Hiring students to help with your teaching technology project is a great idea – they get experience, they get paid, and you get the close-at-hand help you need! If you are faculty or staff member here at UofT, then you should know that the Work-Study Program provides students with the opportunity to develop their knowledge, … Read More

It is with mixed feelings that I write to tell you that our colleague Bethany Babinchak is moving to a new position at the University, starting on Monday. Obviously, I wish Bethany well in her new role with Ancillary Services, but I will miss her here in ACT. I have grown to appreciate Bethany’s commitment … Read More

Dear Colleagues, As most of you know, this weekend we will be doing an upgrade to the core software that underlies the University’s Portal (referred to by some as “blackboard”). First, I want to thank everyone who has been working on planning and testing for this upgrade. There are, of course, the staff in our … Read More

As many of you know, many students who logged in to the Portal early on Sunday, April 6, couldn’t find their course websites. The Portal (known to some as Blackboard) was actually functioning perfectly. Unfortunately a glitch on another system was responsible for the ‘absent’ courses. Once the Portal support team figured that out, we … Read More

MEMO From: Avi Hyman, Director, ACT Date: April 4, 2014: 00:20 Re: Update on Exchange Issue on April 3 First, I want to thank everyone in the community who participated in troubleshooting the earlier Exchange issue. I also want to thank those who helped with patron communications. It was, as usual, a community effort. As … Read More

MEMO Re: Portal Status Date: April 2, 2014 Time: 6:00 pm From: Avi Hyman, Director, Academic & Collaborative Technologies As you may know, the Portal has been very sluggish today. First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any disruption to people’s work that has occurred as a result of the problems, especially at … Read More

The Portal will be upgraded to the most recent version of the Blackboard Learn software on May 10th and 11th, 2014. The new version will include a number of new features as well as enhancements to existing tools and capabilities. Additional information will be shared as documentation is completed over the upcoming weeks. 
Please note … Read More

Please note that the Portal (Blackboard) will be down for maintenance on the weekend immediately after the end of the current semester, Dec. 20 – Dec 23. For full details and updates, please visit the Portal System Status Page <http://www.systemstatus.utoronto.ca/system/systems/portal>

From: Jeremy Graham, Senior Manager (Operations) Academic & Collaborative Technologies (ACT), University of Toronto Please join me in congratulating Marco Di Vittorio on his recent appointment to the new position of Manager, Academic & Collaborative Technologies (ACT) Application Administration. A 2001 graduate of the University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Marco has worked at … Read More

Check out UTSC’s CTL Educational Technology News “CTL’s Ed Tech team supports teaching and learning with technology at UTSC including Blackboard support, WebOption Lecturecasting, Test Scanning Services, Presentation Skills, iClickers, and more. This occasional newsletter features news, events and information related to those programs and services, and highlights interesting emerging educational technologies.”