On this page:
Teaching
Over the summer, the College partnered with the Office of Instructional Technology to offer intensive training in online teaching and learning to our faculty members. Over three hundred faculty members and twenty faculty mentors participated in these programs. A key element of this training is reimagining and redesigning courses to be more efficient and engaging as online experiences. With more time to prepare (and faculty members have spent the better part of their summers doing this), we will build on successes and lessons learned from the Spring Semester emergency move to remote education to have even more successful Fall Semester.
Faculty members, please find more resources and support for online teaching from the Division of Information Technology’s Instructional Technology Team, including a new site devoted to the PIVOT programs: pivot.umbc.edu. Now available to the campus community and beyond, PIVOT Solo contains lessons on five key topics including course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students. PIVOT Solo is designed to be a flexible, self-directed experience, allowing faculty to determine what knowledge they want to refresh or enhance. Additionally, faculty can access recordings of previous training sessions on a number of instructional technologies topics and tools in recorded archives including Blackboard, Collaborate, Panopto, and Voicethread.
Finally, faculty may want to take advantage of the Course Workload Estimator, which will assist in determining how long it may take a student to complete various course activities, and the many other resources we’ve provided on the site to help support their online course development and delivery.
The Faculty Development Center also offers workshops, and guidance and resources for online teaching and learning through its Keep on Teaching page.
Students, please remember that the Academic Success Center is open (remotely) for business and is ready to provide students the support they need to be successful this semester. Please refer to the student section of Retriever Return Roadmap for the latest updates and a comprehensive guide to support services.
Advising
All advising is taking place remotely throughout the Fall Semester. The Office of Academic and Pre-Professional Advising has provided Department Chairs with guidance for advisors and students, with numerous online tools. Please see the Advising Office’s suggestions for how to approach advising in other than face-to-face situations. You can join the Advising Community Group here, to stay up to date on advising issues. CAHSS Academic Advisors James Hamilton (jamham@umbc.edu), Rob Pawloski (rpawloski@umbc.edu) and Janae Wilson (jwilso8@umbc.edu) also stand ready to assist.
Research & Creative Achievement (RCA)
Protocols regarding Research and Creative Achievement (RCA) activity on and off campus are continually changing. Please check the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) website’s Research and Creative Achievement at UMBC during COVID-19 page for the most up-to-date information.
Remote work
Human Resources has provided updated guidance about implementing remote work. This includes the fact that “UMBC has made provisions for all faculty, staff, and students to remain in a paid status at the present time” (i.e., student workers and contingent staff will continue to be paid).
- To Access UMBC voicemail, dial 410 455 1111 and follow the directions
- Access UMBC’s VPN here.
- You can share documents through Box or Google Drive.
- Instructions for connecting to Webex. You will need an internal or external camera and/or microphone for video conferencing.. You can also call in from a phone if internet is not available.
- DoIT’s “Help Yourself Checklist“
Access Approval and Compliance Requirements
Please visit https://covid19.umbc.edu/ for current information
Sustaining CAHSS’s intellectual community
The College’s five research centers are working to sustain our intellectual community at this moment of physical isolation. Here are some examples; please watch the centers’ websites for updates and further information.
The Center for Social Science Scholarship (CS3) is documenting Research and Responses to COVID-19 from Social Sciences faculty. The Center has moved a number of its events online or virtual, including a Virtual Social Science Coffee Hour, the Climate Solutions Roundtable Debate, Academic Cover Letter & CV speed-review event for graduate students, and more.
The Dresher Center for the Humanities will hold its “CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now” works-in-progress talks and its “Fellows and Others” workshop as scheduled, virtually. The Humanities Forum lecture by Allison Lange, “Images and the Fight for Women’s Voting Rights in the US,” will occur online via Webex (April 15 @ 4:00).
The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA) is sharing resources for artists at this difficult time, through its email CIRCA Digest and social media.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) plans three initiatives on its website (coming soon): information and links to visit the Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park and other TKF Foundation parks and meditative spaces throughout Maryland; an online version of the 2020 IMDA MFA Thesis exhibition; and a curated, bi-monthly listing of art projects, events, and related programming in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The Imaging Research Center (IRC) is working with Hilltop Institute on visualization strategies for understanding the spread of COVID-19, and aims to have much of its research continue online, including the work of its student researchers.
In addition, the team in MIPAR and Rachel Brubaker in the Dresher Center remain available virtually to work with faculty members on their research and grant proposals.
Return to Campus Quick Links
WebEx Recording: CAHSS Town Hall: Return to Work (May 7, 2021)