Teaching During Unplanned Events

• Design an asynchronous activity that does not require power (e.g., assigning reading) and let students know what they are supposed to do if there is an outage.

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until power is restored.

• Consider whether your class can be taught in an outdoor location.

• Adjust your syllabus to account for the missed class time.

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until power is restored, such as by designing an activity that students can do on their own.

• If individual students are impacted, adjust deadlines and timelines appropriately.

• If many students are impacted, provide clear communication to the class about adjustments to the syllabus, requirements, etc.

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until power is restored, such as by designing an activity that students can do on their own.

• If you are able to access power on campus, work from your office on campus to make elements of your course asynchronous until power is restored. If you cannot teach from your office for some reason, or you do not have an office, consult with your department, college, or program manager about finding a conference room or other space on campus where you can teach your class.

• If you cannot access campus, or if campus is also without power, adjust your syllabus to account for the missed class time.

• Notify your supervisor (chair or college provost).

• Review how to quickly transitioning from teaching in-person to remote.

• Teaching synchronously: Schedule Zoom meetings in Canvas (text instructions or video walkthrough) to continue instruction remotely.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Make your class asynchronous until you can return to campus. For example, if you have an archive of recorded lectures for the course or if there is a lecture that would work well that is available freely on the internet, ask the students to watch the lecture and do an engagement exercise.

• If the learning outcomes for your course cannot be achieved while you are in quarantine or isolation (such as in some lab or studio courses), work with your department chair, college provost, or program chair to find a replacement instructor whom you can share your existing lecture notes with as needed. Alternatively, in some cases it may be appropriate for you to ask a Teaching Assistant in the course to step in for you, but you would want to adjust the hours to make sure the TA does not exceed their hours.

• Record your lectures with Lecture Capture or Zoom and give your quarantined students makeup work.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Share recorded lectures in YuJa with select students or the entire class.

• Consider allowing emergency remote attendance.

• Review how to quickly transitioning from teaching in-person to remote.

• Communicate with your students (use Canvas announcements, email or whichever channels are typically used in the class).

• Schedule Zoom meetings in Canvas (text instructions or video walkthrough) to continue synchronous instruction remotely.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until you can access campus.

• Review how to quickly transitioning from teaching in-person to remote.

• Communicate with your students (use Canvas announcements, email or whichever channels are typically used in the class).

• Schedule Zoom meetings in Canvas (text instructions or video walkthrough) to continue synchronous instruction remotely.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until you and all your students can access campus.

• Schedule Zoom meetings in Canvas (text instructions or video walkthrough) to continue synchronous instruction remotely.

• Record Zoom meetings to Zoom Cloud so the video is transferred automatically to YuJa and then share them with the class or students who were not able to attend.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Consider allowing emergency remote attendance until campus is accessible for all of your students.

• Make elements of your class asynchronous until campus is accessible for all of your students.

• Consult with your chair or college provost about whether your class can continue synchronously on Zoom, asynchronously, or if someone else should take over the class (especially if the course learning goals cannot be accommodated in a remote format).

• Review how to quickly transitioning from teaching in-person to remote.

• Communicate with your students (use Canvas announcements, email or whichever channels are typically used in the class).

• Teaching synchronously: Schedule Zoom meetings in Canvas (text instructions or video walkthrough) to continue instruction remotely.

• If recording Zoom meetings: record using Zoom Cloud so the video is transferred automatically to YuJa and then share them with the class.

• Use Canvas to collect homework or other assignments digitally (read "Utilizing Canvas" under Common Transitions below).

• Work with your Department or Program Chair or College Provost to find a replacement instructor with whom you can share your existing lecture notes as needed.

If you or your students are unable to access campus, synchronous class meetings on Zoom may be your best solution. Here are some things to consider:

• Be sure to ask students about their capacities and needs at the beginning of the quarter. (We have a survey template or you can make your own using Google Forms.)

• Some students may not have a reliable internet connection where they live.

• Some students may not be able to turn their cameras on for technical or personal reasons.

Resources

• See this document on going remote quickly: Transitioning From In-Person to Remote

• Scheduling Zoom meetings in Canvas text instructions or video walkthrough.

• Online Education can support you; email online@ucsc.edu for a consultation.

Canvas is a centralized place for students to access course materials. You may be using Canvas to some degree already or you may start using it more to make course materials available to students. Here’s how to upload PDFs, lecture files, or homework assignments to Canvas.

You can also use Canvas Assignments to have students submit work digitally. Students can submit papers, coding programs, or pictures of handwritten homework; many file types are supported (from .docx to .js to .jpg). You can download submissions or view and grade them directly within Canvas SpeedGrader (for certain file types).

Resources

• If you need help with Canvas, reach out to fitc@ucsc.edu or visit drop-in office hours (offered over Zoom).

• FITC Canvas FAQ

Emergency remote attendance in an in-person course is when a student(s), due to an emergency situation, attend(s) remotely while the majority of students attend in person.

Facilitating the inclusion of remote students in an in-person course can be challenging, but it may be the most appropriate option for an instructor to voluntarily allow due to an emergency. If you think this may be the right solution for your class, see this document on emergency remote attendance.

Support is available at online@ucsc.edu.

Asynchronous instruction includes any activity that students do on their own time (e.g., watching pre-recorded lectures, participating in a discussion forum). If you or your students need temporal flexibility, perhaps because they need to catch up after illness or a power outage, asynchronous may be the right solution. See this page on the differences between synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

If you would like help with asynchronous instruction, Online Education can support you. Email online@ucsc.edu for a consultation.

If you need another instructor to take over from you in a course, the first thing to do is to work with your department or program manager or college provost to identify an appropriate substitute. Setting that person up for success involves sharing as many of the course materials with them as you can, including lecture notes for any lectures they may give.

Take a moment, if possible, to alert your class that someone will be taking over from you for some or all remaining sections of your course. Ideally, introduce the person taking over from you to your students, and convey why they are a good choice to substitute for you.

If you work with a teaching team, including TAs, tutors, and other instructional support personnel, make sure you alert the teaching team to the change in instructor and introduce your colleague to the teaching team as soon as possible.

If the person taking over from you needs an orientation to any of the technologies associated with the course, encourage them to reach out to online@ucsc.edu to get oriented.

To give a colleague access to your Canvas course:

• Go to your course.

• Go to “People.”

• Click on “+People.”

• Enter your colleague’s UCSC email address, select “Guest Instructor” from the “Role” dropdown menu, and click “Next,” then “Add Users.”

Teaching outdoors might be right for the particular situation that you and your students are in. If you are thinking about teaching outdoors, consider the following:

• Outdoor spaces may not be accessible to students with disabilities or existing medical conditions. Invite students to communicate with you if an outdoor class or the location you have chosen presents a barrier to their participation in the class.

• Power outlets for laptops may not be available.

• The weather may change without warning.

• Sprinklers may engage at any moment.

• Lecture Capture is not available outdoors.

• Natural hazards like ticks, poison oak, and turkeys may be present.