About University Connected Learning
Who We are (Intro & Overview)
About UCL
Welcome to University Connected Learning (UCL) at the University of Utah. We are happy you’re here! We know that our greatest assets are our human assets – YOU! Without the work you do, UCL could not make the impact it does. We hope you find your work with UCL engaging, motivating, and fulfilling. We want all our employees to understand their role in our success, as well as their own rights, responsibilities, and resources.
UCL is comprised of three departments:
Digital Learning
Programs
Administration & Operations
Digital Learning Experience includes: Learning Experience Production Services, Learning Experience Support Services, and Media/Video Production Services. Programs includes: Academic Programs, the English Language Institute, Go Learn, Lifelong Learning, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Professional Education, Youth Education, and Youth Protection Programs. Administration & Operations includes: Marketing & Communications, Student Support, Registration & Information (RI), Accounting, and Site Operations, including Marriott Library Faculty Center and Media Production Services at 423 Wakara, 540 Arapeen, Sandy Center, and The Graduate Center at St. George.
Admin and Ops units work alongside the Program units and the Digital Learning units to provide key support and assistance.
For more information, you can find a detailed Organization chart for each unit on the Knowledge Base as well as descriptions of the various units within University Connected Learning.
Our Mission
University Connected Learning (UCL) provides the U's enabling services, programs, and tools that connect U students and community learners with flexible educational offerings, allowing them to learn, return, and refresh throughout their careers and a lifetime of learning.
We connect:
Faculty and students to the technology, services, and data that enhance learning and teaching.
Academic departments and the U overall to communities through programs and services that support learning and community engagement.
The world to the U through engaging programs and learning for a lifetime.
Continuing Education
Continuing Education (links to external website) offers courses for the public from childhood through retirement. Programs include Lifelong Learning, the Osher Institute, Youth Education, the English Language Institute, Academic Credit and Noncredit programs, Professional Education, and Go Learn.
UOnline
Complete a University of Utah degree from anywhere! UOnline (links to external website) Programs include select undergraduate and graduate degrees designed to be completed online. UCL coordinates and facilitates the development and implementation of UOnline programs.
Digital Learning
Our Digital Learning Team (links to external website) supports the courses for UOnline programs. We are dedicated to offering the highest quality of customer service in course development, video production, and exam services.
Organizational Chart
Meetings & Communication UCL Handbook (Intro & Overview)
Town Hall Meeting
Periodically throughout the year University Connected Learning (UCL) hosts town hall meetings for all staff. These meetings address various topics within UCL and give leadership the opportunity to answer questions from the staff.
All Hands Meeting
Once a year UCL holds a mandatory meeting for all staff. All Hands meetings are flexible and can adapt to meet the organization's needs. Primarily, they serve to foster team building and engage staff in the UCL goals and vision.
Ask Me Anything Meeting
Informal brown bag gathering with leadership to ask questions you have about anything.
The Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a UCL repository of information. It contains articles, how-to guides, meeting notes, employee information, etc. The goal is to have the Knowledge Base function as one-stop for answers to any questions you may have.
Employee Feedback
Employee feedback is important to UCL Leadership, and we solicit feedback regularly.
Open Door Office
Our managers and leadership strive to maintain an “Open Door” office. We are always happy to discuss any thoughts, concerns, ideas, or feedback with you.
Surveys
We collect feedback through two types of surveys:
Short, open-ended surveys (3-5 questions) that are distributed quarterly.
Full, multiple-choice surveys distributed bi-annually.
While these surveys are not anonymous, your written feedback is shared only with members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The written feedback you provide will be addressed by the corresponding member of SLT. They may reach out to you if it seems warranted, they may take direct action based on the feedback, or they may forward suggestions to appropriate audiences.
Microsoft Teams
General Microsoft Teams information:
Employees are automatically added and removed as part of the University's onboarding and offboarding process.
Channels within the UCL Teams are added and removed by a staff person managing that team. Currently, that is the AVP Executive Assistant and Network Administrator.
Managers are responsible for creating a new Team for their department. If you would like a private channel within the UCL Team that only a select group of staff can see, please contact the Network Administrator.
Managers are responsible for adding and/or removing members of staff to Teams/Channels that they have created for their department/unit.
To update your status/availability, start by clicking on your picture/initials in the upper right-hand corner. You can change your availability or set your status. You can also type '/' followed by a status in the search bar and press enter to set your status.
Hiding/Muting a channel: Click the three dots to “see more options” on the right of the channel there is an option to hide the channel.
Making a call in Teams: Clicking on the “Calls” icon on the left-hand side will populate those you communicate with often. You can select one of the profiles or “type a name” to search for a person. You can also use the chat feature of Teams. In the upper right-hand corner choose to video call or audio call a person. (Reminder, this only searches individuals employed by the University of Utah.)
Holding a meeting in Teams: Clicking into the Team or Chat you can select to video conference or audio call. When others within the Team want to join, they will see a button that says “Join.”
Adding a staff member to a Team/Channel: Select the Team/Channel where you would like to add the staff member. Go to three dots to reveal “more options” and select “Add member.” There you can search for staff members and send requests.
Leaving a Team: By selecting the three dots on the right-hand side of the team you will see “more options.” There you can select “Leave the team.”
Changing the Team/Channel Notifications: Select the three dots to the right of the Team/Channel where you wish to change the notifications. Under “more options” you will see “Channel notifications.” There you can choose to be notified about all activities, turn notifications off, or set up custom notifications.