3/15/2023: Deadlines During Spring Break

TO: UWM Instructors

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Deadlines During Spring Break

Colleagues,

I know you are looking forward to the upcoming break as much as I am, and I know our students, too, are tired and need some time away. To that end, please avoid setting assignment, quiz, and test deadlines during spring break. If you have already set such a deadline, please consider giving your students additional time to complete the work.

I sincerely hope you have a restful break.

Take care,
Scott

Scott Gronert
Interim Provost

2/15/2023: Spring 2023 Progress Reports

TO: UWM Instructors

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Spring 2023 Progress Reports

Dear Colleagues,

This semester’s Progress Report campaign will run from February 15 – March 17, 2023. Some quick notes:

• Please submit as soon as possible: If you have actionable information about a student now, please submit it now; the sooner the better.
• Please discuss progress reports with your students: We still need to do more to help students understand the purpose of Progress Reports. Please post the below language in your Canvas site and/or share via email.

Instructors will be receiving an email soon with their course-specific link. Thank you for your help with this important initiative.

Take care,

Scott Gronert

Suitable for Posting on Canvas and Syllabus

UWM uses Navigate, a powerful tool dedicated to student success. There are numerous benefits to you as a student to engage with the platform and mobile application, including learning about academic resources, setting up study groups in your courses, making appointments with your academic advisor, getting reminders on important dates, and much more.

In addition, Navigate allows instructors to send Progress Reports to students throughout the term, allowing for updates on your academic progress in a course in addition to your grade. Certain reports may encourage academic advisors or other support staff to provide outreach to you as well. You can log into the platform here: https://uwmilwaukee.campus.eab.com/ or by finding the Navigate link under the Current Students tab on the UWM home page. More information on how you can use Navigate and the app, including tutorials, can be found on UWM’s Navigate website.

Instructions for Students

To view the progress reports submitted by your instructors,

1. Log in to Navigate using the Current Students drop down from the UWM homepage.
2. Select “Reports” under Student Home.
3. Select “View Report” under the Details column of the Progress Reports area.

How Progress Reports Work

Explaining. Please post the above message to Canvas and your syllabus and also talk to your students about what Progress Reports are and what they do. Let them know when they might expect them from you, and how they can access and read them. (Instructions for students are included above.)

Submitting. Instructors can submit a progress report or alert for a student at any time by selecting Navigate on the Faculty/Staff tab of the UWM homepage (a tutorial is available here). To participate in the campaign, please follow the link in the invitation email you received. When writing the reports, please provide a level of detail that will be helpful to students, advisors, success coaches, and the Student Success Center.

Routing. New progress report reasons that reinforce positive course performance are received by students directly. When someone submits a progress report on a student that is struggling academically, that student and their advisor both receive a notification from Navigate. When logged in to Navigate, the student and the advisor will both see the “Reason” you selected (e.g., “Missing Work”) and any explanation you provided. In addition, if you chose to refer the student to a resource, that office will reach out to the student. This chart shows how such progress reports are routed:

Instructors and others may also submit an “Alert,” which leads the assigned office to create a case and reach out to the student:

Reaching Out. The advisors in your school or college will be contacting many of the students who receive Progress Reports that suggest they may be in danger of poor academic performance; how that is defined may vary by school or college.

Reaching out to students can be a significant challenge. Advisors will often try to call students, only to find they don’t answer and/or don’t have voicemail turned on. Or they will email and get no response. As of this past year, they can also employ text messaging. Many will make multiple attempts to reach students, but they won’t always be successful. This is why the Student Success Center will now work on building other avenues to reaching out (e.g., resident advisors and peer mentors).

But it’s also critical that instructors continue, when possible, to reach out to students as well. Progress reports are just one additional tool to aid student success and prompt conversations with students, and when they work they can work very well. But the course instructors are still the most critical partner in helping students succeed.

1/23/2023: Managing emerging teaching practices

TO: UWM Instructors

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Managing emerging teaching practices

Colleagues,

Welcome to the spring semester! Please view these two helpful guides on managing emerging teaching practices; both are from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL):

• AI and ChatGPT3 – https://uwm.edu/cetl/ai-and-chatgpt3/. Like institutions everywhere, we are grappling with these emerging tools; here is some basic background information and some best practices.

