UM-Flint improves course evaluation response rates using ChatGPT
A new course evaluation process at the University of Michigan-Flint is boosting response rates and helping more students have their voices heard.
Category Archives: Top Stories
Wizard: The tech behind a costume treasure trove
Costumes are powerful–they transport and immerse us into different eras. Behind the scenes at the School of Music, Theater and Dance (SMTD), Theresa Hartman works magic while managing University Productions’ (UProd) colossal wardrobe of more than 34,000 items. As costume stock manager since 2017, Theresa wields a secret weapon–and isn’t a magic wand. It’s a sophisticated database known… Read More »
On-demand Canvas External Tools site launches just in time for Winter term prep
ITS Teaching & Learning has launched a self-paced Canvas External Tools training site! The site raises awareness for the variety of external tools available to enhance U-M Canvas courses. Substituting live Zoom training, the Canvas External Tools Site offers access to workshop recordings/slides and help guides anytime, anywhere. Canvas External Tools Site features include: Instructors and staff are… Read More »
Profiles in IT: Gray Carper–Analyst and advocate
Gray shares stories of adventuring in Hong Kong, gaming with colleagues while abroad, and ways he’s advocated for mental health awareness while at HITS.
Technology supports researchers’ quest to understand parental discipline behaviors
How do different types of parental discipline behaviors affect children’s development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)? A group of researchers set out to understand that question. They used a large data set from UNICEF of several hundred thousand families. The data came from the fourth (2009–2013) and fifth (2012–2017) rounds of the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. … Read More »
Free GenAI prompt literacy course, resources
Nick Gaspar was a member of the Generative AI Advisory (GAIA) Committee that wrote the GenAI report for the university. “During that time I saw a widening gap of knowledge across the university when it came to writing prompts for AI, so I built a free prompt literacy course for the campus community.” AI prompts are text or… Read More »
Message from the VPIT-CIO
There is much to celebrate as we head toward the end of the calendar year, including the ACM Gordon Bell Prize, MHacks, our visit from Aga Khan University, a Google Storage Project milestone, and the Michigan IT Showcase & Social.
Gordon Bell Prize winning team also leverages ITS services
A U-M College of Engineering team led by Vikram Gavini was recently awarded the prestigious ACM Gordon Bell Prize. The honor was presented in recognition of their outstanding achievement for developing and demonstrating an approach that brought near-quantum mechanical accuracy for large systems consisting of tens of thousands of atoms into the range of today’s supercomputers. The ACM… Read More »
Alumni Association completes bidirectional DART-Salesforce integration
The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan (AAUM) is proud to announce the completion of the bidirectional data integration of alumni data between the Donor and Alumni Relationship Tool (DART) and Salesforce. Working with the Office of University Development and the ITS DART team, the AAUM Salesforce instance is able to consume and publish alumni data updates… Read More »
U-M developers attend first-ever US-RSE conference
A contingent from U-M took part in the first-ever US-RSE (United States Research Software Engineer Association) annual conference. It was held at the University of Illinois Chicago, October 16–18, 2023. Abbey Roelofs and Michael Egan (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts), Srikanth Lavu (Marsal Family School of Education), and Andy Boughton (School of Public Health) attended the… Read More »
U-M Maizey AI tool gets new interface, extends no-cost service until 2024
U-M Maizey released a major new update and announced that the service would remain at no cost for the U-M community until January 1, 2024.
Profiles in IT: Bill Fluharty—Multimedia mogul
Bill Fluharty is a support specialist with UM-Dearborn Information Technology Services. He enjoys working with people on campus and helping create the best work environment for everyone. He spends time with his wife watching his three daughters playing soccer and watching them grow up right before his eyes.
Message from the VPIT-CIO
I am happy to tell you about all of our new developments in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), including a new instructor guide, new articles, and new instructional videos. Plus, in honor of Cybersecurity Month, we have updates on resources you can use to protect yourself online. As always, I look forward to learning from you about what is going on with our Michigan IT community.
Ways to Step Up Security
IT security and privacy is a shared responsibility. Learn key ways you can step up IT security and privacy.
Getting started with generative artificial intelligence: U-M Instructor Guide
The U-M Teaching and Technology Collaborative (TTC) is excited to share the official Getting Started with Generative Artificial Intelligence: U-M Instructor Guide with campus. The guide is differentiated, portable, and easy-to-use. It reflects the variety of new GenAI resources available, ranging from custom U-M AI tools, GenAI workshops, and a new U-M GenAI website.
Profiles in IT: Kat Hanchon–Word wizard
Kat Hanchon is a marketing communications specialist with Information and Technology Services. She enjoys flexing her creativity, learning how to incorporate AI into her work, and staffing events. She likes camping, hiking, and making fairy gardens.
Message from the VPIT-CIO
New generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) resources are available for campus, along with a new website to support teaching, Academic Technology@Michigan.
Building the world’s first accessible AI chat interface
On August 21, 2023, the University of Michigan launched what we believe to be the first accessible web chat interface to send prompts to GPT-4 and other large language models — U-M GPT. This application is designed for accessibility according to international standards, optimized for usability with common assistive technology, and built without the barriers found in some… Read More »
Make the most out of your career in technology with the Michigan IT Mentor Program
The Michigan IT Mentor Program has fostered a vibrant community of technology enthusiasts at the University of Michigan for the past five years. With a steadfast commitment to connecting individuals passionate about technology, the program continues to expand its reach to various groups across the university. Offering year-round, diverse mentorship options, including short-term, long-term, and group mentoring, this… Read More »
U-M requiring password reset for all UMICH (Level-1) accounts
The University of Michigan has mandated that passwords for all UMICH (Level-1) accounts be changed by the end of Sept. 12. An email informing faculty, staff and students across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses, as well as Michigan Medicine, was sent from Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology, and Sol Bermann, chief information security officer.… Read More »