Workshops - Summer 2025
Faculty Workshops
Every semester, we offer a series of one-hour “how-to” workshops to get you started with some basic online activities. This series covers everything from giving live or recorded lectures, using various discussion board tools, giving an online test, and providing a platform for asynchronous student presentations.
Recent workshops have been focused on providing support to faculty teaching in Ultra courses. More information and resources are available on the following website:
Blackboard at the University of Rochester
Workshops for Transitioning to Ultra Courses - This is offered as a series of three workshops to assist you with the transition from Original to Ultra courses. These workshops are offered to support faculty teaching in Summer A, Summer B, and Fall. Each workshop requires Zoom registration.
Workshop #1 - Organizing Content in your Ultra Course
April 3, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZtpyaDfbRAaymMRFn1In9A
May 22, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/s0r0tfoMQyuzN_BWYfflhA
August 7, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/_-DEUrCXSZmN9CZWmJvDNg
Workshop #2 - Creating Graded Items in your Ultra Course
April 17, 12noon- 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/RLOspKmMQGmm2jlkamJu7A
May 29, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/XYJNQdtZQgeKwbQ72vbSkQ
August 12, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/4r08-R0FSCGoh2Eme2m0eQ
Workshop #3 - Teaching in Ultra
May 6, 12noon- 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/07jUKK1ARN2kod4rxf8mNA
June 17, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/Rah61FF5Q3G4IPFGQyElAQ
August 14, 12noon - 1pm
https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/bEE76CO5TgShyslABINQbw
More Workshops to Support your Teaching within Blackboard
These hour-long workshops are meant to help you learn new tools and techniques for your teaching.
Add Interactivity to your Class with PollEverywhere – August 7 at 10:30 am
Enhance the classroom experience with PollEverywhere. Use it to engage students during lectures or give digital quizzes. Learn how it can connect with your Blackboard gradebook.
How to Use Padlet: A Digital Discussion Board – August 8 at 10:30 am
Padlet is a digital bulletin board that you can used both synchronously or asynchronously in your class to engage students. Learn about different use cases for Padlet in your course. See examples of different ways Padlet can be used to support collaboration and student learning. Learn how to get a UR Account and connect Padlet to Blackboard so that students have accounts associated with their contributions.
Enhancing your Discussion and Student Interaction using Harmonize – August 12 at 10:30 am
Harmonize is a discussion board tool that can enhance your online discussions by allowing audio, video, and text-based comments. Offering multiple due dates and reminders to students. It can also be used to facilitate peer review activities.
Save Faculty Time – Best Practices and Supporting Course Development with AI – August 14 at 10:30 am
This workshop will cover a number of tips and tricks you can use to help manage your course more efficiently. It will also suggest tools that can be used for basic course administration, like attendance taking and grading.