Dear colleagues,

As announced earlier this semester, UM is preparing to welcome students to campus in the fall for in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible. We acknowledge that there are still many variables at play in the health trends and recommended practices in our state, region and country. We will continue to work closely with public health officials to monitor the situation and adjust as needed. Below are current plans and guidelines for the fall. Please watch for updates to these plans on email over the summer.

Mitigating Risk and Classroom Spacing

Mitigating the risk of COVID-19 will continue to be a priority this fall. The best defense against infection for students, staff, and faculty is to be fully vaccinated. In regard to classroom spacing, we are planning to be back to near-normal densities as much as possible. In classrooms where there are moveable tables, chairs, or desks, students will be able to distance themselves from one another to a greater extent. In stadium-seating lecture halls, we may consider options to limit the densities of these spaces. To minimize risk in the classroom, other mitigations will be considered, such as continued mask wearing.

Accommodations for Students

As UM returns primarily to face-to-face classes, it’s anticipated that most students will be attending classes in person. If a student requires a COVID-related accommodation in order to safely attend, they should be referred to Disability Services (DSS). Disability Services will work with the student and their advisor on a case-by-case basis.

Professional Development Opportunities

UM is offering the Mobile Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching from June 7-10. Faculty from all disciplines are invited to apply to learn about teaching practices shown to increase student understanding and success. Watch UMToday for additional professional development opportunities throughout the summer.

Upcoming Technology Enhancements

Over the summer, UM IT will be working on several projects in preparation for fall instruction. This will include replacing over 800 wireless access points across campus that will have greater throughput and will support a higher number of clients. IT will also be adding outdoor wireless capability to several locations across campus. Technology will be upgraded in 30 classrooms around campus; many in Math, Eck Hall, Forestry and the North Underground Lecture Hall will be getting a complete overhaul including paint, flooring and furniture. Many other classrooms will be getting smaller technology upgrades to improve their active learning capabilities. The Social Science, University Center, Math and Chemistry buildings will be getting network/wireless upgrades as well.

We will also be updating over 50 computer labs across campus to accommodate higher occupancy. Please note that UM IT has partnered with schools to make available the ASSIST lab and remote labs to provide campus licensed software to students who may need remote access to applications such as Adobe products, ArcGIS or SPSS. If you have any concerns about technology in classrooms or computer labs, please contact UM IT via ticket through the Solutions Center or by emailing ithelpdesk@umontana.edu.

Moodle Shells for All Courses

UMOnline has created a Moodle shell for every Fall 2021 course and faculty can access those now. Please share your syllabi and course content with students using these shells for all courses, both in-person and online, to help ensure that materials are accessible to all students. UMOnline instructional designers (ID) are available to provide suggestions on building your course shell and using Moodle. Use the ID Office Hours to schedule one-on-one help or send a question to umonlineids@umontana.edu and an ID will respond back as soon as possible. In addition, Moodle Basics for Faculty is always available (self-enrollable) to find how to do almost anything in Moodle.

Course Development Support for Online/Blended Courses
For faculty teaching online or blended/hyflex courses, UMOnline has a self-enrollable, self-paced Course Development Tutorial to get started with planning the course for online delivery. For new online/blended courses, please contact Nancy Clouse, who will assign an ID to provide one-on-one course development support.

Use of Third Party Course Materials and Tools

If you are planning to use third party content or tools, such as online publisher course materials or external tools, remember that these need to be reviewed by Accessible Technology Services (ATS). This review can take anywhere from two to six weeks, so please make your requests to ATS well in advance of adoption into your course.

Video Recording

In the past year, recordings of in-person and remote courses have allowed students to access content from a missed class and review content multiple times. Support for video recording will continue this year, including use of Zoom, as well as the One Button and Lightboard Studios located in the Mansfield Library. 

Assessing Student Learning

In 2020-21, faculty used a number of alternative assessments and UMOnline will continue to support online assessments through Moodle for all course modalities. In addition, the growing use of Navigate is helping to support the retention of students through regular feedback from instructors.

Thank you for your remarkable efforts to support students this past year. We hope that the summer provides some opportunities for well-deserved rest and rejuvenation. If you have questions about instruction in the fall, please email officeoftheprovost@umontana.edu.