In light of the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) emergency, and per the Chancellor’s directive, our entire campus is currently prioritizing support for our students, faculty and staff as the transition to Distance Education is underway.
In order to assist you with the transition, the Information Technology and Educational Technology Departments have been coordinating a comprehensive information, resource and training effort. The goal is to ensure that all of our constituents have access to the necessary technology and support that may be needed.
A single resource website has been set up as the Go-To for all of your transition readiness needs. This website will be updated frequently and we recommend you to bookmark it for easy access.
Go to information on:
Blackboard
Live Online Teaching Through Blackboard
Roadmap to Teaching Innovation
Blackboard Support
Video Tutorials
Tips of the Week
Other online resources, rich media, hardware and softwareBlackboard
Blackboard, CUNY and Hostos’s Learning Management System, allows you to have an online site containing your course content, activities and assessments so that your class can carry on whether it’s in-class, hybrid, fully online, or off-campus because of snow day, make-up for missed class, flu season, or the coronavirus.
If you’ve never used Blackboard before please review the Hostos Blackboard Support tutorials below, including “How to Get to Blackboard.” Once in Blackboard you will see links to your courses on the left side in the My Courses module. You should also see the link to the Roadmap to Teaching Innovation Blackboard training course (description and links below) which contains all the information you need to get your courses up and running in Blackboard. It will be lower down in the My Courses module under Courses in which I’m enrolled: Student.
For more tutorials, visit Blackboard’s YouTube Channel: Blackboard YouTube Channel
The first step is to ensure that your Blackboard course is available to students in order to establish a viable line of communication. With the Edit mode set to On you should:
- Use the Announcement tool to post announcements to students and check the Email Announcement box so that the announcement is sent to students’ emails.
- Upload your syllabus.
- Post your Contact information.
- Upload files (slides, Word documents, PDF,that are part of your course content.
- Create items and folders to add additional content.
- Post Assignments, Discussion Forums and threads, blogs, journals and wikis to increase student particiption and engagement.
Blackboard Mobile Apps
Blackboard offers two mobile applications and which application one uses depends on whether you are accessing a course as a student or as an instructor. If you are both a student and a faculty member, you will need both apps to fully interact with all of your courses. The apps are free for you to use and are available in the Apple and Android app stores.
Blackboard app – this is the app for students. Watch the video introduction here: Blackboard App
Blackboard Instructor – this is the app for instructors. Watch the video introduction here: Blackboard Instructor AppThe CUNY Blackboard support website has a site that provides support for the Mobile apps, including how to set-up your courses to be mobile-friendly: CUNY Blackboard Mobile App site
Live Online Teaching – Collaborate Ultra, Zoom and Panopto
As Hostos instructors, you have two tools available to you that allow you to conduct real-time streaming lessons online through Blackboard – Collaborate Ultra and Panopto.
With Collaborate Ultra you can conduct live streaming videoconferencing lesson with your class, and includes breakout rooms, application and document sharing and live chat. This tool allows you to conduct a lesson live.
Watch a video overview on how to use Collaborate Ultra: Collaborate Ultra video
The CUNY Blackboard site has a links to Collaborate tutorials for both faculty and students: CUNY’s Blackboard Collaborate for Students and Faculty
Panopto allows you to record a lecture-capture lesson and also upload videos. To learn more about Panopto, as well as the Panopto Initiative, click on the following link:
Panopto at HostosAll Blackboard courses have these tools available to them. You can access them through the Collaboration Link in the course Navigation Menu:
This section has access to both Collaborate Ultra and Panopto as well as instructions on how to get started. Roadmap to Teaching Innovation covers both Collaborate Ultra and Panopto in detail.
Zoom You also have the option of using Zoom cloud-based videoconferencing with your class. Zoom has many of the same features as Collaborate Ultra, including breakout rooms, whiteboard, screen and application sharing and live chat. Although it is not integrated into Blackboard the same way Collaborate Ultra is, recurring sessions corresponding to class meeting times can be easily scheduled in Zoom and the link to it posted in Blackboard.
These are the features which are currently included in our subscription:
- Unlimited meeting duration
- Up to 300 participants per meeting>
- Free VOIP and International Toll Number
- Polling
- Screen Sharing
- 24/7 Technical Support
How do I login to start using Zoom as a Host?
