Dear faculty colleagues,
Below are several upcoming opportunities, events, and reminders for the final week of the spring term.
Included in this week’s update:
- Course Evaluation System Open Through April 26
- Planning for Fall 2023 Final Exams
- Qualtrics Surveys Soon Required to Meet Accessibility Standards
- 2023 Technology-Enhanced Learning Symposium
- UT Travel Management Services Promotions
- Reminder: Faculty Development Award for Professional-Track Faculty Info Session
- Reminder: First-Gen Graduation Volunteer Opportunity
- Final Reminder: Students as Partners Grant Program
Course Evaluations Open Through April 26
To ensure effective responses and higher response rates, instructors should give students time to complete evaluations during class time. Explaining the purpose of course evaluations and providing examples of helpful comments can inspire more meaningful feedback. Local Longhorns created a new, 2-minute video that instructors can show before administering surveys. Instructors can also view their response rates live by logging into the system and clicking “Subject Management” at the top of the page.
View Video
Planning for Fall 2023 finals
Faculty designation of final exams (“final exam reporting”) for Fall 2023 courses will open July 24 and go through August 4. However, you may share your Fall 2023 final exam plans now with your final exam scheduler. Early reporting (confirming whether you plan to offer a final exam) ensures accurate final exam information is captured for Fall 2023 prior to the end of this spring term. In accordance with the latest academic calendar guidelines, we will publish Fall 2023 final exam schedules on the first class day, August 21, 2023.
Information about default regular exam periods and uniform/makeup exam periods for Fall 2023 can be found on the Final Exam Information page. For questions related to final exam scheduling, please reach out to your final exam scheduler or scheduling@austin.utexas.edu.
Qualtrics Surveys Soon Required to Meet Accessibility Standards
Qualtrics users are encouraged to review their surveys to see if they need to be redesigned to meet accessibility standards. To meet these standards, survey layouts should be changed to the Simple Layout. After May 22, inaccessible surveys won’t be published. For help reconfiguring a survey or for other technical help with Qualtrics, email its-survey@utlists.utexas.edu.
2023 Technology-Enhanced Learning Symposium on May 18-19
How has technology both expanded and created new barriers for shared understanding? What role does technology have to play in addressing equity issues in higher education? The pervasive use of digital tools during the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have left an indelible imprint on how and where we learn together. This year’s TEL Symposium will explore new and emerging contexts for teaching and learning with technology at UT.
UT Travel Management Services Promotion with Southwest Airlines and Enterprise
Ahead of summer travel, UT Travel Management Services recently announced new promotions with Southwest Airlines and Enterprise. You can learn more about the opportunities below.
Southwest Airlines A-List Preferred Promotion for Personal or Business Use
Visit the Travel Management Services website to learn more about a limited time offer to register for A-List Preferred Status with Southwest and an opportunity to extend the status for a year. Go to the Travel Management System website & select Southwest Airlines under Booking Travel in the main menu or visit the TMS Travel News section.
Enterprise/National Status Match Offer for Personal or Business Use
Travel Management Services provides the Enterprise/National Rental Car Booking Links for business travel and personal travel needs. For those that have status with a major car, hotel or airline loyalty program, there is an opportunity to enjoy elevated Emerald Club Status by enrolling in a current status match offer.
Reminder: Faculty Development Award (FDA) for Professional-Track Faculty Info Session
The Faculty Development Award (FDA) program is a program for professional-track faculty that provides up to $10,000 to support professional development opportunities and activities for each awardee. The Faculty Affairs team in the provost’s office will be hosting a general information session about the FDA program. Information about the virtual information session is as follows:
Wednesday, April 26th at 9:00am–10:00am CST
Reminder: First-Gen Graduation Volunteer Opportunity
Are you First-Gen Faculty or a First-Gen Champion? Join us for First-Gen Graduation on Wednesday, May 3 from 1:00pm– 3:00pm in the San Jacinto Multipurpose room. We are so excited to celebrate our First-Gen graduates on this major accomplishment. If you’re interested in volunteering, we’d love your support! Please sign up here by Friday, April 21.
Final Reminder: Students as Partners Grant Program
Proposals are now being accepted for Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 Student as Partners projects. Applicants will be notified of their selection status as awards are decided. For any questions related to this process, contact Matt Russell. The deadline to submit proposals is Monday, April 24. Apply through the submission form.
COACHE Survey Closes
Thank you to those who participated in the 2023 UT Austin Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey. The survey closed on April 10th after being up for almost ten weeks. Although our final response rate is not finalized, we do know that we achieved a record-breaking response rate this year compared to 2017 and 2020. Four faculty members who completed the survey were randomly selected to earn gift cards ranging in price from $125 to $450. Winners included professional-track faculty members from the School of Nursing, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Pharmacy, and a tenured faculty member from the School of Information. Once we receive the survey data from COACHE this summer, we look forward to sharing the results with you during the 2023-24 academic year.
If you have any faculty-related questions, concerns, or solutions, please feel free to contact the Faculty Affairs team. We’re here to support you in any way we can.
Stay well,
Tasha Beretvas