This is a compilation of updates sent out to School Instructional Continuity Coordinators in CoS.
Thu 4/16/2020 10:08 PM
Administration of synchronous exams
With finals approaching, a number of instructors have asked about the administration of timed, synchronous examinations. Any synchronous class activity (lecture, recitation, quiz, exam, etc) must be conducted in the regularly scheduled class time. If all students are expected to take a final exam at the same time during the Final Exam Period accommodations should be made available to students in different time zones (e.g., provide an early exam or a make-up exam), and those who report connectivity issues or who are ill (remember that we cannot require a doctor's note at this time). Policies that relate to the Final Instructional Class Days and Reading Days remain in place. Synchronous exams must be scheduled at the time that has been assigned in the Institute's Final Exam Matrix.
Student attendance of BlueJeans meetings to take exams
While there is a prohibition on the electronic proctoring of exams, instructors may ask students to join a BlueJeans video meeting for the administration of the exam so long as accommodations are made available to those students who cannot join a video conference because, for example, they do not have a web cam or if their connectivity does not support joining the meeting. Having students log into a Bluejeans session (with video on or off) provides a means for the instructor to make announcements and for direct communication if students have questions or encounter problems.
Consider asynchronous exams and alternative assessments
The use of asynchronous exams provides greater flexibility to students and avoids the need to administer exams at different times for students with any of the issues described above. Asynchronous final exams and other forms of final assessments in place of a final exam should be due on the date that the final exam would have otherwise been held. Instructors should provide at least 24 hours between the time that an asynchronous exam or alternative assignment is posted and when it is due. Instructors should bear in mind that students may have other final exams and assignments to work on during the extended period.
Surveying students in place of CIOS
As announced in an email to all instructors from Vice Provost Bonnie Ferri on April 6, CIOS will not be administered this semester. However, faculty are encouraged to continue collecting input from students. Instructors may consider using CTL's survey for incorporation into Canvas (https://ctl.gatech.edu/coursefeedback), or use their own survey. Schools are also encouraged to collect input from students about their experiences.
Mon 4/13/2020 8:29 AM
Survey students. Instructors can implement a simple survey into their Canvas site. While this is optional, it is important that we provide students with an avenue to communicate to their instructors, and that instructors give consideration to what students tell them. Detailed instructions for accessing and using the survey are available at https://ctl.gatech.edu/coursefeedback.
Faculty and invited to complete the C21U faculty survey regarding remote instruction HERE.
Please read the Provost's "Proactive and Necessary Outreach to Students" message (below).
Please read the Provost's "Proactive and Necessary Outreach to Students" message (below).
Proactive and Necessary Outreach to Students
Fri 4/10/2020 2:18 PM
Dear Colleagues:
We have reached the end of the second week of all courses being delivered in a distance format, and I have heard from many of you that, while disruptive and imperfect, courses and assignments are well underway. Let me first thank you for your continued diligence and focus as I know family, health, and safety issues continue to be top of mind for all of us, and that includes our students.
Despite the general success of the distance learning delivery, we are learning, from direct communication and data analysis, that students and families are under enormous stress and that some students are struggling. Not unexpectedly, many of our students are finding themselves in less-than-ideal situations to study. Some have to deal with crowded environments, family obligations, sick relatives, and increasing financial burdens. I know we all can relate. It’s critical that each of us recognize the extraordinary and trying times, and respond with empathy, kindness, and flexibility.
We cannot operate the educational enterprise under the same rules and even expectations of the normal school year. Please do everything needed to support the academic and overall well-being of the students in your courses. Beyond the feedback measures and course surveys I hope you have already implemented, I encourage you to pay close attention to students who might not be engaging in class discussions, chats, or assignments. Look for signs of distress. Identify these students and proactively reach out to them. As we continue toward the end of this modified semester, please remember the following:
Regards,
Rafael L. Bras, Provost
We have reached the end of the second week of all courses being delivered in a distance format, and I have heard from many of you that, while disruptive and imperfect, courses and assignments are well underway. Let me first thank you for your continued diligence and focus as I know family, health, and safety issues continue to be top of mind for all of us, and that includes our students.
