UMass uses SPIRE, the University's secure online student information system, for all course management activities. The SPIRE Faculty Center provides you with access to your teaching schedule, student emails, class and grade rosters, and more.
You may request a Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) course through SPIRE here.
You will need your IT Account NetID and password to access SPIRE. If you have any issues, you can contact IT help & support.
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) provides faculty with programs and resources focused on course design, classroom instruction, curriculum development, and other forms of instructional support for faculty. The CTL offers a rich array of teaching development workshops, talks, individual consultations, and the signature Midterm Assessment Process (MAP). New faculty can visit the CTL website for a variety of online resources, including the "How do I..." pages, which answer common questions that faculty have about teaching, Pedagogy in Practice faculty stories, and a video series on Inclusive Syllabus Design. Also take a look at the CTL’s “Lean into Fall” resources for new faculty, or request a consultation.
Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS) assists faculty with programs and resources focused on technology-enhanced pedagogies in all course modalities. IDEAS guides faculty in multi-media production, instructional design, online and hybrid course development, and course accessibility. IDEAS offers several Communities of Practice, including the Instructional Video Creator's Network and Instructional Innovation Fellowship. Faculty can schedule one-on-one consultations and attend a variety of IDEAS faculty development events.
- The Instructional Media Lab offers assistance with Canvas course sites and guidance on the setup and implementation of instructional technologies such as EchoVideo, Top Hat, and Voice Thread. Faculty can schedule one-on-one consultations.
Consult with UMass Libraries’ staff to find library resources and equipment, develop tailored digital guides and instruction to enhance students’ research skills and use of library databases, and learn more about course materials available for your teaching.
- Academic Liaison Program - Your department’s liaison librarian maintains Library Guides for student support. Help your students by linking to the guide for your discipline on your syllabi. Liaisons can also help with accessing course materials for teaching or lead library instruction sessions for your students.
- Citation Management – Learn about Zotero and support for other citation managers.
- Digital Media Lab – Media production, sound booths, software, equipment, and more. Open to all students, faculty, and staff with trained experts to help with 3-D scanning/printing, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and audio/video production.
- GIS Hub – Work with our GIS specialists to troubleshoot software issues, find data, and conduct vector/raster spatial analysis.
- Information Literacy Modules - Brief introductions to search strategies and scholarly sources.
- Library Guides - Disciplinary guides to support students’ literature searching.
- Open Educational Resources – Learn about no cost teaching, learning, and research materials with open licenses. Get support for adopting, adapting, or creating open educational resources to save students money, adapt and customize materials for your course, and promote greater classroom inclusion and engagement.
- Reserving Course Materials
For a quick start, visit these resources on the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) website:
- How Do I Get Started in Creating a Syllabus?
- How Do I Write an Inclusive Syllabus?
- For a deeper dive, explore the Inclusive Syllabus Design Video Series which includes an e-workbook.
You can schedule a syllabus consultation through the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The “Instructor’s Roles and Responsibilities” section of Disability Services' Faculty Handbook also details how faculty should make their syllabus and course accessible to students.
UMass Amherst uses Canvas as our learning management system. We would highly recommend instructors request Canvas for their courses as soon as they have SPIRE access. LMS requests are managed through SPIRE.
eCampus is the official university bookstore and provides support for faculty in accessing and ordering textbooks. Faculty are expected to enter their course material adoptions through eCampus prior to the beginning of the course registration period. All instructors/faculty should identify and list all text materials on SPIRE for their courses. This allows students to know which texts are needed so they can obtain materials in the format that is needed for the student.
The Libraries can provide alternatives for traditional textbooks, including open educational resources that are freely available and contribute to student engagement and retention. See the Libraries’ Statement on Textbooks for more information on textbooks in the Libraries.
Faculty have authored several open textbooks at UMass.
- The Learning Resource Center provides peer tutoring in both study skills and academic subjects.
- The Writing Center offers one-on-one consultations to students on their writing projects, providing feedback and strategies at any stage of the writing process. The Writing Center also supports faculty in designing writing assignments and in-class writing activities.
- Student Success offers resources and support for students across all departments and disciplines.
- The Graduate School Office of Professional Development (OPD) organizes more than 400 programs per year to help graduate students with career preparation, communication, grants and fellowships, personal development, and teaching.
UMass is committed to the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups and ensuring a respectful, safe, and inclusive campus. Students have the opportunity to indicate their pronouns so that instructors may use the appropriate pronoun (he/him, she/her, they/them, ze/hir, name only). The Stonewall Center has put together a collection of resources to help faculty respect the gender identities of their students.
