UAA Basics

Here are the basic procedures to get acquainted with while you start in your new role at UAA.

• Online Systems

  Online Systems

  Your UA Username is based on your name and used to access UAOnline, UA email, Blackboard Learn, and more. Look up your UA username or change your password at me.uaa.alaska.edu. 

  All UA employees are required to use Multi-factor Authentication to access their accounts. This protects you, as well as institutional data and resources. Set up Multi-factor Authentication.

  UAOnline is the management system for classes, payroll, and more. Go to UAOnline. Employee Services includes information on benefits, employee eLearning, and paystubs. Faculty Services includes class rosters, student prerequisite status, student contact information and submitting final student grades. Log in to UAOnline and verify that your "Personal Information" is current and correct.

  UA uses Google for email (username@alaska.edu) and calendar. University of Alaska official email communication and email sent from Blackboard go to this email account. UA requires that all electronic correspondence with students be via this email account. Go to Google Mail.

  You have access to Office 365 — including the ability to install the full version of Microsoft Office on a personal computer, phone, and tablet — through your UA account. 

  The University of Alaska Anchorage uses Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) to manage class content, share resources, grade assignments, hold online discussions, and more. Go to UA Blackboard. If you have questions about Blackboard, contact IT Services or check out Blackboard help page for faculty. 

  Learn more about these systems at IT Service's Get Started with Technology for Employees.

• Policies and Procedures

  Policies and Procedures

  UAA includes the Anchorage campus, Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Mat-Su College, and Prince William Sound College. It is part of the University of Alaska system and follows policy set by the University of Alaska Board of Regents. You may want to review UAA’s org chart and administrative departments to get a sense of its structure. 

  The University fosters an inclusive, welcoming and respectful campus community that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and an appreciation for each unique member of our academic community. UAA’s commitment to nondiscrimination applies to students, employees, and applicants for admission and employment.

  The UAA Academic Catalog includes Academic Policies and Processes and other important information about UAA departments and courses.

  The Office of the Provost provides leadership and support for UAA’s academic work. For more details, please see Academic Affairs Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines.

• Faculty Governance and Service

  Faculty Governance and Service

  UAA practices shared governance, which means the Faculty Senate plays an integral role in university deliberations and decision-making. Faculty committees at the university, college, and department level are responsible for critical educational and administrative functions beyond teaching, such as:

  • Reviewing and approving curricula
  • Evaluating colleagues for promotion and tenure
  • Advising on the budget, IT services, the Library, etc.
  • Evaluating programs for accreditation documentation
  • Reviewing and improving university processes
    

  In addition, faculty coordinate degree programs and sometimes fulfill other college roles. For term and tenure-line employees, these service commitments are part of your official workload, so check with your department if you have questions. In this context, “service” does not include community service in the broader sense, although that may be part of your professional activities.

• Accreditation

  Accreditation

  UAA has been accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) since 1974. In addition to this institutional accreditation, several of our programs have external accreditation through field-specific organizations, which allows those programs to prepare professionals for exams and/or licensing in that field. Some of your work expectations are related to our accreditation requirements. Your department will ask you to collect evidence that it is meeting these standards.

  The UAA 2027 Strategic Plan provides a framework to define, communicate, and clarify expectations for our mission, vision, values and shared goals. Please review the plan and consider how your work contributes to it.

• Safety

  Safety

  • UA Alert sends closure and emergency notices to your email address and/or text address listed in UAOnline. Make sure your information is current. Encourage your students to make sure their personal information is current in UAOnline
  • UAA Wolf Card (Anchorage campus): official UAA ID, library card, building access, and more
  • UAA Anchorage Campus Police: 786-1120 (car trouble, locked classroom, safety escort, and disruptive students)
  • Call 911 for emergencies or crimes on all campuses
  • In the event of bad weather, UAA announces closures on the main UAA web page and local radio stations

Teaching at UAA

• About Your Courses

  Official Course Description & SLOs

  Course Inventory Management (CIM): Review the UAA-approved course description (formerly course content guide, or CCG) and official student learning outcomes (SLOs) for your course. Older course descriptions are available as PDFs in the Curriculum Files Directory. Note the Course Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment Measures. Course components, including assessments, instructional materials, learning activities, and course technologies, should be directly tied to and support these student learning outcomes.

