News

Reivew the latest RTL Update themed Navigation AI in Teaching and Learning at Berkeley. We share a few strategies, campus resources, and upcoming events centered on AI for the instrucitonal community.

What’s going to happen? 

During the week of May 19th, we plan to upgrade Kaltura to use the vendor’s latest player, the v7 Player, a player with much of the same functionality as the existing player (the v2 player), but a more modern design and some changes in user interface. The vendor has announced that they will deprecate the old player at the end of June; this means that the old player will still work, but they won't perform any additional work on it, not even to fix bugs. 

The SuiteC toolset is reaching end-of-life and will be retired after the Summer 2025 term. The deprecation of this tool will enable RTL to serve the evolving needs of our campus community and focus our portfolio on the most impactful tools and services.

Last year, RTL implemented a new classroom technology standard and began to install “Flex Classrooms” with accessibility improvements in mind.

New improvements include:

• Ceiling microphones which, if unmuted by the instructor, give remote captioners the ability to hear student questions. Ceiling microphones also allow for the use of a microphone without having to physically touch the shared body pack and mic clip, something that concerned many in 2021.

Introducing the new podcast, Finding Space, where UC Berkeley students, educators, and staff from the disability community tell their stories and call the campus community in on acts of advocacy and disability justice. Learn more on the Finding Space webpage and listen to the premiere episode.

Review updates from Research IT in the Spring 2025 newsletter.

We’re excited to announce the launch of Poll Everywhere’s new Course Management interface, designed to enhance the higher education experience. This updated workflow simplifies course setup and management, making it easier for instructors to integrate Poll Everywhere into their teaching.

Here’s everything you need to know about this update:

Why the Change?

Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) will be operating on modified schedules for campus curtailment during the winter break, Monday, December 23 through Wednesday, January 1. See details below. Emails and requests received during this time will be answered when the campus reopens on January 2, 2025.

Team Member Evaluation assignmentsin Peerceptiv allow students to provide anonymous feedback on the participation and contributions of their group members. Sync existing groups from bCourses, provide a rubric, and this assignment can be set up in <5 minutes.

In the latest issue, review resources for how you can navigate conversations about the current political climate with your students. Also review past issues on topics that may help throughout the academic year.

Review Research IT's Fall 2024 Update for news on upcoming trainings and events for the UC Berkeley research community.

Berkeley’s Classroom Technology team continues to successfully roll out our new Flex Classroom technology standard which will be implemented across campus over the next few years. When Fall instruction began, there were two standard Flex Classrooms and three Active Learning Flex Classrooms. Since then, three more Flex classrooms have been installed in the Social Sciences building, with a few newly refreshed rooms being completed each month throughout this semester.

Review our semester start issue packed with resources for hte Berkeley community.

Prepare for semester start with resources in the Research, Teaching, & Learning August Update

UPDATE -  AUGUST 29, 2024: Based on user feedback, the vendor has rolled back the “Assign To…” tray interface described below, reverting to the original design for assigning due dates and assignees.