To start a meeting as a host (e.g. if you are Faculty member launching class session, or a staff member hosting a meeting), follow the instructions below:
- Open a web browser (Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Firefox work best) and navigate to https://zoom.us
- Click on “Sign In” towards the top right of the window
- When presented with this screen, select “Sign in with SSO”
- You will then be presented with this screen in which you would type “hostos-cuny-edu” as a prefix to “.zoom.us”; alternatively you could click on the “I don’t know my company domain” and it will present you with a screen to enter your HOSTOS E-MAIL ADDRESS. Click “Continue”
- You will then be presented with the Hostos login webpage where you will again enter your Hostos e-mail address, and in the password field, enter the password for your Hostos e-mail system, and click “Sign In”
- You’re done! Now you should see your Zoom account profile and you can begin to host meetings using the menu on the left or the top right of the page:
How do I join a Zoom meeting?
Joining a Zoom meeting is easy from any device. Just click on the link you received in the meeting invitation or on the course page and it will connect you to the meeting. You can sign in with your Hostos e-mail, or just connect as a guest. It is important to note that , ALL ZOOM MEETINGS WILL HAVE THE WAITING LOBBY FEATURE ENABLED BY DEFAULT. This is a company/platform setting and not determined by Hostos.
What if I already have a Zoom account which I created using my Hostos e-mail address? What if I want to use Zoom to teach classes?
Please contact the IT Service Desk (718 518-6646) immediately so that theycan coordinate with Zoom to try and move your settings, recordings, etc. over to your Single Sign On Hostos account and also to enable Zoom in Blackboard for you.
Where can I go to find some quick start tutorials or to sign up for live training?
Here are some web pages from Zoom that have great tutorials. You can also sign up for one of the live webinars, including one focused on Zoom for Education.
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360029527911#collapseZmMeetingsEDU
Who do I contact if I need help with Zoom?
Your first point of contact will still be the Hostos IT Service desk, especially if it relates to logging on or getting started. However, CUNY has assurances from Zoom that our Students, Faculty and Staff can also reach out to Zoom support using their online trouble ticket system directly.Roadmap to Teaching Innovation
Roadmap to Teaching Innovation is a self-paced online course in Blackboard that covers the important basic and advanced features of Blackboard. Current full-time and adjunct faculty are enrolled in the course and are free to navigate throughout the course and look up specific Blackboard topics.
To go directly to the Roadmap course, click on the following link: Roadmap to Teaching Innovation.
If you are a current faculty member and cannot access the course or do not see it in your My Courses module, click on the following link to enroll: Roadmap to Teaching Innovation Self-Enrollment.
To learn more about Roadmap to Teaching Innovation, click on the following link: Roadmap to Teaching Innovation page.
Hostos is a national leader in introducing and facilitating innovative ways of using recording/video streaming applications and smart mobile devices in teaching and learning. Please talk to us about how we can help you in your plans to go online both for your classroom and distance.
Roadmap to Teaching Innovation Contact:
If you have any questions about the Roadmap course please contact:
George Rosa
C559
EDTECH@hostos.cuny.eduHostos Blackboard Support
HOW TO GET TO BLACKBOARDHOW TO GET TO BLACKBOARD
- To get to Blackboard you must have your CUNYfirst ID and password. From the Hostos Community College home page, click on ‘Login To’ > ‘Blackboard’.
- The CUNYfirst login will appear:
- CUNY Login ID:This password expires every three months. Besides CUNYfirst, The CUNY Login ID and password is also used to access Blackboard. When you click on any link to Blackboard, it will take you to the Blackboard login page. Type in your CUNYfirst username followed by @login.cuny.edu, then your CUNYfirst password in the password field. For example, if CUNYfirst username is john.smith22, the username you enter to login to Blackboard must be john.smith22@login.cuny.edu. The username field is already populated with the @login.cuny.edu part, as shown below.
Video Tutorials
Tips of the Week
Using the Attendance ToolWith the Blackboard attendance tool instructors can mark whether a student is present, late, absent, or excused for each class meeting. The attendance records for each student appear in a single column next to other grades. On the Attendance page, profile pictures appear so instructors can easily identify students. Instructors can use attendance as part of calculating grades in the Grade Center.
- In the Control Panel, go to Course Tools > Attendance.
