Dear Colleagues,
Earlier this week Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency in response to new cases of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, directing all state agencies to use all resources necessary to prepare for and respond to the outbreak.
As such, WSU formally activated its system-wide Incident Command (ICS) team to respond to this rapidly evolving situation. ICS consists of staff from medical, public safety, campus operations, student and academic affairs, risk management, and other university offices from across the WSU system.
I know many of you have questions. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, look for regular updates from WSU and myself on matters that may affect your areas. Look for updates and FAQs on WSU’s response efforts to be posted on WSU’s COVID-19 website on a regular basis, and you can always send your questions and suggestions to WSU’s dedicated COVID-19 email COVID-19.info@wsu.edu.
Voiland College is working with ICS and WSU leadership on a daily basis to identify potential challenges caused by COVID-19 and develop contingency response plans to address them.
One such potential challenge is how to provide effective teaching in a safe environment.
Starting today, WSU is offering daily Panopto trainings for faculty and staff. AOI is scheduling face-to-face and virtual Panopto trainings three (3) times daily beginning Thursday March 5th through March 13th (excluding Saturday and Sunday). You can learn to create a Panopto recording and upload it to your Blackboard course space, embed a YouTube video and add a quiz to your Panopto video.
Training is scheduled for 8:00 am, 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm daily. You can either attend in person or join via zoom.
Many of you may have also seen WSU Provost Slinker’s email highlighting all of the digital teaching resources that are available to WSU faculty. I understand that some of you are comfortable using these resources and others not so much. To support our college’s digital teaching efforts by all faculty, we are developing additional training opportunities for VCEA staff/faculty to learn how to utilize these tools, as well as identifying peer mentors within your unit who can further provide staff and faculty with ongoing assistance. Look for more information on these opportunities as they develop.
We know that teaching lecture courses via asynchronous on-line delivery may be accomplished using these digital tools. Non-lecture course delivery may require additional thought and effort. If you’re teaching a laboratory or other hands-on class, I ask you to discuss options with your unit leader and with any other faculty teaching additional sections of the same or similar classes.
If you have any questions specific to Voiland College’s response, feel free to contact me, Brett Stav, Voiland College’s COVID-19 communications liaison, or your unit leader.
Sincerely,
Mary Rezac (she/her/hers)
Dean, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Washington State University
Email: mary.rezac@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-5593
Twitter: @VCEA_Dean
vcea.wsu.edu