Dear faculty colleagues,
There has been an overwhelming amount of information shared with the campus during the past several weeks. I know it’s a lot to digest. Our goal is to continue to add clarity and provide more support, resources and solutions as we approach the fall semester.
Below you will find information for faculty about upcoming virtual events and online teaching support.
Q&A: Professional (Non-Tenure-Track) Faculty Zoom Meeting – Monday, July 13
The Faculty Affairs team is offering a Zoom Q&A meeting for professional faculty members to ask questions, share concerns and discuss specific issues, both in general and with respect to the impact of COVID-19.
Monday, July 13 at 1 pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94820669714
Meeting ID: 948 2066 9714
Q&A: Tenured Associate Professors’ Zoom Meeting – Wednesday, July 15
The Faculty Affairs team is offering a Zoom Q&A meeting for tenured associate professors to ask questions, share concerns and discuss specific issues, both in general and with respect to the impact of COVID-19.
Wednesday, July 15 at 1 pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94736654159
Meeting ID: 947 3665 4159
Online Instruction Learning Communities idea
Groups of faculty and staff have really come together and created some wonderful resources to support our online instruction efforts for both this summer session and for the upcoming fall semester. For example, see the Faculty Innovation Center’s Online/Blended Course Planning Commons, the Online Education Task Force’s Canvas resources for online instruction, and Bob Duke and Jeff Hellmer’s Metacourse in Online Instruction was created to help instructors through the process of creating online experiences, among many other resources.
With the fall semester starting in less than seven weeks, I thought it would be helpful if faculty had access to small online instruction learning groups. Each group can serve as a small community that can support each other and come together to share online instruction resources and experiences, as well as offering practice opportunities to help prepare for online instruction components of online and hybrid courses in the upcoming fall semester.
I encourage those of you who feel like you have online instruction expertise to also join these small groups to help mentor those of us who still have room for growth. If you are interested, please fill out this survey and save 11am-noon CST on Friday, July 17th for the first orientation session. A Zoom link will be shared with those who sign up. Do join us!
While I am sure and I’m sorry that each of you is likely suffering multiple stressors, I sincerely hope that you are making time to find some moments of relief and even joy. My professional moments of joy and gratitude bubble up every so often when I observe your dedication to adapting to these countless challenges that keep evolving. Thank you!
If you have any questions or concerns, please send the Faculty Affairs team a note. We’re here to support you in any way we can.
Stay well,
Tasha Beretvas