- The Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH) offers a variety of mental health services, including crisis intervention, group and individual therapy, and workshops addressing common student concerns.
- The Student Life Single Stop Resources highlights relevant campus and community resources that students may utilize during a challenging time or life event.
- The Dean of Students Student Support Request and Referral is an online form where faculty may share concerns about students' wellbeing and request assistance from relevant campus resources.
- The Maroon Folder is a resource guide for recognizing and assisting students in distress. The UMatter team has developed this guide to help you recognize, respond to, refer, and report concerns about your students. Updated regularly, the Maroon Folder is a one-stop guide to supporting students in need.
The Digital Media Lab (DML), adjacent to the Learning Commons on the lower level of the W. E. B. Du Bois Library, is a multimedia production and learning space available to students working on audio/video projects; 3-D scanning, modeling, and printing; and extended reality (virtual reality and augmented reality) use. The lab has equipment for in-house usage as well as some equipment that can be checked out. There are a variety of options for technologies and media to use, and DML staff can help you and your students learn how to use these tools.
Faculty can request a Midterm Assessment Process (MAP), a confidential and voluntary service to gather student feedback, through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), or conduct their own feedback process using Forward FOCUS. (Forward FOCUS responses are confidential except when departments choose Forward FOCUS as the required course evaluation.)
- The Office of Disability Services provides faculty resources on meeting the needs of students with disabilities to ensure equal access.
- The Instructional Design, Engagement and Support (IDEAS) offers AccessibleU: Digital Accessibility. This self-paced course provides the knowledge, tools, and resources you need to design courses that meet federal and state accessibility standards.
- “The Center for Teaching and Learning offers an Inclusive Syllabus Design resource with a section on “Applying Universal Design for Learning” that helps faculty remove barriers to learning and support students with and without accommodations.”
Faculty can apply for a Flex Grant to support faculty professional development related to teaching. Flex Grants are funded by the campus through the MSP contract, and awarded by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The Flex Grant application submission period opens in the fall semester, usually in mid- to late- September.
UMass takes seriously the academic freedom of all members of the professional staff of the university who perform teaching or research, as outlined in the Academic Personnel Policy (Red Book).
Check out OFD’s Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit.
At UMass, academic integrity is a shared responsibility across our learning community and is necessary in our efforts to certify learning. Instructors have a responsibility to communicate their specific academic integrity course policies to their students and to act when they encounter suspected academic dishonesty. If you suspect a student of academic dishonesty and are unsure how to proceed, contact the Academic Integrity Office at @email and/or connect with your College Point Person. An overview of Academic Integrity policy and procedures can be found on the Undergraduate Student Success Center website. A Guide for Instructors is also available there. For a more detailed overview of your options, see the Academic Integrity Policy.
UMass has a subscription to Turnitin, a plagiarism prevention service that detects textual matches between student papers and other documents available in electronic form on the Internet, in subscription databases, and in databases of other student papers. Turnitin can be used within Learning Management Systems (LMS) or as a stand-alone application. Faculty using Turnitin outside of an LMS must contact Information Technology for account information.
Within their course policies, instructors should communicate their specific guidelines on generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools with their students at the start of the semester. The Guidance on Generative AI webpage of the Undergraduate Student Success Center website contains helpful resources for learning more about generative AI and responding to suspected misuse.
Commonwealth Honors College welcomes the involvement of faculty who are passionate about Honors undergraduate education on the UMass Amherst campus, and the college encourages new contributions to the high-impact educational practices used in their classes. Find out more about how to get involved in the Honors College.
The Undergraduate Student Success Center focuses on campus-wide approaches and programs that increase student retention, support timely progress toward degree completion, nurture student-centered teams, and enhance holistic student learning and development through the advancement of high-impact educational practices.
Navigate360 is UMass Amherst’s undergraduate student success management platform. Instructors can use Navigate360 to identify undergraduate students in their courses who may need additional support to achieve academic success and connect them to campus resources through our Academic Alert Initiative. Instructors who are also faculty academic advisors or faculty mentors can use Navigate360 to review student academic information and schedule appointments.
The Center for Teaching & Learning developed the guide How Do I Work Effectively with Teaching Assistants? to help faculty develop productive relationships with their TAs.
Support for faculty working with graduate teaching assistants and teaching associates is also available through the Graduate School.