Faculty Checklist for Monday’s Remote Learning Launch
Posted on: 4:19 PM on Wed, 25 March
Dear Faculty,
Just as pilots use a checklist before take-off, we thought it might be helpful to you to have a quick checklist before your remote-learning launch.
The Two Most Important Things
All the technological bells and whistles are FAR less important than these two primary things:
Communicate:
- Make sure your students know what you expect from them (through a revised syllabus and clear directions on all activities and assignments),
- Have a daily presence for the students in the class (by posting announcements and/or sending emails), and
- Have remote office hours (by real-time email, telephone, WebEx, or Bb Collaborate).
Respond quickly:
- Make sure your students hear from you quickly. Ideally, you should respond to any emails or messages within 24-hours Monday-Friday, quicker if possible. Let students know the time frame within which they can expect to hear from you.
- Grade and provide feedback on assignments quickly so that students are able to evaluate their performance and adapt as they see where their performance can and should improve. If feasible, incorporating shorter more frequent quizzes and/or tests will allow more opportunities to give relatively frequent feedback than having only one or two infrequent high stakes exams.
The Checklist
- You have posted your updated syllabus in Bb.
- You have posted times and directions for remote office hours.
- You are familiar with how to request support and services at support.newpaltz.edu.
- If you are doing any synchronous sessions:
- you are not relying primarily on synchronous content, but are using it to supplement your asynchronous content (FYI, in online learning, asynchronous is the “best practice”)
- your students know what system you are using (preferably Bb Collaborate or WebEx)
- you and your students have tested the system
- you and your students know the back-up plan if you, or they, have trouble connecting
- you have plans to record the synchronous session for students who cannot participate live.
- You have developed and uploaded instructional material that covers the equivalent of at least one week of course work.
- We realize that you may not have had time to get content up for the full remainder of the semester, but once you get at least a week of content ready, we strongly encourage you to work ahead so that you have the entire course ready. Recall our earlier message about Backup Plans. Someone else may have to finish your course if you become incapacitated, so the more you have ready, the better.
- Try to keep things especially basic and low stakes in your first week with remote learning to make sure you and your students can figure out where the seat belts and air masks are because the ride will probably be bumpy.
- You have checked the Accommodate system (through your faculty tab in my.newpaltz.edu) to see what accommodations students in your course may need, and you have touched base with those students to see how the move to remote learning may require changes to those accommodations.
- You have posted an announcement or sent an email to your students asking them to alert you (now, and also as things change) about issues that may impact their ability to do their coursework, such as:
- limited access to technology or internet service
- health-related problems
- You have posted Our Campus Help Desk directions for your students.
- Breathe. Take a deep breath, launch, and then revise as needed.
Some things will probably go a lot better than you expected, and some things will not go well at all. This is not going to resemble a “best practices” online launch. This will be a “triaged” launch. Do your best to promote student learning and set reasonable expectations for yourself and your students. If you communicate well and quickly, you will set yourself and your students up for the smoothest flight.
Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Guidance re: Summer Session 2020
Posted on: 1:36 PM on Fri, 20 March
Dear Members of the Campus Community:
All Summer 2020 sessions must be delivered in a remote format. Most of our summer courses are already online, but if you are scheduled to teach a seated or hybrid section, please work with your Dean/Associate or Assistant Dean to revise your summer schedule accordingly. For purposes of Summer 2020, all faculty, regardless of online training status, may be scheduled to teach the course remotely.
Shala Mills
Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning
Barbara Lyman
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Academic Calendar, Remote Course Delivery, Pass/Fail Grading Option
Posted on: 9:40 AM on Fri, 20 March
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Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Faculty Resources Recap
Posted on: 4:24 PM on Tue, 17 March
Dear Faculty,
Thanks so much for all your extraordinary efforts as we move courses to remote delivery. We know you are inundated with emails and it is easy to lose track of information, so we are collecting information for you in this document with the hope that it will help cut through the clutter and reduce searches through emails. In addition, we will be archiving this content as a pdf in the Faculty & Staff section of the Contingency Planning and Preparedness webpage.
