Tandem, a tool that helps track and facilitate group projects, has received the University of Michigan Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize. Tandem was developed by the Center for Academic Innovation and Michigan Engineering. Robin Fowler, a lecturer in the Department of Engineering, and one of the faculty leads who helped develop Tandem. She is talking about Tandem at the… Read More »
Accessible materials are a good basic practice precisely because they are often easier for all students to understand and process. Creating accessible materials helps all learners in your course and provides them with equal access to course materials and learning opportunities. Digital accessibility like consistent semantic markup and clean links makes it easier for everyone to navigate and… Read More »
Transitioning to online lecturing may seem daunting at first, but LSA Learning and Teaching Technology Consultants have shared some tricks and tips for making it easier. According to the consultants, recording an hour-long lecture with slides to mimic a typical, in-person meeting reduces information retention and effectiveness of the instruction. Instead, lecturers should consider making shorter video lectures… Read More »
optiMize, a student-led incubator at the University of Michigan, launched a $25,000 Community Aid Relief Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief fund aims to provide mutual aid and community-based projects in Washtenaw county. Students at U-M, Eastern Michigan University, and Washtenaw Community College were eligible to apply for up to $5,000 in funding. optiMize received… Read More »
Signers of an open letter raise the alarm on interpersonal and institutional racism as well as racial bias occurring from improper development and use of computing technology. A coalition of black computer scientists has drafted an open letter to the computing community, calling for action to address systemic and structural inequities. They ask for equal partnership in the leadership… Read More »
The system can add more flexibility to task management apps to help learning users make informed decisions about their time. Keeping a handle on life’s many demands is hard on its own. Part of growing up is learning how to handle planning and scheduling – and with a world of apps to help, it’s gotten easier for teens and… Read More »
Tawanna Dillahunt, University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) associate professor, was announced as an inaugural recipient of The Computing Research Association’s Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP) Skip Ellis Early Career Award. The award is given to a person who identifies as a member of an underrepresented group in computing who has made significant contributions… Read More »
Beginning in the U.S. in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Pride was a radical claiming of space, self-affirmation, and dignity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) communities. Over the past several decades, this phenomenon has begun to have a meaningful impact on society on a global scale. More specifically, in North America, Pride goes beyond a… Read More »
The project demonstrated that a certain bias in humans who train intelligent agents significantly reduced the effectiveness of the training. A team of researchers working to more effectively train autonomous agents earned the Pragnesh Jay Modi – Best Student Paper at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2020). Led by second-year Ph.D. student Divya… Read More »
MiWorkspace desktop support specialist associate, Kara Thomas, provides IT support at the Fleming Building to some of the highest-ranking officials at the university. She does it with aplomb and an eye toward mental health well-being. She is active with the ITS and Fleming Building DEI teams, and interested in overall health and general well being. Tell us about… Read More »
A COVID-era redesign of a long-running computer science undergraduate course will put up to 120 U-M computer science and engineering students to work designing software to tackle problems related to the crisis during the 2020 spring/summer semester. Computer science and engineering lecturer David Chesney has run the class for years as an in-person offering called “Software for Accessibility.”… Read More »
A federal court has cleared the way for academic researchers, computer scientists, and journalists to continue work that investigates online company practices for racial, gender or other discrimination. The ruling means that those who research online companies no longer have to fear prosecution for the work they do to hold tech companies accountable for their practices, said Christian Sandvig, professor… Read More »
A 2017 study reported that a code author’s gender had a significant impact on the code reviewer’s approval or rejection rate. In fact, women’s contributions were rejected more often when their gender was identifiable to the reviewer, and accepted more often when their work was anonymous. An interdisciplinary team of U-M researchers will test these observations and identify… Read More »
The Michigan Undergraduate Laptop Program has moved from LSA to the Office of Enrollment Management (OEM) where it will have broader impact to support students in U-M schools and colleges across the institution.
Maria Cotera, associate professor of American Culture and of women’s studies, is one of the founders of the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Project. Launched in 2009, the project aims to preserve records of self-identified Chicana feminists by conducting interviews and digitizing artifacts in their personal collections. The repository has collected about 150 oral history interviews and… Read More »
The very first Women+ Data Science Symposium will be held April 17, 2020. All practicing and aspiring data scientists, but especially women and gender minority participants, are invited to discuss cutting-edge research, explore resources for research and career advancement, and network with other attendees. You are encouraged to submit your idea for a talk or poster! Especially in… Read More »
The Information Assurance: Michigan Medicine (IA) team was awarded a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Innovation Mini-Grant from the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion. With the goal of spreading awareness of the field of cybersecurity and available job opportunities, the IA team developed a two-hour interactive introduction to the field of information assurance. Participants learned about the role… Read More »
The Office for Institutional Equity (OIE), the University Library, Information Technology Services (ITS), College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts (LSA), and other campus partners are piloting the Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool (UDOIT) in Canvas to address more content accessibility issues earlier in the course creation process. The team, collectively the Learning Materials Accessibility Team (LMAT),… Read More »
The Michigan Council of Women in Technology Foundation named Diane Jones its “Woman of the Year in Technology.” Jones is executive director of administration for Information and Technology Services and the Office of the CIO. The award recognizes women in Michigan leading or driving change for other women in information technology careers or fields of study. Jones has… Read More »
Andrew Staley was recently interviewed about his work on the Platform Services team with Health Information Technology and Services (HITS). He also opened up about what it’s like working at Michigan Medicine while dealing with ADHD, ASD, OCD, and a wheelchair. What is your role at HITS? I’m a web server administrator on the HITS Platform Services team.… Read More »