- Instructors mark students Present, Late, or Absent by clicking next to the students in the appropriate column. The arrow points to the Settings button.
- In Settings instructors can determine the grading schema for attendance.
NOTE:Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Uploading your syllabus
- Login into Blackboard
- Select the course you want to upload your syllabus from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- Click on the name of the Content Area into which you wish to add the file (e.g. Course Information or Syllabus)
- Hover your mouse over the Build Content Action Link button
- Under the Create section, click on the Item link
- Complete the Content Information field (provide a name)
- (Optional) copy the content from a Word document and paste it in the Content Editor section under text.
- In the Attachment section, click Browse My Computer to locate the file you want to upload. Files can be in the following formats: Word and PDF (we recommend PDF files)
- Click Submit
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Making a Course Copy
- Login to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- On the Control Panel, expand the Packages and Utilities section and select Course Copy
- Select the appropriate option: Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course
- In the Destination Course ID field, click Browse to select the destination course.
- Select all the content you want to copy to from the course you are to the course you selected
- Copy Links to Course Files: No copies of linked files are included in the copy. The copied course will have the same set of links and those links will point back to the original location of the link defined in the origin course.
- Copy links and copies of the content: This will make copies of linked files, but ONLY those files that are linked. Files within the course’s home folder that are not linked to any content within the course are not included in the copy (Recommended option).
- Copy links and copies of the content (include entire course home folder): This will make copies of ALL files in the course’s home folder whether those files are linked to course content or not. In the File Attachments section, select the option to copy links to:
- In the Enrollments section, DO NOT select this option because it will copy all enrolled students from the source course to the destination one.
- Click Submit.
Sending Announcements
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select the course you want to send announcement from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- In the course menu (left panel) or from the Control Panel under Course Tools click the Announcements link
- Click Create Announcement button from the Announcement page (top-left)
- Complete the Announcement Information field (provide subject and details)
- Set up additional information
- Click Submit
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Creating AssignmentsInstructors can create an Assignment in Blackboard as a way for students to submit coursework. When an Assignment is created, a Grade Column is automatically created for it in the Grade Center. Students can either type the assignment answers directly into the Assignment tool text box or attach a document. Files formats compartible with Assignments are: Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Image (JPE, JPEG, PNG), PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX), Excel (XLS, XLSX), and other audio and video files.
To create an Assignment:
- In the top-bar action menu in the content area where you want to post the Assignment, click on Assessments then select Assignment.
- Enter the Name and Instructions for the Assignment.
- If you want to attach a document for the students to read click on the Browse My Computer button.
- Enter Points Possible for this Assignment.
- Click Submission Details to expand it. Choose if it is an Individual, Group or Portfolio Submission. Specify if it is a Single Attempt, Multiple Attempts or Unlimited Attempts, and if you wish to have it check for plagiarism by using SafeAssign (discussed separately).
You are also given options for Anonymous Grading to prevent bias, and Delegated Grading if the course is taught by multiple instructors or has teaching assist
Click on Display of Grades allows you to set how the grades are displayed in the Grade Center and to the students in their Grades tool.- Set the Due Date for the Assignment.
- Set Availability Dates and Times, then Click Submit.
Grading Assignments with Annotate
To retrieve and grade Assignments submitted by students:
- One way to access them is to go to the Full Grade Center in the Control Panel.
- Click on the Drop-Down Arrow in the header of the Assignment’s grade column, then click on Grade Attempts.
- This will take you to the Annotate, the Inline Grading Application.To download Annotate Quick Start Guide, click on this link: Annotate Quick Start Guide
- Annotate offers a more robust feature set to provide customizable feedback to students. Features include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, various color selections, and much more.
Document View Settings
A. Sidebar: View Thumbnail, Outline, Annotation, or Bookmark views of the submission.
B. Pages: Use the arrows to jump to different pages in the submission.
C. Pan: Move the submission on the page.
D. Zoom and Fit: Zoom in and out of the submission or adjust the view to fit the page, fit the width, or select the best fit.
Annotations
E. Annotation tools: Select each tool to view the tool properties.
- Drawing, Brush, and Eraser: Draw freehand on the submission with various colors, thickness, and opacity. Select the eraser to remove annotations. You can erase parts of a freehand drawing with the eraser or select the Delete icon to delete the whole drawing.