• Flexibility and Accountability – https://uwm.edu/cetl/flexibility-and-accountability/. During the pandemic, we have asked instructors for additional flexibility with students. Here is some updated information on how we can best balance that flexibility with accountability as we move forward.

I hope your week is off to a great start.

1/18/2023: Campus Safety Training

TO: Faculty and Academic Staff

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

Colleagues,

Instructor-focused classroom disruptions and campus safety presentation is once again under way this semester, with the goal of reaching 100 percent of UWM’s faculty and instructional staff.  The focus of this presentation is to address disruptive students, students in crisis and what to do in case of a violent incident. This presentation will help ensure that we are prepared to respond to situations that could cause the UWM community to feel unsafe. To date, approximately over 1100 faculty and instructional staff have received this valuable information. If you have not attended a training session (or if you signed up to attend but had to miss the session), please make it a priority this semester.

There are seven (7) sessions offered in person and virtually from February 2023 through May 2023. Co-developed by the Dean of Students Office and the UWM Police Department, the training has been well received by past participants. Training will also discuss online and virtual disruptions to include threats and methods to address these issues.

The training lasts approximately an hour and a half. To view the dates/times and register for the training please visit https://uwm.edu/safetytraining/.

Thank you for participating in this important and essential campus training program.

If you have questions regarding the sign up procedures or the content of the presentation please email safety-training@uwm.edu

1/17/2023:Teaching with Regular and Substantive Interaction

TO: UWM Instructors

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Teaching with Regular and Substantive Interaction

Colleagues,

I am reaching out to remind you about best practices for preparing Canvas course sites. The best practices below, endorsed by the Academic Policy Committee and by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, benefit students.

Best Practices for Preparing Canvas Sites   

UWM instructors have diverse needs and approaches when it comes to using Canvas (our current Learning Management System). However, a reasonable level of consistency across all courses can have a significant, positive effect on student success. When used effectively, Canvas provides a quick and easy pathway for students to find all relevant course materials, such as readings, assignments, and instructor feedback. To this end, instructors teaching face-to-face, online, and blended/hybrid courses should incorporate the following strategies into their course sites. It is particularly important for instructors to consider how regular and substantive interaction is integrated in their online course(s) and to provide multiple ways for students to contact them.

Interact with Every Student at Least Weekly
Regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors is a hallmark of good teaching and a federal requirement for online courses. While welcoming students and building classroom community are important, interactions must contribute to students’ progress toward course learning objectives: https://uwm.edu/cetl/online-learning-regulatory-policy-considerations/

Provide Multiple Ways for Students to Contact You
Ensure that students have a way to contact you (e.g., video office hours, phone number) in addition to email and the Canvas inbox. Do what you can to facilitate communication and interaction between you and your students.   

Use CETL’s Course Template
Instructors should consider using CETL’s Course Template. The Canvas Course Template was designed to help instructors efficiently and effectively set up their courses and to promote a consistent student experience among courses in Canvas.  More information here: https://uwm.edu/cetl/canvas-course-template/    

Publish Course Site Prior to the Course Start Date
Instructors should publish the course site prior to the course start date so students can orient themselves to the course materials and course sites. Three days prior is recommended.     

Organize Materials Chronologically
Course materials in the LMS should be organized chronologically so that students can quickly navigate to a given week or module to find what they need at that moment in the course.     

Use Student-Friendly Naming Conventions
For all documents, assignments, and other course components, instructors should use consistent and concise naming conventions that help students easily identify the materials and resources they need to be successful.  Consider these examples:    

• Change “HONORS-250-Smith-Spring-22-Syllabus.docx” to “Course Syllabus” or “Syllabus.”     
• Instead of saying “Week 8 Video” provide the title of the video.     
• Include a description such as “Creating a Game in Tabletopia” rather than just listing the full URL (https://help.tabletopia.com/knowledge-base/how-to-create-a-game/)     

Use Due Dates
For all assignments with specific deadlines, instructors should assign due dates directly in the LMS so that students cab easily track upcoming assignments in the course. When possible, deadlines should be consistent from week to week.

