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Sent from my iPhone. Excuse my fat fingers. Begin forwarded message: From: "Schumann, David W" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: March 16, 2012 2:36:52 PM AST To: <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: [DDDHLIST] FW: Department heads--please forward to all faculty and GTAs teaching in HSS Reply-To: "Schumann, David W" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> To department chairs: please forward to all teaching faculty and GTAs in your department who teach or may teach in HSS. As you know, HSS will be fully renovated by the fall with classrooms that are consistent with knowledge of how students best learn. Please encourage your teaching faculty to attend the upcoming “conversations” noted below. Thank you for your help supporting this important campus project. SJM Greetings to all faculty who teach in HSS. As you may have heard, the classrooms in HSS: Humanities and Social Sciences will undergo large-scale renovation this summer. You will notice substantial changes in the classroom environment when they return to campus in August. I am very excited by the opportunities that you and your students will have in terms of teaching and learning in these renovated classrooms. The building's tablet armchairs will be replaced with Node chairs, which roll on wheels to facilitate rapid reconfiguration of seating arrangements and to promote small-group discussions and activities. Classrooms will be equipped with wall-mounted white boards that small student groups can use during their group-based activities. The video projection systems in HSS classrooms will also be upgraded. In short, the rooms will be completely different and allow for a great deal of flexibility, in comparison with the current configurations. I strongly encourage you to attend a program (or two) which will give you a preview of the room, allow you to discuss the changes with your colleagues, and give you time to plan for the fall. These conversations offered by the Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center are designed to appeal to different disciplinary needs. A fuller explanation and sign-up sheet is posted at: http://tenntlc.utk.edu/hss-flexible-classrooms-information-and-scheduling/ ( you may also see the attached memo). These programs will help instructors become more familiar with the new classroom designs and discuss ways for incorporating the classrooms' flexible format into their teaching. We hope that as many instructors as possible will attend one of the conversations offered by Tenn TLC to learn more about this exciting redesign of an entire classroom building. As we expect these classrooms to be in high demand, first priority will be given to those who participate. Also, there will be technology “gifts” for each attendee (which are also listed on the web page). Please note that due to the tight scheduling of HSS rooms, these conversations will be held in 129 Hodges Library, in a newly structured flexible classroom. My thanks to the library staff for their work in creating this room! This fall will see not only a more attractive HSS, with lounge areas and refurbishing of the building, but also rooms that bring us into a new era in teaching. I deeply appreciate your support in this venture, Sally McMillan Vice Provost for Academic Affairs