- Image or Stamp: Choose a preloaded stamp or create your own customized stamp or image to add to the submission.
- Text: Add text directly on the submission. You can move, edit, and change the text and select the font, size, alignment, and color of the text.
- Shapes: Choose Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Polyline. Each shape has its own settings to change the color, width, opacity, and more.
F. Comment: Provide feedback in comments. Your comments appear in a panel next to the submission.
Students can access the annotated files but won’t be able to add annotations in their submissions.
G. Print or Download: Print or download the submission with the annotations.
H. Search: Search the submission for specific text.
I. Content Library: Create a bank of reusable comments. You can add, edit, delete, and search comments in the library. You can also add a comment directly to the submission page from the menu.
The Content Library is only available in SaaS environments.
Highlighter: Select specific portions of the submission to highlight. As you highlight text on the submission, an additional menu opens. You can highlight, strikethrough, underline, squiggle, or comment on the highlighted section.
On the Assignment Submission page, supported file types open in the browser. You can view and annotate these document types in the browser:
- Microsoft® Word (DOC, DOCX)
- Microsoft® PowerPoint®(PPT, PPTX)
- Microsoft® Excel®(XLS, XLSX)
- OpenOffice® Documents (ODS, ODT, ODP)
- Digital Images (JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TGA, BMP)
- Medical Images (DICOM, DICM, DCM)
- PSD
- RTF
- TXT
- WPD
- Watch the Annotate video
Creating a SafeAssignmentSafeAssign is an anti-plagiarism checking tool incorporated as an option in Blackboard Assignments. It’s designed to be used to promote originality and to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is effective as both a deterrent and an educational tool. SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of sources to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. Files formats compartible with SafeAssignments are: DOCX, DOC, PPT, PPTX, PDF, TXT, ODT, RTF, HTML, and HTM.
- To create a SafeAssign assignment, following most of the steps described above for Creating Assignments.
- In Submission Details check the box next to “Check submissions for plagiarism using SafeAssign”.
- You can check to option to Allow students to view SafeAssign originality report for their attempts.
- You can check to option to Exclude submissions from the Institutional and Global References Databases. You may want this if you’re allowing students to submit more than one attempt.
- Click Submit
Grading a SafeAssignmentYou can access students’ SafeAssign submissions through the Grade Center. Viewing the submission through Grade Center will allow you to use inline grading.
- Go to Grade Center, Full Grade Center, scroll to the SafeAssign assignment and then click on the drop down arrow next to a student that has submitted the SafeAssign assignment and click on the Attempt.
- To view the SafeAssign report, click on SafeAssign in the right hand side of the screen to expand it, then click View Originality Report.
- Reading the SafeAssign report. The citations are highlighted in different colors. You can uncheck a citation and resubmit the document.
Creating Turnitin AssignmentsTurnitin is a third-party anti-plagiarism and originality tool that offers some grading features that SafeAssign does not have. Turnitin just checks attached file for originality. Students cannot type directly into a Turnitin assignment link.
File formats compatible with Turnitin are: HTML, Hangul Word Processor file (.hwp), Rich text format (.rtf), Plain text (.txt), Microsoft Word® (.doc/.docx), OpenOffice Text (.odt), WordPerfect® (.wpd), PostScript (.ps).
Adobe® PDF – Turnitin will not accept PDF image files, forms, or portfolios, files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file – usually an image), documents containing multiple files or files created with software other than Adobe Acrobat®
Microsoft PowerPoint® (.pptx, .ppt, .ppsx, and .pps) – Turnitin converts the PowerPoint® slide deck into a static PDF, leaving all text and images in their original format but leaving out features such as presenter notes, embedded video, and animations. Text with visual effects is not supported, and it is recommended that any visual effects such as shadows and 3D be removed prior to submitting to Turnitin.
Microsoft Excel® (.xls and .xlsx) – The version of the file that can be viewed in the Document Viewer will look the same as it would if the Excel file had been saved as a PDF and submitted to Turnitin. We highly recommend that users pay attention to the image preview provided in the single file submission to verify that the file is presented in an acceptable manner. Users can adjust the way the file looks by editing the page setup and print area settings for the file prior to saving it and submitting it to Turnitin.
- In the Assessments drop-down menu click on Turnitin Assignment.
