Newsletter August 13, 2026
cte.utah.edu

Effective August 1, 2026, Revised Policy 6-100 requires that any educational trainees or graduate student who is the Instructor of Record for a course section should complete training or a course on teaching in higher education either before or concurrently with the teaching assignment or have comparable, prior experience in teaching in higher education. Training may be conducted by the academic unit or can be completed through the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence, or through other means. 

For students who plan to complete the requirement through CTE, we recommend:

Syllabus Posting

ALL syllabi (non-mandatory and mandatory courses) must be posted to the Class schedule via CIS by August 17.

All mandatory course syllabi must also be posted to Simple Syllabus by August 17.

For information about syllabus templates, requirements, policies, posting, and more, please visit CTE’s Syllabus Design Page

Canvas Courses

Set up your Canvas course with weekly modules. 

Make assignment rubrics and put deadlines in the Canvas Calendar.

Check to make sure your content meets digital accessibility requirements. (For info, resources, and tutorials, see our Accessibility Essentials page).

Provide a link to the Student AI Resource Page

Faculty Resources

Visit CTE’s AI for Teaching page for information about how to integrate AI into your course ethically and thoughtfully.

The Student Affairs Faculty Guide can help faculty connect students to resources on campus. Many of these links are also provided with sample syllabus statements on CTE’s Expanded Syllabus page. 

If you need additional support, check out CTE’s services for faculty, or contact Digital Learning Technologies for technical training and support. 

The University of Utah Board of Trustees approved Rule R6-500A: Undergraduate Academic Standards on Aug. 11, 2026. The rule is now in effect and available in the University Regulations Library. Faculty and staff are encouraged to review the updated rule for information about undergraduate academic standards, requirements and related procedures.

https://regulations.utah.edu/academics/rules/r6-500a.php

This semester, Student Course Feedback introduces a new Instructor Report designed to complement the familiar Section Report.

You can access your reports by logging in to the Student Course Feedback portal, where you can also monitor survey response rates, review survey dates, and access other course evaluation tools.

→ Log in to Student Course Feedback

While a Section Report summarizes student feedback for a single course offering, the Instructor Report brings together feedback across your teaching over the past five years. It is designed to help you identify longer-term patterns, recognize recurring strengths, and support reflection on your teaching over time.

Section Report
Feedback for one course section.

Instructor Report
A five-year view across your teaching.

To help you get started, we've created a few short guides:

Reading the Instructor Report: Understand the sections, metrics, and trends included in your Instructor Report. 

Reading the Section Report: Learn how to interpret results for an individual course section. 

Whether you're preparing a teaching portfolio, reviewing feedback from a recent semester, or simply looking for a broader view of your teaching, these resources can help you get the most from your reports.

The start of a new semester brings exciting events, and we expect campus to be buzzing on Thursday, Sept. 3, as the Utah Utes host their first football game of the season, taking on the Idaho Vandals.

With so many people on campus, we’re expecting heavy traffic and difficulty traveling, so please consider taking public transportation, particularly TRAX, that day and encouraging your students to do the same. 

Additional parking will be available, but if your classes or labs will be significantly impacted, remember that you have the flexibility to consider alternative instruction models, such as virtual classes. Please contact your supervisor if you have any questions.

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!

Kick off Accessibility Tech Tips Tuesday with Course Import Strategies and TidyUp! Learn how to efficiently import course content into Canvas while maintaining a clean, organized, and accessible course structure. This session will cover best practices for course imports, common issues that can affect accessibility, and how to use TidyUp to manage files, reduce clutter, and improve course usability. Participants will leave with practical strategies to streamline course design and create a more accessible student experience.