New Paltz Knowledge Base
The New Paltz Knowledge Base is your one-stop location for almost everything you need for online and remote instruction. The Campus Contingency Guide, the first item listed in the Knowledge Base, will lead you to most of the things you will need to work remotely. These include:
- General Guidance on how to use OneDrive and how to move documents from the F drive to OneDrive
- Instructions for Remote Communication, most importantly on how to use WebEx and Bb Collaborate Ultra
- A Quick Start Guide to Building Online Lessons. PLEASE NOTE: The quick start guide offers options for entry level, intermediate, and advanced users. We strongly urge you to follow those skill-level guidelines. The quick start guide covers:
- Structuring your course
- Creating lectures
- Adding content
- Adding assignments
- Adding assessments
Training Options
There are still opportunities for training to effectively use some of the tools available to you for delivering your course remotely. You may already have availed yourself of some of these options. Some sessions are live. Many are recorded and archived for later access.
- New Paltz Training Options: Watch for emails from Kate Bohan and Rich McElrath regarding OIT training opportunities or visit the OIT Events Calendar and sign up for scheduled sessions by clicking on the session of interest and following the online instructions.
- Open SUNY Training Options:
- Open SUNY is offering live, drop-in web meetings for Instructional Design Support for Emergency Remote Teaching: https://zoom.us/j/160815050.
- Open SUNY is also offering a Remote Teaching Clinic designed to help you temporarily deliver your face-to-face instructional materials at a distance. Check the clinic website for sessions.
Peer-to-Peer Resources
Please continue the outstanding formal and informal peer mentoring. We suggest, if you have not done so already, that you coordinate within your department and possibly with other disciplines that may have similar pedagogy practices. You might schedule some WebEx meetings over the next days and weeks to support one another, or you might identify online learning leaders who can answer questions and trouble shoot problems. If you can answer questions within your own department or within departmental collaborations, that will often given you helpful insights specific to your pedagogical needs and it will also free OIT staff to focus on general training needs and more challenging technology issues.
Resource Archive
The facstaf distribution list has resulted in some terrific sharing. We plan to archive some of those resources and make the archive available to faculty. Many higher education groups, general and disciplinary, as well as individual faculty around the globe, are gathering and archiving resources to assist faculty and students during this exigent time. You may find it valuable to identify the groups with resources most appropriate for your courses and follow any FB groups, websites or shared Google-docs that best inform your work.
Shala Mills
Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning
Message originally distributed via: facstaf-l
Adobe COVID-19 Business Continuity & University Distance Learning Support
Posted on: 3:18 PM on Mon, 16 March
All,
Adobe recently made some announcements aimed at supporting Higher Education’s significant shift to online learning in response to COVID-19. Below are key highlights:
- Adobe is making temporary at-home access to Creative Cloud available until May 31, 2020 for universities who currently have only lab access for students, at no additional cost.
- Adobe is providing a student asset migration portal that enables graduating students to transfer the assets associated with their assigned school account to a personal account.
We have responded to Adobe and are currently awaiting details on how these capabilities will be implemented and will keep you posted.
Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Extra Sessions Added! Important Workshops:Up and Running With Blackboard Webinars
Posted on: 3:20 PM on Mon, 16 March
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Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Webinars: Up and Running with Blackboard
Posted on: 10:40 AM on Mon, 16 March
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Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Instructional design and remote teaching clinics
Posted on: 10:42 AM on Sat, 14 March
Dear faculty,
In addition to the institutional supports that Kate and Rich are providing in OIT, please consider making use of the instructional design and remote teaching clinics that SUNY is providing, beginning today. Details follow below, and please note that some are content specific.
Also, many thanks, again, to all of you who are sharing your remote teaching experience with colleagues. In addition to the peer mentoring that we are organizing, many individuals and departments are organizing general or disciplinary sessions where colleagues can assist one another. As I know is already happening in some departments, faculty may want to organize some departmental workshops where those more experienced with Blackboard, WebEx, and other remote tools can share with disciplinary colleagues who many be new to those technologies and to remote teaching pedagogies. It can be especially helpful to work with colleagues in your own or related disciplines as they are often more familiar with the specific disciplinary resources and needs you may have.
