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Remote Teaching Information

March 10, 2020
Dear CALS Faculty Members and Teaching Assistants,

We are in a highly unusual circumstance in needing to provide remote instruction after spring break. The Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) website (https://teaching.cornell.edu/) has important information as to how to provide your classes in this type of format. We strongly encourage you to view this website and take advantage of one or more of the webinars that CTI is offering.

Remote Learning

In addition, CALS-OIT is available to assist you in setting up the technology for you to conduct your classes remotely. If you use Zoom (accessible within Canvas), Skype, or some other platform to offer the rest of your classes synchronously (real-time/live), keep in mind that your students are in various time zones. Therefore, we recommend that you also record your classes so that students can access them on their own time. A university survey will be sent to all students to ask about their constraints in accessing remote instruction. We highly recommend that you try the remote format a few days before spring break so that you have time to correct any problems before instruction resumes on April 6.

If you plan on delivering live lectures, you will receive the highest level of support from CALS-OIT if you broadcast from the CALS classroom that you have been using all semester. CALS-OIT’s knowledge of classroom infrastructure, as well as our current support structure, is best suited for supporting CALS classroom technologies. If you require Zoom technical support outside a CALS classroom please contact us and we’ll do our best to support your needs as effectively as possible.

Continuation of Courses

For lab or field-based courses, please be creative about alternative ways to fulfill learning goals. You should not assume that instruction will end after spring break. Remember that universities across the country are experiencing the same challenges; as a result, there are a lot of great discipline-based ideas available online that could be helpful. For example, some of you are planning to take videos in the field to make available to students in field-based courses. We encourage faculty to brainstorm with department colleagues. If, even after these steps, you conclude that you will be unable to deliver any instruction of value, then please let Don Viands, drv3 [at] cornell.edu (drv3[at]cornell[dot]edu) know; he will need to inform Lisa Nishii, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Sue Merkel, Associate Director of Academic Programs, will lead two discussions about how to offer lab classes remotely. See her announcement immediately below.

Teaching Labs Remotely 

Laboratory classes are arguably some of the most challenging classes to teach remotely. There are strategies and resources available to support remote labs in every field. An important strategy is to revisit your overall goals and learning outcomes and determine your priorities for the remainder of the course. And while students will likely not be able to practice physical skills, they can still design experiments and interpret data. In Sue Merkel’s workshops, we will talk about these and other approaches to teaching laboratory classes remotely. 

Workshop dates:
Tuesday, March 17, 4:00-5:00 p.m. in 170 Roberts Hall
 Wednesday, March 18, 3:30-4:30 p.m. in 105 Kennedy Hall

Please bring your own ideas and a computer so you can look for remote resources for your course.

Substantive Contact

Questions have arisen about what “substantive contact” means in the message from the University. To provide this, instructors must communicate either individually or collectively on a regular basis; use email to provide instructional materials; use chat features and conference calls as needed to directly communicate; engage in email exchanges; and require students to submit work electronically for the instructor to evaluate. More information can be found here. Contact can be managed through discussion boards. Instructors and TAs should make available virtual office hours for student questions. It is also important to document these communications and any significant changes to course content.

Course Syllabi

Course syllabi should be revised to reflect revisions in course content and expectations. Be sure to include an explanation of how remote instruction will be done, as well as how students can contact instructors and TAs. Virtual office hours also should be mentioned.

Exams

Prelims and final exams will need to be conducted remotely or as take-home exams. Students will have to be on an honor system when they take the exams because we do not have a mechanism to involve proctors.

Undergraduate Research

There are a lot of questions regarding undergraduate research and whether it can continue on campus beyond spring break. These issues are currently still under review and we expect to share more details with you by this weekend. 

Advising

After the break, advising will need to be done remotely. Please keep in contact with your advisees. We encourage you to meet with them before break.

Undergraduate Admissions

The traditional visitation programs for students have been canceled for this spring. Please do not accommodate special visits for students who request a visit to your department. Contacts from potential students or their families should be directed to the CALS Admissions Office at cals_admissions [at] cornell.edu (cals_admissions[at]cornell[dot]edu).

Please let us know if you have questions or need help. Thanks for the extra efforts that you will be doing to provide instruction and advising during the rest of this semester. And please do whatever you can to remain healthy.

 

Chris Hufnagel
Director, CALS Office of Information Technology

Don Viands
Associate Dean and Director of Academic Programs