1/13/2023: Start of Semester Memo for Spring 2023

The Start of Semester Memo for Spring 2023 is available online. The memorandum contains useful policy-related information for instructors on the following topics:

• Course Syllabus Policy
• Course Reserves
• Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
• Religious Observances
• Policy on Teaching Evaluation Procedures
• FERPA Reminder
• Grading and Grade Records
• Posting of Student Grades
• Drop /Withdrawal/Repeat Policies
• Progress Reports
• Helping Students Cope with Stress and Mental Health Challenges
• Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence
• The Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) Team and Student Support Team (SST)
• Students Called to Military Service
• Schedule of Final Exams
• Smoke-Free Campus

1/10/2023: Research, Scholarly, and Professional Accomplishments Reporting

TO: Faculty, Teaching and Research Academic Staff

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Research, Scholarly, and Professional Accomplishments Reporting

UWM is required to document the Research, Scholarly, and Professional Accomplishments for all Faculty and Teaching or Research Academic Staff each calendar year for UWM’s re-accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission. Reporting this information helps UWM demonstrate the ways its faculty and staff contribute to scholarship, creative work, and the discovery of knowledge.

To facilitate this reporting, we will be utilizing the online eWorkflow system. A separate e-mail will be sent to each of you with a personalized link for you to complete and submit in order to document your annual accomplishments and activities. You will receive the e-mail from UWM eWorkflow Process Director with a subject of “Research, Scholarly, and Professional Accomplishments Reporting.”

The deadline to complete the form is Tuesday, February 28, 2023.

You will receive periodic reminders until you complete the form.

While the purpose of this reporting is primarily for accreditation, some schools and colleges may choose to use the data in determining solid performers for pay plan purposes. This form does not take the place of the regular annual evaluation process for teaching and research academic staff.

Thank you for your cooperation in meeting these requirements.

12/21/2022: Finals scheduled for later on Thursday are canceled

Please note that UWM has canceled in-person final exams that had been scheduled for 3 p.m. or later on Thursday, Dec. 22, out of an abundance of caution and to ensure safe travel for students. See the complete details at: https://uwm.edu/news/finals-scheduled-for-later-on-thursday-are-canceled/.

12/2022: Fall 2022 End of Semester Memo

The End of Semester Memo for Fall 2022 is available online. The memorandum contains useful policy-related information for instructors on the following topics:

• Schedule of Final Exams
• Teaching Evaluation Procedures
• Posting of Student Grades
• Grading and Grade Records
• Students Called to Active Duty Military Service
• Course Syllabus Policy
• Support U – Dean of Students
• Important Textbook Adoption Reminder
• Course Reserves
• Helping Student Cope with Stress and Mental Health Challenges
• Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence
• The Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) and Student Support Team (SST)

A one page summary of links, updated in December 2022, is also available

10/13/2022: Classroom and Campus Safety Training: Fall 2022

NOTE: On 10/13/2022 this message was sent to all Fall 2022 Instructors

Colleagues,

Instructor-focused classroom and campus safety training is once again under way this semester, with the goal of reaching 100 percent of UWM’s faculty and instructional staff. This training will help ensure that we are prepared to respond to situations that could cause students to feel unsafe. To date, approximately over 1000 instructors and support staff have received training. If you have not attended a training session (or if you signed up to attend one but had to miss the session), please make it a priority this semester.

There are five sessions offered in person and virtually from October 2022 through December 2022. Co-developed by the Dean of Students Office and the UWM Police Department, the training has been well received by past participants. Training this year will also discuss online and virtual disruptions to include threats and methods to address these issues.

The focus is on disruptive students, students in crisis and what to do in case of a violent incident.

Due to some COVID-19 restrictions, the training will take place in person and in a virtual setting via Microsoft Teams. The training lasts approximately an hour and a half. To view the dates/times and register for the training please visit https://uwm.edu/safetytraining/.

Thank you for participating in this important and essential campus training program.

If you have questions regarding the sign-up procedure for this training, please direct them to Aundria Johnson (aundria@uwm.edu).

