Faculty Updates

From Provost - March 19, 2020

March 19, 2020

Dear faculty,

I just re-opened the March 2020 Newsletter that I had begun writing on March 11. It immediately became apparent that nearly everything I had planned to say is now irrelevant or outdated, as our lives have changed so drastically these past 2 weeks. I want to thank each of you for the way you have adjusted to our new reality and responded with such grace and flexibility. Your response to all the abrupt changes, additional work and care for students has been extraordinary. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for demonstrating such admirable character and grace this past week and a half. These are truly unprecedented times and I’m so impressed by your adaptability under the circumstances we have been facing.

Before I get into some of the information to address practical logistics, I wanted to recommend a couple of resources that have been meaningful and helpful to me. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read Andy Crouch’s article Love in the Time of Coronavirus, it is one of the best perspectives I’ve read since the pandemic became a reality. I also appreciated Brett McCracken’s recommendations for uplifting entertainment options while we are spending much more time self-isolating at home. And, finally, if you haven’t already seen this video which is making the rounds, I think you’ll enjoy a creative history professor expressing what it feels like to suddenly move to teaching online. Hopefully, it provides you with a moment of comic relief because as Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” (NLT)

Now, to try to address some of the more practical issues you may be facing.

Teaching course content remotely

When President Corey and the Cabinet made the decision last week to move to remote delivery of courses, we knew that for faculty who either had not taught in an online teaching environment or utilized the Canvas Learning Management platform, this would entail a steep learning curve. I cannot speak highly enough of our Digital Learning Team under the leadership of Susan Ishii, Chief Educational Technology Officer and how quickly they have responded with both online and in-person training opportunities, as well as a variety of excellent resources. We have communicated with students that they should expect to hear from their professors by Friday, March 20 with instructions for how remote delivery of their course(s) will be handled. We are asking faculty — both full-time and adjunct — to activate the course template designed for each of your classes in the Canvas system and at the very minimum, upload your syllabus and course instructions for students’ reference. It is essential that every faculty member turn on the course in Canvas in order to keep track of the courses taught remotely. In addition, Digital Learning recommends that faculty use Canvas to communicate with students about their courses since that is the learning management system of record for the university and students are familiar with it. Canvas provides a simple means of making announcements and providing updates to students which I know you’ll find useful for the rest of the semester.

If you have determined an effective way to deliver your course content that will NOT utilize Canvas, please communicate your plans to both your Dean and to Susan Ishii, so that we will have accurate information to provide to students. There is an expectation that faculty will utilize Canvas, however, we realize that as the semester progresses, some faculty might rather use an alternative format for some course presentations (such as WebEx). We want to provide some flexibility during this season, so if you choose to use another platform please consult with the Digital Learning Team first.

Update on working remotely

With the difficult decision to close our campus and request that faculty and staff work remotely to the degree possible, a few questions have arisen about which I’d like to provide further clarification. The CAD and I met virtually with Paula Victor this morning to discuss the issue of faculty who are experiencing problems working from home and have requested being able to come work in their office. Our primary commitment to our students is that we will deliver the BEST educational experience possible under these challenging circumstances. The three primary reasons that faculty have requested to teach from their office location:

1. Internet bandwidth is not sufficient to deliver content effectively
2. Young children in close quarters makes it nearly impossible to focus on course delivery
3. Materials or resources that need to be accessed from a campus office

If any of these apply to you and you’d like to secure permission to work on campus, please email your dean with a brief explanation of why you need this accommodation and what days and hours you anticipate needing to be on campus. Additionally, if you should find that you need any of these accommodations in the weeks to come as you strive to make your teaching as effective as possible, you may request that in email to your dean at any point in time. Because we have been advised to demonstrate and even document ways that we are attempting to maintain the high quality standards of our course content and methods throughout this unusual season, we would appreciate it if you could make a note in your files of any accommodations you have requested to ensure academic quality. Thank you.

Also, please be aware that beginning Monday, March 23, the campus will be closed to the public. Campus Safety has posted information regarding tighter restrictions on access to campus itself, buildings on campus and other areas on MyBiola. [link requires login]

Faculty Senate updates

I want to commend our Faculty Senate, particularly Senate Chair Christina Lee Kim, for the outstanding job being done to provide you with cascading communication, resources, and answers to questions during this time of abrupt transitions. This morning, you should have received an email directing you to two great resources: Matthew Weathers' teaching remotely site and a collection of FAQs and additional resources [see email for link] on remote learning. Continue to watch for Faculty Senate updates as well as more regular communication from the Office of the Provost to support you during the remainder of our spring semester.

In addition, Campus Pastor Todd Pickett and Director of the Center for the Holy Spirit Oscar Merlo have and will be sharing weekly prayers for our community on the COVID-19 website.

Finally, President Corey filmed a special video message for faculty sharing his thoughts during this time and a outlook on fall enrollment as encouragement that even though we are in a health crisis Biola is in a good place, financially. [see email for link to unlisted video]

Thank you, faculty, for your flexibility and remarkable resilience. I am grateful for each one of you and the way you are rising to meet the challenges ahead.

Praying for you daily,

Deborah

From Faculty Senate - March 19, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Susan Ishii and the Distance Learning (DL) team want to remind you that they are here to support. Please do not hesitate to reach out to them (their contact info is on the link below). They are even able to help build out your first week if you need that level of support. They are an amazing resource, so please do not wait to reach out to them if you need help.

