Newsletter October 22, 2026
cte.utah.edu

The University of Utah is seeking faculty and academic departments interested in expanding Portfolio-Based Assessment (PBA) opportunities for the 2027–2028 academic year!

PBA allows students to pursue academic credit by demonstrating mastery of course learning outcomes through knowledge and skills gained outside the traditional classroom, including professional experiences, micro-credentialing, community engagement, and service, as well as other forms of experiential learning. By expanding the number of PBA-eligible courses, we can help students leverage what they already know to make meaningful progress toward degree completion.

Faculty and Directors of Undergraduate Studies are invited to identify courses that may be appropriate for PBA eligibility. Courses with learning outcomes that students could demonstrate through prior learning and a portfolio of evidence may be especially well suited for consideration. Participating faculty will receive guidance and support in developing portfolio requirements, assessment criteria, and evaluation processes.

Interested in adding a course for 2027–2028? Contact Danielle Susi-Dittmore at Danielle.Susi-Dittmore@utah.edu to learn more or discuss potential courses for your program.

Collecting midterm course feedback, and then talking with students about that feedback, is a great way to see how things are going in your course so you can make adjustments on the fly. It also lets your students know that you care about their opinions and success in the course. Establishing this kind of communication and feedback loop can improve the instructor-student relationship and facilitate the learning process. 

Similarly, students can benefit from feedback on how they’re doing in a course. CIS has an optional midterm grade reporting function that allows instructors to post midterm grade progress from Oct. 13-23. 

In a surprise UNO reverse card move, we’ve discovered that the anonymous quiz function in Canvas that we were recommending for midterm course feedback can be de-anonymized after students have already completed it. As a result, CTE is no longer recommending that faculty use anonymous quizzes for midterm course feedback. 

Instead, we’ve changed our instructions on our Midterm Course Feedback page to the use of Google forms, through your University of Utah gcloud account. As with the previous option, you can adapt the questions to reflect your course and teaching practices. 

University Policy 6-100 now requires that all graduate student instructors of record have prior teaching experience or pedagogy training. This training can be offered by the student’s department, or students can take that training from CTE. Students who need to complete pedagogy training for Spring 2027 through CTE will have access to an asynchronous pedagogy training course (coming soon!) or can take CTLE 6000 Teaching in Higher Education in the spring. For more information on the requirement and training options, visit our Graduate Student Pedagogy Training page.

For students who want to deepen their skillset, CTE offers a graduate certificate in Teaching in Higher Education. This 15-credit online certificate will provide students with an understanding of basic pedagogy, educational technology, equity issues in teaching, and elective courses. For more information or to apply, visit our graduate certificate page. 

As higher education sees an increasing emphasis on career readiness, faculty at the U of U can reach out to Marriott Library librarians for support to integrate information and technology literacy skills into your courses.

If you’re in the process of revising an existing syllabus or designing a new assignment, librarians are available to collaborate with you to create tailored research assignments, reflective writing prompts, interactive classroom visits, and asynchronous online tutorials customized to your specific course.

Explore our Faculty Toolkit  for Information and Technology Literacy, which includes ready-to-use assignments, classroom activities, and reflective prompts that are designed for easy integration into your syllabi. Or for more tailored support, you can reach out to your subject liaison librarian to discuss custom instruction, assignment design, or course modules.

For questions, please contact Lux Darkbloom (lux.darkbloom@utah.edu).

The Debate Across the Curriculum Initiative in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences is seeking applicants for the Debate Across the Curriculum Pilot, Phase 2. 

Overview

Background

During the Fall 2025 semester, the Colleges of Liberal Arts & Sciences, in partnership with the John R. Park Debate Society (in the College of Humanities), piloted Debate Across the Curriculum in 23 classes, impacting approximately 900 students in 5 colleges. Debate Across the Curriculum aims to teach and demonstrate the value of debate as a technology for decision-making in the context of uncertainty, as well as a tool for productively

navigating disagreement across (intellectual, political, social, and cultural) differences by engaging students in debate exercises linked to curricular content in their general education and other classes. You can learn more about that pilot here.

During the initial pilot, we found that participants:

And, instructors from the initial pilot noted that their participation “breathed new life into my class” and that it was “most magnetic, engaging thing I’ve been part of so far at the U. ”Given these initial successes, we are seeking faculty participants to support the second phase of our pilot by integrating supplemental materials into their courses (via asynchronous Canvas videos provided by our project team) and conducting at least one of several possible debate-oriented activities in their classes. Based on feedback from instructors during the preliminary pilot, we are confident that this additional content can positively impact your course with limited disruptions to existing curriculum. The materials are purely additive to help students prepare for the debate exercises. In that way, the only material adjustment required, beyond making the materials available to students, is to create space for debate exercises to be included in your class (anywhere from 1-3 class meetings based on the design choices each instructor makes).

Some initial details are included below and you can signal you interest in participation by completing this form. Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me (m.middleton@utah.edu).

Program Design

Selected faculty will participate in a one-semester pilot in Spring 2027, integrating debate-oriented activities into their existing courses/curriculum while being supported by members of the Debate Across the Curriculum (DAC) Project Team, including DAC Fellows. Fellows can provide feedback on how to integrate instructional materials (provided by the team), design debate simulations to fit course needs/constraints, and support students’ participation in the simulations. This support will be available throughout the semester.

Eligibility

Program Requirements

Faculty Benefits

Timeline

How to Apply

University Policy 6-100 requires all instructors to post their syllabi one week in advance of classes starting. In addition, USHE requires all mandatory course syllabi to be publicly posted a week in advance. To ensure these policies are followed:

For a copy of the University of Utah core syllabus template, please visit CTE’s Syllabus Design website. This site also has updated mandatory institutional policies, as well as expanded syllabus options and resources. 

The University of Utah is proud to present the Professor John G. Francis Prize for Undergraduate Student Mentoring, a prestigious award that recognizes faculty members who demonstrate extraordinary efforts in mentoring students outside of the classroom. 

Submit an application online by November 16. For questions, please email Jim Agutter (agutterja@design.utah.edu)

Join us for Accessibility Tech Tips Tuesday this fall! This semester’s series will focus on building practical skills for creating more accessible digital content. Through short, hands-on sessions, explore tools and strategies to help make your course materials easier to access, navigate, and use for all learners. Check out the schedule and drop in for the sessions that best support your work!

Fall 2026: Adobe Education Institute
November 3rd-5th | Virtual
Join Adobe Education Institute (AEI), a free virtual learning experience for faculty and staff. Choose from live, hands-on sessions focused on Empowered Workflows with AI in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Express Foundations, and Adobe Creative Cloud for Education. Build practical skills for your work, explore new teaching and communication possibilities, and earn a digital badge for each session you complete.