  Additional information is available on the UAA Curriculum page and in the UAA Catalog, including vital guidance on contact hours and grading.

  UAA’s Curriculum development is a collegial process that begins with discussion at the discipline or program level and community campuses and expands to include all potentially interested stakeholders within the college, university, and program advisory boards, when applicable. All courses follow the review process presented in the curriculum handbook.

  Class Schedule

  Look up your course in the student-facing Class Schedule Search to check dates, times, location, and more. Click the hyperlinked CRN to view detailed class information including special notes, course pacing, current enrollment, and more. Note the delivery mode for your course:

  • In Person: Face to face at a physical location
  • In Person and Online: Combination of face to face and required online instruction; all students participate in both
  • In Person or Online: Students have the option to participate in class sessions face to face or online. You should prepare to teach in both delivery modes simultaneously
  • Online - No Set Time: Instruction occurs completely online with no mandatory set meeting time (also known as asynchronous). If your course is listed with this delivery mode, you cannot require students to attend class meetings
  • Online - Set Time: Instruction occurs completely online at a mandatory set time

  If the Class Schedule lists meeting times, you are expected to hold class at those times.

  Semester course offerings are due to departmental schedulers about four months in advance. The course schedule publication is the catalyst for several other UAA processes to happen (e.g., assigning instructors in Blackboard).

  Find important dates for the academic year on the Faculty Calendars and Deadlines page, including the first day of classes, holidays, and when grades are due. You can also find due dates for curriculum changes, course fees, and textbooks. All full semester-length classes with scheduled meeting times have exams scheduled by the Office of the Registrar: Final Exam Schedule. If you are not giving a final exam, plan your final class meeting for that exam time block.

  Our Semester Cycle page can also help you plan your teaching calendar.

  Teaching on Campus?

  If you are teaching on campus, check with your department contact about access to the assigned building and room. Visit your classroom to become familiar with the audiovisual technology and layout of the room.

  If you are teaching in Anchorage, get a UAA Wolf Card ID before classes start, as you may need it to access buildings. Read about parking on the Anchorage campus.

  Teaching Online?

  The UAA-focused guides in Preparing to Teach Online can help you start planning your online or hybrid course, identify UAA tools for each step, and maximize student learning and engagement. If you are teaching an online course with no set meeting time, make sure you follow the expectations for Regular and Substantive Interaction. UAA Teaching Online Policy outlines expectations for instructors teaching Online - No Set Time courses, which requires participation in training for online course delivery or documentation of having taken a training previously. Your department will inform you of any training you need to take. Our Teaching Online - No Set Time training is regularly offered so faculty can complete this training requirement. If you have questions about online course trainings, email uaa_design@alaska.edu. 

• Plan Your Courses

  Course Design

  For course design, we recommend the Understanding by Design approach (backward design). Using your official course description as a guide and in consultation with your department:

  1. Identify desired results from the official course description: Student Learning Outcomes. “What should your students know, understand, and be able to do?”
  2. Determine acceptable evidence: “How will you know if students have achieved the desired results and met the content standards? What will you accept as evidence?” (Note the recommended assessments on the official course description.) Learn more about designing assessments

  3. Plan learning experiences and instruction: “How will you make learning both engaging and effective, given the goals and needed evidence?” Select instructional materials (readings and resources) that contribute to the learning outcomes. Plan learning activities that promote the achievement of learning outcomes and provide opportunities for interaction. Prepare your course delivery using active learning techniques to engage students

  Learn More

  • Teaching Resources: Faculty Development and Instructional Support 
  • Trail Guides for Course Design (interactive modules)
  • Quality Matters Bridge to Quality: A QM Online Course Design Guide
  • UAF iTeachU Backward Design resources
  • Understanding by Design: Professional Development Workbook by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, 2004 (books by Wiggins and McTighe are available in the UAA libraries)

  Syllabus

  Make the syllabus available to students before or at the first class meeting (and post it online in Blackboard). Your department may have a syllabus template and/or provide a syllabus from a recently taught class. Be sure to use the official course description to get the learning outcomes. Check your syllabus for accessibility. For more information and UAA syllabus templates, visit Create a Syllabus That Works for You and Your Students.

