Accountable Leader:

Maggie Jesse, executive director, ITS Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology

How we'll accomplish our goal

Objectives and Strategies

1. Empower all students through accessible, flexible, and equitable resources in all learning spaces, experiences, and digital learning systems.

[UI Strategic Plan: Welcoming and Inclusive Environment, p. 11; Excellence in Teaching and Learning, p. 9]

  1. Develop processes and procedures to expedite the resolution of accessibility obstacles encountered by students in instructional and IT contexts.
Year 1 Tactics

  • Continued meeting of the UI Accessibility Support Interest Group (ASIaGo) – develop an inventory or campus environmental scan of our strengths and gaps regarding accessibility concerns [Maggie Jesse, facilitator]  

  • Review and refine process and service improvements for accessibility [Academic Tools Accessibility Taskforce (AT-AT) core team – operationally focused team of SDS, OTLT, DOE and other campus partners]  

  • Conduct a market review for tools that integrate with ICON (BlackBoard Ally, etc) that better address accessibility challenges in courses and provides reporting dashboards of accessibility rates. [Academic Tools Accessibility Taskforce (AT-AT) core team]  

  • Increase dissemination of accessibility best practices for instructional technology [OTLT Instructional Services]  

B. Foster personalized support to meet individual student needs by leveraging learning analytics and machine learning.  

Year 1 Tactics

  • Continue meeting with faculty to provide course-level data insights on equity [OTLT Research and Analytics]  

  • Sponsor and deliver a data-informed teaching panel discussion for campus [ITS OTLT Research and Analytics]  

  • Assess faculty needs to support their students where learning analytics can provide improved support [OTLT Research and Analytics]  

  • Increase campus knowledge of available learning analytics support and tools [OTLT Research and Analytics]  

  • Initiate process to make Elements of Success generally available in ICON for all courses over 100 enrollments during Year 2. [OTLT Instructional Services, AIS]  

C. Enhance physical learning spaces, including moveable furniture and adjustable-height lecterns.  

Year 1 Tactics

  • Increase accessible teaching stations for users with disabilities, different heights, and different teaching needs [OTLT Learning Spaces Technology in collaboration with the Registrar Office Classroom Scheduling]  

  • Evaluate IP-based technologies for classroom technology service delivery. [OTLT Learning Spaces Technology, EI – Network Engineering]  

  • Explore cost-effective methods for capturing audio and video in classrooms. [OTLT Learning Spaces Technology]  

D. Create flexible, equitable methods for students to access required software applications.  

Year 1 Tactics
  • Increase access to software for student learning from student-owned devices, etc. [ES -Enterprise Client Management, OTLT Learning Spaces Technology] 
  • Partner with ITS communicators and orientation team to increase student knowledge about accessing software and seeking support [OTLT Learning Spaces Technology, Amanda Franzen, Nicole Dahya, UI Orientation] 

E. Advance the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and share its key insights with the campus community.   

Year 1 Tactics
  • Provide professional development opportunities to engage with universal design for learning and encourage campus to engage with the framework. [OTLT Instructional Services, Center for Teaching, Distance and Online Education] 
  • Review UDL-focused programs from other universities, develop and implement a more structured, multi-year program at Iowa to encourage faculty to develop and apply UDL concepts in their classes. [OTLT Instructional Services, ISPO IT Accessibility, Center for Teaching]  

2. Champion and support use of learning analytics, AI, research, and instructional assessment for teaching and learning excellence. 

[UI Strategic Plan: Holistic Well-being and Success p. 12; Excellence in Teaching and Learning, p. 9]

  1. Develop, implement, and evaluate systems or interventions to integrate learning analytics into the teaching and learning experience.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Complete the Course Activity Insights tool pilot and identify a plan for scalability [OTLT Research & Analytics, AIS] 
  • Increase awareness of student support that leverages learning analytics through the data-informed teaching panel discussions [ITS OTLT Research & Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 
  • Make Elements of Success generally available in ICON for all courses over 100 enrollments [OTLT Instructional Services, AIS] 
  • Deploy ‘Canvancements’ like Top Files powered by Elements of Success to promote Elements of Success and deliver learning analytics directly to students. [OTLT Instructional Services, AIS] 

B. Develop resources to increase transparent communication about sources and uses of teaching and learning data.   

Year 1 Tactics
  • Develop a resource about teaching and learning data (what they are, what we do with them) for students [Kirk Corey, AIS, OTLT Instructional Services and Research & Analytics] 
  • Develop resources for instructors to increase best practices for using LA in their teaching [OTLT Research & Analytics and Instructional Services] 
  • Support the faculty Data-informed Teaching community of practice [ITS OTLT Research & Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 

C. Increase understanding and awareness of student data privacy and promote the adoption of shared guidelines developed through coordinated, campus-wide efforts.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Publish and promote a resource to provide transparency on how Iowa uses student data. [OTLT Instructional Services, OTLT Research & Analytics, AIS] 

D. Facilitate effective communication and foster faculty-student relationships by expanding the availability of flexible, transparent, and timely technology-based feedback solutions.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Develop a Phase 1 prototype of a data infrastructure to support a learning analytics-based personalized feedback intervention [OTLT Research and Analytics, AIS] 
  • Increase promotion and adoption of Gradescope, so that instructors can better provide more consistent feedback to students at scale. [OTLT Instructional Services] 
  • Partnering with AIS and the Provost’s Office develop and launch a homegrown replacement service for course evaluations (ACE Online). [AIS, Provost’s Office, OTLT]  

