Two-Factor Authentication for Blackboard

Updated 03/29/2021 - Since the afternoon of Wednesday, March 24, Blackboard Learn requires two-factor authentication (2FA).  Most users should be familiar with 2FA as Office 365 has required 2FA since Fall 2020. If you need more information about Duo 2FA, click on the UCT webpage link, Two-Factor Authentication with Duo.

Users encountering errors when attempting to log into Blackboard should first review our team's handout, Troubleshooting Two-Factor Login Issues. If you are then still unable to log into Blackboard, please contact the Support Center for assistance. The Support Center's operating hours and options for contacting that office are available on the University Computing and Telecommunications web site.

As announced in August 2020, the University of Houston System, in congruence with best security practices, requires all UH System members to implement 2-factor authentication (2FA) to access systems containing confidential, sensitive, or private information. Aside from the traditional username/password, this second layer of protection uses a unique passcode sent to your mobile device as a text message, a code within the Duo App, or an audible message via a phone call. As noted on the Two-Factor Authentication with Duo webpage, users who do not have or prefer not to use a cell phone for authentication may opt either to receive landline or cell phone verification calls or to obtain a Hardware Token for verification.

The Blackboard login page has been changed to accommodate this change. As shown below, the login box has been removed. Instead of entering your username and password on the login page, you will begin by clicking the "Log Into Blackboard" button, located at the top center of the page. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please, contact UHCL Security at security@uhcl.edu or the UCT Support Center at supportcenter@uhcl.edu.

IDT Newsletter Archives (2021)

Our team prepares a weekly newsletter that is emailed to faculty and staff every Monday night. This page contains PDF versions of all previously distributed newsletters for 2021. Please use the hyperlinks below to open any of these PDF archives. The previous year's newsletter archives are available on the blog post, IDT Newsletter Archives (2020).

• Volume 2, Issue 1 - Week of January 4, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 2 - Week of January 11, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 3 - Week of January 18, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 4 - Week of January 25, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 4 - Week of February 1, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 5 - Week of February 8, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 6 - Week of February 22, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 7 - Week of March 1, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 8 - Week of March 8, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 9 - Week of March 15, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 10 - Week of March 22, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 11 - Week of March 29, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 12 - Week of April 5, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 13 - Week of April 12, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 14 - Week of April 19, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 15 - Week of April 26, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 16 - Week of May 3, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 17 - Week of May 10, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 18 - Week of May 17, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 19 - Week of May 24, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 20 - Week of June 7, 2021 
• Volume 2, Issue 21 - Week of June 14, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 22 - Week of June 21, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 23 - Week of  July 12, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 24 - Week of July 19, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 25 - Week of July 26, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 26 - Week of August 2, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 27 - Week of August 9, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 28 - Week of August 23, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 29 - Week of August 30, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 30 - Week of September 6, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 31 - Week of September 13, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 32 - Week of September 20, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 33 - Week of September 27, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 34 - Week of October 4, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 35 - Week of October 11, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 36 - Week of October 18, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 37 - Week of October 25, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 38 - Week of November 1, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 39 - Week of November 8, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 40 - Week of November 15, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 41 - Week of November 22, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 42 - Week of November 29, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 43 - Week of December 6, 2021
• Volume 2, Issue 44 - Week of December 13, 2021

Blackboard Update - New Text Editor Interface

On Thursday, November 5, Blackboard automatically pushed an upgrade to all SaaS (cloud-based) instances of Blackboard Learn, including the system used at UHCL.

Unfortunately, the documentation provided to us by Blackboard regarding the upgrade failed to specify the nature of the significant adjustments to Blackboard's text editor. As a result, we have received multiple inquiries from faculty over the weekend regarding how to complete essential tasks using the new interface. We have prepared a series of short video demonstrations to address those questions. Please feel free to use the following links for information about one or more of these topics:

• Providing Audio and/or Video Feedback When Grading
• Embedding Echo360 Videos
• Including a Document with an Announcement
• Adding images to test questions 
• New Copy/Paste Formatting Prompt
• Adding YouTube/Khan Academy Embedded Videos

Two other reported issues have been forwarded to Blackboard support for investigation and resolution:

• Video created using embed code from UHCL’s streaming server badly formatted
• Unable to Return Photoshop (PSD) Files to Students in Grading Feedback - Blackboard has identified this issue as a "software defect" that will be resolved on a later update; however, there is no ETA from Blackboard as to when it will be fixed.

If you encounter an issue in the updated system that is not addressed in this article, please contact the Support Center to report the problem. Our team will investigate and either create a video/document to demonstrate the new process, or we'll open a help ticket with Blackboard to report the issue as a potential bug in the update.

Removal and Deletion of 2017 Semester Offerings

As originally announced in our March 15, 2020 newsletter, our team will remove all 2017 Blackboard semester offerings during the week of May 3, 2021. In order to reduce the size of our Blackboard database (and to avoid incurring additional storage space costs from Blackboard), we retain three calendar years plus the current year at any given time, so it is now time to say goodbye to 2017 shells. Course shells to be deleted are only those that have SP17, SU17, and FA17 in their CourseID. We have already restored faculty access to their 2017 semester offerings so that you can review those courses and decide whether or not you want to retain an offline copy for your records. Faculty who would like to retain copies of their 2017 courses may use either the Archive or Export option in Blackboard to do so. The difference between the archive and export process, as provided by Blackboard, is as follows:

• The archive course feature creates a frozen snapshot or permanent record of your course. An archive includes all the content, course statistics, users, and course interactions, such as blog posts, discussions, attendance data, and grades.
• The export course feature creates a ZIP file of your course content that you can import to create a new course. Unlike the archive course feature, the export course feature doesn't include any users or user interactions with the course.