  Course Materials

  Textbook adoptions are due the semester before the course is taught so students can see costs when they register. Please check UAA’s online bookstore for information on submitting textbooks.

  Textbook publishers typically issue a free copy of an adopted text to the instructor. For information about this program, as well as instructor access to electronic texts and publisher homework platforms, check the publisher's website. If you need an instructor copy on shorter notice, check with your department administrative assistant. Ask your department if there are other existing materials that may be helpful such as old Blackboard course shells, colleague's offerings, supplemental books/videos, etc. UAA course materials include textbooks, articles, community resources, websites, maps, visual materials, videos, simulations, homework programs, software, podcasts, event recordings, and more.

  See if your course has a course guide through the UAA Consortium Library and/or check with your subject librarian.

  For more, visit the Selecting Course Materials page.

• Build Your Courses

  Blackboard (Learning Management System)

  A course shell is automatically generated in UAA Blackboard for each course according to the official class schedule, and users are automatically added/removed from Blackboard courses. You are responsible for designing the course content in Blackboard and making the course available to students.

  Spring Blackboard courses are usually available to instructors in late October; Summer and Fall Blackboard courses become available in March. At any time, faculty can contact IT Services to request a DEV (developmental) shell to design or redesign a Blackboard course without student enrollments.

  Blackboard Resources 

  1. 1. Blackboard Help and Blackboard Quick Start Guide
     2. UAA Blackboard instructor help
     3. IT Services (907) 786-4646 or 877-633-3888, option 1 (technical help)
     4. Blackboard On Demand Videos - short, to the point how-to videos
     5. Help links within your Blackboard course

  Instructional Technology

  There are a variety of ways to structure student engagement with the content, with you, and with each other using technology tools available at UAA. 

  • Core Tools are provided and supported by UAA
  • UAA offers both Google and Microsoft applications
  • 3rd party tools such as Zoom, Kaltura, and VoiceThread, are available inside the learning management system
  • Learn more about how to use these tools: Learning Technologies
• Supporting Students

  Resources for Students

  The Student Help and Support page, linked in every Blackboard course, lists student services and resources. Please encourage students to connect with campus support throughout the semester! It can also help to remind students about important Dates and Deadlines such as drop and withdrawal deadlines.

  Key student support resources include:

  • Student Handbook (campus safety, complaint procedures, student rights and responsibilities)
  • Student Code of Conduct
  •  myUAA is a series of dashboards that bring together several services into one location for students. These dashboards allow students to see what steps they need to take and go directly to where they can take action
  • Learning Commons
  • Testing Center
  • Advising
  • Student Health and Safety
  • IT Services, including the Core Tools (make sure they don't buy tools they get for free!). For online courses, share the Online Class Tech Requirements
  • Campus-specific pages: Anchorage student resources, Kenai Peninsula College student resources, Kodiak College student resources, Matanuska-Susitna College student resources, Prince William Sound College student resources
    

  You can help students reach their learning goals with assistance from a variety of Student Success Initiatives. Login to the UAA intranet for Student Success Faculty and Staff Resources to learn more about software resources to promote student success.

  If you have questions about accommodating students in your course with documented disabilities, contact the Disability Support Services office. If you suspect a student of academic dishonesty, submit a report to the Office of the Dean of Students. If you are worried about a student's well-being or behavior on the main campus, contact the CARE Team.

  Student Course Evaluations 

  UAA provides an end-of-semester course evaluation process, the IDEA surveys, via Campus Labs/Anthology. Faculty are asked to complete an Objective Selection Form early in the semester. Students are able to complete the course evaluation (through a link in Blackboard or email) during the last three weeks of the semester. Faculty can review the results of the student evaluations through the Campus Labs portal. For more, please see the IDEA Survey FAQ for Faculty.

Faculty Support

UAA Faculty Development & Instructional Support provides ongoing programs, events, outreach, and individual consultations to help faculty succeed. Please contact us for assistance planning your courses, connecting with colleagues, teaching with technologies, resolving professional quandaries, and building your career path! UAA faculty also stay informed on our professional development opportunities, events, and resources through our bi-monthly newsletters. You should be added to the newsletter shortly after you start at UAA, but if you are not receiving the newsletter, reach out to us at uaa_cafe@alaska.edu and we will add you to our email list. 

