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From blanket bans to curriculum acceptance, universities are taking different approaches to address the growing popularity of artificial intelligence in and out of the classroom.

After several years of assessing options and consulting with the campus community, 91�Թ��� will be completing a transition to the Canvas Learning Management System for the start of the fall semester 2023.

This spring, 91�Թ��� University academic departments will begin a transition from the Blackboard platform to Canvas for hosting class content. According to a briefing from the Office of the Provost, professors and faculty can expect to start exploring Canvas this semester, and students can expect to have their first courses on Canvas in the spring semester.

Coursetune is a course design and curriculum mapping program the Instructional Design & Delivery office piloted, mapping the curriculums of the Organizational Leadership and Communication Leadership programs and visualizing the redesign of the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies. IDD can now use this tool to help all faculty design courses.

In a Communication and Leadership class on corporate communications, students partnered with White’s Boots to create a strategic communications plan to expand its market into Japan. Students were introduced to the company via a video featuring the company president, which laid out the parameters of the project. Students then received real-life prompts from the president and other White’s Boots employees every week, adding new dimensions to the process

Both Hays and McCulloh give big credit to the community for its help in “bringing in the class.” From the Faculty Outreach Project that saw faculty members phoning prospective students to answer lingering questions, to the folks in Instructional Design and Delivery and Marketing and Communications who made virtual contact reality for thousands of inquiring students, the 91�Թ��� community came through.

As vaccinations increased in the U.S. and President Thayne McCulloh announced 91�Թ���’s return to “normal” operations in fall 2021, Instructional Design & Delivery Director Justin Marquis and Center for Teaching & Advising Director Mia Bertagnolli, along with Brenda Warrington and Jenn Klein from Academic Technology Application Services (ATAS), began brainstorming different ways to capture the learning and growth that they had seen in hybrid pedagogy and the use of digital tools for teaching during the pandemic. The result was a two-day May conference for faculty and staff: “Pandemic Pedagogy – Applying Lessons Learned from a Year of Hybrid Teaching.”

91�Թ��� Will. It was the University’s catch phrase for the last capital campaign, but it certainly applies to our current predicament. 91�Թ���’s will is strong, demonstrated by faculty, staff and students throughout our community, finding ways to make the new normal work effectively. No doubt, 91�Թ��� will survive the collateral inconveniences dealt by this novel coronavirus pandemic.