SUBJECT: October Provost Office Updates

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the fall semester. I would like to share some updates along with other information about our campus, academic activities and important dates.

This academic year, Academic Affairs will focus on Disability and Accessibility. Please see this link for workshop and educational opportunities organized by the Americans with Disabilities Act team, which will run through October. In addition, on November 1st from 1-2pm, DAS (Disability and Accessibility Services) and the Hub for Teaching & Learning Resources will host Dr. Margaret Price, Associate Professor of English and Disability Studies at The Ohio State University, for an online workshop titled “Re-imagining Access as a Relational Process”. Dr. Margaret Price will describe the theory of critical access studies, which treats access as a relational interaction. Rather than treating disability access as a series of predictable fixes for individual problems, critical access looks at larger factors including space, time, design, and community. Attendees will take part in several interactive activities aimed at thinking about, and ultimately finding concrete takeaways for, persistent access questions in their own work environments. Register now!

On November 9th from 12:30-2pm, Dr. Price will conduct an in-person workshop titled “Cultivating Communities of Access in Teaching Spaces”  which will offer ideas for enlivening your approach to access in the classroom—starting with a redefinition of “access” as an interactive process and means to community-building. This interactive workshop will be structured around three key concepts: presence, participation, and pacing. Registration for the in-person workshop is required. DAS is here to support the campus community in creating accessible learning environments, with their website containing many resources including a faculty guide on test proctoring.

The Office of Metropolitan Impact has a new name! It is our pleasure to announce that the Office of Metropolitan Impact will be renamed the Office of Community-Engaged Learning (OCEL). This name change will more clearly reflect the three main priorities of the office: Supporting Student Success and Retention, Supporting Faculty Scholarship and Service, and Increasing OCEL’s Visibility Across Campus and Community. Below are some of the ways OCEL will strengthen community-engaged learning in the coming year:

Faculty Canvas Toolkit - OCEL has launched a Canvas Professional Development toolkit for faculty members seeking to incorporate a community-oriented dimension into their coursework or research. Within this toolkit, you will gain insights into the fundamental principles underpinning engaged-PBL, discover best practices for community engagement, explore effective solutions to challenges that may arise, introduce yourself to Collaboratory, and become acquainted with the Office of Community-Engaged Learning and how they can assist you. For more information, please visit the homepage of the Canvas course.

Collaboratory - The OCEL team has officially launched the Collaboratory system. Collaboratory is a software tool that helps higher education institutions like UM-Dearborn understand the landscape of their engagement. Collaboratory can be used to track engagement in ways that align with our strategic plans, including PBL courses and the Urban Futures initiative, analyze information to advocate for institutional change, inform interdisciplinary activities, develop strategic and sustainable partnerships, and tell a story of how the institution is working in collaboration with the community.  To learn more about Collaboratory activity entry and showcase your work on the UM-Dearborn Collaboratory website, find more information on OCEL website: Collaboratory Guide | OCEL  and stay tuned for upcoming office hours.

Office Hours for in Person Faculty Support - Starting in October on Tuesdays from 3:00-5:00, OCEL will be holding open office hours. There will be a “main focus” for each session, but faculty can stop in to talk with a team member of OCEL about anything engagement related, or to just say hi! Take a look at this document for the exact dates, times, and subject matter of each office hour session.

Academic and Dearborn Discovery Core Assessment
As a reminder, this semester marks the start of a new academic assessment cycle (F23 - W25) for all degree granting academic programs. The Assessment Subcommittee will be holding a workshop on October 26, 2023 for Assessment Coordinators to help plan this cycle - be on the lookout for a follow up email with the link to register as well as feedback from the reports submitted last year. In addition, general education assessment is ongoing with Capstone, Upper-Level Writing, Writing & Communication, and Critical & Creative Thinking being assessed this Fall and Winter. Engaging in these assessment practices are integral to evaluating and celebrating student learning and success in your program.

Hub for Teaching and Learning Resources
On Friday October 20th from 1-2 pm, join the Hub's Scholar-in-Residence program, featuring Bonni Stachowiak and focusing on GenAI. This virtual session will feature a panel of students. If you missed the first conversation, focused on faculty and assignment ideas, here is the recording. You are always welcome to reach out to an instructional designer for anything related to teaching and also specifically for Gen AI concerns.

Concerned about ChatGPT? Check out an alternative tool available for your students- IntelliWriter!
Faculty concerned with ChatGPT may want to take a look at IntelliWriter - a great new tool available for faculty and students through Canvas. Join us on October 19 at 1 pm for a webinar to learn more about the difference between ChatGPT and IntelliWriter. Register now.

Anyone seeking more information about IntelliWriter, including its utility as either a learning tool or simply a resource, may check out this slide deck for more information. IntelliWriter hosts “office hours” Tuesdays at 10 am or Thursdays at 4 pm which are a great way to get some additional training. Simply pop in when you can. To attend office hours, just follow this link.

Early Warning Program
Take advantage of our campus's Early Warning program, designed to help to support student learning and success by identifying students who are in need of additional support.  All faculty can submit an alert to connect students with the individualized support services to help them be successful in their courses.

Open House was on September 30th: Thank you to everyone who supported our first UG recruitment event of the new recruitment cycle, our September 30th open house welcomed over 300 students and their families. In collaboration with the colleges, some new additional Exploration Events will be held throughout the Fall to provide prospective UG students another opportunity to further engage by areas of interest with faculty and staff about and practice-based learning and to showcase our campus.

Furthermore, the Colleges will host several Graduate open houses. Please see link below for more information:   Graduate Open Houses for Fall 2023.

As always, thank you for everything you do for our students and for our campus! Enjoy the fall and please reach out if you have any questions or suggestions!

All the best,

Gabriella

Gabriella Scarlatta
Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs