Welcome to your April 2023 edition of Online Campus & Edtech News, a brief monthly student-focused newsletter to support your success in online learning and use of educational technology resources at Milwaukee Area Technical College. In this edition, we share some important updates and online student support resources.
Breaking News
Using Ally in Blackboard
Did you know there is a tool in Blackboard that can help you access documents in other formats? With the Ally tool, you can download a file as a playable audio file to hear a document read to you. You can also use Ally to translate a document into over 77 languages. Ally is available in all of your courses to download alternative versions of documents. But it is also available on the Tools page of the Blackboard base navigation to convert your own files to other formats too! To learn more about using Ally, see the tutorials on Ally Student Support Page and the following videos. For questions about Blackboard and Ally, contact onlinelearning@matc.edu.
Blackboard Ultra Courses - Coming Summer 2023
In Summer 2023, the college plans to update Blackboard to the Ultra Course View. This means that all courses offered in the Summer 2023 semester and beyond will be run in Ultra Course mode, offering a streamlined user interface that provides a mobile-friendly and student-centered course experience with more efficient workflows. Ultra Course support resources are now available on the Student Support Website. For a brief orientation of the Blackboard Ultra Experience, see the following videos.
Chromebooks & Hotspots Available through the MATC Library
As of January 30, 2023, MATC Libraries have Chromebooks and mobile hotspots available for currently enrolled students to check out over the semester on a first-come-first-serve basis, while supplies last. See the Library FAQ for details.
Community & Connection Corner
Student Support Hub