If you have questions regarding the content of this training, please direct them to Officer Craig Rafferty (rafferty@uwm.edu).

Take care,

Scott

Scott Gronert
Interim Provost

9/26/2022: Fall 2022 Progress Reports

NOTE: On 9/26/2022 this message was sent to all Fall 2022 instructors

Dear Colleagues,

This semester’s Progress Report campaign will run from September 26 -October 28. Some quick notes:

• Please submit as soon as possible: If you have actionable information about a student now, please submit it now; the sooner the better.
• Please discuss progress reports with your students: We still need to do more to help students understand the purpose of Progress Reports. Please post the below language in your Canvas site and/or share via email.

Instructors will be receiving an email soon with their course specific link. Thank you for your help with this important initiative.

Sincerely,

Scott Gronert

Suitable for Posting on Canvas and Syllabus

UWM uses Navigate, a powerful tool dedicated to student success. There are numerous benefits to you as a student to engage with the platform and mobile application, including learning about academic resources, setting up study groups in your courses, making appointments with your academic advisor, getting reminders on important dates, and much more.

In addition, Navigate allows instructors to send Progress Reports to students throughout the term, allowing for updates on your academic progress in a course in addition to your grade. Certain reports may encourage academic advisors or other support staff to provide outreach to you as well. You can log into the platform here: https://uwmilwaukee.campus.eab.com/ or by finding the Navigate link under the Current Students tab on the UWM home page. More information on how you can use Navigate and the app, including tutorials, can be found on UWM’s Navigate website.

Instructions for Students

To view the progress reports submitted by your instructors,

1. Log in to Navigate using the Current Students drop down from the UWM homepage.
2. Select “Reports” under Student Home.
3. Select “View Report” under the Details column of the Progress Reports area.

How Progress Reports Work

Explaining. Please post the above message to Canvas and your syllabus and also talk to your students about what Progress Reports are and what they do. Let them know when they might expect them from you, and how they can access and read them. (Instructions for students are included above.)

Submitting. Instructors can submit a progress report or alert for a student at any time by selecting Navigate on the Faculty/Staff tab of the UWM homepage (a tutorial is available here). To participate in the campaign, please follow the link in the invitation email you received. When writing the reports, please provide a level of detail that will be helpful to students, advisors, success coaches, and the Student Success Center.

Routing. New progress report reasons that reinforce positive course performance are received by students directly. When someone submits a progress report on a student that is struggling academically, that student and their advisor both receive a notification from Navigate. When logged in to Navigate, the student and the advisor will both see the “Reason” you selected (e.g., “Missing Work”) and any explanation you provided. In addition, if you chose to refer the student to a resource, that office will reach out to the student. This chart shows how such progress reports are routed:

Instructors and others may also submit an “Alert,” which leads the assigned office to create a case and reach out to the student:

Reaching Out. The advisors in your school or college will be contacting many of the students who receive Progress Reports that suggest they may be in danger of poor academic performance; how that is defined may vary by school or college.

Reaching out to students can be a significant challenge. Advisors will often try to call students, only to find they don’t answer and/or don’t have voicemail turned on. Or they will email and get no response. As of this past year, they can also employ text messaging. Many will make multiple attempts to reach students, but they won’t always be successful. This is why the Student Success Center will now work on building other avenues to reaching out (e.g., resident advisors and peer mentors).

But it’s also critical that instructors continue, when possible, to reach out to students as well. Progress reports are just one additional tool to aid student success and prompt conversations with students, and when they work they can work very well. But the course instructors are still the most critical partner in helping students succeed.

9/2/2022: Canvas Best Practices

Colleagues,

I am reaching out to remind you about best practices for preparing Canvas course sites. The best practices below, endorsed by the Academic Policy Committee and by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, benefit students.

Best Practices for Preparing Canvas Sites

UWM instructors have diverse needs and approaches when it comes to using Canvas (our current Learning Management System). However, a reasonable level of consistency across all courses can have a significant, positive effect on student success. When used effectively, Canvas provides a quick and easy pathway for students to find all relevant course materials, such as readings, assignments, and instructor feedback. To this end, instructors teaching face-to-face, online, and blended/hybrid courses should incorporate the following strategies into their course sites. It is particularly important for instructors to consider how regular and substantive interaction is integrated in their online course(s) and to provide multiple ways for students to contact them.

