A late welcome to week 4 and apologies for the delay while I cleared up some password issues with my blog. This week I'm featuring David Loebe's spring classroom.
Note the thoughtful use of his Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. You'd never get those ergonomics with the pocket edition.
Instruction Listening Session
Here's another quick reminder that Sayumi will be holding an "Instruction Listening Session" on Wednesday, May 6--the same day many of you will be reading this message. The session is at 1:30 in Zoom. This is a good chance to ask about next year's budget reductions as well as the future of instruction at South. Please attend!
BTS Budget Planning for 2020-2021
On a related note, deans are still being asked to model 10% and 20% reductions for next year. As many of you may recall, a 10% reduction a couple of years ago resulted in the closure of New Holly along with cuts in our EI process, hourly employees, and in other areas.
Last Friday, I held a Zoom to discuss planning for next year--which might see some dramatic changes. It was pretty lightly attended. If anyone wanted to attend but couldn't (or just missed it), I'd be willing to hold another Zoom. So far, one person has expressed interest. Email me if you'd like to attend.
Goal for the Week: Drop Non-Attending Students
The time has come. This spring, I asked everyone to delay dropping students for non-attendance so we could give students every opportunity to get in touch with us, access loaner technology, trouble-shoot issues, learn Zoom, and generally adjust. This grace period is now over.
Please drop any non-attending students via the People Pages. You can find directions on how to do this by watching the video below.
Or click here to see the same video at YouTube's site.
You can also request access to the People Page training in CANVAS. If you're interested in that, email me. If you are still reluctant to drop your students and you'd like help from the front office, we are willing to help make one last effort to contact students on your behalf. Again, email me.
Demoting Students (Dropping Them a Level)
A few times a year, I get a request from faculty to demote a student--drop them down a level. This can cause problems. Please contact me any time you do this.
I generally support demoting a student when the student, current faculty member, and new faculty member all agree. When there is disagreement, I consult with Kris Lysaker in her role as ESL Assessment Coordinator.
Again, demoting causes serious problems. The easiest example is ORIA students. ORIA gives us a contract to provide English classes to students on the assumption that these students will progress. A portion of our funding depends on student progress. When we demote an ORIA student, we struggle to explain why a student is "going backwards." Over time, this can put our performance funding at risk--or even the entire grant.
Aside from ORIA, demotions require grade changes creating extra steps for faculty (who must approve the grade change), the dean, the office staff, and ultimately student services staff.
Please avoid demoting students, and when you're contemplating a demotion, do not take it lightly. And please always inform me, so I can make the needed adjustments. It's much, much more than a conversation between faculty and a student. Thanks!
Distance Learning Will Continue at Least Through Summer
As recently announced by the college, all BTS and academic instruction will continue with distance learning through summer quarter. That means another quarter with CANVAS, Zoom, WhatsApp, YouTube, packets, and all the other strategies we're pursuing.
Fall quarter is still undetermined. With help from the full-time faculty, we are requesting an in-person option for fall. We'll see!
Summer Syllabi Must Follow New Rules
Because summer quarter will be all distance learning, we have to follow specific rules for all summer syllabi. We were given an exception from these rules for spring due, but the feds are not allowing that exception for summer. Click here to see the full guidance from the State Board. The short version is that your syllabus must state that you are tracking attendance in one of two ways.
- Teacher Verification: Your syllabus states that students will receive hours for the work they complete, as verified by you. For example, your syllabus might state that certain packet work is worth 8 hours and other CANVAS work is worth another 4 hours. You would be responsible for seeing that students completed the work and recording attendance accordingly.
- Learner Mastery: Your syllabus states that students will receive hours based on their performance on texts, quizzes or other assessments. In this case, your syllabus might indicate that an 80% on a given project or quiz is worth 12 hours, a 60% is worth 8 hours, etc.
I'll provide sample language in future blogs.
Summer Preferences
My goal is to get the draft summer schedule and preference forms out by May 15. Just FYI.
Faculty Credentials For Federal Reporting
If you haven’t already, please take the short survey below to report your faculty credentials. It’s required for federal reporting. The report aggregates the credentials across the entire BTS division, so while I enter the information individually, the state de-identifies the information and reports it in aggregate. (I know this because one year I was late in reporting and asked if they had a copy of last year’s submission, and they didn’t.)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9LNHGVV
Spring Student Evaluations
All faculty will be required to collect student evaluations this spring. For those of you teaching online, you can use the college's system, which will solicit the evaluations for you via student email addresses. If you're interested in creating your own online evaluation, please contact me so I can be sure it complies with the contract. For faculty teaching via packets, I anticipate we'll mail evaluation forms to students with self-addressed return envelopes.
I'll provide more info on these options next week.
Thank you!
That's it for this week. I hope you're safe, healthy, and at least six feet away from anyone you don't live with.
John