Create a Plan! While it is impossible to predict circumstances that might affect normal class schedules, there are a number of steps, ranging from simple to complex, that faculty can take to prepare themselves and their students for possible interruptions.
Waiting for an emergency to happen before adopting the necessary tools and strategies can make a stressful and/or chaotic emergency even worse. Since you’re preparing your course anyway, before you do that prep you always do, follow these steps to help you to switch seamlessly to an online-only medium:
This checklist is meant to address issues that may arise in the event of university closure or widespread or prolonged absences. You may also want to consider how these suggestions could be adapted for single absences (such as one student’s prolonged absence due to illness or your absence for a conference or due to illness).
Issues to Address | Possible Solutions |
---|---|
Working from home? Make sure you have access to the following resources:
|
|
Establish a mode of communication to use in case of an emergency.
|
Email Camino (Canvas LMS) |
Post your syllabus in Camino under the Syllabus tab or email your syllabus to your students. |
|
Publish your Camino course and use some basic features such as:
|
Camino (Canvas LMS) |
Have a strategy for necessary changes and modification to your schedule or syllabus. Talk with colleagues within your department or program to see how others will adapt for emergency closures. |
|
Decide how you will distribute documents and readings during a disruption.
|
Email Google Drive |
Designate a centralized place to collect student submissions. Use the assignments feature on Camino or create a shared folder on Google Drive to accept student submissions online. |
Camino (Canvas LMS) Google Drive |
Think about how you would encourage participation in class discussion in the event of a disruption.
|
Canvas Discussions VoiceThread Zoom |
Consider capturing portions of your lecture content for students to watch remotely.
|
Panopto Google Slides |
Identify an option for holding class and/or office hours virtually.
|
Zoom Canvas Conferences |
Think about how your methods for evaluating student learning could be moved to a digital space. |
Canvas Quizzes Qualtrics surveys |
Settle on an option for providing students with grades and feedback on their work in the event of an emergency. |
|
Shared handwriting |
IPEVO VZ-R document camera iPad + Notability/GoodNotes + Apple Pencil/Logitech Crayon |