Interact with Every Student at Least Weekly
Regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors is a hallmark of good teaching and a federal requirement for online courses. While welcoming students and building classroom community are important, interactions must contribute to students’ progress toward course learning objectives: https://uwm.edu/cetl/online-learning-regulatory-policy-considerations/

Provide Multiple Ways for Students to Contact You
Ensure that students have a way to contact you (e.g., video office hours, phone number) in addition to email and the Canvas inbox. Do what you can to facilitate communication and interaction between you and your students.

Use CETL’s Course Template
Instructors should consider using CETL’s Course Template.  The Canvas Course Template was designed to help instructors efficiently and effectively set up their courses and to promote a consistent student experience among courses in Canvas.  More information here: https://uwm.edu/cetl/canvas-course-template/

Publish Course Site Prior to the Course Start Date
Instructors should publish the course site prior to the course start date so students can orient themselves to the course materials and course sites. Three days prior is recommended.

Organize Materials Chronologically
Course materials in the LMS should be organized chronologically so that students can quickly navigate to a given week or module to find what they need at that moment in the course.

Use Student-Friendly Naming Conventions
For all documents, assignments, and other course components, instructors should use consistent and concise naming conventions that help students easily identify the materials and resources they need to be successful.  Consider these examples:

• Change “HONORS-250-Smith-Spring-22-Syllabus.docx” to “Course Syllabus” or “Syllabus.”
• Instead of saying “Week 8 Video” provide the title of the video.
• Include a description such as “Creating a Game in Tabletopia” rather than just listing the full URL (https://help.tabletopia.com/knowledge-base/how-to-create-a-game/)

Use Due Dates
For all assignments with specific deadlines, instructors should assign due dates directly in the LMS so that students can easily track upcoming assignments in the course.  When possible, deadlines should be consistent from week to week.

Use the Gradebook
Instructors should provide timely and accurate grades to students using the gradebook in the LMS so that students can determine where they stand at any point in the course.

For more information or assistance implementing these strategies, please contact the UWM Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL): you can email (cetl@uwm.edu), call (414-229-4319), or visit Englemann Hall B50.

Take care,

Scott

Scott Gronert
Interim Provost

NOTE: On 9/2/2022 this message was sent to all Fall 2022 online instructors

8/12 & 8/19/2022

Fall COVID-19 Guidance Documents
In preparation for the Fall 2022 semester, Academic Affairs has updated several COVID-19 guidance documents:

• COVID-19 Syllabus Statements (PDF, Word)
• Guidelines for Considering a Change in Instructional Modality (PDF)
• Instructor & Academic Support Staff FAQs – COVID 19 Protocols  (PDF)

For more information regarding the fall semester, please visit the Academic Affairs Covid page and UWM’s FAQ pages. Updates will be posted to those pages through August.

Fall Start of Semester Memo
The Provost’s Fall 2022 start-of-semester memo is available online

6/9/2022: Best Practices for Canvas Sites

NOTE: On 6/8/2022 this message was sent to all Fall 2022 online instructors

Colleagues,

I am reaching out to remind you about best practices for preparing Canvas course sites. The best practices below, endorsed by the Academic Policy Committee and by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, benefit students.

Best Practices for Preparing Canvas Sites

UWM instructors have diverse needs and approaches when it comes to using Canvas (our current Learning Management System). However, a reasonable level of consistency across all courses can have a significant, positive effect on student success. When used effectively, Canvas provides a quick and easy pathway for students to find all relevant course materials, such as readings, assignments, and instructor feedback. To this end, instructors teaching face-to-face, online, and blended/hybrid courses should incorporate the following strategies into their course sites. It is particularly important for instructors to consider how regular and substantive interaction is integrated in their online course(s) and to provide multiple ways for students to contact them.

