FCLD's Spring 2022 Workshops

The Faculty Center for Learning Development (FCLD) offers ongoing seminars and instruction on a variety of instructional technology, including Blackboard, the University's learning management system (LMS). FCLD will be offering the following seminars during the spring. All seminars will be held online via web conferencing (webinars). Faculty interested in attending should register by emailing fcld@hartford.edu or calling (860) 768-4661. 

Getting Started with Blackboard/Blackboard Drop-in

Tuesdays, noon - 1 p.m. (Webinar) < Click to Attend or by appointment (online only)

Every Tuesday, we offer an orientation and drop-in clinic for Blackboard, the application used to put courses online. If you’re new to Blackboard, you’ll learn strategies for organizing your Blackboard course, review the many tools and features available in Blackboard, and start adding course content items like your syllabus and web links to your course. Be sure to bring a digital version of your syllabus and/or other course materials; this is designed as a hands-on seminar. If you’re using Blackboard already, feel free to drop by with a question or for troubleshooting. 

Best Practices for Incorporating Audio and Video Files in Blackboard: Keeping your Course under the 2 GB Quota

Thursday, April 7, noon (Webinar) < Click to attend

The University is now paying for Blackboard cloud storage so it is important to use our storage efficiently. To help with this, last fall a two Gigabyte (2 GB) course quota for each Blackboard course was implemented. Over the course of the last two years – mostly due to COVID – many Blackboard courses grew to many, many gigabytes in size, largely due to videos and audio files being directly uploaded into Blackboard, but also due to large image files and student submissions.  Starting next term, instructors with courses over the 2 Gigabyte quota will not be able to be copy their course forward or add any content until they are within the quota. In this session, we will discuss ways to manage course content so that your course will not exceed the 2 Gigabyte quota.

Engaging Students: Online Tools That Provide Immediate Feedback

Wednesday, March 23, 11 a.m. (Webinar) < Click to attend

Do you want to engage your students and give all students the chance to participate in learning without feeling self-conscious? Do you want just-in-time feedback during class so you know where students are in their learning? We have just the tools for you!  We will be exploring PollEverywhere, Kahoot, and Microsoft Forms; tools you can add to your teaching arsenal which are quick, friendly, and easy to set up. Please be sure to have your smart phone or tablet available during this session, so you can participate fully.

Managing Web Conferencing Recordings

Thursday, March 24, 3:00 p.m. (Webinar) <  Click to attend
Friday, April 22, 2 p.m. (Webinar) < Click to attend

Due to storage concerns, faculty have recently been asked to review their web conferencing recordings, whether the recordings are in Collaborate, Zoom, WebEx or Teams, and evaluate whether these recordings can be archived.  In this session, we will go through the various tools and methods for backing up and removing web conferencing recordings, as well as review some best practices and FERPA guidelines.

Creative Touches for Blackboard Courses: Adding Course Banners, Weekly Headers, and Knowing when it is too Much

Wednesday, March 30, 3 p.m. (Webinar) < Click to attend.

In this hands-on session, we will show you how to use PowerPoint to create beautiful and impactful banners and headers for your Blackboard Course in order to make your course visually appealing to learners. Learn how to search for and embed fair use images, manipulate them, add graphics and text to your banners, and finally, how make them accessible.

Creating SharePoint Sites for Committees & Groups on Campus

Thursday, March 31, noon (Webinar) < Click to attend. 

Microsoft SharePoint is a suite of tools, included with Office 365, that allow online collaboration between groups on campus. The SharePoint site gives groups access to features such as file sharing, data storage and retrieval, and communication via chat or live via Teams. In this workshop, we will demonstrate setting up your own SharePoint site for your campus group.

Once your site has been created, faculty, staff, and students may collaborate virtually. Some of SharePoint’s features include:

• Document storage and sharing with your group
• Shared tasks, contacts, calendars, announcements, and link lists
• Online discussion forums, including the integration with Teams for meetings online
• Subsites for teams, departments, or collaboration around meetings and documents
• OneNote for meeting minutes