions

Design, Build and Teach

Consultation Sessions are available to provide assistance with design (organizing content, overall course functionality and objectives, creating assessment strategies, constructing effective test questions, fostering academic integrity, etc), building and teaching with technology (use of Blackboard tools, Respondus, Turnitin, Wimba).

To schedule a session, contact Katara Davis at kdavis1@uab.edu - 934-0410 , Terry Harrington at tharring@uab.edu – 934-0417 , or Ronan O’Beirne at ronan@uab.edu – 934-0455.

Classroom Technology

Faculty members who teach in technology enhanced classrooms and wish to get more information on how to manage the technology, are invited to our Hands-On Labs. Hands-On labs are consultation sessions available to provide assistance with understanding and operating the technologies available to them in the classrooms, such as computer stations, document cameras, video/dvd players, microphone systems and the control panel.

To register for a Consultation Session, please contact Charles Tomberlin at 5-6545.

ePortfolios: A Hands-On Introduction

An ePortfolio (electronic portfolio) is a purposeful and meaningful collection of work which can include text and media files.

Several portfolios can be created to serve different purposes. Each is formatted by its owner to match designated requirements. Students can showcase skills and accomplishments for prospective employers or entrance to graduate/professional programs. The ePortfolio can also serve as a personal archive of documents. Used in a course or program curriculum, ePortfolios can demonstrate student's achievement of required course or program competencies/outcomes as well as the process of getting there.

Contact Terry Harrington to arrange individual or group seminar or consultation session – tharring@uab.edu, 975-6552.

 Sloan-C Workshop Series

Sloan-C  Online workshops are available to UAB faculty interested in collaborating with peers and experts, worldwide,  via real-time and asynchronous meetings to learn more about teaching and improving on line and/or blended courses.   There is no cost to UAB faculty and instructional design staff.  

For detailed information about each workshop including the objectives,  content,  dates/schedule and log on information,  please visit Sloan – C Workshops.

To register, send a request to Ronan O’Beirne at ronan@uab.edu with the name and date of the workshop.