As faculty and staff share what is working for you, we will collect the information here, so that you can return to easily find them. At the end of each is the name of the person, linked to start an email if you have a question for them.
If you would like to share something, send it to Karen Bystrom by email.
Philosophy: we put together a Canvas group ("Philosophy Teachers") where we can share discipline specific resources for online teaching as well as some general tips (e.g. how to structure successful discussion boards on Canvas). We're planning to add video lectures that people are willing to share -- this could help with UCOR 2500 and 2900 classes where there's some overlap in material covered. Otherwise, we've just done similar things that other departments have been doing -- I organized a couple of Zoom workshops, one on how we are going to approach the Philosophy classes and a second on Core teaching specifically. Everyone teaching a Philosophy class in spring attended the first and we had 15 colleagues at the second. Maria Carl
Matteo Ricci: We are having two types of faculty/staff meetings in the spring: 1) the normal faculty/staff meetings where we discuss business & 2) faculty/staff meetings that focus exclusively on distance learning. We decided to make this distinction because oftentimes our part-time faculty don't want to attend business meetings (understandably), but we do want to hear about their experiences in distance learning. Ben Howe
Performing Arts and Arts Leadership: to support faculty, we are sharing tips about teaching online. For departments with more than one program, recommend checking in with program specific faculty to find out their particular issues/needs. Virtual cocktail hours – both one on one and in groups. I’m available! Rosa Joshi
Matteo Ricci: All of our faculty have been emailing their students over the break and fielding a variety of questions about spring quarter. Often, faculty don't have definitive answers to the students' questions. For example, a few of our faculty are still figuring out the precise number of synchronous classes they'll be offering. But all of the students have expressed their appreciation that we're communicating with them. Over and over again, the one comment that I hear from our students is that we need to communicate with them, even when we don't have an answer. Also, our advisers have contacted each advisee personally, just to double-check that they are ready for spring quarter.
As the director, I've also been reaching out to our majors through formal channels (several emails) and informal channels. I have emphasized repeatedly that students should contact me if they have any concerns, questions, or even complaints. So far, I've had at least ten zoom calls or phone calls with Matteo Ricci majors, and I know that they're sharing these conversations with their friends. I don't think that our students expect spring quarter's distance learning to be perfect, but they are expecting professors and advisers to be available and willing to chat about their concerns both in and outside of the classroom. Ben Howe.
Performing Arts and Arts Leadership: I haven’t done this yet, but thinking of finding some way for them to connect socially over their major. In my field, it would be maybe reading plays together out loud over zoom. Ways to help them hold onto their SU community of majors. Rosa Joshi
Filmatique: Streaming Film Service, April 3-10, offering a 7 Day Free festival, with wonderful films from around the world. Kirsten Thompson
Film Resources for Arts and Sciences: Download a list of resources with links. Kristen Thompson.