This video covers using the Blackboard Learn Ultra AI Design Assistant to auto-generate suggested course content in the form of Learning Modules.

This video covers using suggestions from Unsplash for Course Bannvers via Blackboard Learn Ultra's AI Design assistant.

This video covers using the Blackboard learn Ultra AI Design Assistant to generate Learning Module images or generate image from unsplash.

With the aid of the AI Design Assistant, instructors can build question banks to gauge comprehension of the text-based elements within an Ultra Document. This streamlined process saves significant time. It also stands as a robust aid in shaping both formative and summative assessments. This video covers the process.

The AI Design Assistant can take the helm in rubric creation, drawing cues from course context. While retaining human-centered authority, instructors can define the rubric. This includes specifying details like descriptions (learning objectives or topics), rubric type (percentage, points, or range), complexity, and dimensions. The rubric remains open to review and refine, guaranteeing the instructor's input at every step. This video covers the process.

The Rubric for Hybrid/Blended Course Design with FEEDBACK is a fillable tool that can be used to evaluate the integration of pedagogy in a fully online course. This tool is a compliment to the SHSU Online Course Design Rubric, also located as Open Source in the OERTX. This tool can be used by various types of reviewers, from instructional designers, to peer faculty reviewers, to program assessment reviewers, or external reviewers.

Also check out the SHSU Online Course Design Rubrics for fully online courses, online-live courses, and hybrid/blended courses.

The Rubric for Online Course Design with FEEDBACK is a fillable tool that can be used to evaluate the integration of pedagogy in a fully online course. This tool is a compliment to the SHSU Online Course Design Rubric, also located as Open Source in the OERTX. This tool can be used by various types of reviewers, from instructional designers, to peer faculty reviewers, to program assessment reviewers, or external reviewers.

Also check out the SHSU Online Course Design Rubrics for fully online courses, online-live courses, and hybrid/blended courses.

The Rubric for Online-Live Course Design with FEEDBACK is a fillable tool that can be used to evaluate the integration of pedagogy in a fully online course. This tool is a compliment to the SHSU Online Course Design Rubric, also located as Open Source in the OERTX. This tool can be used by various types of reviewers, from instructional designers, to peer faculty reviewers, to program assessment reviewers, or external reviewers.

Also check out the SHSU Online Course Design Rubrics for fully online courses, online-live courses, and hybrid/blended courses.

The Sam Houston State University Online Web Accessibility Guide serves as a resource for faculty and staff as you implement accessibility into online spaces. The practices illustrated throughout this guide prioritize learners' needs, reduce barriers to instruction, and are imperative to each student's success. There are countless numbers of low- or no-cost digital educational materials available that may alleviate out-of-pocket expenses but cannot guarantee access to all students unless it meets certain Web Accessibility standards. These basic practices are intended to increase faculty awareness of digital accessibility on campus and learn to make low-effort, high-impact adjustments to create materials that support a variety of learners. Used in conjunction with Blackboard ALLY, learners can instantaneously engage with course content in alternate formats without the need for accommodations or slow turnaround times for third-party remediation. In addition, faculty can be confident in providing this flexibility of use to their learners and know their materials are compatible with assistive technology software and devices, such as screen readers. We hope that faculty and staff will reference this guide when creating or editing course materials in the future. These practices illustrated will create a more accessible classroom for all learners and promote an inclusive institution—a mission we here at Sam Houston State University are dedicated to exemplifying.

This video covers how Blackboard Ultra's AI Design assistant crafts test questions for formative and summative assessments.

The Texas State University System is leading online education into the future. Any doubt about
that can be set aside by simply looking at the numbers. When it comes to online education, TSUS
is seizing the initiative. Many online education semester credit hours attempted in the state of
Texas are taken by students within TSUS institutions. As of Fall 2016, among 37 public four-year
institutions of higher education in Texas, TSUS institutions represent 12 percent of semester credit
hours attempted online.

The Texas State University System is leading online education into the future. Any doubt about that can be set aside by simply looking at the numbers. When it comes to online education, TSUS is seizing the initiative.

As of Fall 2018, among the six public university systems in Texas, TSUS leads the way in the percentage of students pursuing their degrees fully online, with 14%.

The Texas State University System is uniquely positioned to move forward as the state’s leader in online education.

Courses and degree programs offered online are increasingly important tools within the Texas State University System to address issues of both college access and student success. TSUS institutions plan to increase online education opportunities to support the growing interest among Texas students and families.

Over the past six years, the number of degree programs offered fully online and semester credit hours earned online have increased dramatically. Through programs offered online, students can log on to class using any computer with internet access—at home, at work, at the local library, or on campus, and anytime—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

While colleges and universities have been facing overall declines in enrollment in recent years, distance (online) education has been the exception.

As of Fall 2019, among the six public university systems in Texas, TSUS continues to lead the way in the percentage of students pursuing their degrees fully online, up 1% from last year with 15%. Making online education a priority is an appropriate response to the rapid growth in online programs nationwide. By enthusiastically adopting the emerging technologies and best practices related to online education, TSUS institutions have staked a claim in the rapid growth of online education.

The Texas State University System continues to lead online education into the future.

2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenges—for higher education and for virtually every other part of American and global society. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic early in the year, which also brought a powerful economic disruption with it, 2020 is a year we will never forget. The implications for higher education are profound. This report will demonstrate the many ways in which the Texas State University System and its institutions have responded to the unique challenges of 2020 and will provide a glimpse of how we will continue to address those challenges in the years to come.

With the pandemic-driven increase in online education over the past year, a growing focus has developed on the quality of the experience in TSUS institutions. The quest for higher quality has taken several forms, from online departments finding new ways to expand or partner with academic service departments to addressing a growing need for online tutoring to thoughtful redesigns of online courses, which include inclusive content, greater ADA compliance, and recognition of disparate student learning styles.

The Texas State University System is a leader in online education. Any doubt about that can be set aside by simply looking at the numbers. As of the Fall semester of 2022, approximately one-third of students across TSUS institutions are studying exclusively online. Through the TSUS shared services initiative, our institutions are fostering collaboration to seize the moment.

Over the past year, two additional System institutions—Lamar State College Orange and Lamar State College Port Arthur—have been brought into the shared ecosystem already being used by Sam Houston State University, Sul Ross State University, and Lamar Institute of Technology.

A panoramic and retrospective view of the past six years in online higher education leaves no doubt of the complex challenges wrought on institutions large and small. From facing natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey, to a global pandemic, to declining enrollments in higher education, the TSUS online enterprise has been proactive in our preparations for academic continuity and in opening new markets for enrollments.