DL has recently added some resources on Matthew Weathers' teaching remotely site (info on WebEx, Zoom, Big Blue Button): https://sites.google.com/a/biola.edu/canvas/instructions/resources/teaching-a-class-session-online

Jeremy Labosier (Library) has also provided some additional library resources on the faculty shared google doc: [see email for link to Google Doc]

Praying that your preparations are going well and that you and your loved ones remain healthy during this time,

Christina

-For Senate Leadership

From Faculty Senate - March 17, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Cascading Communication (CC) is usually sent out by Senators; however, in order to ensure that everyone is receiving the full communication at the same time, Senate Leadership is sending out the CC from yesterday's meeting.

CC from 3/17/20 Senate meeting:

1. Thank you to those who participated in the meeting this morning, whether in-person or via livestream. For those who could not join us, we recorded the session. You can watch it here: [see email for link to unlisted video]

2. At the end of this morning's meeting, we mentioned that a google doc would be shared with our faculty so that faculty could have access to the question/answer time from today's meeting AND so that faculty could ask additional questions and respond to others' questions. Here is the link to that doc: [see email for link to Google Doc]

The first two items on the doc are: 1) a link to the slides from this morning's meetings and 2) a link to Matthew Weathers' website on temporarily teaching remotely, which has lots of resources!

As there are several hundred faculty who have access to this doc, please be mindful not to "overwhelm" it with information that is not directly relevant to remote teaching here at Biola. Also, if you do add a question or response, please leave your name in parentheses so that folks will know who they can follow up with.

3. Andrew Yee in the office of Digital Learning wanted us to know that faculty can sign up for multiple faculty workshops. To sign up, go to: https://canvas.biola.edu/courses/40335 and scroll down to "Other Training Opportunities." The form should accept multiple submissions, so we can just go back in and register a second time. His office is prepared to add sessions later in the week if needed. Feel free to email remote.instruction@biola.edu or call x4503 if the link to the workshops is not working.

4. Digital Learning is also producing resources for faculty to know how to shepherd their students during this transition. They will be available by the end of the week.

Christina, Donell, & Luke,

-For Senate Leadership

From Provost's Office - March 14, 2020

March 14, 2020

Dear full-time and adjunct faculty,

I want to express my gratitude to so many of you who responded with such grace and adaptability to my previous email regarding the difficult decision to transition to remote delivery formats. Although we are all reeling from the almost dystopian nature of what we are experiencing in our world right now, I have truly seen the very best of Christian character in the way our faculty are supporting one another and our students.

You should have received an email invitation yesterday from Faculty Senate Chair, Christina Lee Kim inviting you to a meeting on Monday, March 16 at 9 a.m. in Andrews Banquet Room. We will also be live streaming this meeting for those who would prefer to participate remotely. You can watch online here [see email for link to unlisted video]. This meeting is for ALL full time and adjunct faculty who have questions and concerns as you are transitioning your courses to remote instruction for the remainder of the semester.

If you’ve already taken the online training provided in TEOL011, that is an excellent start to the week. However, our Digital Learning team recognizes that you may still have questions or would like some additional coaching, so the Faculty Senate, Digital Learning and my office are partnering to make the following resources available to you:

First, Digital Learning is offering live online and in-person workshops throughout the week that you can attend to get some extra organizational support. You can refer to the schedule below to plan your time of attendance.

• Monday, March 16 - 9:00-10:30 a.m. (in-person Faculty Senate meeting in Andrews Banquet Room)
• Monday, March 16, 1:30-2:30 p.m. (online)
• Tuesday, March 17, 1:30-2:30 p.m. (online)
• Wednesday, March 18, 9:30-10:30 a.m. (online)
• Wednesday, March 18, 1:30-2:30 p.m. (in-person)
• Thursday, March 19, 1:30-2:30 p.m. (online)
• Friday, March 20, 9:30-10:30 a.m. (in-person)

Please RSVP for the session of your choice using this Google form.

Second, Digital Learning has also created a simple course template for Canvas that you can use to organize the rest of your semester in a simple, straightforward way. Please download the attached course export file and upload it to your Canvas course(s) prior to attending any of these workshops as it will be an easier reference point when discussing adding content to your course. Follow these linked instructions for uploading the course template.

We also want to provide the following clarification on resources available.

Please email or call the IT Helpdesk at it.helpdesk@biola.edu or (562) 903-4740 for basic questions related to:

• logging on to Canvas,
• accessing your class, or
• setting up web conferencing

The Helpdesk will answer your question or direct it to the appropriate person.

Please contact Digital Learning at remote.instruction@biola.edu for any questions related to:

• Course content (e.g. assignments, tests, etc.)
• Course organization

For the latest documentation on how to transition to remote instruction, please visit the website for Teaching Class Sessions Online Temporarily.

I hope this additional information helps alleviate some of your concerns and questions and that your remaining questions will be answered at Monday morning’s meeting or the Digital Learning sessions throughout the week.

Again, my profound gratitude for the many kind emails and supportive texts, the assurance of your prayers, and your incredible flexibility during this unexpected season.

Sincerely yours,

Deborah