Faculty Resources for
Continuity of Instruction
There are many unforeseen situations that can arise that impact our ability to deliver instruction through established methods. These situations have the potential to disrupt the normal flow of education, whether through short-term interruptions to a single class or longer-term disruptions lasting days or weeks.The following resources are provided to help assist faculty in the continuation of delivery of instruction under a variety of circumstances.
The DePeters Family Center staff are happy to meet with you to discuss ideas for your specific course. Email cite@sjf.edu to schedule a 1-1 meeting.
Foundational Strategies
These foundational strategies can be used regardless of the circumstance. This includes having a high-level plan before the semester starts, posting your syllabus in Brightspace from the start of the semester, communicating to students when a continuity of instruction situation arises, and being flexible when you can during the situation.
Have a High-level Plan Before the Semester
It is helpful to have a plan for possible continuity of instruction situations before you need them. You may not need detailed plans of every possible situation, but high-level plans or ideas can help you adjust faster and give you peace of mind.
Think about things such as:
- Alternative contact methods (how you and your students will communicate with each other).
- Ensure students know where to look for updates.
- How class meeting times and locations might change.
- How students will interact with course materials and submit activities.
- How you will share feedback/grades and return student work.
- Store critical course material in more than one location (Brightspace, OneDrive, Google Drive).
You can make a copy or download the Technology Continuity Backup Plan.
Include a statement in your syllabus so your students are aware of the key points of your plan. Post your syllabus in Brightspace before the start of the semester.
Communicate and Be Flexible During the Situation
Communicate to Students During the Situation
For any type of continuity of instruction situation, it is important to communicate to students. Be transparent with what is happening and what you plan to do now.
Use Fisher-supported channels such as email, Brightspace announcements, FisherLink, and/or Zoom Chat.
Encourage students to schedule time to meet with you using FisherLink or Microsoft Bookings.
Be Flexible Where You Can During the Situation
Continuity of instruction situations are extenuating circumstances. Determine if there are places you can shift deadlines, change what content is delivered when, and adjust activities while meeting the same learning objectives.
Preparing to Transition a Course Online
There are four key activities that faculty should do to be prepared to transition online in a short time frame. These include posting content within Brightspace for students to access, facilitating discussion through the Discussion Board, creating assignments to collect and grade student work, and holding live class sessions using Zoom.
Posting Content in Brightspace
More information on posting content can be found in DePeters CITE Documentation.
Using the Brightspace Discussion Board
More information on discussion boards can be found in DePeters CITE Documentation.
Holding Class Through Zoom
Faculty have access to Zoom from within their Brightspace course(s). You also access Zoom via the launchpad: my.sjf.edu/launchpad
Zoom can be used to hold live classes online with the use of a web camera and headphones (optional) in order to hear and see participants during a meeting.
Zoom Documentation
Teaching During a Technology Outage
Depending on the duration of the outage and what technology is still available, you have many options at Fisher to continue teaching during a technology outage. Focus on maintaining learning objectives rather than repeat the entire class session.
If you need technology support, contact the OIT Service Desk.
View Roster & Grades in Fish R Net
To obtain student email addresses for continuity communications, copy your class roster from Fish'R'Net. Depending on the timing of the outage, you can also access midterm grades in Fish'R'Net.