[VPAAEtal] Academic Affairs Weekly Update 8-21-20

[Academic Affairs]

Academic Affairs Fall COVID Update
August 21, 2020

Updates are based on the latest, best information.

Monday, we start the semester.  Thanks to all for your hard work and patience.  The University will need all we can give in the coming weeks.  Developments since last week are below.  A final update will come at the close of next week.


*         EOC teams have mostly completed labeling classroom seats for use.   "Please sit here" stickers will denote seats for students to use. All others should be left empty.  The primary designated classrooms should be done by Monday.  A number of labs and smaller places are still being outfitted.  In addition, new signs have been placed on classrooms to indicate capacity.   Do not exceed your COVID capacity.

*         If current section size exceeds the COVID capacity of its assigned classroom communicate a plan for instruction to students if you've not already done so.  Remember many of our students register late.  Monitor enrollments, adjust as needed.  It is important for all of us to be flexible the first week.

*         OAT continues to offer training to help with course preparation for Fall.  Next week will feature help with D2L gradebook setup, accessibility for PDFs and captioning for video, Zoom use, and use of YourSeeU Virtual Classroom.  Register through the DevelopU page<http://appsprod.tamuc.edu/td/coursecalendar.aspx> .

*         Jared Pickens's presentation on using Zoom to manage a course with folks learning in person and online is still available for viewing.  You can view that at this link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tamuc.zoom.us_rec_share_9-2DsuDoDK8WVOSJ301XPESpYPPqbqX6a81Ccc86EKnk-2DTfq8nrK78MyX59OsImABu&d=DwIFAg&c=oqyuZuih6ykib6aKiBq22_bich4AVfYGoLertJN0bEc&r=ipRgm7MFqxEwm4jXxXA7TfceI2KGyDX4I4OYfUR5x68&m=NtXpXTpHtinuIo2Unt3gT7evC6ASK_D0kcZB7eyJWbY&s=OL3gmRgp5S2M9uOm97r4fLHWhl5Ve3Dcvdx9UByRN4Q&e=  .

*         COB, COSE and COEHS will be allocated Proctorio use slots for the fall.  Proctoring use in each college must be approved by the dean, and a limited amount of slots are available for prioritized needs.  The University established guidelines for Proctorio use, and faculty must train to use the tool.  Expect further instruction/news from your dean.

*         Instructional technology upgrades continue across campus per CITE.  The scale of upgrades and their spread across campus means it may take into next week to complete that process.  Mr. Jeremy Gamez, Interim CIO sent a summary of available tech, as well as instructions for classroom use Wednesday over the VPAA list serve.  That document is attached to this update.

*         Faculty must take roll for in-person class meetings.  This will serve our contact tracing effort and help keep the University community safe.  Each week you will receive an email asking you to report on your B, E and L sections only.  The email will contain a link.  Track attendance across the week, when the email comes, click the link and report.  More details will come next week.  Those reports go straight to our Success Teams who will reach out to students.  Feel free to reach out yourself.  It can't hurt.

*         If you are teaching all or mostly online, please do not forget to contact your students who are inactive or miss assignments.

*         The University system of contact tracing and daily metrics used to guide future decisions about adjustment of campus operations were announced by President Rudin via email Wednesday and Thursday.  The specific monitoring metrics for those considerations are attached in case you missed it.

*         Faculty with face-to-face teaching responsibilities may request face shields through their deans' offices.  The face shield can allow someone lecturing to remove their mask for better voice projection during class.  Request these ONLY if you have face-to-face responsibilities.  These are manufactured in-house, but we are also helping our neighbors-- businesses and schools to protect their employees.

*         This semester faculty, staff, and students will be surveyed at least twice during the course of the semester.  Why?  To help administration make better decisions and midterm corrections as needed.  The daily situation is fluid, and our response needs to be fluid.  The first such survey will go out the second week of class.  The whole campus community will need support in the coming weeks, these surveys will help us do a better job for students and each other.

*         All room changes and any modality changes that result in more face-to-face or blended sections must be approved through the VPAA's office.  Do not unilaterally change from assigned rooms.
We confront the paradox of planning in the face of great uncertainty.  Hard work could be overturned overnight.  And, yet, we plan anyway.  We plan and advance into uncertainty because our mission is to bring our students and ourselves through to a better day.

If you have specific questions, please feel free to email Ricky.Dobbs at tamuc.edu<mailto:Ricky.Dobbs at tamuc.edu> .

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