Teaching Tools and Technology
ESSENTIAL TOOLS and Technologies
In both face-to-face and online/hybrid courses, educational technology can help you establish a strong virtual welcome, introduce both you and your students to each other, orient students to the virtual and remote classroom spaces, and organize instructional materials. Using a small set of essential tools can help to ensure success for you and all your students throughout the term.
Setting Up Courses in the Blackboard Learning Management (LMS) System
- Blackboard LMS Guides and Getting Started with Blackboard at USC Upstate
- Request a Consultation with a CAIFS Learning Experience Designer
YuJa for Creating Lecture Videos & Narrated PowerPoint Lectures
- Getting Started with YuJa
- Instructors and who need to migrate their video libraries from TechSmith Knowmia should log in through Blackboard by selecting the Upstate YuJa Media Chooser under the Build Content menu within a Blackboard Course or Organization
- After initiating your account in Blackboard, you may also access your account through Single-Sign-On
- Quick Tip: Please be sure to allow pop-ups from yuja.com
- Using the Upstate YuJa Media Chooser link under + in the Blackboard LMS Text Editor to Embed Videos and Quizzes
- Video Workshop: Getting Started
- YuJa Video Tutorials
- Download the YuJa Software Capture App and begin recording
- Create a Recording and Share a Web Link (four-minute how-to video)
- Upload a Video from your computer into YuJa
- Managing Your Media Folder for moving, sharing, deleting, and linking to files and folders
- YuJa Editing Tutorials
- YuJa automatically captions your videos for you, including videos in a range of world languages, but do be sure to edit your captions for accuracy and accessibility
- YuJa for Student Assignments
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Webconferencing for Synchronous Online & Flexible Face-to-Face or Online Course Delivery
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Webconferencing can be accessed as a participant or moderator from a computer or your smartphone through the Blackboard Instructor App. Students can turn off their video to conserve bandwidth or to maintain privacy if they are working in an environment with children or others, but the greatest benefits of synchronous meetings come from creating presence and community by seeing each other.
- Get Started with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Video Workshop: Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Absolute Essentials
- Blackboard Tip: Create a Collaborate Ultra Session
- Blackboard Tip: Set Up Repeating Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Sessions for Classes
- Troubleshooting Audio and Video with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra *Note: Updated Google Chrome is the preferred browser.
During Collaborate Course Meetings
- Blackboard Tip: Inclusive Teaching in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Add a Profile Picture in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Blackboard Tip: Add a Virtual Background to Your Collaborate Ultra Session
- Share a File or Your Screen in a Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Session **Note: Students can use the note tools at the top of the screen to write on a shared file for quick visual polls or brainstorming
- Share Content from a Google Chrome Tab to share audio, video, a shared document, Kahoot, Poll Everywhere, or an application in Spartan Greensky through VMware Horizon HTML Access option (good for SPSS, Adobe Creative Cloud, or other specialized software pools for your class)
- Share a Whiteboard in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Blackboard Tip: Blackboard Collaborate Tools for Interaction
- Blackboard Tip: Use Poll Everywhere in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Blackboard Tip: Use Breakout Groups in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Invite Guest Lecturers from Outside a Course or Host an Open Collaborate Meeting