We're kicking off this week with a visit to Gina's spring office. Throughout spring, Gina has joined Zoom meetings from various rooms in her house, but the porch office was the one she wanted to share.

Gina also had to live with an unfinished kitchen during part of the Stay Home/Stay Safe order, but she recently shared photos of the finished work. It's beautiful!

Summer Preference Forms Due

As a reminder, preference forms for summer are due this Thursday, May 28 to Teresa Yamada. You can find a copy of the draft summer schedule here and a copy of the summer preference form here.

Spring Student Evaluations (and Waivers)

Based on feedback from faculty concerned about low return rates for online student evaluations, we will figure out a way to mail spring student evaluation forms--by faculty request--to students with a stamped, return-envelope addressed to the college.

We will also take advantage of the mailing to send spring tuition waiver request forms--as well as summer waiver request forms--to those students. As you may recall, we have waived tuition for spring for all students due to COVID-19. We technically need a request form from each student for audit purposes, and we'll need them again for students who attend in summer. 

Ila's Tenure Committee

Thanks to everyone who voted for representation on Ila's tenure committee, following Dorrienne's retirement in December 2020. The vote was unanimous in favor of Rebecca Yedlin taking on this role. Thanks, Rebecca!

Coordinator Vote

Thanks also to everyone who voted for 2020-2021 Faculty Coordinators. There was support for both the Computer Lab Coordinator position and the New Holly Coordinator position. There was also a suggestion that we add a curriculum coordinator with a goal of creating and supporting a shared anti-racist teaching and learning environment in order to increase the success of our black and brown students. Finally, there was a strong suggestion that full-timers take on this work as a budget-saving measure. A few key points:

• I will consult with the full-timers about taking on all the positions in cases where it "finishes" their faculty loads. In cases where a full-timer takes on the work on top of a 100% load, it's not a cost savings. 
• A few people wanted clarification between the New Holly Site Manager and the New Holly Faculty Coordinator. These are two different roles. The Site Manager is more like a "facilities" role dealing with security issues, rentals, the New Holly Condo Association, and actual facilities issues like broken toilets and stained carpets. The Faculty Coordinator is responsible for campus mail runs, delivering packets to and from the copy center, coordinating student forms with the office, orientating new faculty, and similar duties. There's no cost savings by combining the roles. 
• We have nominees for both the Main Campus computer lab and New Holly faculty coordinators. Again, neither of these will start until needed, and it's possible that full timers will take on these responsibilities. Regardless, I will follow up with the nominees in case they are needed. 

More to come!

Student Promotions/Level Gains for Spring

At the start of the quarter, I encouraged everyone to lower teaching expectations of yourself and learning expectations of students, given all of the challenges of COVID-19 and remote learning. This hasn't been easy, but we've done remarkable work! Now that we're nearing the end of the quarter, it's become apparent that some students not only overcame all the challenges, but came out so strong that they deserve to be promoted to the next level. This is amazing. 

I will work with the office and full-time faculty to develop a policy/practice for advancing students during these COVID-19 times. This will again be particularly important for ORIA students, since we have a contractual obligation to CASAS test these students before promoting them. 

It presents a challenge, because we don't want to hold a student back simply because we're not able to offer the CASAS, but we don't want to violate our ORIA contract either. I will seek advice and get back to everyone. 

Yilin Sun Accepts Role as Faculty Professional Development Coordinator for 2020-21

Congratulations to Yilin, who has accepted an offer to continue in her role as Faculty Professional Development Coordinator in the 2020-21 academic year. She currently dedicates her time, leadership, and energy to this role, which is a full-time position at the district office. As such, Yilin will not be returning to teach at South in the 2020-21 academic year, but she'll continue to hold her status as tenured faculty in our division. 

Syllabus Language for Summer

As a reminder, all faculty who teach in summer quarter will be required to include distance learning attendance guidelines in their syllabus. You can find the State Board guidelines on distance learning here. Again, you have the choice of recording distance learning attendance via Teacher Verification or Learner Mastery.

By way of example, here is language from Dorrienne Chinn's fall 2019 ESL 6 syllabus, which used Teacher Verification for the remote learning students completed in her hybrid class.

Starting Week 6, class will not meet on campus. Instead, you will work from a computer. Each assignment will include a variety of activities such as viewing a video, reading an article, writing a reflection (opinion) then taking a quiz to test your understanding.This will consist of three hours, and you will have until Sunday by 11:59 pm to complete and submit your work in Canvas.

I do not have an example of language for Learner Mastery, as I have a limited number of syllabi (or syllabuses...I've seen arguments for both) available to me at home. 

Summer Quarter will be all remote/online; Fall Quarter is still TBD

As a reminder, all instruction this summer will be via remote learning, whether that is Zoom, WhatsApp, packets, You Tube videos, CANVAS or any of the other strategies you pursue. Summer can be anything but in-person.

The plan for fall is not final. Currently, academic transfer will offer all their classes remotely (no in-person), while certain workforce and continuing education programs intend to offer hybrid instruction in the fall, if allowed. Hybrid instruction allows for limited in-person instruction will still requiring that the rest of the instruction is delivered remotely. I have requested permission for BTS to deliver hybrid instruction this fall, but I do not expect a decision until summer. If it is allowed:

• In-person instruction will be optional for all faculty. You can decide for yourself what is right for you, and I encourage everyone to err on the side of caution/safety. 
• In-person instruction must be optional for all students. If you choose to teach a hybrid class, students must have an option for completing all outcomes of the class remotely. Just as you will have choice, students will have choice as well. 
• Any in-person instruction must fully comply with the state's/college's guidelines on social distancing, contact tracing, and other matters. 

Be amazing

That's it for this week. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Stay safe!

John