SUNY Drop-in Instructional Design Support Sessions
(Beginning Today)
SUNY has organized live, drop-in, sessions via Zoom video conference to assist faculty with remote course preparation. These sessions began today and are available 7 days a week. Staff are available, live, now to assist! Sessions will be staffed with instructional designers and online learning professionals to assist with faculty questions. They anticipate questions about how to move face-to-face activities, assignments, assessments, etc., into a manageable, online learning experience for your students. Staff are available at the days and times listed below:
- Monday - Friday 7:00AM - 12:00AM Midnight EST
- Saturday 10:00AM - 5:00PM EST
- Sunday 1:00PM - 9:00PM EST
To join a live, drop-in web meeting visit: https://zoom.us/j/160815050
Register Today for Sessions in the SUNY Remote Teaching Clinic
Upcoming webinars, which begin 3/17, are organized into two categories: Technical Training and Remote Instruction Skills. The Clinic webpage has a third tab that will house recordings of each webinar if you can’t attend or miss a session.
Current offerings in Technical Training focus on utilization of Blackboard. Offerings in Remote Instruction are more content and process based:
- Effective Online & Distance Teaching in the Visual and Performing Arts: Dr. Nicola Marae Allain
- Natural Sciences at a Distance: Making the Move and Meeting the Learning Outcomes: Audeliz Matias, Catherine Gleason, Sujatha Kadaba, & Mary Mawn
- Advising Remotely: Tips and Tricks for Advising Students from a Distance: Dr. Michele Forte and Dr. Larry Dugan
- Coping Strategies for Remote Instructors: Dr. Michele Forte
- Best Practices for Online Paper Submissions and Grading: Mary Seel
Register today! New offerings will be posted regularly. You can make a request for certain topic and they will work to find a SUNY expert, just fill out this workshop request form.
As a reminder, these faculty training resources and more are posted on: https://innovate.suny.edu/community/covid19/.
Be well,
Shala Mills
Message originally distributed via: facstaf-l@newpaltz.edu
Update for Graduate Teaching Assistants and Program Coordinators
Posted on: 10:58 AM on Fri, 13 March
Dear Graduate Teaching Assistants and Program Coordinators,
Yesterday afternoon this message went from the Provost to all faculty. We wanted to be sure that Graduate Teaching Assistants had the same information. Also, GTAs should avail themselves of all the online teaching resources available to faculty. If you need any technologies in order to carry out your TA responsibilities online, or if you are not sure whether you may need technologies, please attend today's walk-in session where OIT staff will be on hand to assist you.
Location: Lecture Center 100
Date/Time: Friday, March 13, 1pm-5pm
Also, we are trying to pair people who have no online experience with people who do. If you are very comfortable in the Blackboard LMS and feel you might be able to help a peer, please use the volunteer link to volunteer. If you have no Blackboard experience and feel you need some mentoring from a peer, please use the neeeding assistance form. IN THE DEPARTMENT LINE OF THE FORMS, PLEASE MENTION THAT YOU ARE A TA. That will help us properly pair you.
For GTA Online Volunteers: Online Teaching Peer Mentoring Form
For GTAs Needing Assistance: Online Peer Mentoring Assistance
We know this is a stressful time. We appreciate your flexibility. Please let your program coordinator, faculty you work with, the Graduate Studies Office, or the Office of Instructional Technologies know if you need assistance.
Be well,
Shala Mills
Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning
Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Walk-In Technology Clinic
Posted on: 8:39 AM on Thu, 12 March
Walk-In Technology Clinic
Following the recent announcement that classes will begin to move to remote instruction, there have been a number of questions about access to software. In order to help ease some of these concerns, IT will hold a walk-in technology clinic that will be open to all faculty, staff, and students.
During this time, IT staff will be on hand to install Microsoft Office on your personal computer on a first come, first served basis. Also during this time, we will provide limited computer updates; answers to specific questions regarding software; and recommendations on a best effort basis for any IT-based concerns.
Location: Lecture Center 100
Session 1: Thursday, March 12, 1pm-5pm
Session 2: Friday, March 13, 1pm-5pm
Thanks,
Brendan M. Lowe
Academic Network Support
Message originally distributed via: Campus Update
Important Workshops: Up and Running With Blackboard
Posted on: 9:36 AM on Wed, 11 March
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Message originally distributed via: Office of Instructional Technology Campus Update
