Newsletter September 11, 2025
cte.utah.edu

Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices

Staff in the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence want to express our empathy and concern for all individuals affected by the shooting of Mr. Kirk on the UVU campus yesterday. We understand that the proximity of yesterday’s event may also impact members of our own campus community. We encourage you to consider principles from a trauma-informed teaching approach if and when this issue comes up in your classes: check in with your students, provide factual information, recognize that students will have different responses to the event, and provide information about resources on campus. For more information about trauma-informed teaching approaches, we encourage you to review the following resources:

Trauma-informed pedagogy principles from the University of Denver’s Office of Teaching and Learning
Trauma-Informed Practices for Post-Secondary Education: A Guide from Education Northwest
What Does Trauma-Informed Teaching Look Like? From the Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/6/2020

Engaging in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Much of our work in the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence is focused on helping instructors who are just getting started or who want to branch out and try new things. Our workshops, summer institutes, and symposia, as well as our consultations are great ways to share ideas and hear from you on what you’re doing. But we absolutely LOVE it when instructors reach out to us to share their projects and successes.

For example, Professor Susan Johnston in Special Education recently shared that the students in her Fall 2024 University Teaching Seminar (SPED 7810) engaged in a multi-faceted, problem-based learning activity focused on fostering a sense of belonging in online learning environments. Dr. Johnston described working with her students and said, "Together, we explored key challenges—such as physical distance, limited opportunities for synchronous interaction, and feelings of isolation that can impact students' sense of connection and community in online learning environments. We also examined evidence supported strategies that instructors can use in online learning environments to intentionally support engagement.” This work led to a co-authored, peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Special Education Preparation, titled “Supporting Preservice Special Education Teachers: Fostering Community in Online Learning Environments.”

Not only is the work conducted by Dr. Johnston and her students helpful for online instructors in the field of special education (and beyond), but it demonstrates the kind of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) that supports both the research and teaching missions of the university and advances our understanding of best pedagogy practices in our rapidly changing world. The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching (ISSOTL) and Learning identified 5 Grand Challenges for SoTL:

How to develop critical and creative thinkers
How to encourage students to be engaged in learning
The complex processes of learning
How identities affect both teaching and learning
The practice, use, and growth of SoTL

Have you engaged in SoTL with your students? We’d love to hear about it and share it with other instructors across the U. Feel free to drop us an email and brag about your projects — we look forward to hearing from you!

Scheduling Exams with Center for Disability and Access

CDA proctors a lot of exams each semester. CDA needs instructors’ help to remind students about supporting their exam accommodations. Please share the following information with any students who need exam accommodations for your courses:

Book Exams Now: Please do not wait for CDA to contact you about your exams. Please be proactive in scheduling your exams with CDA. Students can use CDA's online Exam Form on their website, call their office at 801-581-5020, or visit their office in Student Services Building 350.
Get an Email Confirmation: When students have scheduled their exam with CDA, they will receive an email the night before the exam that lists the location of the exam.
Update or Make Changes: Students can update their exam dates if their instructor makes changes, but CDA needs to know their exam plans. Students should schedule all of their exams with CDA as soon as possible so we can ensure space is available.

For Instructors:

Enter Exam Dates now. Use the CDA Faculty Portal to list exam dates. If you need to make changes CDA will work with instructors. When, instructors provide CDA with the exam schedule or tentative exam schedule this helps to ensure CDA has adequate space and staff for exam proctoring.
Submit Exams. CDA only needs your exam the business day before the exam is scheduled. This provides CDA with the opportunity to prepare the exam for the proctoring process. Exams can be submitted through the portal or by email at exam@disability.utah.edu

CTE Workshops

CTE workshops are open to all instructors, postdocs and grad students on campus. Please register with unid@utah.edu

“Digital Course Accessibility: What is Required and How Do I do it?” On 9/23 at 11am; Register here both in person and via Zoom;
“Teaching Non-Traditional Students” On 10/14 at 11am; Register here via Zoom
“Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing: Collaborative Learning for Multiple Modalities” On 10/22 at 11am; Register here in person
“Teaching Students to Use AI Responsibly” On 11/3 at 11am; Register here via Zoom

Sept 23rd (Zoom)

Sept 23rd (In-Person)

Oct 14th

Oct 22nd

Nov 3rd

Community Engaged Learning

Workshop: Community Engaged Scholarship in a Divided Landscape

Join faculty from across Utah to discuss Community Engaged Scholarship in Divisive Environments September 18-19, 2025 in Heber Utah (see flyer attached). This 1.5-day workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Thomas A Bryer who recently wrote "Integrating Community Engagement in Public Affairs Education: Solutions for Professors Working in Divisive Environments." Thursday afternoon will focus on engaging headlines as a public intellectual, and Friday will be a full day workshop on innovative strategies for co-creating community engaged projects while navigating complex dynamics and producing scholarship that makes a difference.

