3-Minute Thesis Competition

Why Participate?

Session will be held both in-person and Google Meet. Register here. 

We all use the Google Suite in the form of our emails, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations on the daily. While these tools are awesome on their own, there are a ton of advanced features and hidden gems in the suite that you might not be taking full advantage of (or maybe haven't even heard about). Here's a quick look at some of these under-the-radar tools, features, and applications that could seriously boost your productivity, whether you're working or studying.

Applications

Google Tasks 

'Find a Time'  in Google Calendar

Struggling with busy schedules not lining up? Calendar can automatically find a time where all participants are available for an event with guests. 

Under 'more options', the Find a Time menu shows all guest schedules side-by-side. 

For additional help with Calendar, please consult the Calendar Help Center 

Gmail Tasks Integration

Gmail has a useful integration with the previously mentioned Tasks application, allowing you to turn an email into a task. 

After opening an important email, simply click on the checkmark in the top bar. The email will automatically be marked on your tasks To-Do lists. 

For more help with Gmail, please consult the Gmail Help Center

Google Drive's PDF to Doc Conversion

With only a few clicks, you can instantly open a PDF file in Google Docs for editing. 

Within Google Drive, left click on a PDF file, select 'open with', and choose Google Docs. The 'open with' feature is also available at the top of your screen when directly viewing a PDF through drive. 

Google Calendar Daily Email Brief

Google Calendar offers the useful feature of delivering your tasks for the day as a daily email brief, and enabling it is quite simple. 

Through the settings menu on Google Calendar, under 'settings for my calendars', the option can be found in the 'other notifications' category.

For additional help with Calendar, please consult the Calendar Help Center 

Dear Sites@UMBC Community,

We're pleased to announce that Silktide, our new accessibility scanning and web governance platform, is now available for Sites@UMBC users. This marks an important milestone in our ongoing commitment to digital accessibility at UMBC.

What is Silktide?

Silktide is a comprehensive web governance platform that automatically scans your Sites@UMBC websites for accessibility compliance, content quality, and user experience improvements. It provides clear, actionable guidance to help you create more inclusive digital spaces.

The platform tests your website against WCAG 2.2 standards (up to AAA level), offers plain-English explanations for every issue, and includes video tutorials to help you understand and address accessibility barriers.

Phased Rollout Approach

We're launching Silktide in phases to ensure a smooth transition and adequate support for all users:

Phase 1 (Now Available): Initial 200+ Sites users who were previously using Monsido have been automatically migrated to Silktide with their website assignments intact.

Phase 2 (...also Now Available): Additional Sites@UMBC users who did not previously have access to Monsido can request access to Silktide.

Phase 3: (Coming Soon) All Sites@UMBC users will be imported into Silktide as a part of the larger upcoming UMBC Sites Digital Accessibility project. Stay tuned for more information!

How to Get Started

If You're a Phase 1 User (Former Monsido User)

1. Log in to Silktide at login.silktide.com using your UMBC credentials

2. Complete the required training "Getting started with Silktide" training, and "The Accessibility Module" in Silktide Academy (~30 minutes total).  These trainings will be assigned to your account when it is created and you can find them under "Courses" in the Academy.

3. Submit a training completion request at umbc.edu/request/ to unlock your full reports

If You're Not Yet in Phase 1

You can request access now!

• Request access for your website(s) at umbc.edu/request/

• Complete the required training "Getting started with Silktide" training, and "The Accessibility Module" in Silktide Academy (~30 minutes total).  These trainings will be assigned to your account when it is created and you can find them under "Courses" in the Academy.

• After you've finished training, submit a training completion request at umbc.edu/request/ to unlock access to your website and reports.

Have a new website, or have questions?

Visit umbc.edu/request/ and select "Silktide Accessibility Scanning" to:

• Add a new Sites@UMBC website to be scanned

• Ask questions about the platform that cannot be answered by Silktide Support

What to Expect from Your Silktide Reports

Your reports have been customized for Sites@UMBC:

• Focus on your content: We've mostly excluded template-related elements (headers, footers, etc.) that are managed centrally, so you'll see only issues related to your specific page content. 
  Head to this wiki page to see a few checks we recommend you ignore.

• Prioritized recommendations: Issues are ranked by severity and impact

• Actionable guidance: Every accessibility check includes clear instructions and often a video tutorial

• Progress tracking: Monitor your improvements over time with easy-to-share dashboards

Important Context

While Silktide is a powerful tool, it's important to understand its scope:

• A perfect Silktide score doesn't guarantee full accessibility compliance

• Manual testing and ongoing attention to accessibility best practices remain essential

• Accessibility isn't a checklist; it's an ongoing process of creating content the right way

As we work toward the broad accessibility deadline in April 2026, Silktide will be your primary tool for identifying and addressing accessibility issues for Sites websites.

Training and Support Resources

Silktide Academy: Available within your Silktide account, featuring courses on accessibility, WCAG standards, and platform usage.

University Wiki: Getting started documentation and guides are now available here.

Request System: Submit requests, questions, or support tickets at umbc.edu/request/.

Our Commitment to Accessibility

This transition isn't just about changing tools. It represents our ongoing dedication to ensuring that UMBC's digital spaces are accessible to everyone. As Stephanie Lazarus reminded us, accessibility is everyone's responsibility, and we're taking that mission seriously.