- In the Add Turnitin Assignment tool insert the assignment attributes and parameters, including assignment name, point value and dates available.
- Continue choosing assignment options. These options include allowing students to submit after the due date, filtering out small matches, submitting paper to a repository, searching the internet, periodicals and journals.
- Continue choosing assignment options. Then click Submit.
Grading a Turnitin Assignment
- You can access submitted assignments through the Grade Center or Needs Grading link.
- The Feedback Studio uses 2 “layers” – the Grading layer (blue) for marking up and grading content, and the Similarity layer (red) for checking originality.
- In the Grading layer you can use Quickmarks to mark up a paper by dragging and dropping commonly-used comments, and create custom Quickmarks comments.
- Text and voice commentary can be added.
- The Similarity layer will reveal unoriginal content, percent originality and percent similarity to possible online sources.
Sending emails
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- In the Control Panel under Course Tools click the Send Email link (towards the bottom of the list)
- Select the group you want to send the email to by clicking on the respective link (e.g. All Student Users)
- Enter the subject and message of your email
- Attach files by clicking on the Attach a file link (optional)
- Click Submit
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Creating Tests and adding questions
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- From the Control Panel, click on Course Tools link, then click on Tests, Surveys and Pools (bottom of Course Tools).
- From the Tests, Surveys and Pools page, Click on the Tests link.
- From the Tests page, click on Build Test (top-right).
- On the Test Information page, provide a name.
- Optionally, type Instructions and a Description. You can use the Text Editor functions to format the text and include files, images, web links, multimedia, and Mashups. Any files uploaded from your computer are saved in Course Files or the Content Collection in the top level folder. Attachments uploaded using the Text Editor can be launched in a new window and can include alternate text to describe the attachment.
- Click Submit
Creating questions. You should change the Question Settings if you want to include images, external links and feedback.
- After the test is created, you can add question by using one of the following methods: Create Question or Reuse Question or Upload Questions you may have in comma delimited text file.
- If adding questions by using the Create Question, select question type from the drop-down list and follow the instructions.
- To add more questions, please repeat step 11.
Making tests available to students: Go to the Content Area in which you would like the test to appear. Select Test from the Create Assessment drop-down list. Select the test you wish to display from the list that appears and click the Submit button.
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Creating Test Pools of questions
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- In the Control Panel area click Course Tools, and then select Tests, Surveys and Pools
- From the Tests, Surveys and Pools page, click on Pools
- From the Pools page, click Build Pool. Provide a Name for the pool, a brief description and instructions
- Click Submit
Adding questions to the pool
There are three different ways to add questions to a pool.
- By clicking the Create Question button (top-right)
- By clicking the Find Questions button
- By clicking the Upload Questions button
Customizing the Grade Center view
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- In the Control Panel area click Grade Center, and then select Full Grade Center
- To hide a column, click on the column dropdown list and select hide column (left of column name)
- To restore the view of a hidden column, click on Manage at the top of the page and select Column Organization.
- Select the column to show by checking the checkbox (left side) in the Shown in All Grade Center View.
- Use the Show/Hide dropdown menu and click Show Selected Columns to show the selected column.
- Click Submit. A success message will appear in the top-left corner of the page.
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Adding YouTube Videos
- Log in to Blackboard
- Select your course from the My Courses module (top-right)
- Make sure the Edit Mode is On (top-right)
- Select the Content Area where you want to add the video. (e.g. Course Document, Chapter 1)
- On the Action Bar (top-left), point to Build Content to access the drop-down list and under Mashups select YouTube Video.
- In the Search for a YouTube Video page, type a search criteria.
- (Optional) Select matching pattern and language in which you want to do the search.
- Click Go
- (Optional) Click Preview to watch the content before adding it to your course.
- Click Select to add the content to your course.
- Provide a Name for the content. You can also provide a Description of the video and additional options for the Mashup.
- Click Submit. A success message appears at the top of the page. The Mashup appears a the bottom of the Content area.
NOTE: Every course in Blackboard has been populated with useful information for your students (e.g. CUNY & HOSTOS attendance, grading, academic integrity policies; information about all support services offered by the college; and much more)
Other online resources, rich media, hardware and software
The EdTech Media Center offers powerful software and hardware technology to capture and record lessons, classroom activities and quickly and easily be make them available as streaming media and podcasts.
