As universities around the country transitioned to online instruction, faculty and staff members had to quickly change how they teach and work. The shift has been filled with challenges, but also new opportunities. The University Record recently featured stories about how four faculty made the quick transition to remote teaching: Ginger Shultz’s chemistry students would no longer have… Read More »
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Enriching Scholarship has been cancelled for this year. However, many workshops will still be offered remotely throughout the coming months. You can view all upcoming workshops on the TeachTech website, including a full slate of upcoming sessions on remote teaching. In addition to in-person sessions, you may also be interested in the IT4U Webinars offered by ITS.… Read More »
Michigan Online contains more than 180 learning experiences and is available free to U-M students, faculty, staff, and alumni. For students, it is a place to take courses, participate in Teach-Outs, and earn degrees all from the comfort of their own homes. Especially during these difficult times, it is a great way for anyone to broaden their knowledge, complement… Read More »
Dearborn Information Technology Services began an all-hands exercise in response to the changing landscape of COVID-19 the week of March 9. We had two main concerns when the possibility of the campus going completely remote was looking like it was going to become a reality. The first challenge was keeping the Service Desk running so we could accept… Read More »
In-copyright books in the U-M library collection are now fully searchable and readable online via the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service. This service, which was turned on early this week for all authenticated U-M affiliates, makes fully 60% of the library’s physical book collection searchable and readable online on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 crisis. The HathiTrust website offers information about… Read More »
COVID-19 turned all of our personal and professional lives upside down. For Michigan Medicine, the HITS team has proved they are up to the challenge, coming together to solve problems, support customers, launch ingenious solutions, and take care of one another. Innovative service In the first two weeks of remote work, the Service Desk fielded over 4,000 telework… Read More »
The University of Michigan-Flint is helping its campus community work and learn remotely in a wide variety of ways. Office of Extended Learning director Nicholas Gaspar and Information Technology Services director Scott Arnst shared an update on support services in a Q&A with University Communications & Marketing. For example, the Office of Extended Learning (OEL), in conjunction with… Read More »
In a matter of days, the coronavirus forced everything to change at the University of Michigan. To promote public safety and to “flatten the curve,” the university determined all courses needed to move online for the remainder of the semester, and faculty had two working days to make that happen. The response from faculty, students, and staff was… Read More »
Living rooms around the world can become places to learn how to start a business for social impact or to peek inside a museum to see homemade ancient wooden toy horses from Roman Egypt. U-M is providing multiple opportunities to learn and explore online while staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic: U-M’s art and performance organizations and… Read More »
U-M and the Center for Academic Innovation are proud to be the first university partner with social learning platform FutureLearn in the launch of FutureLearn Campus. This new offering in the platform allows Michigan students, staff, and alumni access to online short courses on FutureLearn. “Both FutureLearn and the University of Michigan are committed to delivering high-quality education… Read More »
On January 31, 2019, the midwestern United States experienced a period of extremely cold temperatures that drove wind chills to as low as -57°F. In response, U-M and many other academic institutions in the area canceled classes for two or more days. “I teach an introductory course titled Extreme Weather. It seemed wrong to allow such a teachable… Read More »
In response to the coronavirus epidemic that has restricted millions of Chinese people to their homes and towns, U-M and online learning platform Coursera are offering three popular online data science specializations to learners in China for $1 a month. The specializations are Python for Everybody, the most popular specialization on Coursera; Python 3 Programming; and Applied Data Science with Python.… Read More »
Beginning in 2013, the Taubman Health Sciences Library (THL) has offered a Systematic Reviews: Opportunities for Librarians hybrid course for librarians that includes both online and in-person content delivery. What started as a pilot in Google Sites has since exploded into a highly popular program with a long waiting list that has trained over 270 librarians. A large… Read More »
As modes for teaching and learning continue to evolve—in part due to the influence of technology—the demand for skilled learning experience designers has grown. A new collaboration at U-M seeks to address that need. The Center for Academic Innovation and School of Education have partnered to offer graduate students a Learning Experience Design Certificate Program (LXD). Combining School… Read More »
Michigan IT News recently talked with Nathan Magyar who works as a user experience designer at the Center for Academic Innovation (AI). Magyar takes the AI mission to heart: to design the future of learning through research, innovation, experimentation, and iteration. Tell us about your role. As a user experience (UX) designer for the Center for Academic Innovation,… Read More »
Online learning plays a critical role for today’s students by offering greater flexibility to accommodate work schedules and, in many cases, creating more affordable pathways to credentials. However, concerns over quality and potential bad actors have inspired repeated attempts to regulate distance education in a manner that appropriately balances innovation with quality assurance and consumer protections. In a… Read More »
Gamut, a new suite of online learning tools from Academic Innovation are available for immediate use by any U-M faculty or instructional staff. Each tool is a standalone web application that uses a technology called the Learning Tools Interoperability protocol, which allows them to easily integrate into any course on Canvas, Coursera, edX, or FutureLearn. So far, the… Read More »
U-M began creating online learning content over a decade ago. Since then, over six million students have enrolled for these courses, a tenth from India. Coursera, the US-based edtech platform that U-M partners with, has 4.8 million users in India. U-M’s online course “Programming for everyone” is the second-most popular in the country. During his recent visit to… Read More »
The University of Michigan’s mission to share knowledge across the globe and shape the future of learning is further enriched through a new partnership with the U.K.-based social learning platform FutureLearn. With the Sept. 24 announcement of the partnership, U-M is reinforcing its commitment to fostering open, global, diverse, flexible and inclusive learning environments. FutureLearn’s diverse community includes… Read More »
The U-M School of Nursing is now offering three of its Master of Science in Nursing degree programs online. Courses will begin in fall 2020 for Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and Leadership, Analytics and Innovation. These specialty programs were identified for development in a digital framework because they cross the spectrum of nursing education. The new… Read More »