This website provides resources for Occidental College faculty members on options to enable continuation of teaching and learning in the event classroom instruction is interrupted for any period of time.
Extended closures and course cancellations can occur for a variety of reasons: inclement weather, widespread illness, family emergencies, unexpected events, and even business travel. It’s important that faculty are prepared to adapt instruction as necessary to address the challenges of continuing course work in the event that meeting face-to-face with students becomes impossible. Items to think about include how to ensure smooth communication with students about alternate assignments, make up class dates, and the conversion of some activities in the course to online activities.
Having a clear communication plan for your students is essential to maintaining continuity for your class, and can be shared in the course syllabus. How will you contact students? How should they contact you? Where should students go to find out information about changes to your class? What will be expected of them in the event of a prolonged college closure?
Plan now and adopt tools that will allow you to teach remotely to reduce stress if such a need arises. This website includes resources that will help you prepare by:
- Having electronic copies of handouts or course reading readily available
- Setting up additional instructional materials in Canvas
- Creating at least one piece of online course content and uploading it to Canvas
- Having alternate media assignments at the ready