DoIT Alerts

Update: 

June 3, 2026

3:48 PM

Issue: The majority of the Webex features have been restored. For more information on the status, please click here to visit the Webex status dashboard.

 

Questions: If you have any questions or experience further issues, please contact the TSC at UMBC’s Help Service. 

Original Message: 

June 3, 2026

10:00 AM

 

DoIT has received numerous reports regarding issues with Webex functionality. These service interruptions stem from a large-scale event affecting the Webex service across North America, primarily affecting users' ability to sign in or start and join meetings.

 

We are actively monitoring the situation and will provide further updates as soon as service is restored.

 

For more information on the status, please click here to visit the Webex status dashboard.

 

If you have any questions or experience further issues, please contact the TSC at UMBC’s Help Service. 

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has identified an issue affecting Google Calendar add-ins (such as Webex, Microsoft Teams, and others). A recent update starting on or around May 26th, 2026 from Google has interfered with these integrations, causing some users to experience connectivity errors or authentication prompts when trying to use them.

How to Fix It: The remedy requires clearing the cached data for the affected add-in within your Google account to re-initialize the connection.

We have published a detailed FAQ document with step-by-step instructions on how to quickly resolve this issue: 👉 Page: How to Re-add Cisco Webex Add-In access for Google Calendar

Need Assistance? If you follow the steps in the FAQ and continue to experience issues, or if you need additional help walking through the process, please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC):

• Phone: 410-455-3838

• Online: Submit a support ticket at https://help.umbc.edu

Thank you for your patience as we work to ensure all campus collaboration tools are functioning smoothly.

Sincerely,

Division of Information Technology
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

After many years of use, UMBC’s license for Class Collaborate (formerly Blackboard Collaborate) will end on July 31, 2025.

As one of our longest licensed tools, Collaborate provided synchronous support for Blackboard courses, serving more than 300,000 sessions over the last ten years. However, since it was acquired by Class Technologies in 2022, it is unclear if and how Collaborate will be supported and developed over the long term, given the company’s priority of its own synchronous platform based on Zoom. 

In Spring 24, we announced that we would standardize one version of Blackboard (Ultra) starting this fall. Ideally, we would also simplify the synchronous video conference platform used by courses; however, we recognize that students will likely use a variety of tools in their working lives after graduation. Therefore it is essential to expand access to licensed synchronous tools while we also still have Collaborate for another academic year. 

DoIT offers three synchronous meeting tools with robust functionality:

• Google Meet 
• Microsoft Teams
• Webex

To learn more about these synchronous platforms, please explore pedagogical and technical use cases in this comparison chart. If you have a specific use case not listed, please open an RT ticket for a consult.

Attendance Tracking 

While these synchronous platforms offer Blackboard integrations at varying levels, none support 1) attendance synchronization to the Blackboard gradebook and 2) groups synchronization between breakouts and Blackboard. All platforms, however, do provide attendance reports, which will be important for faculty who need to track student attendance as well as proposed regulatory changes for attendance in 100% online courses.

We welcome faculty feedback via this brief survey about synchronous platforms and attendance. 

Preparing for the Transition

Starting this fall, Instructional Technology will offer training sessions to familiarize faculty and staff with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Webex training is available upon request. These sessions will focus on both the technical aspects of using the tools and pedagogical strategies to enhance student engagement.

Users who wish to save Collaborate recordings will need to migrate them to Panopto by May 25, 2025. 

1. Download Collaborate recordings to your computer. 
2. Create a new folder in Panopto for Collaborate recordings in My Folder.
3. Upload Collaborate recordings to your new Panopto folder.

Collaborate recordings made before July 1, 2024 will be retired by October 1, 2024.

NOTE: Due to FERPA restrictions, the reuse of any recordings (Collaborate, Webex, etc.) is not permitted if those recordings feature audio or video of students without their express permission.

Key Dates to Remember

May 25, 2025 - Faculty and student access to Collaborate via Blackboard ends

June 15, 2025 - Access to Collaborate sessions outside Blackboard ends

July 31, 2025 - End of support for Collaborate, including DoIT access to the Collaborate system

• More Information about DoIT Support for Collaborate Will End Next Summer, 2025

• More Information about Event Reminder: WebExing Your Class!

It’s a cliche at this point for one to state that this past year has presented many complexities for all of us to adapt to. Not the least daunting of these adversities has been connecting meaningfully with peers and colleagues over web-conferencing platforms. This difficulty has spurred a myriad of responses and tool adoptions, particularly within a domain with which we are all now intimately familiar – online learning. Of notable concern for faculty and students throughout this period of uncertainty and innovation has been the need to connect and interact synchronously. What are the best tools and practices to facilitate learning?

UMBC has been particularly well positioned throughout this time, supporting both Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and WebEx as synchronous platforms. But with this wealth of opportunity, one is at times left wondering what platform to adopt and for what use cases. The response to these concerns require some nuance: It depends on what one is attempting to undertake and how much time one is willing to spend preparing their learning spaces to promote learner interactions.

Professor Jamie Gurganus, the undergraduate program coordinator and a faculty member in the UMBC’s Mechanical Engineering Department, Director for the Center for Integrated Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), as well as Associate Director of Engineering Education Initiatives at COEIT, has been using WebEx as her platform of choice for teaching her mechanical engineering students, or “Mechies.” She’s developed an exceptionally well thought out approach to incorporate live instruction, lab participation, and peer-to-peer group learning.

For Professor Gurganus, a primary concern has been in facilitating the same types of design and collaborative learning experiences she’s been able to provide through face-to-face instruction, particularly for supporting group work. How can one best scaffold undergraduate students in large classroom settings to engage in discussions with their peers and coordinate on long term design projects? She has found using the WebEx spaces, although time consuming to configure, conducive to facilitating the kinds of interactions students need to be successful in the courses she teaches, from brainstorming and critical problem solving, to developing product prototypes for customers with special needs.

Her adaptation and model of WebEx for lecturing and collaborative learning appears both thoughtfully designed to be comfortable and inviting while simultaneously strikingly commonsensical. Students enter her sessions to the sound of music and respond to icebreaker questions such as “Would you rather fight with  Marvel or DC heroes and why?” Her lectures, with both her forward facing camera and slidedeck presented, are recorded. Attendance is taken by Teaching Fellows (Undergraduate Teaching Assistant) based on breakout group participation or by using Qwickly Attendance. There’s an ongoing, searchable record of all communications and documents shared, and perhaps best of all, the breakout rooms are always available for students, during or between classes, and for instructor drop-in.

• More Information about Using WebEx for Live Instruction and Collaborative Learning