Interact with Every Student at Least Weekly
Regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors is a hallmark of good teaching and a federal requirement for online courses. While welcoming students and building classroom community are important, interactions must contribute to students’ progress toward course learning objectives: https://uwm.edu/cetl/online-learning-regulatory-policy-considerations/

Provide Multiple Ways for Students to Contact You
Ensure that students have a way to contact you (e.g., video office hours, phone number) in addition to email and the Canvas inbox. Do what you can to facilitate communication and interaction between you and your students.

Use CETL’s Course Template
Instructors should consider using CETL’s Course Template.  The Canvas Course Template was designed to help instructors efficiently and effectively set up their courses and to promote a consistent student experience among courses in Canvas.  More information here: https://uwm.edu/cetl/canvas-course-template/

Publish Course Site Prior to the Course Start Date
Instructors should publish the course site prior to the course start date so students can orient themselves to the course materials and course sites. Three days prior is recommended.

Organize Materials Chronologically
Course materials in the LMS should be organized chronologically so that students can quickly navigate to a given week or module to find what they need at that moment in the course.

Use Student-Friendly Naming Conventions
For all documents, assignments, and other course components, instructors should use consistent and concise naming conventions that help students easily identify the materials and resources they need to be successful. Consider these examples:

• Change “HONORS-250-Smith-Spring-22-Syllabus.docx” to “Course Syllabus” or “Syllabus.”
• Instead of saying “Week 8 Video” provide the title of the video.
• Include a description such as “Creating a Game in Tabletopia” rather than just listing the full URL (https://help.tabletopia.com/knowledge-base/how-to-create-a-game/

Use Due Dates
For all assignments with specific deadlines, instructors should assign due dates directly in the LMS so that students can easily track upcoming assignments in the course.  When possible, deadlines should be consistent from week to week.

Use the Gradebook
Instructors should provide timely and accurate grades to students using the gradebook in the LMS so that students can determine where they stand at any point in the course.

​Take care,

Scott

Scott Gronert
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

NOTE: On 6/8/2022 this message was sent to all Fall 2022 Instructors

Colleagues,

Active and mass shootings are unfortunately increasing across the country. As a result, instructor-focused classroom and campus safety training based around an active shooter scenario is available during the summer semester and offered by UWMPD. This training will help ensure that we are prepared to respond to situations that could cause students to feel unsafe. To date, more than 1000 faculty, instructional staff, and support staff have received this training. If you have not attended a training, please consider making this a priority.

There are three in-person sessions and one virtual session offered between June and August 2022. Presented by the UWM Police Department, this training has been well received by past participants and inspired productive conversation on a difficult topic.

The training lasts approximately an hour and a half. To view the dates/times and register for the training, please visit: http://uwm.edu/safetytraining.

Thank you for participating in this important and essential campus training program.

If you have questions regarding the sign-up procedure for this training, please direct them to Aundria Johnson (aundria@uwm.edu).

If you have questions regarding the content of this training, please direct them to Officer Craig Rafferty (rafferty@uwm.edu).

Take care,
Scott

Scott Gronert
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

The End of Semester Memo for Spring 2022 is available online. The memorandum contains useful policy-related information for instructors on the following topics:

• Schedule of Final Exams
• Teaching Evaluation Procedures
• Posting of Student Grades
• Grading and Grade Records
• Students Called to Active Duty Military Service
• Course Syllabus Policy
• Important Textbook Adoption Reminder
• Course Reserves
• Helping Student Cope with Stress
• Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence
• The Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) and Student Support Team (SST)

A one page summary of links, updated in April 2022, is also available.

3/16/2022: Deadlines during Spring Break

NOTE: On 3/16/2022 this message was sent to all Spring 2022 Instructors

Colleagues,

I know you are looking forward to the upcoming break as much as I am, and I know our students, too, are tired and need some time away. To that end, please avoid setting assignment, quiz, and test deadlines during spring break. If you have already set such a deadline, please consider giving your students additional time to complete the work.

I sincerely hope you have a restful break.