Despite the general success of the distance learning delivery, we are learning, from direct communication and data analysis, that students and families are under enormous stress and that some students are struggling. Not unexpectedly, many of our students are finding themselves in less-than-ideal situations to study. Some have to deal with crowded environments, family obligations, sick relatives, and increasing financial burdens. I know we all can relate. It’s critical that each of us recognize the extraordinary and trying times, and respond with empathy, kindness, and flexibility.
We cannot operate the educational enterprise under the same rules and even expectations of the normal school year. Please do everything needed to support the academic and overall well-being of the students in your courses. Beyond the feedback measures and course surveys I hope you have already implemented, I encourage you to pay close attention to students who might not be engaging in class discussions, chats, or assignments. Look for signs of distress. Identify these students and proactively reach out to them. As we continue toward the end of this modified semester, please remember the following:
- Communicate, be available, and be flexible. Your students want to hear from you more often, but they also want to be heard, so stay committed to open, two-way communication. Remind students of academic support and campus support services that are available, but, most importantly, please extend the flexibility necessary to help any and all of your students successfully complete their coursework.
- Allow for circumstances while preserving course integrity. Ongoing adjustments may be necessary. Visit the Assignments and Exams suggestion link for considering other forms of assessment, such as papers or projects. Access the Academics and Instruction FAQs for more details on accommodating students with disabilities, final exam rules, and further clarification on allowable changes to the grading criteria.
- Don’t demand perfection. Just like you, our students may have extenuating circumstances that are hampering their progress. Listen to student concerns, be responsive, and offer as much accommodation as you can, including use of tools like Kaltura Personal Capture to record your sessions.
- Adjust grading expectations appropriately and submit grades on time. Use your best and fairest judgment when determining grades for assignments, exams, and quizzes, as well as final overall course grades. Students should be graded on their performance relative to the current circumstances. Also, please allow students every opportunity to complete their course rather than giving an Incomplete.
Regards,
Rafael L. Bras, Provost
Thursday, March 26, 2020 11:48 AM
Instructor and TA access to campus
Previous advise still stands. Activity necessary for delivery of remote instruction is deemed to be essential. Instructors, including TAs, may make use of their offices for this purpose. However, use of shared equipment on campus is discouraged, and OIT classroom equipment might not be available.
Internet access for students and TAs
Some ISPs are offering free access to WiFi hotspots or free/discounted service for a period of time. Check their sites for details:
Balancing synchronous and asynchronous instruction
A number of instructors have asked whether they can provide asynchronous delivery of content that makes use of pre-recorded lectures, structured reading assignments and problem sets, and then engage their students in further exploration of the course material (i.e., using a "flipped" model for teaching). This is certainly possible. It would relieve reliance on the use of scheduled class times for the delivery of content.
Among the guiding principles of GT's instructional continuity plan for remote instruction are:
- Provide faculty and student interaction
- Provide student and student interaction
Synchronous online instruction can be used to complement asynchronous delivery of content to provide these types of interactions. This may take up a portion of the scheduled class times, or all of it. Any synchronous instruction that is open to all students must be held at the scheduled class meeting times and recordings of these sessions should be made available to students by posting the videos on Canvas.
Please be sensitive to the fact that some students will be in distant time zones
Please consider options for students to access course materials in an asynchronous manner
- Provide recordings of any synchronous instruction
- Consider options for students to take exams during daylight hours in their particular location. This could be handled on a case-by-case basis. Another approach is to allow all students to take an exam asynchronously within a defined period. There is an option in Canvas to achieve this (e.g., students take a one-hour exam at some time of their choosing within a 24-hour period). By scheduling this on a day in which you have set aside the class period for the exam you can be assured that students have at least that time available without any conflicts.
Final exams and replacement assignments
The GT catalog provides guidance on administration of final exams (http://catalog.gatech.edu/rules/12/)
D1. In regularly scheduled lecture courses of the Institute, a final examination shall be administered at the time specified in the official Final Examination Schedule as distributed by the Office of the Registrar
D.2. No assessment other than a final examination or its replacement may be due during the Final Examination Period.
