Resources:
Puget Sound Campus H1N1 Information
Puget Sound Policies for Class Attendance and Missed Work
Students AND faculty are being advised that if they are diagnosed with or have suspected influenza to not attend class and avoid contact with others for at least 24 hours after their fever resolves. Students and faculty might be out of classes for up to two full weeks in some cases. For faculty, this presents some special challenges in planning for course continuity.
Basic Considerations:
- Policy Changes: Look over your syllabus, attendance, participation and grading policies to see whether you need to modify them. The Puget Sound H1N1 Task Force has posted suggestions with regard to Puget Sound Policies for Class Attendance and Missed Work which may be helpful. Outline how you will handle late assignments or missed exams. You might want to consider how to fairly assess late work from students and keep them informed so they know what to expect.
- Communication: You may want to review with your students the plans you have in place to help them keep up with their coursework in the event they get sick. Be sure to tell them how you will issue updates about changes in your class plans or update them on assignments using Blackboard, Moodle, email or other method.
- If You Are Sick: Think about what might happen if you have to miss some class sessions due to your own illness. You might plan alternate activities for your students or discuss possible plans with your departmental colleagues. Be aware in advance of your options for technologies which can help.
Educational Technology staff can offer assistance to faculty seeking ways to minimize course disruption if students or faculty must miss class due to flu. We can provide workshops, office visits and one-on-one consultations around these and other topics. Educational Technology Staff:
- Cindy Riche, Director. criche@pugetsound.edu, x3244
- Kyle Cramer, Educational Technologist for the Humanities. kcramer@pugetsound.edu, x2540
- Paul Monaghan, Educational Technologist for the Sciences. pmonaghan@pugetsound.edu, x8510
- TBA, Educational Technologist for the Social Sciences.
- Amy Wood, Student Staff
- Janice Biernacke, Student Staff
Specific Suggestions: Keeping the class going when you can’t go
Plan Ahead
- Have a communication strategy; tell your students where to find course information.
- Plan how you will stay in touch with your co-instructors, guest speakers and TAs in the event they or you are sick.
- Post your syllabus online and update it with course changes as needed.
- Have a clearly-stated course policy regarding make-ups and absences.
Lecture-based classes
- Post documents and assignments online in place of lecture
- Use online chats for individual or small group office hours, meetings or discussions
- Substitute Blackboard or Moodle’s discussion forum for class sessions
- Record the class lecture for students to view/hear later [Educational Technology has a limited number of audio/video recorders available to loan]
- Narrate a slide show from home and put on your course website for students to listen to. Good description of how to do this is here, or contact Ed Technology staff to show you how.
Lab or hands-on classes
- Locate virtual labs online for students to complete, if possible
- Arrange alternate activities in place of the lab, or to complete the lab activities at a later date
Distributing, collecting and grading assignments
- Post assignment instructions and grades on the course website
- Use the Blackboard or Moodle Assignment features to collect assignments electronically
- Use online voice tools like Nanogong in Moodle to comment orally on student work
- Offer online quizzes, questionnaires or tests where appropriate
Managing student meetings and group work
- Offer students online tools like discussion forums or chat areas for group work, in Blackboard or Moodle
- Use instant messenger or video chat to communicate one-on-one (AIM, GoogleTalk, iChat, Skype, etc)
- Use direct email or the announcements page in your Blackboard or Moodle course to tell students when you’ll be available online and how to contact you
Discussion Forums: Your class depends on your interaction and engagement with your students. But, if illness makes it impossible for your or some of your students to attend class sessions, how do you keep them engaged and in touch with you and their fellow students? Blackboard and Moodle both have discussion forums which enable you to have course dialogue online, so that you and students can post comments for other students (or you) to read when they have recovered and can participate in class again. These forums even allow faculty or students to add attachments, such as a Word document or image, to discussion board posts and link to resources on the Web.
Chats for Real Time/Live Communication: If you are a Moodle user, you can also add a Chat tool to your Moodle course. This allows you and your students to type in real time, and see everyone’s comments. This provides the online ’space’ to have online office hours, small group discussions, or even for students to meet online to do group work in the even they cannot meet face to face.
We’d like to thank Duke’s Center for Instructional Technology for their permission to borrow some material.