Newsletter March 26, 2026
cte.utah.edu

Every May, right after commencement, the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence hosts the Graduate Teaching Institute. This year, the event will be May 4-7. This is a 4-day in-person-only training event for graduate students and postdocs who are interested in enhancing their higher education teaching skills. Previous years’ attendees have increased their teaching self-efficacy in several critical areas of pedagogy and left feeling more prepared to teach and support classes at the University of Utah.

Registration is free to all grad students and postdocs, but capacity is limited. Lunch will be served for all attendees. Register today!

Can’t make it to the Graduate Teaching Institute? Save the date for our Annual Teaching Symposium on August 17, or sign up for our Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education. 

As you read in @theU, and the memo from University Leadership, (and hopefully previous versions of our newsletter), the US Department of Justice Title II regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires educational content that is actively used and made available to students digitally at the University of Utah to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by April 24th, 2026. This means that going forward, all digital content provided to students (e.g., Canvas) needs to meet WCAG standards — Summer and Fall 2026 course content and onward. 

Improving digital content accessibility benefits ALL students — not just those with documented disabilities. It provides accessible design, clear navigation, and multiple ways for learners to interact with materials (e.g., transcripts and closed-captioning for videos, screen-reader friendly documents). 

In partnership with Digital Learning Technologies, the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence has compiled an Accessibility Essentials website that contains information about the requirements, video tutorials and campus resources, as well as frequently asked questions. In addition, we have held several training events across campus and will continue to offer consultation opportunities through weekly Zoom office hours and a Drop-In Day on April 17. If you have questions about the CidiLabs Accessibility tools in Canvas, you can email classhelp@utah.edu for support, and if you have more pedagogy-related questions, you can set up a meeting with a CTE consultant. 

April 14 - May 2 — Student Course Feedback open for semester length courses (for other dates and information, see our Student Course Feedback site)

April 21 — Last day of Spring classes 

April 22 — Reading Day — no classes or exams held

April 23-29 — Spring Final Exam Period

May 4 — Spring Grades Due 

May 4 — Summer Syllabus Posting Deadline — for first-session and full-session summer courses, all syllabi should be posted to the course schedule via CIS one week before classes are due. In addition, syllabi for mandatory courses should be posted to Simple Syllabus.  

Action Required by April 6 for Fall 2026 to have textbook info ready for students and Day-1 Access. Get Course Materials Ready for Students in 2 Easy Steps:

If you work with a department coordinator, please continue to do so. Otherwise, please watch for a personalized link to come from our textbook adoption collection software Verba Collect. If you have not received a personalized link you may request one. The process is designed to be intuitive, but for more in depth help, please reach out to Kim Kilpatrick at kkilpatrick@campusstore.utah.edu or 1-3158. For a cost estimate on custom digital course-packs, contact Kim Kilpatrick at the Campus Store. Email: coursematerials@utah.edu

Kind regards,

coursematerials@utah.edu

Join us for Tech Tips Tuesday! Every other week features Canvas or Accessibility related tools, and Adobe Express Learning Kit, you can use in your teaching or personal projects. Check out the schedule and drop in for the topics that inspire you!