Instructors can still make use of an exam during the assigned Final Examination Period for the class, but they may also choose to use some other form of assessment in place of a final (e.g., a term paper, a project or an asynchronous exam). Further guidance on this may be forthcoming.
If you plan to make use of an assignment other than a "regular" synchronous final, please carefully consider accommodating students since they will have a variety of schedules and other commitments. For example, if extended time is provided for an exam or other assignment, some students in the class will have other finals on the day of the final, others will not; some will be preparing for exams the next day, others will not. Consider how you can provide flexibility to students so that they can find a balance in completing requirements for your class and their other classes. Any assignment that is provided in place of a regular final exam should have a deadline on the day of the Final Examination Period that is allotted for the class. Setting the assignment as early as possible will allow students flexibility to structure their time.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020 8:16 AM
Top priorities this week (March 23-27) are:
- Existing tools and technologies, e.g. Canvas, Kaltura, and BlueJeans conferencing, are the backbone for academic continuity. Instructors should test their remote education delivery capabilities this week by connecting with students.
- No instruction will take place the week of March 23. Assessments and homework deadlines previously scheduled for the week of March 23 should be postponed until March 30 or later.
- A shift to distance learning, and loss of a week of instruction, will require changes to some courses. To the extent possible, minimize changes to the syllabi, but do make reasonable adjustments. Instructors should communicate any changes in the syllabus to their students as soon as possible (by Monday, March 30). An online conversation with students (see #1 above) would be a good forum for this communication; follow up with an email to students.
- Instructors may choose to survey their students about access to technology (webcam, camera phone, scanner, printer, microphone), access to a robust network connection, and their time zone. Individual responses to this survey should not be shared with other students. Data from this survey will allow instructors to determine what accommodations might be necessary for the entire class or for individual students. [Thanks to the School of Mathematics for this suggestion]
- By the end of the week, School Instructional Continuity Coordinators should have heard from every instructor that they have tested their remote education delivery capabilities, modified their syllabus, and are prepared to teach next week. Please report progress on this to me by Friday.
Saturday, March 21, 2020 9:08 PM
Q: What advice is being provided to students about Canvas/BlueJeans?
Q: Is Georgia Tech allowing students to complete classes on a pass/fail basis?
A: Students may switch from Letter Grade (LG) basis to Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SU) basis by May 2 for those classes that have a SU option (note that not all classes have a SU basis), see the Communication on Spring 2020 Grading and GPA Policies.
A: GT's main continuity site (https://gatech.service-now.com/continuity) now has a tile for students and one for faculty.
Also:
Q: Given the situation, can students still withdraw from a course?
A: The date for a student to withdraw from a class, or from all classes, has been moved to May 2. This is included in the Communication on Spring 2020 Grading and GPA Policies that provides guidance on temporary adjustments related to grading and GPA requirements, including deadline extensions for withdrawals, grade substitutions, incompletes, minimum major grade and/or program GPA requirements, as well as academic distinction, academic standing, and dean’s list and faculty honors processes.
Q: What can users do if BlueJeans is slow/non-responsive?
A: Some suggestions
- Disconnect from VPN
- Close apps you are not using
- Reboot your computer before a session
Q: Can I come to campus to teach from my office (for better web access, or to avoid disruptions at home)?
A: Further to previous discussion on this point, right now, guidance is that if you can work remotely you should do so. Activity necessary for delivery of remote instruction is deemed to be essential and you may make use of your office for this purpose. Most buildings have been placed into “night mode” where Buzzcard access is required and all authorized occupants still have access. You should practice extreme social distancing, and recognize that this applies anywhere on campus and when in transit to and from campus. Q: What guidance is there on administering exams?
A: A new resource on suggestions for remote delivery of exams and assignments is now available at:
- Some schools are using technology packages that are associated with the textbook for the course. These might provide a good option for setting exams.
