Below is some important information to guide you and your fellow faculty and staff members as the university moves to in-person and hybrid classes on Tuesday, September 8.

Transition to Hybrid and In-Person
Faculty with in-person or hybrid classes should be ready to transition from the online startup to fully in-person or hybrid on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. This is the university’s current plan, and additional time in all-online mode will only occur by announcement from the provost’s office if COVID-19 cases rise or state or city public health officials so direct.

Additional Training
The Center for Learning Innovation (CLI) is offering additional in-room new technology training this week, available for signup on the Classes/Workshops page:

Information about rooms is available here. CLI resources also include links to videos of prior training sessions.

Classroom Supplies
Faculty who need them will be supplied with their own whiteboard markers, to avoid the need to share these supplies. These are available in the COVID-19 store and need to be ordered by each department through the HawkWorks COVID-19 Channel. In order to get to HawkWorks, the faculty (or designated staff member) will have to be logged in to their portal. To access the page, click the HawkWorks icon in the square waffle menu in the top right. The order must then go through the “COVID-19 Related Requests” channel. If this is not showing when you get into HawkWorks, you can add the channel by going to the settings gadget in the top right and adding it. Once in the channel, you should select “COVID-19 Related Protective Product Store” then “COVID Other” to find the marker sets.

Once added to the cart and checked out, the supplies should be ready for pickup at the physical COVID-19 Store, which is housed in the southeast corner of Hermann Hall in the old Talon’s space east of Events Services. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 a.m.–noon and Tuesday and Thursday from noon–4 p.m. In order to maintain social distancing, departments are asked to tabulate and coordinate requests, to have one or two people pick up that unit’s order, and to distribute the supplies within the department.

Faculty are also asked to report any issues with classrooms, such as being out of sanitizing spray or cleaning concerns, through the HawkWorks system.

Exam Space Booking System
A bookable exam space will be available for classes that require in-person, proctored exams. Faculty are encouraged to use online assessments as much as possible, especially in online classes. CLI has developed several resources to help faculty implement online assessments . For hybrid and in-person classes, socially distant rooms are generally great exam rooms and should be utilized first; such rooms can be used to their authorized capacity. However, for hybrid classes and some online classes, extra exam space may be required. Proctoring will very likely NOT be available in this country this semester, although it may be available internationally. As such, a separate on-campus exam facility is being developed for this and may be booked using this form . We have one large, 49-capacity (the IBHE maximum allowed) room and a few other smaller rooms, as described in the form. However, this space is at a premium this semester, so the following guidelines apply:

It is also imperative that faculty communicate any requirement for in-person exams to all of their students immediately, so that students who wish to participate in classes electronically can assess whether or not they can commit to the course. Faculty are encouraged to engage with students as soon and as frequently as possible to make this arrangement work. In cases where in-person exams are deemed crucial, but students cannot commit to taking in-person exams, the students may not be able to take the class. These students should be directed to immediately contact their advisers to develop an alternative schedule as soon as possible.