Take care,
Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

3/4/2022: Instructor and Academic Support Staff FAQ for Post-Spring Break 2022

NOTE: On 3/4/2022 this message was sent to all Spring 2022 Instructors, Deans, Associate Deans and Department Chairs

Dear Colleagues,

As we prepare for the changes to UWM’s masking guidelines, we know there are many questions arising among our instructors and academic support staff. Linked you will find an Instructor and Academic Support Staff FAQ created to address questions arising from the changes to masking policy, which takes effect March 19, 2022.

The FAQs are particularly relevant to our instructors teaching in-person classes. However, we think all instructors and academic support staff will benefit, since many of you may hear questions from students or colleagues. We’ve kept the document brief while providing additional links for you and your students.

We understand that your class or circumstance may have unique considerations not addressed in this document. Should that be the case, please contact your dean, associate dean, department chair or supervisor.

As always, I’m grateful for everyone’s commitment and flexibility as we learn to live with COVID-19 and fulfill our education mission. And, I know that your compassion, caring and flexibility with our students will demonstrate the values of the UWM Panther community.

Take care,
Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

2/14/2022: Spring 2022 Progress Reports

NOTE: On February 14, 2022, this message was sent to all Spring 2022 instructors

Dear Colleagues,

Thanks again for your participation in this semester’s Enrollment Census Campaign. Over 30,000 reports on student engagement were submitted, and as a result we reached out to over 130 students who were not participating in two or more courses.

This semester’s Progress Report campaign will run from February 14-March 21. Some quick notes:

• Please submit as soon as possible: If you have actionable information about a student now, please submit it now; the sooner the better.
• Please discuss progress reports with your students: We still need to do more to help students understand the purpose of Progress Reports. Please post the below language in your Canvas site and/or share via email.
• As a reminder, as of last semester we’ve added the new positive progress options:
  • Exceptional course performance
  • Exceptional discussion participation (in-person/online)
  • Improved course performance

Instructors will be receiving an email soon with their course specific link. Thank you for your help with this important initiative.

Take care,

Johannes

Suitable for Posting on Canvas

UWM uses Navigate, a powerful tool dedicated to student success. There are numerous benefits to you as a student to engage with the platform and mobile application, including learning about academic resources, setting up study groups in your courses, making appointments with your academic advisor, getting reminders on important dates, and much more.

In addition, Navigate allows instructors to send Progress Reports to students throughout the term, allowing for updates on your academic progress in a course in addition to your grade. Certain reports may encourage academic advisors or other support staff to provide outreach to you as well. You can log into the platform here:  https://uwmilwaukee.campus.eab.com/ or by finding the Navigate link under the Current Students tab on the UWM home page. More information on how you can use Navigate and the app, including tutorials, can be found on UWM’s Navigate website.

Instructions for Students

To view the progress reports submitted by your instructors,

1. Log in to Navigate using the Current Students drop down from the UWM homepage.
2. Select “Reports” under Student Home.
3. Select “View Report” under the Details column of the Progress Reports area.

How Progress Reports Work

Explaining. Please post the above message to Canvas and your syllabus and also talk to your students about what Progress Reports are and what they do. Let them know when they might expect them from you, and how they can access and read them. (Instructions for students are included above.)

Submitting. Instructors can submit a progress report or alert for a student at any time by selecting Navigate on the Faculty/Staff tab of the UWM homepage (a tutorial is available here). To participate in the campaign, please follow the link in the invitation email you received. When writing the reports, please provide a level of detail that will be helpful to students, advisors, success coaches, and the Student Success Center.

Routing. New progress report reasons that reinforce positive course performance are received by students directly. When someone submits a progress report on a student that is struggling academically, that student and their advisor both receive a notification from Navigate. When logged in to Navigate, the student and the advisor will both see the “Reason” you selected (e.g., “Missing Work”) and any explanation you provided. In addition, if you chose to refer the student to a resource, that office will reach out to the student. This chart shows how such progress reports are routed:

Instructors and others may also submit an “Alert,” which leads the assigned office to create a case and reach out to the student:

Reaching Out. The advisors in your school or college will be contacting many of the students who receive Progress Reports that suggest they may be in danger of poor academic performance; how that is defined may vary by school or college.