Register for FREE thanks to support from Community Engagement offices in the Utah Campus Community Engagement Network (UCCEN) and the University Presidential Leadership Fellowship funded by the Mellon Foundation. Email megan.medina@utah.edu with any questions.

One-U Responsible AI Initiative

The University of Utah One-U Responsible Artificial Intelligence Initiative (One-U RAI) is accepting applications now through October 1 for faculty fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and distinguished visitors who work in at least one of the initiative’s thematic areas: environment, healthcare and wellness, and teaching and learning.

Faculty Fellows. Each year, One-U RAI names three to five faculty fellows representing some of the U’s top talent in responsible AI from across disciplines. Fellows receive an annual stipend to pursue responsible AI research tied to one or more of the thematic areas. Applications are reviewed annually, with a deadline of October 1, and awards last three years with opportunity for renewal. More information about applications and submission information can be found at: https://rai.utah.edu/apply-for-awards/

Postdoctoral Fellows and Distinguished Visitors One-U RAI also awards three to five postdoctoral fellowships each year based on project proposals aligned with at least one of the thematic areas. The program covers salary and benefits, including retirement, for two years. One-U RAI invites one to five prominent visitors from academia, government, or industry each year to stimulate discussion, build collaborations, and advance research around responsible AI. Activities and honorarium are tied to visit length, which could range from a few days to a year. Applications for these awards are reviewed periodically throughout the year. For more information, see: https://rai.utah.edu/apply-for-awards/

Graduate Certificate in
Teaching in Higher Education

CTE is proud to offer a 15-credit graduate certificate in Teaching in Higher Education. The certificate consists of 4 online semester-based courses taught through CTE, as well as one elective.

Interested in learning more? Check out the certificate page.

This year, we will be offering two elective courses:

Fall 2025
- CTLE 6960: Special Topics – Science of Learning
Spring 2026
- CTLE 6960: Special Topics – Teaching with AI

DLT: Tech Tip Tuesdays

1 hour Trainings are divided by 30 minutes for a Canvas related tool, followed by 30 minutes for an Adobe related tool.

16-Sep Assignment Rubrics/Grading Multi-Modal Assn

23-Sep Kaltura Video & My Media/Express Video

30-Sep Quizzes, Question Banks/Adobe Podcast

14-Oct Gradebook, Speedgrader/Adobe Firefly

21-Oct Poll Everywhere/Adobe Express AI

28-Oct Canvas Accessibility/PDF Accessibility

4-Nov AI: Google Gemini/Student Adobe Portfolios

11-Nov Zoom Recording & Breakouts/Express Collab.

18-Nov Lucid Chart-Mind Mapping/Express D

2-Dec Import for Spring Semester/Adobe Assnmt

9-Dec Feedback Fruits/Adobe Express Holiday Fun

Free, but registration is required using this link: https://utah.zoom.us/meeting/register/-tmCu_trSIWNmffmJI8Eqw#/registration

Enhance Your Instruction: Tech Tips Tuesday
September 16th, 2025
Assignment Rubrics

🕛 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm

Learn how to build effective rubrics in Canvas to streamline grading and provide clear feedback.

This session covers rubric creation, linking to assignments, and using rubrics for consistent, transparent assessment.

Adobe Express Multi-Modal Assignments & Grading Rubrics

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm

Discover how Adobe Express simplifies multimodal assignments—creative projects using visuals, audio, and video—with templates that include assignment instructions and grading rubrics ready for Canvas.

Join us on Zoom!
Register here or visit digitallearning.utah.edu

Feedback Fruits Trainings

Canvas Learning Tools

Feedback Fruits seamlessly integrates with Canvas to make learning interactive through engaging feedback, collaboration, and reflection.

Zoom Training

Date: October 3, 2025
Time: 1:00 – 1:50 PM (MT)

Explore how Feedback Fruits can improve peer learning, student engagement, and meaningful feedback in your Canvas course.

This session will introduce templates and use cases for collaborative, reflective assignments.

In-Person Workshop

Date: October 16, 2025
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 PM (MT)
Location: Room 1140, Faculty Center, J. Willard Marriott Library

Get hands-on support with setting up your own Feedback Fruits assignments, creating groups, managing peer reviews, and using rubrics.

Learn more: digitallearning.utah.edu

Office of Undergraduate Research

Faculty Benefits Include:

Support for your research project with a full-time undergraduate research assistant paid by OUR!
Mentor and train the next generation of researchers
Contribute to the University’s commitment: student retention towards graduation with high impact practices with research.

The Office invites University of Utah tenure-line and career-line faculty to apply to serve as mentors for SPUR 2026 (May 18-July 31,2026). Deadline for faculty applications: October 3, 2025

Visit: our.utah.edu/spur for more information.