E. Monitor, test, evaluate, and release feature enhancements from vendors who add AI to varying parts of their software.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Create a process to evaluate AI integrations and features when added to our current inventory of applications for teaching and learning. [OTLT Instructional Services] 
  • Communicate new AI features to campus constituents and end users. [OTLT Instructional Services] 
  • Evaluate and communicate the outcomes of using new AI features. [OTLT Instructional Services and OTLT Research and Analytics] 

3. Deliver initiatives and programs in support of excellence in teaching and learning. 

[UI Strategic Plan: Excellence in Teaching and Learning, p. 9]

  1. Elevate the value of teaching and expand support for teaching excellence.
Year 1 Tactics
  • Complete and evaluate the initial work of the HIC/ETL P3 course improvement initiatives [OTLT Instructional Services and OTLT Research and Analytics] 
  • Work with the ETL Network to develop recommendations for ongoing course improvement initiatives, particularly with gateway courses [OTLT Instructional Services] 

B. Partner in learning sciences research and foster the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as an area of distinction that contributes to excellence in teaching and student learning efforts.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Continue support faculty who would like to conduct SoTL [OTLT Research and Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 
  • Facilitate campus SoTL discussion [OTLT Research and Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 
  • Partner in student learning research with the chemistry department [OTLT Research and Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 
  • Partner in longitudinal research with the Spanish language program. [OTLT Research and Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 
  • Partner in student learning research with Mechanical Engineering department. [OTLT Research and Analytics in collaboration with the Center for Teaching] 

C. Coordinate effectively between instructional support services provided by central and distributed campus instructional support partners.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Inventory instructional support services across campus and areas served [OTLT and collegiate IT directors] 
  • Inventory efforts to facilitate interaction and collaboration across instructional support providers [OTLT and collegiate IT directors] 
  • Continue to grow and engage with the Support Community for Instructional Technology (SCIT) community. [OTLT Instructional Services – Vicky Maloy, facilitator] 
  • Review instructional services usage data by college, reach out and proactively offer support, training, and consulting on underutilized tools in the different colleges. [OTLT Instructional Services] 

D. Offer course-level support to implement and assess interventions to improve overall student performance and learning in gateway courses while also addressing equity gaps in learning.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Support the ETL collaboration work [OTLT Instructional Services, OTLT Research and Analytics, Center for Teaching, and Academic Success and Retention] 
  • Assess the impact of the learning assistance program in introductory courses in Chemistry [OTLT Instructional Services and OTLT Research and Analytics] 
  • Assess the impact of the new learning materials design on student learning in HHP. [OTLT Instructional Services and OTLT Research and Analytics] 

E. Implement and evaluate services and tools that increase efficiency and teaching innovation.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Increase promotion and adoption of Gradescope. [OTLT Instructional Services] 
  • Develop and implement an “early pilot” program for new and emerging instructional technologies (i.e. a new tool from Canvas, a Teams/Canvas integration, etc). [OTLT Instructional Services] 


4. Advance systems that enable instructors, advisors, and administrative staff to effectively bolster student success.

  1. Enhance advising systems for comprehensive advising and provide deeper insight into student performance by leveraging learning analytics.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Consult with Advising Council – identify ways to outreach to professional and faculty advisors across campus. [AIS-ESS]
  • Partner with the Academic Advising Center, Advising Council and student representatives to identify needs and design a student-facing advising interface in MyUI. [AIS-ESS]
  • Expand ICON Indicator (formerly Digital Learning Scorecard) pilot in Spring 24 to include additional advisors.  Add Advisor Caseload view and additional details highlighting student engagement. [AIS-ESS]
  • Expand group advising meetings pilot to additional advisor/student populations. [AIS-ESS]
  • Review recommendations from NACADA campus advising review and identify opportunities for enhancements to advising systems. [AIS-ESS]

B. Reduce barriers to timely degree completion by leveraging data to better forecast demand for general education and gateway courses.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Exploratory project with Brent Gage, Tanya Uden-Holman, Colleges, and Registrar to leverage Machine Learning to optimize Fall offerings for key courses. [AIS-DAI/ESS] 

C. Enhance support for curriculum planning to streamline processes and support accreditation standards to uphold academic competitiveness.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Expand MAUI’s documentation management system to store course, program, and other curriculum change related documentation. [AIS-ESS] 
  • Establish campus advisory group in partnership with Office of the Registrar, focused on curriculum planning. [AIS-ESS] 
  • Start planning FY24/25 project for collaborative departmental tool in MAUI and Universal Workflow for the development of new Programs of Study. [AIS-ESS] 

D. Improve and offer tools that encourage students to actively engage in career planning and impactful curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Year 1 Tactics
  • Partner with the Division of Student Life and the Pomerantz Career Center on identifying and mapping new engagement activities to competencies and initiatives for Hawkeye Engage. [AIS-ESS/DAI]
  • Work with campus partners to identify courses related to experiential practices in MAUI/MyUI to improve visibility to students when searching for courses and track engagement in Hawkeye Engage. [AIS-ESS/DAI]
  • Work with Pomerantz Career center to further expand functionality in Career Pathways application including Integrations with career skill courses in ICON, integration with career-focused courses and enrollments in MAUI. [AIS-ESS/CIO-CSI]
All Goals

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OneIT will advance excellence in teaching and learning by engaging campus partners, leading, and supporting effective instruction, services, and systems. 

OneIT Strategic Plan Goal and Tactics

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