FACULTY ENGAGE STUDENTS IN NEW CLASSROOM MODEL

Active learning promotes gains in learning outcomes and student success—and the University is supporting it by converting traditional classrooms to more collaborative environments. UITS Classroom Technology Services worked with Academic Affairs and Facilities Management to implement a 50% increase in innovative learning spaces in FY2018—from 20 to 30 classrooms.

These layouts maximize interactive learning by facilitating small group collaboration and interaction. Richard Michod, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, reacted to teaching in his new classroom layout saying, “I was invigorated by the experience. For the first time in years, I felt a real interaction with the class and the possibility of a class-instructor dynamic. I am excited to be teaching.” - Vicente Talanquer, Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry

ZOOM WEB CONFERENCING

Zoom web conferencing was implemented for campus allowing faculty, staff, and students the ability to conduct distant, synchronous meetings, with no perceivable visual or audio latency.

D2L IMPROVEMENTS

Several upgrades were made to the Course Site Request tool (CSR) in D2L, enabling faculty to optimize their time. Faculty no longer need to request support to copy past courses to the current semester or to share access with non-faculty department staff. The system also now automatically sends reminders to set up D2L sites when new sections are added to a course.

ENGLISH PLACEMENT STREAMLINED

The UAccess Student Team, UITS Academic Technologies, and the English Department collaborated to enable 8,527 newly admitted students to self-select their writing placement in UAccess Student in FY18. The system uses students’ admissions data and their responses to a Qualtrics survey to recommend to them a “best fit” course to enroll in.

RECOGNITION FOR UACCESS STUDENT TEAM

UAccess Student team members who work with Admissions were nominated for the University Team Award for Excellence for their outstanding support.

STUDENTS SAVE $3M ON DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS

The Inclusive Access program allows vendors to provide electronic textbooks to students at huge savings over the paper versions, by delivering the text directly into D2L, UA’s learning management system. “The growth and development of the IA program would not have been possible without the partnership with UITS Academic Technologies,” said Cindy Hawk, assistant director at UA BookStores. Students saved $3.2 million in FY2018 purchasing e-texts over the print version.