Youngstown State Online

Our very own Instructional Design & Development Center has been awarded Blackboard’s Catalyst Award in the Blackboard Adoption & Engagement category. The award program recognizes institutions and individuals that are driving “meaningful change in education.” YSU’s IDDC will be recognized, along with this year’s other winners, at the annual Blackboard Conference this month in Dallas, Texas. 

You can find out more about this year’s categories and winners here: 2026 Catalyst Awards Winners

We are seeking mentors from all of the YSU colleges! Sustainable technological adoption relies on trusted, grassroots peer networks. Do you find yourself having informal conversations about AI with colleagues, experimenting with tools in your courses, or creatively approaching AI-aware assessments? Do you want to help shape the campus conversation on generative AI? If so, please consider joining this interdisciplinary initiative sponsored by YSU Online, the ITL, and IT Training Services.

The program connects mentoring faculty (full and part-time) who are exploring and applying generative AI at YSU with peers looking for informal guidance, fresh ideas, discipline-specific applications, and collaborative exploration. As a mentor, you will serve as an informal peer resource and visible catalyst for thoughtful AI experimentation. Mentors receive a $500 stipend per semester.

New technology can be exciting, but it can be stressful, too. Here’s a technology comic strip submitted by YSU faculty member Dr. Jeff Coldren. Using Claude AI and Gemini AI, he applied Kubler-Ross’s classic stages of grief to a scenario that’s becoming familiar to us all: coming to terms with the effects of AI on the work of university teaching. 

Click the image below to view a larger version.

You can run a report that aggregates rubric data across all student submissions, allowing you to see how students are performing for each rubric criterion. Here’s how:

You can find out more here!

Is your Blackboard course overloaded with old content and large files? Join us to learn practical strategies to "right-size" your course, improve performance, and enhance the student experience. You'll leave with simple, actionable steps to streamline your content without sacrificing quality. 

New to Blackboard? Not so new, but want a refresher on the basics? You can enroll in Youngstown State Online's Blackboard Training course! The course walks you through the basics and provides links for resources to dive deeper! Here's a list of the topics covered in this training course:

Preparing to Teach Online at YSU is a self-paced training taught in Blackboard. The course is designed to help YSU faculty prepare to develop and teach online courses. Successful completion means that you meet the training requirements for developing and teaching an online course at YSU. Enrollment is not limited to those who are new to the online experience or those who haven't met the training requirement. You are encouraged to sign up as a refresher or as an opportunity to engage in discussions about best practices in the online environment. The estimated time to complete is 8 hours.

Teaching in Blackboard Ultra for the first time—or looking to streamline your workflow? The Blackboard First Term Success course helps you build and manage your course, engage students, track progress, and complete grading with confidence.

This free, self-paced course provides practical, step-by-step guidance you can apply immediately.

Classroom discussions can help students integrate new knowledge, retain information better, and feel a sense of academic community. Discussions in online courses can yield these same positive results, but often require a little more thought and intention in their design. This article dives into the benefits of online discussions as well as outlining some best practices.

Read the full article here!

Have questions about Blackboard or course design? We're here to help!

Meet the YSU Online Team:

📧iddc@ysu.edu   |   📱x3244   |   🔗Website   |   📅Schedule a Consultation

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Youngstown State University
1 Tressel Way
Youngstown, OH 44555
330.941.3000