Dear Colleagues:
I hope many of you have taken advantage of the VCEA Transitioning to Online Training as you prepare for distance delivery of your courses. As a reminder, there will be a session on Thursday, March 19, 3-5 PM.
As you prepare for this transition, please also consider any changes needed to your course policies that were set at the beginning of the term. The syllabus document provided to students at the beginning of the semester is nominally a contract between the students and the faculty member.
In light of the current COVID-19 situation and the University transitioning to a distance delivery of classes, please carefully consider what changes, if any, are required to your course policies, including assessment of student work and assignment of course grades. If you need to make changes, prepare a new syllabus that includes your new policies, assessment and grading scheme, and any other significant changes. Please ensure the changes are directly related to this transition to a distance delivery, taking into account learning objectives, class size, location, and accessibility.
Distribute the new syllabus to your class before March 23 and discuss it in the first class during the week of March 23.
Some textbook publishers are offering free access to some of their online resources (videos, auto-scored assessments, webinars). I have collected details regarding this in the attached document. I will update the document if I know of more resources. Feel free to share with me anything else that is available.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has published a collection of articles in a document “Moving Online Now.” You can request a free copy online or send me an email for a copy.
Look for updates on WSU’s response efforts at WSU’s COVID-19 website on a regular basis, and you can always send your questions to WSU’s dedicated COVID-19 email.
Regards,
K. Sivakumar
Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Washington State University
Email: siva@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-4969