Web Tools - Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

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What’s new in Blackboard?

January 30, 2024 Kevin Harris News, Newsletter, Resources, Web Tools

Blackboard continues to release monthly updates and improvements to the Ultra Course View. Many updates originate on the Anthology Idea Exchange, where you can introduce

Robot and human hands pointing to each other.

Class policies for the use of AI tools

July 24, 2023 Amanda Hirsch Best Practices, News, Newsletter, Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools

The Center for Innovative Teaching and learning has created a new guide, Class Policies for AI Tools, with sample class policies for use of AI

African American woman smiling while typing on laptop and wearing headphones.

Reimagining accessibility in an online course

January 23, 2023 Megan Holt Best Practices, Teaching, Tips, Web Tools

How do you know if your online course is truly accessible? Are there rules or guidelines in place to inform your course design? Maybe the

Hands using tablet and touching on holographic document icon for approve and online document concept.

New Blackboard user role – Copy Only

November 17, 2022 Diane Alberts Teaching, Tips, Web Tools

Currently, NIU is transitioning from Blackboard Original Course View to Ultra Course View. One advantage of Ultra Course View is that there is a new

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Messaging your students using Navigate

August 22, 2022 Jason Rhode Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools

NIU Navigate is a system that connects students, advisors, and services to promote academic planning and success. It has uses for both students and faculty/staff

Person on Zoom in online class with laptop displaying video tiles of participants

New Zoom features

June 15, 2022 Amanda Hirsch News, Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends, Web Tools

Zoom has introduced several new features to provide a better educational experience for faculty and students: enhancements for Chromebook, audio sharing in breakout rooms, video

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Blackboard Ultra Transition Academy

March 31, 2022 CITL Best Practices, News, Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools, Workshops

As NIU moves forward with our transition to Ultra Course View, CITL is increasing our support to help faculty prepare. While we have provided a long

Vector Illustration Coming Soon Banner With Clock Sign

Coming soon to Blackboard!

March 23, 2022 Amanda Hirsch News, Teaching, Technology Trends, Web Tools

Blackboard has tripled their development team, so the rate of new features is accelerating rapidly! Many exciting features and updates are coming soon to Blackboard

computer keyboard, a blank smartphone laying on top of the keyboard, and the word Accessible appearing above the keyboard

Highlighting accessibility resources

March 17, 2022 Amanda Hirsch Best Practices, News, Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools, Workshops

Accessibility continues to be a high priority at NIU. Here are just a couple of our notable accessibility resources, as well as an exciting announcement!

Male professor wearing headset and recording a lesson on laptop

Get creative with Kaltura

March 16, 2022 Megan Holt Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools

NIU’S video platform, Kaltura, is teeming with activity, but you might be surprised to learn what else you can do with your video content. In

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New affordable textbook search and filter in MyNIU

March 10, 2022 CITL News, Teaching, Web Tools

Do you teach a course with zero-cost or low-cost course materials? Beginning with the Fall 2022 course schedule, students will be able to search for

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Things you didn’t know Blackboard could do

February 23, 2022 Amanda Hirsch Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends, Tips, Web Tools

Blackboard has many features that can help you enrich your students’ learning experience and improve your teaching experience, but you may not know they are