Dear Colleagues, 

As a follow-up to our December 2025 communication, we are writing to remind you of a significant change that may impact the digital assets you rely on to teach.   

Federal accessibility regulations, which take effect on April 24, 2026, require public colleges and universities to align their websites and digital content with WCAG 2 accessibility standards. This includes all content on UMassd.edu, as well as the Canvas sites and course materials that students use in your classes. These new federal regulations ensure that all material offered for coursework can be accessible to anyone with a disability. 

Practically speaking, this means taking specific steps such as captioning videos, using accessible forms, and no longer publishing course materials as PDFs to Canvas or on any University website (including WordPress sites). The University will provide tools and support to get your course materials and websites into compliance. The University Web Development team has already taken steps to archive and convert existing digital content on umassd.edu that is not compliant, as well as develop several helpful tips and tools to help faculty and staff efforts, including the following: 

1. Spring 2026 Accessibility & ADA Compliance Faculty Guide 

Our new faculty-facing page, Accessibility & ADA Compliance for Your Courses, provides a practical overview of: 

• What the April 24, 2026, deadline means for your Canvas courses 

• Prioritized steps you can take this semester 

• How to use the available tools and resources to improve accessibility 

2. Accessibility in Action: Weekly “Newsbite” Posts 

Beginning the week of January 26, we’ll publish a short Accessibility in Action “newsbite” each Monday through April. Each post focuses on one small, concrete action you can take in your courses right away. You’ll get a brief reminder via Canvas global announcements each week when a new post is published. Once published, you’ll be able to browse current and previous posts here: Accessibility in Action series.  

3. Instructional Development Accessibility Resources 

Instructional Development maintains a set of teaching-focused accessibility resources. You can explore these resources here: Instructional Development Accessibility Resources. 

4. University-wide Accessibility Information and Policies 

In addition to teaching-focused resources, UMass Dartmouth maintains a comprehensive Accessibility at UMass Dartmouth site with university-wide information, policies, and contacts. 

This site is a valuable companion to the Spring 2026 course accessibility guide, particularly when you require a broader institutional context, policy language, or referrals beyond your own courses. 

5. Training Opportunities 

Throughout the Spring semester, we will also offer workshops and training sessions focused on enhancing course accessibility and utilizing relevant tools. Details and dates will be posted on the Instructional Development workshops page and through our regular faculty development announcements. 

The Web Development team has also provided a set of self-paced, asynchronous training modules available on the Accessibility at UMass Dartmouth site. While this training is primarily directed toward website editors, it can also help them understand digital accessibility concerns and the remediation process. 

6. 1:1 Course Support via Canvas Help Tickets 

If you’d like personalized support, you can request help at any time by submitting a Canvas Help Ticket (select “Accessibility” in your description, if applicable).  

Instructional designers or technologists will be happy to: 

• Review a specific course or module with you 

• Interpret Panorama accessibility reports 

• Help you prioritize high-impact fixes before and after April 24 

• Plan a realistic “accessibility roadmap” for Summer and Fall 2026 courses 

7. Library Support for Accessible Readings and Course Materials 

For help locating accessible versions of articles, book chapters, and other readings —especially if your course currently relies on scanned PDFs— please get in touch with your discipline/program Library Liaison: Library Liaisons & Staff Directory 

We recognize that the course accessibility work comes on top of many competing demands on your time. Our goal is to provide clear guidance, take small steps, and offer responsive support. 

Thank you for the ongoing care and attention you bring to your teaching and to your students’ access to learning.

With appreciation, 

Ramprasad Balasubramanian

Provost

Dear UMass Dartmouth Faculty and Staff,

 

As the end of the semester approaches, I write to provide you with important updates regarding academic technologies.

 

Enterprise AI

CITS and the Provost’s Office are pleased to announce that the UMassD GenAI platform, a dedicated service for UMass Dartmouth faculty and staff to explore leading AI tools in a secure, customized environment rooted in university values, is now available for beta use to the campus community.

 

The UMassD GenAI Platform utilizes a familiar chat interface, enabling users to toggle between models, including Anthropic, Meta, and OpenAI, to observe how each interprets the same prompt. All data is protected, and chats are not reviewed or used to train external systems. The list of available models will continue to be evaluated and added for use.

 

The platform already enables faculty and staff to build and share custom AI “agents,” such as course assistants or chatbots. Its customizable back end gives users more opportunities to experiment, which can lead to a deeper understanding of how the technology works and how it can be adapted to their needs.

 

The limited licenses will initially be made available to all full-time faculty and staff who actively use AI to enhance their official work duties. Staff should send their request for access to their supervisor, and it will be aggregated at the vice-chancellor level. This pilot will continue to evolve, and we look forward to learning about business use cases and best practices in integrating these tools for research and instruction.

