Due to recent legislation that requires the University to make textbook and course material available to students during registration (HEOA Textbook Provision(PDF)), a new Class Overview page has been added in SPIRE to allow instructors to publish course information (in the Schedule of Classes). The page includes an option to link to an online syllabus.…
Tag: SPIRE
Start of Semester Tip: Create Class Email Lists in SPIRE
Creating a class email list can be a simple way to keep your students up-to-date with announcements on course events. Instructors can use SPIRE to create, refresh, and delete class email lists. This will generate a single email address that lets you email all the students enrolled in the course at once. More information at: http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/mailing_list.html Tip: Your…
Start of Semester Tip: Photo Rosters in SPIRE
The addition of photo rosters to SPIRE has been a personal boon to me in terms of learning my students’ names as quickly as possible. Don’t have access to photo rosters for your own courses yet? Take the FERPA quiz and earn your security certificate to activate this feature in SPIRE: http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/photo_roster.html
Photo Rosters in SPIRE
The addition of photo rosters to SPIRE last semester has been a personal boon to me in terms of learning my students’ names as quickly as possible. The catch is that the photos of students aren’t always the best depiction of how they currently look (they’re usually taken during their freshman orientation). I’ve taken to using a pen on the…
New SPIRE Features for Instructors
You are most likely familiar with SPIRE as the place to go to see your class rosters and submit grades at the end of the semester, but more and more feature keep getting added into SPIRE. Over the summer OIT added a variety of new tools that can help you with managing your courses. Some…