Dear colleagues,

I want to express my gratitude to each of you for your individual, collaborative and collective efforts to navigate our students through the fall semester. I hope that you had a restful and restorative Thanksgiving, and that the Winter Session has started well for you if you are teaching. I also hope that you can take a well-deserved break sometime in the coming weeks as the clock ticks down on 2020. One of my favorite comments, heard at the conclusion of Daylight Savings Time, was someone who noted she had no intention of turning the clock back–2020 didn’t deserve another hour. At the same time, I also see the resilience we’ve drawn upon in ourselves and have seen in our students, in our friends and families, among healthcare workers, and in our campus testing and intervention teams. We are seeing a version of human engagement not experienced in this generation. There’s something remarkably reassuring about that, woven into a sense of gratitude and attendant fatigue. That said, I’ll be as anxious as anyone to return to 3D and put this pandemic in the rear-view mirror. Until then, rest up, recharge, and thank you.

I read the excellent message the Office of Organizational Learning and Development sent you yesterday. In addition to all the professional development and training opportunities it advertised, I would like to share the following resources and information with you:

Join UMOnline’s Course Development Cohort Dec. 7-10

Get a head start on spring course preparation! UMOnline is hosting a course development cohort for preparation of upcoming online and remote/blended courses. The four one-hour live sessions will run Dec. 7-10 from 11 a.m. to noon via Zoom. Topics covered include course quality guidelines, planning the design, course layout, adding accessible content, video production, student engagement, assessment, and grading. One-on-one, follow-up help with an instructional designer will also be available. Please sign up by Friday, Dec. 4.

Instructional Design Office Hours

UMOnline instructional designers are available for one-on-one help with specific questions regarding instructional use of Moodle tools and course design. Sign up at the ID Office Hours scheduler.

Suggested Student Support Content for Syllabi

UMOnline has assembled a focused list of resources to support online/remote students, which faculty can include with their syllabus or within their Moodle course shell.

• Find the downloadable student support document in the Moodle Basics for Faculty tutorial under Course Template Sample, so you can copy and paste the text into your own Moodle course as a content item rather than a document if you wish.

Instructional Support from IT and UMOnline

Please contact the IT Helpdesk at ithelpdesk@umontana.edu or 243-HELP (4357) for any technical problems that you encounter. Moodle-related questions can be directed to umonline-help@umontana.edu or 243-4999 or UMOnlineIDs@umontana.edu.

Address Accessibility in Advance

Please be proactive in selecting accessible course materials.  Use of third-party and publisher materials need to be tested by UM’s Accessible Technology Services (ATS) well in advance of using it within a course. This may take 2-6 weeks to complete so now is the time to make requests to ATS by completing an EIT Accessibility Evaluation Request form. There is also a new tool in Moodle, called Ally, to check and make recommendations on improving accessibility of course content. Please read about how Ally works and request support from ATS for remediating materials.

Classroom Technology Consultations

Meet with an IT specialist to walk through how classroom technology and software such as webcams, microphones, and lecture capture can be used to support your teaching. Contact Scott Christensen (243-5322, Classroom Support Technician), David Opitz  (Classroom Technician), or Adam Carroll (Presentation Equipment/Production Supervisor), to set up an appointment.

Available Instructional Equipment

Many different types of equipment are available to support your teaching and learning needs from the library. You may request and reserve equipment online or via phone at 243-4875. 

As you look ahead to the spring semester – if you have needs around instruction that the University is not meeting, please send me an email (officeoftheprovost@umontana.edu). As Provost, it is my duty to ensure UM instructors have as much support as possible.

Sincerely,

Reed Humphrey

Acting Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs