The Center for Teaching and Learning provides guidance for faculty and students who are interested in integrating a range of technologies into their work at Baruch College.
What we do
In collaboration with the Baruch Computing and Technology Center, the CTL supports the development and maintenance of two educational technology platforms.
Blogs@Baruch is an online publishing and academic networking platform for the Baruch College community. It is built on WordPress and BuddyPress, and is used for course weblogs, student journals and publications, curriculum development, administrative communication, and faculty development.
Vocat is a teaching and learning platform that facilitates qualitative and quantitative assessment of a range of media. Faculty and students can upload videos, pictures, and audio directly into Vocat using a simple drag-and-drop interface. Notes and annotations can be added to specific points in a video/picture/audio clip that will appear at the same timestamp for all viewers.
Other Educational Technologies at Baruch
Blackboard is CUNY’s course management system, and a familiar presence in the lives of all Baruch students. It allows for the posting of course materials, the structuring of assignments, and ease of communication between participants in a course. For Blackboard support, please contact the BCTC Help Desk at helpdesk@baruch.cuny.edu.
Many of the classrooms on campus are electronic or “smart” classrooms that have built-in multimedia equipment – Projector (ceiling mounted), Computer, Document Camera, DVD player and more. Click here to read more about Baruch’s smart classrooms. The College also supports the use of a classroom response system (commonly referred to as “clickers”) that can create an additional mode of feedback in the physical classroom.
Synchronous web communications/conferencing tools
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is the synchronous web communications/conferencing tool integrated with Blackboard courses. The college has a limited number of licenses for another web conferencing tool, Zoom. Faculty who decide that they must teach using synchronous class meetings using Zoom should request an account in advance from BCTC via helpdesk@baruch.cuny.edu.
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Additional tools are available on the web, including Adobe Connect, Webex, ooVoo and Google Hangouts. The CTL will work with faculty members and BCTC to determine the best solutions for each particular instructional need.
Screencapture/Screencasting
The CTL Staff can work with faculty members to determine the best solution for creating, hosting, and serving asynchronous instructional media, such as video lectures that integrate other media.
Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and later versions include the ability to record a voice-over narration on a slideshow, by selecting the Record Slide Show option. Instructions are available on the Microsoft web site. Voice-over narration is also an alternative to screen recording.
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra allows faculty to record and upload to a Blackboard course. Instructions are provided on the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra web page.
Screencast-o-matic is a free platform for video production (with limits). We encourage faculty to explore this and other free and open video production platforms. We are happy to explore new platforms with faculty but can only offer limited support at this time.
For more involved video projects that require extensive editing and post-production, the College offers a limited number licenses for Camtasia, a more robust screen recording and video editing software. (There is also a free trial available through Camtasia.)
Other technology tools & resources
The Baruch Computing and Technology Center offers a range of audio visual services and equipment, including lecture recording and on-site a/v assistance. These services require advance notice. See this BCTC page for more detailed information and to access the reservation form.
Members of the Baruch College community have access to Qualtrics, a powerful online survey tool. For more information on deploying a Qualtrics survey, please see this page from BCTC.
Integrating social media into classes can increase engagement about course-related material both inside and outside of the classroom. Using social media also offers students and faculty an opportunity to connect the content of an academic class with existing local, national, and global conversations. However, many faculty have questions about the ethics, efficacy, and practicality of incorporating social media into their teaching practice. Here are some links that can serve as an entry point for interested faculty members (please note that these links are in no way endorsed by Baruch College or CUNY and serve only as potential sources of advice, not policy). See also, social media sites where Baruch has an official presence.
Technology Resources
- When you can’t require the webcam
- Hybrid Course Prep Timeline
- Teaching Ideas for Online Class Sessions
