Preparation

Create a Plan! While it is impossible to predict circumstances that might affect normal class schedules, there are a number of steps, ranging from simple to complex, that faculty can take to prepare themselves and their students for possible interruptions.

Waiting for an emergency to happen before adopting the necessary tools and strategies can make a stressful and/or chaotic emergency even worse. Since you’re preparing your course anyway, before you do that prep you always do, follow these steps to help you to switch seamlessly to an online-only medium:

This checklist is meant to address issues that may arise in the event of university closure or widespread or prolonged absences. You may also want to consider how these suggestions could be adapted for single absences (such as one student’s prolonged absence due to illness or your absence for a conference or due to illness).

Issues to Address	Possible Solutions
Working from home? Make sure you have access to the following resources: Accessing voicemail Accessing Gmail Accessing your network shared drive via VPN Accessing Library resources	Voice Mail Email VPN SCU Library
Establish a mode of communication to use in case of an emergency. Include a communication strategy in your syllabus in case classes are cancelled. Tell your students where to find course information and how they can contact you. For example, “In case of an unexpected university closure, please check Camino for announcements regarding this course’s instructional continuity. I will post announcements about changes to content, due dates, and assignments as soon as possible after the university shut down.”	Email Camino (Canvas LMS)
Post your syllabus in Camino under the Syllabus tab or email your syllabus to your students.	Email Camino (Canvas LMS)
Publish your Camino course and use some basic features such as: Add course materials, e.g., link to course reserves, upload PDFs, etc. Create class-wide announcements Enable online submissions using the Assignments feature.	Camino (Canvas LMS)
Have a strategy for necessary changes and modification to your schedule or syllabus. Talk with colleagues within your department or program to see how others will adapt for emergency closures.
Decide how you will distribute documents and readings during a disruption. Use the library's electronic resources to find digital versions of articles, books, and readings to share in Camino. Subject Librarians are available to help select and link materials from the University Library. Collaborate with students or colleagues on Google Drive apps such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides Back up essential course instructional materials or convert them so they can be shared digitally Become familiar with the process of making PDFs from hard copies and convert hard copy readings to PDF when applicable Find data sets or other digital materials so students can conduct labs or other hands-on experiments remotely Choose movies available on Kanopy so there is an online version of videos you want to show students	Email Library Electronic Course Reserves Subject Librarians Library Databases Library Homepage- OneSearch Google Drive
Designate a centralized place to collect student submissions. Use the assignments feature on Camino or create a shared folder on Google Drive to accept student submissions online.	Camino (Canvas LMS) Google Drive
Think about how you would encourage participation in class discussion in the event of a disruption. Encourage all students to try the Zoom web conferencing tool during the first few weeks of class so that you are prepared for using features such as polling and breakout rooms Use VoiceThread to create presentations or slides for students to add multimedia content to Have students respond to a discussion prompt on Camino to take discussion outside of the classroom	Canvas Discussions VoiceThread Zoom
Consider capturing portions of your lecture content for students to watch remotely. Become familiar with one of SCU's supported tools (e.g., narrated Google Slides, VoiceThread, Zoom, Panopto Desktop) for creating online content. Record lectures using Learning Glass and share them on Camino	Panopto Google Slides VoiceThread Zoom
Identify an option for holding class and/or office hours virtually. Familiarize yourself with Zoom for web conferencing	Zoom Canvas Conferences
Think about how your methods for evaluating student learning could be moved to a digital space.	Canvas Quizzes Google Forms Qualtrics surveys
Settle on an option for providing students with grades and feedback on their work in the event of an emergency.	Email Camino (Canvas LMS)
Shared handwriting	IPEVO VZ-R document camera (Media Services has a limited amount of equipment for checkout) iPad + Notability/GoodNotes + Apple Pencil/Logitech Crayon (Media Services does not have equipment for checkout, but can provide training)

Related Sites