Technology Tools

Blackboard is a learning management system that can be used to structure course content and communicate with students. Course shells are created for every course listed on CUNYFirst, but instructors need to make a course available to students if they intend to use it. Hunter College professors can receive training and support from the Technology Resource Center by contacting training@hunter.cuny.edu.

Blackboard support documents & videos for faculty
Blackboard support documents & videos for students

Workshop recordings

• Intro to Blackboard
• Intermediate Blackboard
• Assessments
• Grade Center
• Blackboard Tips & Tricks
• Blackboard for Students

Blackboard Collaborate is the synchronous tool in Blackboard. Every course shell has a course room that professors can use to hold real-time class sessions. Collaborate has interaction tools such as text chat, screen sharing, polling, and whiteboards. Professors can also record lectures or virtual class sessions and make them available to students. Hunter College professors can receive training and support from the Technology Resource Center by contacting training@hunter.cuny.edu. 

CUNY Camtasia training & resources

Dropbox can be used to store and access files from different devices, share files, and collaborate on content. Active faculty and students can access CUNY Dropbox accounts by logging in through https://dropbox.cuny.edu with their @login.cuny.edu credentials.

CUNY Dropbox training & resources

ACERT Tech Tuesday presentation

• Dropbox for the win! (Julie Van Peteghem)

Gradescope is an artificial-intelligence-assisted grading tool for worksheets, quizzes and computer code. Hunter College professors can start using Gradescope by

1. Going to GradeScope.com and creating an instructor account using their Hunter email addresses.
2. Choosing “Hunter College” for “School.”
3. Entering “Hunter” in “invite code.”
4. Uploading a class roster as CSV file (first name, last name, email). (Consider using WebRoster.)
5. Notifying students to go to a link to GradeScope that the professor sends them and setting a password. (Students do not need to create new accounts.)

Gradescope resources & training

ACERT blog post

• Using Gradescope at Hunter (Katherine St. John)

Hypothesis is a social annotation tool recently integrated into Blackboard. Professors can create asynchronous discussion and annotation assignments around webpages and PDF documents.

Hypothesis help & resources

ACERT Tech Tuesday presentation

• Better Reading and Writing through Annotating: hypothes.is in the composition classroom (Jeff Allred & Renee Schaller)

The Microsoft Office 365 for Education suite includes standard tools such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well as Forms (for surveys and quizzes), Sway (for webpages and presentations), OneDrive (for cloud storage), and Stream (for videos). It also includes the video discussion tool Flip. Active faculty at CUNY can access it by logging in at https://login.microsoftonline.com/?whr=login.cuny.edu using their @login.cuny.edu credentials. Instructors should read the Acceptable Use of Microsoft 365 for Education Policy before using it.

CUNY Office 365 information & resources

Padlet is a tool for sharing, collaborating, and posting notes. It allows professors to create digital boards (called “walls”) to gather text notes, images, websites and videos. Professors create walls and share them with students through a link. Hunter professors who want pro accounts can request one by writing to helpdesk@hunter.cuny.edu from their Hunter email addresses.

Padlet help & resources

ACERT Tech Tuesday presentation

• Padlet Power! (Laura Baecher)

SnagIt is a simple tool to create, edit and share screen captures and recordings. To request a license and receive download instructions, please email Noeli Rosario-Sanchez at nrosa@hunter.cuny.edu.

SnagIt help & Resources

If your curriculum requires the use of any speciality software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, SPSS, ArcGIS, streaming services), please communicate with your dean.  Some of these offerings are available through CUNY Virtual Desktop.

We will do our best to accommodate faculty requests and will address them on a case-by-case basis.

Top Hat is a courseware platform with tools for compiling student responses, giving interactive quizzes and collecting homework assignments. Professors can use it to create slides, author textbooks and customize content of textbooks in Top Hat’s catalog. At the moment, Top Hat is not connected to Blackboard or any CUNY system. Hunter students purchase licenses at the Hunter bookstore or the Top Hat website at a discounted price.

Top Hat Knowledge Base
Top Hat catalog

VoiceThread is a presentation and discussion tool integrated into Blackboard. VoiceThread allows instructors to record mini-lectures and create asynchronous conversations around course content. VoiceThread can also be used for students to create presentations.

VoiceThread help & resources

Workshop Resources & Recordings

• Humanizing your Online Courses with VoiceThread
• Game-Based Learning with VoiceThread
• VoiceThread for Assessments
• VoiceThread Assignments: Watch, Comment, Create
• Be Ready for Mother Nature with VoiceThread
• VoiceThread for STEM Courses
• VoiceThread for Language Courses
• VoiceThread & UDL (Universal Design for Learning)
• The Cure for Discussion Board Fatigue
• Group Projects in VoiceThread

Zoom is a video-conferencing tool that can be used for synchronous online classes and office hours. Zoom has interaction tools such as breakout rooms, screen sharing, polling, and whiteboards. It also has accessibility features such as live transcript generation and audio transcript editing in recordings. Faculty can use CUNY Zoom accounts by logging in through https://cuny.zoom.us with their @login.cuny.edu credentials.

Zoom help & resources
Hunter College Zoom Virtual Backgrounds (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5)
CUNY Zoom
Meetings Best Practices
Webinars Best Practices

ACERT Tech Tuesday presentation

• Superquick Presentation Recording using Zoom! (Laura Baecher)