The Bulldogs United in Learning Drake (BUILD) program is strong.  But, as is typically the case, there is always room for improvement. While we will continue many of the BUILD training and educational opportunities familiar to you this upcoming academic year, Human Resources is looking at short and long-term improvements to the BUILD program to better serve the needs and interests of our employees.

Some of the comments in the 2021 Great Colleges to Work For survey indicate a desire for additional professional development and growth opportunities. We hear you! Whether a technical training topic, brain-storming opportunity, team-building exercise, or substantive discussion—we want to hear what type of training and training topics would interest you for this coming fall. If you have suggestions for longer-term enhancements to BUILD—and those will take some time—we welcome those as well.

Please send your suggestions to drakehr@drake.edu with the subject line: BUILD Ideas. We would love to hear your suggestions and ideas.

Creating content 
Creating a course starts on the Course Content page. You’ll find it’s easy to discover features and complete actions. Create new content, upload something you already have, or add content from external sources or from another course. Select the plus (+) sign wherever you want to add content, create a folder or learning module. Clicking on titles allows you to either edit the title or opens the item. You can also expand folders and learning modules by clicking the chevron.  Learn more about Adding Content, Assessment, and Communications Tools in Blackboard (How-to). 

Reusing content
You can copy all the content from Original courses or select individual items from the other Ultra courses you have built. If you’re copying from Original courses, please be sure to copy from Original courses rather than trying to start in the Ultra courses to import content.  

NOTE: Cleanup is expected as a part of a course conversion if you copy your content from Original courses. To learn more, please review Copying Courses in Blackboard Learn (How-to). 

Time Saving Tips 
Batch Edit: In the Ultra Course View, you can use Batch Edit to update common settings across all content, such as visibility and due dates. You can also delete a group of selected course content.  

Two options for getting PDFs to open in the browser:  

1. Use the (+) and Upload. Adding PDFs within a Document will require that the students must download the file before opening.   
2. Find the resource using the Cowles Library Research Guides and use a Permalink. Permalinks are the preferred method of sharing library resources. Their use ensures that the library is aware when resources are being used so they continue to maintain them. 

Use Panopto for Instructor or Student created Video: Our Blackboard data storage costs have increased since October 2020. To keep our storage sustainable and affordable, please store all locally created video content on Panopto. See the many Panopto how-to articles related to Blackboard courses. 

Connecting Courses to Textbook Resources: If your course requires textbook resources that can be connected to Blackboard, please reach out to your textbook representative and ask if they have an LTI-based tool. Once they provide you with further information, please submit a Blackboard Consultation to get assistance from ITS staff.  

Blackboard and Continuous Delivery: Blackboard is a cloud service that continuously improves over time. New tools and features will be added over the coming months and years. ITS will try to keep you informed, but if you want more details, feel free to read the Release Notes. 

— Karly Good, ITS

This serves as an update to our plans for modifying workplace protocols for the month of July. We continue to work toward a return to full on-campus operations as we prepare to welcome students back to campus for the 2021–2022 academic year.

• As previously communicated, employees no longer need to register their personal travel.
• Work-related travel is allowed, but requires approval by the President’s Council leader for your area.
• Departments may continue to increase on campus operations gradually over the month of July. There are no limits on office density, but managers should ensure that 3-feet social distancing is possible.
• Departments may begin to hold in-person meetings, so long as 3-feet social distancing can be maintained.
• For now, masks will continue to be required inside University buildings. We continue to monitor vaccination rates to assess our ability to make modifications to this policy.

These guidelines will be reviewed in July. Changes for the month of August will be communicated by July 26. Guidelines are subject to change based on new developments in the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination rates within the Drake or local community.

— Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer

— Laura Shell, Academic Success & Retention

Ransomware attacks don’t just affect businesses; colleges and universities are also prime targets for attacks. Within the last thirty days, educational organizations have been the target of more than 6.1 million malware attacks, while the second-most affected industry (business and professional services) has only seen 900,000 attacks. An analysis of ransomware campaigns within higher education found that ransomware attacks against colleges and universities have more than doubled since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to increased frequency, the average ransom demand grew from an average of $8,000 in 2018, to $170,000 in 2020. Some high-end demands have exceeded $1 million.

The FBI’s Cyber Division recently warned that ransomware poses a growing risk for higher education, as cybercriminals are focusing on colleges and universities. This warning hit home in June as Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) was forced to temporarily shut down operations as a result of a ransomware attack.

Warnings from the FBI and the recent DMACC incident are reminders to remain ever vigilant in protecting University data. Be careful with every email you receive, especially those that ask you to click on a link or verify personal or financial information. To assist with recognizing fraudulent emails, especially in light of this continuing trend, ITS will continue to simulate phishing and assign training to those most susceptible as part of our larger cybersecurity strategy. If you believe you’ve been targeted by phishing, see Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to) for next steps.

