Blackboard Course Shells Get a Facelift!December 09, 2021 at 10:55 AMDear Campus Community,
Starting in the Spring 2022 semester, all UCA Blackboard courses will automatically be populated with the UCA Online Interface, which serves as a foundation for designing the online presence for fully online, hybrid, and web-enhanced courses. This interface reflects several best practices in online course design which helps to reduce the amount of prep time instructors spend on organizing content and activities within Blackboard. As a result, instructors can devote their time towards developing engaging instructional content and activities for the best learning experience. The interface is customizable as well so that all course modalities may benefit from its use.
Students also benefit from learning within the interface, which provides a consistent user experience across courses and disciplines. The consistent design and layout help students shift their cognitive load from navigating the course to engaging with the course content. Meaning, students should be grappling with course concepts rather than trying to hunt for common items such as the syllabus or instructor’s contact information.
Additional improvements to the UCA Online Interface are detailed and highlighted on the CETAL website, linked below.
– – – – – –
REMINDER: Spring courses are scheduled to open on January 7th. While instructors are encouraged to have their content populated, there is the option to hide the Online Classroom from student view while the content is still in development.
– – – – – – – –
As always, CETAL and DE Support are available to assist instructors with this transition!
https://uca.edu/cetal/interface-downloads/
Thank You,
University of Central Arkansas
Division of Information Technology
Burdick Hall
Conway, AR 72035
501-450-3107 | uca.edu/it | @UCAInfoTech
Starting in the Spring 2022 semester, all UCA Blackboard courses will automatically be populated with the UCA Online Interface, which serves as a foundation for designing the online presence for fully online, hybrid, and web-enhanced courses. This interface reflects several best practices in online course design which helps to reduce the amount of prep time instructors spend on organizing content and activities within Blackboard. As a result, instructors can devote their time towards developing engaging instructional content and activities for the best learning experience. The interface is customizable as well so that all course modalities may benefit from its use.
Students also benefit from learning within the interface, which provides a consistent user experience across courses and disciplines. The consistent design and layout help students shift their cognitive load from navigating the course to engaging with the course content. Meaning, students should be grappling with course concepts rather than trying to hunt for common items such as the syllabus or instructor’s contact information.
Additional improvements to the UCA Online Interface are detailed and highlighted on the CETAL website, linked below.
– – – – – –
REMINDER: Spring courses are scheduled to open on January 7th. While instructors are encouraged to have their content populated, there is the option to hide the Online Classroom from student view while the content is still in development.
– – – – – – – –
As always, CETAL and DE Support are available to assist instructors with this transition!
https://uca.edu/cetal/interface-downloads/
Thank You,
University of Central Arkansas
Division of Information Technology
Burdick Hall
Conway, AR 72035
501-450-3107 | uca.edu/it | @UCAInfoTech