While Pitt's traditional in-person commencement ceremony has been postponed, the University community is coming together virtually to celebrate 2020 graduates on Sunday, April 26, at 11:30 a.m. EDT. The virtual ceremony will be available on Facebook, YouTube, Smart TV, and on additional social media platforms. Visit PittWire for more information on how you can be part of this historic gathering and celebrate Pitt's Class of 2020.

Teaching Surveys from the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching (OMET) are open until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 19. Faculty are encouraged to communicate with students about the importance of feedback, especially as courses have transitioned to a remote format. Four questions have been added to all surveys to gather feedback on modifications to the spring 2020 term. Please visit OMET's web page for more information.

As previously announced, effective for the summer 2020 term, the University’s learning management system will transition to Canvas from CourseWeb (Blackboard Learn). As students have made it clear that they prefer a single LMS for all courses, instructors are encouraged to make every effort to transition their courses to Canvas. However, should current circumstances require additional time, a temporary extension is available for summer courses through the Student Information System (PeopleSoft). Currently being used in a limited release, Canvas was selected as the best platform for advancing the University’s teaching and learning mission following an extensive evaluation in 2019. Canvas training opportunities and online resources remain available through the Teaching Center. In addition, Canvas offers 24/7/365 support for all Pitt faculty, student, and staff. To opt out of the Canvas transition, faculty can request that their course(s) continue to use CourseWeb (Blackboard) through the Faculty Center. Please visit our Canvas @ Pitt web page for more information on the LMS transition.

Recorded Virtual Workshops: The Teaching Center hosted a series of virtual workshops related to finals and assessments this week and recorded versions are now available for viewing online. Topics included:

• Finals: Creating and Using Rubrics for Remote Delivery Courses
• Finals: Conducting Exams in Blackboard
• Finals: Essentials of Remote Grading and Feedback

Special Message from Pitt Information Technology About Zoom: To increase security and privacy, a change will be made to default settings in the University’s Zoom Video Conferencing service on Saturday, April 4. This effort is an important step to minimize “Zoombombing,” a practice in which uninvited attendees disrupt a meeting by sharing inappropriate or offensive material. Following this change, only hosts and co-hosts will have the ability to share their screens by default. However, hosts may complete these steps to enable screen sharing for participants on a per meeting basis or change settings to enable participant screen sharing by default for all meetings. Please refer to Pitt Information Technology’s list of Zoom best practices and training resources for additional tips on securing your online meetings. Zoom also offers guidance for protecting virtual classrooms. Please contact the 24/7 IT Help Desk at 412-624-HELP (4357) at any time if you have questions or need assistance using Zoom.

The Teaching Center will offer two new virtual workshops this week to further assist with the transition to remote learning. 

• April 2, 5-6 p.m.: Creating Scaffolded Projects for Remote Delivery Courses
• April 3, Noon-1 p.m.: Essentials of Remote Grading and Feedback