IT Services Technical Support Center helps with technology, telephone, and account issues. It also provides classroom audio/visual technology support for the Anchorage campus and can help connect community campus instructors with their local IT support. If you haven't already, please review its Get Started with Technology for Employees page.

• • Call Center: 907-786-4646 or 877-633-3888, option 1 (check the website for hours of operation)
  • Tech Portal: Find answers to common questions and start service requests
  • Me Site: To change your password

UAA/APU Consortium Library provides and maintains collections and resources that support our educational and research programs. Subject librarians provide research support, loans, reserves, citation tools, databases and more. Librarians partner with faculty to provide customized LibGuides and also work directly with students.

Regular part-time and full-time employees are eligible for a tuition waiver. Full-time employees should also take advantage of their HR benefits for health and wellness and employee support. Your union may also be a good source of support, including faculty development funding.

Additional faculty support is provided by individual colleges. Talk to your department and colleagues to learn about these specific resources and services. For support with course development and instructional technologies, we recommend connecting with one of UAA's Instructional Designers and Instructional Technology Specialists.

Research Support

• The Office of Research is the heart of research at UAA. It provides sponsored project administration, grant application and compliance management, and faculty support for developing research ideas and identifying funding opportunities. It holds a weekly Faculty Research and Creative activity working group
• Recent faculty research news
• The UAA/APU Consortium Library is a valuable resource for UAA faculty. Reach out to your subject librarian to learn more about the collections and databases available for your discipline
• Faculty learning communities support each other for scholarly writing and Community-Engaged Research. For more information on these opportunities, please watch for our Faculty Development Opportunity newsletters
• Community Engagement & Learning helps faculty develop community-engaged projects and service-learning courses
• Faculty Services administers Sabbatical Leave requests for faculty

Promotion and Tenure Process

The Office of the Provost's Faculty Services supports faculty recruiting and hiring, promotion, tenure, and post tenure review, the faculty sabbatical leave program, and some faculty development and travel grants. Please see Faculty Evaluation Policies and Procedures for information about the Union Collective Bargaining Agreement, Board of Regents Policy, and UAA Policies and Procedures for faculty evaluation. 

Faculty Development & Instructional Support works with faculty from their first year at UAA to help them understand and plan for the promotion and tenure process. We provide technical support and practical advice for faculty producing their promotion and tenure ePortfolios: see our general ePortfolio support and Faculty Services' Promotion and Tenure ePortfolio guidance. We also facilitate an annual summer faculty peer-support community for this process.

Adjunct Orientation

Adjunct faculty make a difference every day at UAA. Thank you for making a positive impact on students' lives and learning! We hope this site will help you be even more successful.

Please review these other tabs on this page:

• Onboarding: Adjuncts are required to complete the listed trainings
• UAA Basics: Most adjunct instructors can skip the section on Faculty Governance and Service
• Teaching at UAA
• Faculty Support

Adjuncts and term instructors are welcome to participate in almost all of our faculty development programming and events, except for a few targeted cohorts. Many of our events are recorded and posted in our Teaching Academy self-enrolling Blackboard course so you can watch them on your schedule. In addition to those opportunities, we have some events focused on meeting adjunct instructors' needs:

• Every Teaching Academy (August and January) includes an evening session dedicated to adjuncts
• Adjunct U offers discussion sessions throughout the year. Watch our newsletters for more information!

Employee Experience

While we host orientation for new faculty, the Employee Experience department is a great resource if you want to learn more about UAA and network with people across the institution. The information covered by the Employee Experience onboarding session and at the Inside Look of the Anchorage campus is different than the information we cover, so if you have time we recommend you join their sessions! If you would like to join their optional orientation or campus tour, reach the department through email at uaa_employeeexp@alaska.edu or by phone at 907-786-6728. 

Employee Experience also hosts the Buddy Program, a program that pairs new faculty together so they can have a buddy as they navigate their first year at UAA. The program is purely social, and the questionnaire you fill out to participate in the program will take your answers and pair you with someone closest to your interests. The program is not a mentorship program (involved with development). Participation in this program is purely social and does not count toward promotion, tenure, or retirement. 

Sign up for the Buddy Program