8/28/2023: Campus Safety Training: Fall 2023

To: UWM Instructors

From: Andrew P. Daire, Provost and Vice Chancellor

August 28, 2023

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 students in crisis, when students are being disruptive, 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 1200 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 September 2023 through December 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.

8/11/2023: Provost’s Welcome to the Fall Semester

To: Deans, Associate Deans, Department Chairs and Advisors & Counselors Network

From: Andrew P. Daire, Provost and Vice Chancellor

Subject: Provost’s Welcome to the Fall Semester

5/1/2023: Spring Grading Submissions

TO: UWM Instructors

FROM: Scott Gronert, Interim Provost

SUBJECT: Spring Grading Submissions

Colleagues,

I hope that your courses are wrapping up successfully and that you’ll get a chance to rest soon.  Please see below for some details regarding your upcoming grade submissions.

Take care,

Scott

—–

Deadlines 

The grading deadline for Spring 2023 is May 25, 2023. Students who have not received a grade by that time will receive a notation of NR (Not Reported). 

NOTE: Once you have changed grades to “Approved” status they become visible to students within 24 hours. 

Fs and Incompletes 

F Grades. When entering an F grade for a student, please select “F” and the number that best corresponds with the student’s “last week of participation” (e.g., an F0 for “never attended” and an F8 for “stopped attending at midterm”). Collecting this information is important for our compliance with federal financial aid requirements.

Incompletes. Like many institutions, UWM has seen an increase in incompletes in recent semesters. Incompletes should only be offered in specific situations when a student has nearly completed the coursework (per our incomplete policy: https://uwm.edu/registrar/students/your-student-record/grades/) and you and the student have agreed on a plan and timeline for the student to complete the work. If an incomplete is not appropriate given the situation, please refer students to their advisors to discuss other options (such as a course repeat or a potential withdrawal appeal).

Need Assistance? 

Solve common problems: 

• I can’t access my courses in PAWS. If you are not assigned to a section you are teaching, or you believe that you do not have proper grading access, please contact your academic department to be properly assigned; academic departments determine this access.
• I can’t “approve” my grades. PAWS only displays 20 students per page; please ensure that you have entered grades for all your students.

View grading FAQs: Additional instructor grading information is available at uwm.edu/instructorgrading.

Request help via the RO Contact Form (https://uwm.edu/registrar/contact-us/).  Choose “Grading (Instructor)” to ensure your email is routed to the correct RO staff members.

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.

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