- Exams can be administered in Canvas (with options to randomize questions and to change variables). However, the format of the questions is rather limited, e.g., multiple choice, numerical, short answer (e.g., one word or simple phrase).
- A somewhat low-tech and low-overhead method of administering a traditional exam would be to: (1) create an assignment in Canvas, and (2) make the exam available to students at the beginning of the exam period (e.g., as a PDF file posted to Canvas, or sent by email via Canvas). Since students are not required to have printers or scanners, have the students: (3) compose their answers on a plain piece of paper, (4) take a photo of their answers on a cell phone, and (5) upload the image(s) to the assignment to Canvas. (6) Instructors can grade the papers within Canvas. Step-by-step instructions will be provided soon.
There is no option to proctor remotely administered exams. The link above provides good advice regarding the design of exams: think about setting an open-book exam, consider including an attestation of the honor code on the first page of the exam.
Q: Can we encourage students to work on homework assignments during the week of March 23-27?
A: Assessments and homework deadlines previously scheduled for the week of March 23 should be postponed until March 30 or later. If the original syllabus included assignments every week, it would be reasonable to adjust the syllabus to accommodate the loss of one week of instruction. Changes to the syllabus must be communicated to students by March 30. Once these changes have been communicated to the students they will be able to begin work to adhere to any modified deadlines.
The CoS Continuity page has been updated with the links provided above.
Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:41 AM
Our focus has to be:
- Faculty training on remote delivery, discussion of pedagogy, and testing remote instruction technologies
- Communication with students this week
- Testing technology with students next week
- "Going Live" Monday, March 30.
1. CoS has added additional one-hour online training sessions to allow instructors to set up their streaming lecture schedule. Sessions are based on a beginner's guide to using Canvas and BlueJeans for Remote Instruction.
Thu Mar 19 11:30 AM -12:30 PM
Fri Mar 20 9:00-10:00 AM
Mon Mar 23 2:00-3:30 PM
Tue Mar 24 12:00-1:00 PM
Wed Mar 25 11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Thu Mar 26 11:30 AM -12:30 PM
Fri Mar 27 9:00-10:00 AM
These sessions are available online at: https://bluejeans.com/4048941309 (click on this link a few minutes before the scheduled time)
2. The institute has provided the additional guidance
- Academic Guidance for Faculty for Continuing the Semester. This is a new Institute resource that gives guidance on academic matters such as syllabi changes, grades, and typical student regulations.
- Institutional Instructional Continuity Plan. This site contains information for continuing instruction remotely, including both technical and pedagogical information. Some specific helpful sites linked from this page include Academic Continuity Resources for a guide to instructional technology and pedagogy resources for teaching remotely. Other specific resources linked through this site include Faculty Guidance for Teaching Remotely; Training Sessions and recordings on technology and pedagogy for teaching remotely (including office hours for people to ask for help); Keep Teaching: Support from CTL; and the University System of Georgia Site giving resources for teaching online.
These guidelines are consistent with the following College of Sciences expectations/guidelines that are a part of every CoS school’s instructional continuity plan.
- Remote instruction must use Georgia Tech provided tools and platforms such as Canvas and the tools within Canvas, including BlueJeans. Using these technologies reduces risks by protecting student data, insuring ADA compliance, and addressing fair-use issues.
- Remote instruction must include faculty-student and TA-student interactions during the regularly scheduled class meeting times (e.g., the scheduled times for lecture and studios).
- It is a best practice to record synchronous remote sessions that are held at regularly scheduled class meeting times and to post these so that students can view these at other times.
- Instructors may choose to augment their synchronous instruction with asynchronous delivery of content (e.g., by posting materials to Canvas for use by students outside of class time).
- Instructors should be available to students online during their regular office hours.
- Computational laboratories may need to be modified, depending on the access that students have to software.
- Other laboratory sections should be modified to provide students with alternative assignments.
- Instructors may change the syllabus in mid-semester according to guidelines provided by the Institute. See Mar 17 updates (below):
- Any changes to the syllabus should be communicated to students by March 30.
