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Support message to faculty

Support message to faculty

04/30/2020

This message was sent to faculty by Carol Van Der Karr, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs on April 24:

Students and Learning during COVID-19

The following information has been pulled together as faculty, students and staff share experiences and look to the final weeks of the semester.  A similar message will go out to our students.  Feel free to share any information or links from this with your students and encourage them to use the help available.

Of our students, 45% are living in the center of the nation’s COVID-19 crisis, in and around New York City.  At this time, many faculty, staff and students have been personally impacted by the pandemic, including the loss of a family member or friend. The isolation, financial concerns, and uncertainty are fueling everyone’s stress making it even harder to teach and learn online.

Please continue to share your experiences, ideas and concerns with colleagues and your deans. If you have ideas on how we can support students or better share information, please email these to me.

Every day we hear about the compassion, innovation and dedication of our faculty and staff. Our rapport with students has always been a strength of this campus and it shines even brighter in these difficult days.

Thank you,

Carol Van Der Karr, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

Flexibility, Accommodations and Teaching

  • Access plans are constructed with common college courses in mind. Some accommodations may not be applicable or helpful in an online course. Meanwhile, new barriers may crop up in distance courses that keep some students from getting equal access to the course experience. Please let us know immediately should a barrier arise that you are unsure how to address.
  • Any student request for flexibility should be considered, regardless of whether they are registered with DRO. Students have appreciated the understanding and flexibility of their faculty given the extraordinary circumstances students face (e.g., sharing space, lack of technology like printer/scanners, etc.). Thank you for considering students’ requests and encouraging them to share academic challenges they are experiencing. 
  • Communication with students. Clarity of expectations and organizing their work are common challenges for students as they face more self-directed learning. It may help students to receive short, direct emails, using bullet points to highlight key information. Be clear about what students need to act on immediately, offer tips on organizing work, reduce multiple or late notice changes, and consider sending students regular reminders about upcoming due dates.
  • Collectively, students are doing new types of assignments and class time has been replaced with assignments at times. Check in with students on their workloads and how they are managing what may be a new level of coordination of work.  In the same sense, teaching online is intensive and time-consuming. Keeping workload feasible and reasonable is important for everyone’s well-being.

 Equity and Inclusion in Online Teaching

The President’s Council for Inclusive Excellence (PCIE) will be sending a message soon with resources to support inclusion in online teaching including a virtual happy hour discussion on Friday, May 1 from 2:00-3:00pm in the Faculty Lounge group on Microsoft teams.

Support for Students

Academic Outreach and Disengaged Students

  • Vulnerability of our high-risk students is mitigated greatly by outreach and referral. We have heard a number of faculty and staff discussing students that are not signing in to class or responding to communication.
  • If you notice a student is not present in class, is not engaged, seems to be struggling, or is not responding to your outreach, use Starfish to initiate additional support for the student.
  • Remind students about resources and refer them to The Learning Center (e.g., time management, study skills, writing, and test taking) and the Writing Center. No challenge or assignment is too small for help.
  • Advisement and Transition and SRRS will be identifying and contacting students who have yet to register for fall 2020 to help resolve any obstacles for their fall registration.

Handling Stress

 Finals for Spring 2020

  •  Finals week has been converted to another week of instruction and finals are not required.
  • Provide students with your plans for finals as soon as possible and by May 1 at the latest. This will help students plan and discuss accommodations as needed (e.g., what is covered in an exam, is it synchronous or asynchronous; final paper or project; due dates).
  • If students have multiple tests or assignments in a short time during finals week, please consider options that could help them manage that work including extending time.
  • There is no Special Exam Time Request for this semester.

Undergraduate Grading and Academic Integrity in Spring 2020

  • As noted in the Temporary Academic Policy Changes memo, students will have the option to change their grades to a Pass/No Credit option until May 29, 2020. Faculty will submit grades based on the initial grading mode of the course as usual. 
  • Grades will be due 72 hours after the end of semester: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
  • If faculty are experiencing issues or expect a delay in grading, they can contact Student Registration and Record Services (SRRS) for assistance.
  • Academic Integrity. Students are expected to uphold the academic integrity policies. Any grade resulting in a violation, will stand and students will not have the option to change that grade during this semester by selecting the Pass/No Credit option.
  • Incompletes
    • Courses taken during the Spring 2020 Semester
      • Any course taken in the Spring 2020 semester in which a student takes an incomplete is eligible for the Pass/No Credit once a grade is earned.
      • Be mindful of students’ projected workload in fall 2020. Multiple INCs from spring 2020 may disadvantage students moving forward.
  • Courses taken prior to Spring 2020.
    • All incompletes due this term will have the option to extend to the end of next term with no needed approvals/paperwork.
    • These courses will keep the original grade mode cannot be converted using Pass/No Credit.