Dear colleagues,

We’ve received a number of notes from faculty yesterday and today expressing their pleasant surprise at how well their initial forays into remote instruction are going. I hope that’s true for most of you, and if it’s not, please don’t hesitate to reach out for support. See below for the latest updates from the CTE, CDIL, and ITS teams.

Wishing you time to rest and recharge this weekend,

Stacy Grooters
 

Next Week’s Drop-In Sessions

CTE and CDIL are continuing to offer drop-in training sessions next week, with new offerings on Collaborative Reading and Writing, Google Meet for Office Hours, and Pedagogical Questions related to remote instruction. Find the full schedule on our COVID-19 Preparations page.
 

Assessment Strategies for Remote Instruction

The most frequent questions we’re hearing from instructors have to do with how to adjust assessment approaches to the remote context, since it can be difficult to imagine translating the typical closed book, in-class quiz or exam to an online format. Luckily, our colleagues in CDIL have put together a brief resource that walks you through some various ways to approach remote assessment. Plus we’ve got two drop-in sessions planned for next week on “Assignments and Grading” and “Alternative Assessments.”

Discipline-Specific Resources

As part of the general Emergency Remote Instruction resources we’ve been developing, we’re also compiling discipline-specific resources, with a particular emphasis on the needs of STEM courses and those with an arts focus. If you know of other resources to include, please pass those along so we can add to what’s here.

Student Access from Abroad

We’ve received a number of questions from instructors concerned about students’ access to digital tools from outside the U.S., especially for those students in China. ITS is monitoring the situation and believes students should be able to access all instructional platforms via the BC VPN. If you know of students having access issues, please direct them to contact the Technology Help Center.

Starting Zoom Sessions Within Canvas

For faculty members who have requested Zoom licenses over the last ten days or so, we’ve worked hard to put a link to your personal meeting room into the sidebar of all of your published Canvas sites. The easiest way to start a synchronous class session is to direct students to click on this link and do the same yourself. You don’t need to send invitations to students as long as the Zoom link is available in the sidebar of your Canvas course. If you don’t see a Zoom link in the sidebar of your published Canvas courses and would like to see it there, please contact canvas@bc.edu so we can add it.

Scheduling Synchronous Class Sessions

For those of you holding synchronous class meetings, please do schedule those during your regular class time, so we can avoid scheduling conflicts. And if you’d like suggestions for how to incorporate asynchronous elements into your course, our Student Engagement resource might be of use.

Opportunities for Informal Connection

Starting later next week, the CTE is planning to start organizing some informal opportunities for instructors to connect over zoom and share how things are going. If you’d be interested in hosting one of these discussions for your colleagues, let us know, and we’ll be in touch with further details.