MAVS Newsletter | August 2024

Welcome to fall 2024! Our students are ready. You’re ready (or getting close to being ready). It’s going to be a great year.

Each month you will receive a MAVS email message intended to help you help our students move toward their goal – a college education or maybe even an advanced degree. MAVS messages will include:

• Monthly reminders – timely dates and information to share with students
• Active student engagement resources – ideas to enhance student interaction and learning
• Vital Support – highlighted student support services

As you outline key due dates and deadlines on your syllabi, consider listing important dates from UNO’s academic calendar. For example:

• September dates related to enrolling in the Maverick Payment Plan and options to drop, audit, or withdraw from courses and be eligible for a tuition refund can help students maximize their financial resources.
• Including early spring enrollment dates (mid to late October) does more than give students the best selection of course options. It also sends a message that we expect students to be successful this semester and want them back on campus in the spring. In short – they belong here, and we value their contributions to campus.

Have you thought about how to engage students on day one or in module one? Some of us will dive right into content. Others will spend time reviewing the syllabi. Maybe you will incorporate icebreakers or other community-building practices into your initial interaction with students.

All these are important. But what if you had only a few minutes to tell students what really matters to you and in your course? What would you say?

Consider Dr. Paul Hanstedt’s response to this question in his four-minute video message – What I Want.

Hanstedt, author of Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World will be on our campus on November 15 – Register to reserve your seat for his leacture and the UNO panel discussion that will follow.

A great way to help students access UNO’s array of student services is now embedded in Canvas. Point out the Well Being option on the navigation panel (left margin of your Canvas screen) to your students.

The Well Being icon will connect them to Student Life and Wellbeing’s webpage with direct links to CAPS, DASH, Accessibility Services, the UNO Care Team, and more.