- Minimize changes in the way that parts of the course are weighted in determining the course grade.
- Journal of Visualized Experiments: https://www.jove.com
- From the Chronicle of Higher Education: How to Quickly (and Safely) Move a Lab Course Online
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 3:01 PM
Instruction remains suspended through March 29. With the resumption of instruction, our instructors will need to modify their class schedule for the remainder of the semester.
- If we initiate remote instruction on March 30, we will have lost one week of instruction.
- Currently, the dates and regulations related to finals (incl. last days of instruction, reading days) remain unchanged. We should plan on adhering to existing policies unless we are notified of changes.
- Any changes to the syllabus should be communicated to students by March 30. Instructors might consider telling students now that changes will be made to accommodate the loss of one week of classes, and confirm the changes by March 30. Please consider avoiding due dates in the first few days (or first week) of instruction.
- To the extent possible, instructors should minimize changes in the way that parts of the course are weighted in determining the course grade. For example, if test 1 was originally worth 20%, it might be unsettling to students if it becomes worth 40%. Put another way, if, for example, 45% of the grade was still to be determined when instruction was suspended, it should still be that way when instruction is resumed.
- It is permissible to change the types of assignments that will be given over the remainder of the semester. These changes should be communicated by March 30. Some ideas regarding how exams might be administered will be forthcoming.
- Some students still need to make up assignments that they missed prior to the suspension of instruction. They should not be asked to make up this work until instruction is resumed. However, this should be communicated to them soon so that they can prepare to complete the assignment once instruction resumes.
- Some courses had assignments scheduled for the week of March 23-27 (now suspended). How the schedule will be modified to accommodate for this should be communicated to students as soon as possible, even if other changes to the syllabus will not been finalized until the March 30 deadline for doing so.
Presence on Campus
- Right now, guidance is that if you can work remotely you should do so. Please plan on resuming your teaching from an off-campus location if at all possible. I recommend that instructors do not plan on using on-campus facilities for remote instruction
Laboratory Courses
- While laboratory instruction cannot continue, instructors should incorporate relevant activities for the remainder of the course (e.g., interpretation of data, modeling, writing, etc).
Instructors should test their online tools this week and next week
- This week, instructors should determine how they will interact with their students using Georgia Tech provided tools and platforms. Faculty should not seek to use other, non-licensed/non-approved tools. Use of GT-supported tools such as Canvas, and the tools within Canvas (including BlueJeans), protects student information, facilitates ADA compliance, and promotes adherence to fair use rules. This week, consider setting up communications with a colleague to test your connectivity.
- Next week, plan on communicating with your entire class to test everyone's connectivity. Instructors should communicate to students now that they will test online connectivity together during one of the class' regularly scheduled meeting times toward the end of next week (March 23-27). Instructors should invite students to an online meeting (e.g., a BlueJeans session) to make sure that the technology works. No new material should be covered during this session, but it is reasonable to use this session as an office hour to discuss how the class will resume, how the syllabus will be modified, and to set students' minds at ease about how we will
- Practice now so that there are no nasty surprises on March 30!
Monday, March 16, 2020 10:15 PM
Urgent update - Instruction in remote instruction:
- CoS training for instructors on the use of BlueJeans in Canvas to stream their desktop and to use their smart phone as a document camera: Tuesday and Wednesday (9:00-10:30 and 2:00-3:30, both days) ONLINE only - go to https://bluejeans.com/4048941309 a few minutes before a session is scheduled to begin.
- Some schools have organized their own working groups to engage all faculty on the use of these and others tools.
- The institute also offers other training sessions in a variety of tools for remote instruction.
See: https://cos.gatech.edu/continuity
March 12, 2020 USG update
Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, all University System of Georgia institutions temporarily suspended instruction for two weeks to allow time for USG institutions to test their business continuity plans and online instruction modules and for state officials to continue to assess the current situation regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) in Georgia.
March 16, 2020 USG update
The University System of Georgia (USG) has decided that all 26 institutions will move to online instruction for all courses for the remainder of the semester with extremely limited exceptions.
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