Please note that neither process results in a version of your course contents that you can access or use outside of Blackboard. You may import a Blackboard export file to load old contents into a new blank semester shell. To access an archived file, you would need to work with our Learning Technology Administrators (LTAs) to temporarily restore a shell from that file to access materials or data. UCT will not be retaining any copies of 2017 course shells, so please make plans to export or archive courses that you want to save before Monday, May 3, 2021.

Improve Zoom Security with Authenticated User Setting

For those faculty with concerns about security in their Zoom sessions with students, the Zoom meeting option, "Only authenticated users can join," may be of interest.  If you select this option in your meeting settings, your Zoom session participants will have to log in with their UHCL email address and password to be permitted into the meeting. This takes care of those situations in which "Guest1234" appears in your participant list and you have no idea who that is. As with any new setting change, we recommend that you "test drive" this feature in a short session with several students before an actual whole class meeting. The following information has been excerpted from the Zoom support page, Authentication Profiles for meetings and webinars, which also contains a lot of detailed information for the Zoom system administrators.

Overview

Authentication profiles allow hosts to restrict meeting participants and webinar attendees to logged-in users only and even further restrict it to Zoom users whose email address uses a certain domain. This can be useful if you want to restrict your participant list to verified users, or users from a certain organization.

Authentication profiles do not apply to invited webinar panelists, who will have a unique join link and can be from outside of the specified domain(s).

Note: If a participant does not have a Zoom account, they will not be able to join the meeting or webinar if this setting is enabled.

If a participant tries to join the meeting or webinar and is not logged into Zoom, or logging in with the wrong specified email domain, they will receive one of the following messages:

• If they are not logged into Zoom:

• If they are logged in with the wrong email domain:

Only allow authenticated users to join a meeting or webinar

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. Schedule a meeting or webinar.
3. Under Meeting Options or Webinar Options, click Only authenticated users can join.

If there are multiple Authentication Profiles configured, you can choose the authentication profile from the dropdown. Selecting the UHCL Domain option will force students to log into the Zoom meeting with their UHCL email address and credentials.

Zoom Webinars versus Meetings: Differences and Considerations

NOTE: Much of the following information has been excerpted from our team's new handout, Guide to Zoom Webinars at UHCL.

In addition to the much more common Zoom meeting, Zoom users can also host webinars. For a detailed comparison of meeting and webinar features, please review the Zoom support page, Meeting and webinar comparison. Major areas in which meetings and webinars differ are as follows:

• UHCL Zoom meetings can support a maximum of 300 participants, while Zoom Webinars accommodate up to 1000 people.
• Zoom meetings enable two-way communication between hosts/presenters and the participants via camera, microphone, and in-session text chat. Webinars, on the other hand, are primarily intended for one-way communication from the hosts and panelists to the attendees. Limited communication from attendees to the host is available via only the text-based Q&A tool and/or the text chat.
• Zoom meetings include optional Breakout Rooms during the session and a Waiting Room to control when participants may enter the session. Neither of those is available in a Zoom Webinar. 
• Any UHCL faculty or staff member may schedule and host Zoom Meetings. However, the university owns a limited number of Webinar licenses that must be borrowed by the Webinar host (or hosting campus office) for the specific event.

Planning and conducting a Zoom webinar may seem daunting at first; however, with proper planning and preparation, anyone can host a successful online event! UCT is happy to assist event hosts (and related faculty/staff) with training, planning, and advising for their webinars. To get started, or to simply learn more about hosting a Zoom webinar at UHCL, please begin by reviewing the document, Guide to Zoom Webinars at UHCL. Then, contact the Support Center with your questions, or to schedule your initial planning meeting with a member of our team.

Important Information About Zoom Cloud Storage

Although UCT is excited to see how Zoom's adoption and utilization continues to expand, we do need to provide some information to users to address some "housekeeping" issues, especially regarding meeting/webinar recordings. The following information is intended for all users who have been storing meetings/webinars online in Zoom's cloud storage. Zoom cloud storage is not intended for long-term/permanent data retention and we have begun monthly processes to purge Zoom cloud recordings older than 90 days from the system. If a user expects a recording to be used for months or years to come, they should plan to transfer the recording from Zoom to a long-term storage solution, such as YouTube, UHCL's media server, or Echo360.

To ensure that Zoom continues to function smoothly, we are requesting that Zoom users who have been saving recordings within Zoom act upon the following recommendations. Please regularly check your list of recordings in Zoom and "clean house" to control that inventory:

1. Recordings no longer needed/relevant should be deleted from Zoom;
2. Recordings that need to be archived/saved indefinitely should be downloaded and saved to your own, or a departmental, computer/storage device. The recording, once downloaded, should be deleted from Zoom;
3. Recordings that will need to be accessed repeatedly, and over a significant period of time (e.g., within Blackboard, on UHCL's web site), should be downloaded, saved to a long-term storage area (e.g., YouTube, Echo360, UHCL streaming media server), and then deleted from Zoom; and 
4. Zoom recordings needed in the short term (not exceeding 90 days) can be retained in Zoom and should be deleted once they are no longer needed.

The following resources are designed to assist users with some of these recommendations:

• Handout: Downloading a Zoom Recording (and associated files) to your local computer/device
• Handout: Options for Deploying Videos

For more information about saving and using Zoom recordings for instruction, faculty are encouraged to contact the Support Center so that a member of the Instructional Design and Technology team can meet with you to discuss and assist with options that are most suitable for teaching/learning.