Supporting Instruction

A Q&A with Paul Conway 

Paul Conway reflects on building strong instructional teams in high-enrollment UMSI courses.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your current and past roles at UMSI?

I joined UMSI as an associate professor in 2006 and have had the privilege of contributing to the School’s phenomenal growth in both size and scope. Early in my tenure here, I led the initial efforts to create an undergraduate degree program in Informatics, helping to expand UMSI’s reach and academic offerings.

I retired during the pandemic but could not truly stop working on my research projects and personal passions, particularly music preservation and access.  Fortunately, having emeritus status at UM has allowed me to keep in touch with UMSI colleagues and explore ways to make a contribution to the School. 

Over the past year, I have worked through the ADAA office to explore ways to strengthen instructional teams for UMSI’s growing and evolving courses, particularly within the BSI program. This work focuses on supporting instructors, enhancing the student experience, and helping the School adapt to the opportunities and challenges that come with continued expansion. A true full-circle moment.

2. One of your primary focuses is supporting instructional teams in large-enrollment courses. What unique challenges do these courses present, and how does your work help faculty and students navigate them more effectively?

For faculty members, teaching a large-enrollment class is a lot like running a startup venture, where the only business plan is the syllabus and you have just four months to make everything work. When enrollment exceeds 100 students, the nature of the course shifts. Classroom teaching remains of utmost importance, but the greater challenges become building, training, and managing an instructional team that can support the learning environment effectively.

Right now, we are exploring new structural models for instructional teams that aim to reduce the administrative burden on faculty while remaining highly responsive to student needs, assessment, and feedback. One promising approach involves creating a pool of skilled, experienced non-student Course Assistants who can provide continuity and expertise across semesters, helping to stabilize and strengthen support for large-enrollment courses.

3. What kinds of insights are you hoping to gain through this work, and how might those findings shape future teaching strategies at UMSI?

One of the biggest barriers to scaling courses effectively is creating strong rubrics, both for students and for instructional teams. Rubrics must clearly communicate performance expectations to students in a way that provides guidance without being overly prescriptive. At the same time, rubrics need to help instructional teams assess and grade student work consistently and fairly. How well we design and implement rubrics may ultimately determine much of the administrative overhead in large-enrollment courses. Improving this piece of the instructional model could significantly shape future teaching strategies at UMSI by making large courses more sustainable for faculty and more equitable for students.

4. You’re also a strong advocate of building community among faculty. What role does mentorship play in your opinion, and how could it help newcomers better understand UMSI’s teaching culture?

Most UMSI faculty have well-developed mentoring networks that support their research activities. However, mentoring networks that focus on supporting and encouraging excellent teaching tend to be more informal and may not reach everyone as meaningfully. Incentive and reward structures at Michigan, as at many research universities, are not always designed to fully recognize or promote teaching innovation.

I believe informal mentorship plays a critical role in filling this gap. Building community through social engagement, casual conversations, and trust-building experiences creates a supportive environment where new faculty can better understand UMSI’s teaching culture and feel empowered to grow as educators. Strengthening these informal connections is essential to sustaining a vibrant and evolving teaching community.

5. With your long-standing connection to UMSI, how have you seen the teaching environment evolve over time, and what opportunities do you think lie ahead as we adapt to changing demands in higher education?

Over the years, I have seen UMSI’s teaching environment evolve in exciting and complex ways.

First, as UMSI’s undergraduate programs have expanded rapidly, we have an incredible opportunity to rethink how we connect faculty research with the student learning experience. When the School was smaller, the relationship between research and teaching was more direct. Today, there is room to build new, intentional bridges that bring cutting-edge scholarship into the classroom in dynamic ways.

Second, today’s students engage with information differently than previous generations. While traditional critical reading and writing may not always be their preferred modes of learning, this shift encourages us to explore diverse, innovative strategies for building critical thinking skills. Designing new pathways for engagement will help us meet students where they are and foster deeper, more active learning.

Third, the emergence of Generative AI presents a remarkable opportunity to reshape teaching and learning. Rather than resisting these tools, we have the chance to thoughtfully integrate GenAI into our pedagogy, helping students use technology ethically, creatively, and effectively. Embracing this moment of change will position UMSI to continue leading in a rapidly evolving educational landscape.