Digital accessibility benefits all users by creating clearer, more usable websites. Whether someone uses assistive technology or not, accessible design improves the experience for everyone.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming months, we'll continue to:

• Roll out access to all Sites@UMBC users

• Develop additional training resources and documentation

• Provide support and guidance as you work toward accessibility compliance

• Share best practices and success stories from across campus

Questions or Feedback?

We want to hear from you! If you have questions, concerns, or feedback about Silktide:

• Submit a support request at umbc.edu/request/

• Reply to this announcement

Thank you for your patience during this transition. Your collaboration and commitment to accessibility are invaluable as we work together to create a more inclusive digital environment at UMBC.

Ready to get started? Log in to Silktide today and take the first step toward more accessible websites.

Sincerely,
Sites Team

Resources:

• Silktide Academy: Available through your Silktide login

• UMBC Accessibility Resources: Visit our Digital Accessibility homepage

• Silktide Documentation: https://help.silktide.com/en/

I recently attended the 2025 Assessment Institute held in Indianapolis from Oct. 26-28. The conference showcased a wide-ranging exploration of emerging priorities, innovative practices, and cross-sector collaboration in higher education assessment. Several common themes surfaced across the Institute's sessions that I think are important for us to consider in the context of our work.

1. Building Cultures of Assessment and Continuous Improvement

Many sessions emphasized assessment as a living process rather than a compliance task. Presentations illustrated strategies to embed assessment into daily operations, nurture data literacy, and cultivate shared ownership of evidence-based improvement. Institutions described using journey mapping, logic models, and five-year review cycles to sustain momentum and accountability.

The session Assessment at Multiple Organizational Levels for Improvement and Accountability challenged my thinking around assessment happening at the department or program level versus taking time for a more in-depth exploration of what our institution-wide surveys like the NSSE, BCSSE, ACHA, Grad SERU and others can practically influence our work and what we know about the student experience. The session posed the question of what if we did more work in taking data we already have like our swipe data, information in our data warehouse (in our case, REX), and other sources at a divisional level versus individual departments doing one-off projects that may have overlap with content another department is interested in knowing more about. Our October Assessment 365 event featured Dr. Laila Shishineh sharing the results of the BCSSE. After attending this presentation at the Assessment Institute I am committed to having others from UMBC come to future Assessment 365 events to engage us in conversations about the results of other national surveys administered to our students and how these may impact our work.

2. Integrating Academic and Student Affairs for Holistic Learning

A strong focus was the movement toward alignment between curricular and co-curricular learning. Sessions highlighted collaborative models where faculty and student affairs professionals co-define learning outcomes and integrate data systems to demonstrate student success comprehensively. This integration was framed as essential to institutional effectiveness and student belonging.

I attended Creating a High-Impact Assessment Framework: Aligning Student and Academic Affairs for Collaborative Student Success which focused on the alignment of learning outcomes, goals, and assessment to divisional and institutional priorities. An emphasis in this session was starting with data you are already collecting instead of trying to implement a collection of novel assessment methods as well as trying to focus on the priorities you care most strongly about, such as retention, persistence, and well-being. One takeaway I had from this session was how they thought through intentionally mapping their work in student affairs to the Middle States accreditation areas, not just for compliance, but for its importance in helping to provide a path forward for your work. I encourage you to learn more about UMBC's Middle States self-study process. 

3. Student Partnership and Engagement

The Institute underscored the importance of students as co-creators of assessment rather than subjects of it. Sessions offered frameworks for authentically engaging students in the design, analysis, and use of assessment data. Discussions frequently connected partnership to empowerment, transparency, and institutional trust.

One session that I attended that really captured this theme was From Insights to Action: Driving Student Success Through Student Partnerships in Assessment. This session has me thinking about how we can continue to shift from not just seeing students as consumers in the sense that they provide information to us about their experiences but are not involved in the process of information collection to working with students as consultants and eventually partners in assessment and program design. This builds off the topic that Dr. Ricky Blissett described at our September Assessment 365 event.

4. Leveraging Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence

A surge of sessions explored data analytics, automation, and generative AI as transformative forces in assessment. Presenters demonstrated the use of learning analytics platforms and AI-supported qualitative coding to increase efficiency and insight while maintaining human interpretation. Ethical use and data validity were recurring concerns, with several sessions cautioning that technology should enhance, not replace professional judgment.

The session Assessment with Purpose: Designing Sustainable and Actionable Plans Through Stakeholder Engagement emphasized how you might be able to leverage AI tools to align outcomes to assessment. Specifically, when thinking about the three pillars of effective assessment- sustainable, evidence-based, and collaborative; AI may be able to assist in helping with the crafting of effective measurement tools to aid in identifying areas of strength and areas for enhancement. This session provided the reminder when working with AI you take your human perspectives and ideas, work with AI on developing a product, but following through with analyzing the output from a human perspective to make sure it accurately reflects your needs, your language, and how other people will engage with the product. UMBC AI is a great myUMBC group to follow to learn about advancements in AI here on campus, professional development opportunities, and more. 

Across program tracks there was a unifying call to view assessment as a vehicle for transformation: advancing equity, fostering collaboration, and driving institutional adaptability in a rapidly changing environment. I left the institute with a renewed focus on purposeful, people-centered, and technology-informed approaches to measuring and improving learning and student success.