Dear Colleagues:
I hope that your Spring semester proved a success and that you are looking forward to Summer. Thank you for submitting the final grades for the Spring Long and Half Sessions.
Before you turn your attention to the May Mini, Summer Term, vacation, and/or research agendas, I have several interrelated reminders and requests.
We expect that the UHS BOR to approve, next week, the full launch of GTAP for the Fall Term. For this program to work optimally for the students, it is important that you submit your Fall book orders with the Follett Campus Bookstore. If you are using OER, it is also important that you let them know by checking the OER box within the Follett book ordering system. If you have already completed this task, thank you very much!
As announced at the January Faculty Retreat, UHD did indeed work with UH, in the Spring, to develop a plan for the adoption of the Simple Syllabus system. UHD expects to fully implement Simple Syllabus in the Fall term and to pilot it during Summer 5w2 and 6w2.
Simple Syllabus integrates within Canvas’s “Syllabus” tab. The benefit for instructors is that Simple Syllabus will auto-populate subheadings as well as text (course description, prerequisites, CRN, SCHs, etc) that are required by UHD policy. Further, Simple Syllabus will provide a public facing platform, that will comply with HB 2504, thereby eliminating our present two-step syllabus posting process. UH has already launched Simple Syllabus to comply with the Texas statute. Please note that the plan is to have Simple Syllabus auto-populate book titles, based on your Follett book orders: please complete your Follett book request for Fall as soon as possible.
We will have more information and workshops, regarding Simple Syllabus, once the system is integrated with Canvas as well as with our PeopleSoft and Catalog data.
We are working to improve the identification of OER and low-cost sections in the PeopleSoft course schedule. To help with this effort, please let Follett know your Fall book orders. If you plan on using OER, tick the OER box.
If you are using courseware in the Fall and have historically pointed students to the publishers, please pivot from this practice and complete the courseware orders through Follett. This channel will ensure that students have the option to have courseware costs covered by the GTAP fee (NB: students still have the option to “opt out” of GTAP and still get the courseware).
Collecting the OER-section data has historically been a problem, and I am hopeful that we can lean on your Follett submissions to better inform students of what their individual textbook costs look like for the Fall semester. Armed with this information, the students will be in a good position to decide whether they should “opt-in” or “opt-out” of the GTAP program. Without access to expected textbook costs, it will be difficult for students to make the best financial decision.
Thank you all very much for attending to your book orders and I will follow up with more information, regarding Simple Syllabus, throughout the Summer.
Best regards,
David
Rydend@uhd.edu
AVP for Programming and Curriculum
UHD’s Directions for Completing Book Orders
Follett High-Level Video Overview of their Book Ordering System
A Bit More Detailed Video of Follet Book Ordering and Search System, called “Discover.”