Reaching out to students can be a significant challenge. Advisors will often try to call students, only to find they don’t answer and/or don’t have voicemail turned on. Or they will email and get no response. As of this past year, they can also employ text messaging. Many will make multiple attempts to reach students, but they won’t always be successful. This is why the Student Success Center will now work on building other avenues to reaching out (e.g., resident advisors and peer mentors).

But it’s also critical that instructors continue, when possible, to reach out to students as well. Progress reports are just one additional tool to aid student success and prompt conversations with students, and when they work they can work very well. But the course instructors are still the most critical partner in helping students succeed.

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

2/3/2022: Reminder: Enrollment Census

NOTE: On February 3, 2022, this message was sent to Spring 2022 instructors

Colleagues –

Just a reminder that Friday, February 4th is the last day of this semester’s Enrollment Census; this process helps us to identify students who are no-shows in multiple courses so that we can provide outreach.

If you haven’t yet submitted attendance and participation information, please look for an email with a subject line that includes “Action Requested;” in the email, you’ll find a personalized link.

If you don’t normally take attendance but do use Canvas, remember that you can click “People” in the left-side navigation to view your class roster, which includes a “date of last activity” for each student.

Thanks for helping with this important work.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

1/18/2022 Message to Instructors: Student Messaging

NOTE: On January 18, 2022, this message was sent to all Spring 2022 instructors, as well as Deans and Associate Deans

Colleagues –

To avoid student confusion next week, we must clearly communicate any changes to meeting locations. To that end, I want to call attention to this paragraph in the Spring Guidelines document (the full document is available here: https://uwm.edu/academicaffairs/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2022/01/Spring_2022_guidelines_FINAL-2.pdf):

All instructors should communicate clearly with students by the morning of January 19. The Canvas announcements should have one of these titles, as appropriate, with more specific information in the body of the announcement:

a. Class will meet as planned, or
b. Class will meet online through 1/28/22.

Please use these exact phrasings, as doing so will allow us to scrape course meeting location data to create a comprehensive list. Advisors, peer mentors, and others can then use that list to help students who may be switching or adding sections.

Instructors will also need to “Publish” the Canvas course to make it available to students (https://kb.uwm.edu/91181).

Due to time sensitivity, we do ask that you please complete these actions by noon tomorrow (January 19). Thanks for your help with this.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

1/14/2022: Spring ’22 First Week & Semester Guidance document

NOTE: On January 14, 2022, this message was sent to Deans, Associate Deans and Department Chairs

Colleagues,

Thank you for making time to meet today to discuss details about the start of spring 2022 semester. As I mentioned in the meeting, I am grateful for everyone’s resilience and flexibility as we start our fifth semester dealing with the covid epidemic.

Please find attached a final draft of the guidance document. We hope this document will help conversations within your unit’s leadership to prepare and communicate expectations for the start of the semester. Please do not hesitate to reach out, if you have questions.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Take care,
Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

1/13/2022: Start of Spring Semester

Colleagues,

Spring semester is upon us and numerous teams have been meeting for the past several weeks to evaluate spring semester plans. Thank you for your patience as we worked through this dynamic situation to chart UWM’s path.

This morning after final discussion with the Covid Management Team, we have approved the following for the start of spring semester 2022:

UWM will start classes on January 24, 2022, as planned for spring semester with both in-person and online presence. To facilitate the transition to full-scale campus operations with added challenges of the omicron variant, UWM will allow units as needed to shift in-person classes to online during the first week of the semester. Courses with pedagogical, accreditation, clinical or other in-person requirements will start as planned in person on January 24. UWM will work with departments and programs to determine which courses will start their first week in an online format.

We met with deans and associate deans earlier today and will meet with department chairs tomorrow to provide them with the guidelines for moving in-person courses to online for the first week. Your department chairs and/or deans will communicate these expectations to you tomorrow afternoon. Departments should finalize their plans as soon as possible and instructors should notify students of any first-week shifts in modality no later than Wednesday morning, January 19, 2022.

A campus-wide communication will be sent soon about our start to the semester and other important details. All campus and administrative buildings will remain open and may have reduced staffing as approved by unit/division supervisors. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding as we considered the many details of starting the semester.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs