The University of Iowa is dedicated to creating a university experience that enriches the lives of our students by promoting excellent teaching and effective learning environments and learning opportunities to help them to become well-informed individuals, lifelong learners, engaged citizens, and productive employees and employers.
- Office of Teaching, Learning and Technology- supports, develops and encourages faculty and graduate teaching assistants professional teaching and learning strategies, including active-learning pedagogies.
- Council on Teaching- A charter committee to advise the University administration on policies, priorities, and procedures related to teaching. Administers the Teaching in Higher Education Travel Award and several awards for teaching excellence.
- ITS Instructional Technology Consulting & Training - provides support in the use of technology in teaching and learning.
- ICON (Iowa Courses On-Line) is the course management system at The University of Iowa. ICON is easy to use and intuitive and provides an enhanced teaching and learning experience.
- Office of the Registrar is responsible for scheduling over 200 general assignment classrooms and auditoria on campus. Contact the office at 319-335-1243.
- Center for Diversity and Enrichment - promotes educational opportunities for underserved students from diverse backgrounds to increase their skills to achieve academic success.
- Tutorial Support For Students - makes available listings of upper-level or graduate students who are qualified tutors in various academic areas.
- University Libraries - The University of Iowa Libraries is the largest library system in Iowa and the 14th largest among the nation's research libraries. The University's Main Library, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, 10 branch libraries, and the Law Library contain more than 4 million volumes. About two-thirds of this collection resides in the Main Library.
As costs of attending college continue to rise, the University of Iowa is trying to find new ways to help alleviate the cost for course content. The Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology; University Libraries; and the Hawk Shop bookstore are working on affordable content initiatives as outlined below.
ICON Direct
Being prepared with course materials positively contributes to a student's academic success. As a founding member of the Unizin Consortium, the University of Iowa aims to provide students with more affordable access to course content. The partnerships between Unizin and major academic publishers allow ICON Direct participants to save on both eTexts and online learning platforms such as Pearson's MyLab or McGraw Hill's Connect. All enrolled students are given access to these digital materials for their classes through ICON. More information.
OpenHawks: UI Libraries’ Open Educational Resources Grant Program
We are happy to announce OpenHawks, a campus-wide grant program that funds faculty efforts to replace their current textbooks with Open Educational Resources (OER) for enhanced student success. OER (such as textbooks, videos, assessment tools, lab books, research materials or interactive course modules) are free for students and carry legal permission for open use.
How to apply?
Look for Call for Proposals in Spring of 2021.
Evaluation Rubrics: These are the criteria reviewers will use to make funding decisions.
Textbook Affordability Pilot (TAP)
With money allocated from UISG and the Libraries, the TAP project has purchased and collected donations of textbooks for courses with the highest undergraduate enrollments, as well as the highest costs of resources. These books will be placed on course reserves, both in Main Library and the branch libraries. If you have a suggestion for a textbook to be purchased by TAP, contact the TAP Selection Committee at LIB-TAP@uiowa.edu.
Hawk Shop Bookstore Rentals
Save money by renting your books. The Hawk Shop carries over 1000 rentable titles. We purchase from hundreds of vendors to get the most competitive prices. At the end of the semester you just return your rented books to the Hawk Shop in the Iowa Memorial Union. You can rent eligible books in the Hawk Shop at the Iowa Memorial Union or online.
In spring 2018, an Assessing the Classroom Environment (ACE) task force began an effort to revise the end-of-semester ACE survey. The scope of the effort grew, and after reviewing initial objectives the committee agreed that the guiding principle should be promoting high quality instruction and its continual improvement. This principle, coupled with the desire to increase student input and minimize well-documented biases in student ratings, demanded that we expand the measures used to assess teaching.
For details about this effort--including the task force's recommendations, technical details, and next steps--see the ACE website.
The purpose of the Guidelines Regarding Political Activity by Faculty of the University of Iowa is to ensure that UI faculty members know their rights and responsibilities under applicable policies as they engage in discourse about political matters.
Most departments have a limited number of TA appointments available. Graduate Teaching Assistantships serve two purposes: (a) assistance in the instructional program of the University and (b) the preparation of future college teachers. In order to achieve both aims, scholastically superior graduate students who show exceptional promise as teachers are selected for graduate teaching assistantships. All appointments are made by the dean of the appropriate college on recommendation of the department.
Note: Student teaching assistants at the University are included in an organized collective-bargaining unit recognized by the University and the State of Iowa. Faculty who utilize teaching assistants in their courses should become familiar with the requirements of the bargaining agreement. Information is available from department executive officers, from Employee and Labor Relations, 121-20 USB, 335-0052.