Office of the Provost

Dear Colleagues,

As you may recall from our last, truncated Associate Deans/Department Heads meeting (and follow-up email), we are in the process of rolling out new designations and definitions for course modalities, which the Registrar will officially implement starting with the Fall 23 semester. Since the Registrar will begin its scheduling process for Fall 23 early in the Spring semester, it is important for faculty to become familiar with these new designations and to use them as they submit their course requests to you and your departmental admins.

A few caveats to keep in mind:

First, and most importantly, these new designations are not, in and of themselves, a signal that the balance of in-person to online course offerings is meant to shift. The development of these new designations is only the first step in what we expect to be a more extended, iterative, and consultative process—internal to each school, college, and department—in which programs should be thinking about the most effective/appropriate pedagogical uses for each modality. Decisions to switch courses from in-person to online should not be made by individual instructors in advance of these important strategic conversations. The Future of Learning Committee is currently preparing guidance for how to approach these conversations and what considerations need to be part of any such decisions.

Second, faculty should select the modality designation that most accurately represents how the course will be taught. One of the key reasons we revised these designations and their definitions was to ensure that students knew exactly what kind of courses they were choosing when they registered. Advisors will be referring to these new designations in their meetings with their advisees, so it is critical that the information be accurate.

Thanks and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.

UConn Course Modality Definitions Fall 2023

Modalities Flow Chart

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Shoulson

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Jeffrey S. Shoulson, Ph.D. (He | Him | His)
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and Professor of English
University of Connecticut
352 Mansfield Road, Unit 1086
Storrs, CT 06268-1086

(o) 860-486-6115
(c) 305-742-6973
(f) 860-486-6379

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