Instructional Technology Professional Development Training

With continuous advances in educational technology, on-going professional development is vital to the success of individuals and organizations.  Atlantic Cape is proud to offer an array of opportunities to its faculty and staff to advance their knowledge and understanding of the tools we use to design accessible, innovative, and engaging learning environments.

Please explore the below list of training sessions and click the name of the session title to view the full topic description, format, and next available session. Registration is required!  Please contact Instructional Technology to register by phone at (800) 617-2191 or by email at onlinehelp@atlanticcape.edu.

Ally is integrated in Blackboard Learn and assists faculty with making digital course resources more accessible. Ally helps you approach accessibility in a way that is beneficial to all students. In this session we take an in-depth look at Ally’s 3-step model for improving accessibility. We will uncover Ally’s many capabilities such as its ability to automatically provide alternative formats for digital course content. We will explore what Ally is, how it works, how it scores digital course content within Blackboard and its positive impact on students.

Ally Session Dates
Date Time Location
Tuesday, April 8 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Webinar (online)

Many instructors who teach face-to-face, remote and hybrid courses use attendance data as part of their students' overall grades. In this session we will look at the Blackboard Attendance tool. You will learn how instructors can use the Blackboard Attendance tool for each class meeting to mark whether a student is present, late, absent, or excused. You will learn how instructors can use attendance as part of grade calculations just as you can for an assignment grade column. You will learn that when using Collaborate, attendance data can be sent directly to the Attendance tool in the course. Lastly, you will learn how Attendance data can easily be exported at the end of the semester as a CSV file for record keeping.

Blackboard Ultra Attendance Session Dates
Date Time Location
Tuesday, June 17 1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Webinar (online)

During this session, we will take an in-depth look at the Blackboard Ultra Gradebook. We will discuss how to manage items and post grades from the four different Gradebook views. You will learn how to add graded items, create calculations, add categories, enter and post grades as well as monitor student progress. We will do a deep dive on the Gradebook settings and new Gradebook options in Blackboard Ultra. Finally, you will learn how to export your grades from the Blackboard Gradebook to an Excel spreadsheet.

Blackboard Ultra Gradebook Session Dates
Date Time Location
Tuesday, June 3 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Webinar (online)
Wednesday, June 18 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Webinar (online)

Collaborate is an interactive web conferencing tool built inside of Blackboard. In this session, you will learn how to add Collaborate to your course shell and how to create a Collaborate session. You will explore the basic design interface of a Collaborate session as well as do a deep dive into the session settings. You will learn how to share content, interact using the chat tool and utilize the whiteboard, polling and breakout groups features to maximize student engagement. You will also learn how to record your Collaborate sessions, access your recordings and utilize the auto-captioning feature. Finally, you will learn how to access attendance, polling and recording usage reports.

Collaborate for Beginners Session Dates
Date Time Location
Wednesday, June 11 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Webinar (online)

In this session, we will explore designing an exemplary Blackboard course shell. Student success in an online or remote setting begins with a properly designed course shell. Some areas of course shell building we will be covering during this session are course layout, interactivity, assessment and support. Sample courses will be shown to illustrate the do's and don'ts of designing a Blackboard course shell.

This webinar is for Blackboard beginners or any faculty who want to improve their current Blackboard course by examining the important concepts of design.

Designing an Exemplary Course on Blackboard Session Dates
Date Time Location
TBA

Are you ready to make the jump from Blackboard Learn Original to the new Blackboard Learn Ultra experience? This training session will guide you through the key features and updates in Blackboard Learn Ultra, helping you smoothly transition and take full advantage of the new interface and tools. You will learn how to navigate the Ultra environment, set up courses, manage content, and engage with students more effectively. Whether you are new to Ultra or looking to refresh your skills, this session is designed to ensure that you feel confident and empowered to make the switch with ease.

From Original to Ultra Session Dates
Date Time Location
Tuesday, April 29 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Webinar (online)
Wednesday, May 14 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Webinar (online)
Wednesday, May 21 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Webinar (online)
Wednesday, June 4 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Webinar (online)
Tuesday, June 10 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Webinar (online)

All faculty are required to attend our Getting Started with Blackboard Ultra training session prior to using Blackboard at Atlantic Cape. This session is a broad overview of how to use Blackboard at Atlantic Cape and what tools are available to you within Blackboard. In this session you will learn how to login to Blackboard, how to navigate the My Institution page, navigate the menus in your Blackboard course and how to utilize the student view within your course. You will learn about the Blackboard Ultra Course Template which is a part of every Blackboard course shell. You will learn how to edit, upload, create and copy content within your course and discuss the importance of making sure that your content is accessible to all students. You will learn the difference between using folders and learning modules to organize your content. We will also briefly review how to send Announcements, use Discussions, send Messages, take Attendance, setup Collaborate, view the Gradebook and more.

Getting Started with Blackboard Ultra Session Dates
Date Time Location
Wednesday, June 25 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Webinar (online)

In this session you will learn about Atlantic Cape’s adopted online proctoring tool, Honorlock. Honorlock is used with online and remote courses to protect the integrity of online exams and verify student identity. All faculty who teach online and remote courses are required to use Honorlock with a minimum of one assessment. We will look at how Honorlock works and how it can be used both in Blackboard with assignments and tests as well as with third party publisher tests. We will look at how to add the Honorlock tool to a Blackboard course and then how to enable it in both an assignment and test, including a deep dive look at the available proctoring options and student guidelines. Finally, we will look at how to review Honorlock results and a summary report.

Using Honorlock in Blackboard Ultra
Date Time Location
Tuesday, June 24 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Webinar (online)

Atlantic Cape is moving to Blackboard Learn Ultra! All Atlantic Cape courses will use Blackboard Learn Ultra in the Fall 2025 semester. Faculty are permitted to use either Blackboard Learn Original or Blackboard Learn Ultra in the Summer 2025 semester.

In preparation for our move to Blackboard Learn Ultra, Blackboard is offering four custom Atlantic Cape training sessions to help faculty prepare for this move. These trainings will each only be offered once, so if you would like to attend please do so now. Faculty can register for these trainings at onlinehelp@atlanticcape.edu

Creating Dynamic Content in Ultra - Friday, April 4 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

By the end of the training, participants should be able to:

  • Recognize the importance of good course planning and implement rudimentary planning in course design.
  • Identify best practices for online content.
  • Demonstrate a wide range of tools that can be used to create online content.
  • Understand the importance of and need for accessibility in digital content.

Assessing Student Learning in Ultra - Friday, April 25 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

By the end of the training, participants should be able to:

  • Examine various components for effectively assessing student learning.
  • Create assignments and tests in Learn Ultra.
  • Explore grading workflows for various assignment types.

Gradebook Management in Ultra - Friday, May 2 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

By the end of the training, participants should be able to:

  • Understand the grading workflows in Ultra.
  • Configure and adjust the gradebook to accommodate student understanding and various course modalities.
  • Identify tools within the gradebook to fit the grading strategy for the course.
  • Utilize the gradebook to monitor students and increase instructor efficiency.

Ask Me Anything About Blackboard Learn Ultra - Friday, May 16 from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

This is your opportunity to ask a Blackboard expert anything about Blackboard Learn Ultra!