 

Harmonize will replace Voice Thread

 

UMass Dartmouth will be discontinuing the use of VoiceThread as an instructional technology; this tool will no longer be available for Spring 2026 courses. Faculty may use Harmonize instead for asynchronous, discussion-based engagement in their courses.

Instructional resources and getting-started guidance for Harmonize are available on the Instructional Development site.

 

We encourage faculty to review these materials as they plan for Spring courses and explore ways Harmonize can support student interaction and feedback.

 

Course Accessibility

 

Please also note that federal accessibility regulations take effect on April 24, 2026. All public colleges and universities are required to ensure their websites and digital content conform to WCAG 2 accessibility standards by that date. This federal rule is intended to ensure that our online information and services are accessible to everyone, and we encourage faculty to keep accessibility in mind as they develop and update course materials and other digital content.

 

For practical, teaching-focused support, Instructional Development’s accessibility resources include guidance on creating accessible course content in Canvas, improving the accessibility of documents and instructional media, and using recommended tools and workflows for checking and remediating materials.  Additional university-wide accessibility information, policies, and contacts are available to support meeting these standards so that all members of our community can fully access and engage in all university activities.

 

More communication about these items and along with more information on training and help sessions will be forthcoming in January.   Please reach out to Instructional Development if you’d like support with the transition to Harmonize or want to explore other instructional technologies to engage your students.

 

Ramprasad Balasubramanian

Provost

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I am writing with several fall Student Success updates.

 

Schedule Builder

Schedule Builder is a new, easy-to-use course planning tool that helps students build their schedule more efficiently within COIN. With Schedule Builder, students can compare course options, avoid time conflicts, and build a schedule that works for them in just minutes. While this is a student-facing tool, your advisees may ask you questions about it, so I am attaching a job aid for faculty, which includes step-by-step instructions for using the tool. Students were sent job aids directly and additional guidance is available under the How Do I Use Schedule Builder question on the Registration website.

 

MTPR Update

As of Monday, Nov 3, mid-term progress reports were entered for 79% of students in 100 and 200 level classes. Thank you to all of you who provided your students with this very valuable feedback on their status in your classes. I am sincerely grateful for your contribution to student success.

 

Academic Standing Changes

Effective in the AY 25-26 catalog, our campus has made changes to some Academic Standing titles. Academic Probation is now Academic Alert; Academic Warning is now Academic Caution. Importantly, the Rebranding Probation Working Group is in the final stages of developing a Canvas toolkit site called Academic Improvement Map (AIM) for professional advisors to use with students on Academic Alert and Caution. We look forward to rolling it out as a resource for the Spring 2026 semester.

 

Brainfuse Training Video

If you missed the Brainfuse training session for faculty, you can view the recording to learn how you can help your students get the most out of this resource. Brainfuse is our online 24/7 tutoring partner. Students can access live on-demand tutoring from within their Canvas course sites.

 

S4SS Training and Access

Many thanks to those who have attended the recent Slate for Student Success training sessions. We now have 62% of faculty advisors with access to the platform. With every member we add to this network, the value of the network increases and allows us to better support and communicate about students. If you haven’t been to training yet, contact your respective college liaison or me for information about future training opportunities.

 

College S4SS Liaisons:

Charlton College of Business – Alexia Orphanides, aorphanides@umassd.edu

College of Arts & Sciences – Kevin Curow, kcurow@umassd.edu

College of Engineering – Jennifer Murphy, Jennifer.murphy@umassd.edu

College of Nursing & Health Sciences – Michele Bourgeois, mbourgeois1@umassd.edu

College of Visual & Performing Arts – Jason Loete, jloete@umassd.edu

Online & Continuing Education – Shannon Friel, Shannon.price@umassd.edu

LAW and SMAST – Sarah Cosgrove, sarah.cosgrove@umassd.edu

 

Many thanks for your continued efforts to improve student success.

 

Best regards,

 

Sarah Cosgrove

Associate Provost for Student Success

 

Schedule Builder - Faculty & Staff Guide

Dear Colleagues,

 

I hope you had a relaxing and productive summer. As we kick off the 2025-26 academic year, I also want to draw your attention to important resources and guidelines for faculty, including a required action.

 

• Faculty Instructional Memo  – Outlines faculty expectations related to teaching in the spring semester.
• Guidelines for Syllabus Development and Content – presents current best practices.

• REQUIRED: All Faculty are required to file Outside Activities and COI disclosure annually, regardless of activity status. You may access the disclosure form at https://umassd.kuali.co/coi/.

 

Please visit the Provost’s Office website for the complete list of Resources for Faculty.

 

I wish you all a successful and productive year.

 

Ramprasad Balasubramanian

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs