Our students and faculty want greater flexibility in the online, remote, and hybrid modalities offered by academic units. The further integration of these modalities and technologies is a vehicle for helping us to become a dynamic, creative learning community that allows educators the flexibility to use the right modality for their subject for both resident and distance students, further supporting student success. The Pilot for In-Load Online Teaching (PILOT) is a two-year program that aims to improve student success by supporting academic units in creating a transformational change for online, remote, and hybrid teaching and learning at CU Boulder. PILOT seeks to leverage online, remote, and hybrid modalities to create sustainable change that aligns with pedagogical excellence, research-based practices, and course and program objectives, while at the same time providing options for the academic unit, college, or university to conceptualize and evaluate these modalities as part of overall teaching excellence. Teams will meet initially for the PILOT Institute to frame their project at the start of the semester. Teams will continue to meet on their own to continue and progress on their project as well as meet with their PILOT mentors. Each semester, teams will engage in the PILOT Coalition to discuss and share their progress.Â
The following teams have been selected to participate:
English Department
Led by Teresa Nugent and Thora Brylowe
The Writing in the Age of AI certificate is designed to address the technical and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in professional environments that are rapidly embracing time-saving AI practices. This certificate, being developed by Department of English, will be open to all undergraduates at the ŔÖ˛Ą´«Ă˝ Boulder. Courses for this certificate will be offered in various modalities: asynchronous online, in person, and hybrid, with a path to complete entirely online. The English Department is ideally positioned to create a Writing in the Age of AI Certificate. To earn the certificate, students need to successfully complete three one-credit fundamental skills courses (from a list of six or more), a mandatory, three-credit course, “Writing in the Age of AI,” and six credits of electives from a selection of pre-approved, upper-division courses on subjects including advanced syntax, prosody, literature and data science, and AI in society.
Women and Gender Studies Department
Led by Maisam Alomar and Leila GĂłmez
This team will modify undergraduate WGST core courses to integrate universal learning for learning (UDL) and develop the courses in the online modality. As a department that already prioritizes questions of equity and diversity in their course content across the board, they are well-positioned to be at the forefront of thinking through the implementation of these ideas in course design. The team will start with two core classes: WGST 2000, Introduction to US Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies and WGST 2600, Introduction to Global Gender, Race, and Sexuality Studies. Through the emphasis of UDL in course design, along with other best practices, promotes inclusive learning environments in which students feel that their contributions and perspectives are equally valued and respected.