—Chris Mielke, ITS

Sources:
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2021/6/the-increasing-threat-of-ransomware-in-higher-education

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2021/06/15/ransomware-attack-dmacc-online-classes-canceled-tuesday-des-moines-community-college-cybersecurity/7697802002/

Drake University has updated the Cellular Phone Policy that was originally developed in 2009.  The University will continue to not own cellular phones for the use of individual employees except in limited situations. Employees whose job functions include the frequent need for a cellular phone may receive a stipend, in the form of a cell phone allowance. Eligibility for the cell phone allowance will be confirmed by managers and approved by the applicable President’s Council member in accordance with eligibility factors listed in the policy. The amount of the cell phone allowance is changing to be more reflective of cellular phone billing practices while still acknowledging that job functions may require some level of business-related use of an employee’s personal cell phone.

All interested members of the Drake community are encouraged to review and comment on these policy revisions by July 26, 2021. The policy is slated to be effective as of August 1, 2021.

Below are some opportunities to help you become proficient in Blackboard Learn Ultra Courses before Fall 2021.

Training Options

Blackboard YouTube Playlist
Follow the Blackboard YouTube playlist for access to 50+ video tutorials on the Ultra Course Experience.
NOTE: This option may cover tools unavailable at Drake and may not provide rationale for decision making.

Drake Online “Design Dialogue” Sessions
Drake Online staff hosted a series of “Design Dialogues” each focusing on a different topic related to Blackboard Learn Ultra. Recordings of the Design Dialogues are available on their Faculty Resources page.

Blackboard Learn Ultra Instructor Orientation course
The Blackboard Learn Ultra Instructor Orientation course is available in Blackboard Learn. Every Drake faculty member has been enrolled as a student in this self-paced course. We strongly encourage you to complete this course so you can start preparing for fall. If you cannot locate it or need access, please submit a Blackboard Issue request.

Understanding the Ultra Experience Webinar Recordings
The Understanding the Ultra Experience Webinar Series includes four topics, re-recorded monthly to reflect software updates. Please be sure to select the most recent series (at the bottom of the page):

NOTE: These Blackboard-sponsored opportunities require a one-time registration

• Learn Ultra Base Navigation
• Learn Ultra Course Design
• Learn Ultra Course and 3rd Party Tools
• Grading and Managing the Gradebook

Drake faculty members who have attended these webinars have found them incredibly helpful and worthwhile.

Hands-on Building in Ultra Sandbox Courses
Learn Ultra sandbox courses were made available to most faculty members in Fall 2020. If you don’t have a sandbox course in Learn Ultra and would like one or need any additional sandbox courses, please submit a Blackboard Site Creation request.

The sandbox courses:

1. Provide a risk-free environment for hands-on practice in a Learn Ultra course.
2. Allow you to build/prep a new course in Learn Ultra (which can later be copied into a live course, if desired).

Need More Help?

Contextual Help 
In the bottom right corner, of any page in Learn Ultra, look for the purple question mark and click on Blackboard Help to be re-directed to articles to help you learn more about the feature you are using.

ITS Service Portal 
Visit the Learn Ultra knowledge base category to see guides including Copying Courses in Blackboard Learn (How-to), which provides instructions on copying Original courses to Ultra. Additional Learn Ultra resources will be available soon.

FAQ Page
To learn more about the Blackboard Learn Ultra project, visit drake.edu/its/learnultra.

—Karly Good, ITS

Drake printers/copiers are leased from and maintained by Laser Resources Inc. (LRI). Our current lease period expires this summer and we are entering into a new agreement with LRI. As part of this lease renewal, we are re-evaluating campus needs and trying to more effectively manage printing costs.

A project team, made up of staff members from ITS, Student Services, Finance, and LRI representatives, meets weekly. In June, LRI staff held initial meetings with representatives across campus to discuss printing, scanning, and copying needs for their departments.

Through information gathered in these interviews, it was determined that Drake would be unable to reduce the number of devices as much as originally anticipated. As a result, Drake will be keeping some of the current fleet of devices in addition to leasing new ones. There will still be a reduction in the number of printers, but in a way that better aligns with departmental needs.

LRI is currently working on a proposal to take back to the project team. Once that proposal has been reviewed, follow up meetings will be held to inform departments of expected printer changes and the replacement timeline for their area.

More specific information on which devices will be in each location, and other changes, will be shared in future OnCampus articles.

The project team has created an initial Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page at drake.edu/its/printing. Additional questions and answers will be added as the project progresses and more information becomes available.

—Kris Brewster, ITS