The ability to adjust teaching approaches, deliver classes, and process grades in a timely and effective way can be impacted by many different types of events including graduate student work stoppages, unexpected illnesses, university closures, or other unforeseen disruptions.

Depending on the situation, you will first need to assess the extent of the disruption and the potential temporary or longer-term impacts on your course and students. In some cases, you or other members of a teaching team might be unavailable for part of the semester and efforts will need to be made to reassign roles and responsibilities and provide a new point of contact for students. Below are some suggestions for maintaining clear communication to support students (jump link to section), and options for adjusting your teaching plans (jump link to section).

Keep in mind that there are also steps you can take while planning a course or at the beginning of the semester to build in some flexibility and resilience so that adjustments are easier to make if necessary. 

Planning ahead of time

Taking some steps when preparing for the semester and designing your course can help to minimize the impact of disruptions.

• Consider spreading grading and assignments more evenly throughout the term, rather than in larger end-of-semester concentrations. Having more assignments spread over the term creates more possibilities for making adjustments. Note that this may have important benefits for balancing both student and instructor stress and workload as well.
• Ensure that the instructor of record has continuous access to student grades from the beginning of the semester and throughout. We recommend that faculty:
  • Use the Canvas Gradebook to track student grades throughout the semester, so that TAs can work on assigned grading while ensuring everyone with an instructor or admin role in the course can access the grades.
  • Consider using Gradescope to track grades. If this tool is set up through Canvas, the instructor or a course admin would have access to the grades across multiple sections of a course.
  • If you have questions about how best to set up grading, please check out these FAQs or reach out to CTI for a consultation.
• If possible, reduce the need for students to turn in hard copies of their completed work to ensure access to their work and lessen the risk of lost work.  We recommend: 
  • Having students submit all digital assignments through Canvas.
  • Scanning hard-copy assignments and uploading to Canvas or Gradescope.
• Consider adding a department administrator to all Canvas course sites, for ease of access to grades and Canvas functionalities should the instructor of record become unavailable.
• Set up communication channels. Having cell phone numbers for key people in addition to email can be helpful in times of emergency.

Clear Communication and Reassurance

• Frequent communication can be reassuring. During periods of disruption, people search for information - repeatedly checking the news, email, or other sources. Students will worry if they hear nothing from their instructor and they can start to imagine worst-case scenarios.
  • Reassure students that you and others are there to support them during this time. 
  • Let them know who and how to reach out to for help or with questions. If you or other members of your teaching team will not be available, provide students with another point of contact.
  • It may not be possible to respond in a timely fashion to individual emails, so use tools such as Canvas Announcements or Ed Discussions to convey information to all students.
  • Check in with how students are doing. Encourage them to also check-in and support each other.
  • You may also be waiting to hear information. You can let students know that you are waiting to hear more or are working to identify solutions and will update them as soon as you can.
• Consistent messages
  • Students will get confused if they are hearing different things from different sources. Make sure that your messages and adjustments to teaching are consistent with university, college, and department guidelines. 
  • If you are following or implementing a university-wide announcement or policy, try to link or point directly to university-wide announcements or FAQs, so students are getting these messages in a clear and consistent manner.
  • If you are working with a teaching team, also check in with them to make sure everyone is on the same page and is communicating the same message or decisions.
• Clear messages
  • Be very clear when communicating about any changes you are making to the class schedule, online vs. in-person teaching, assignments, deadlines, or grading components.
  • Communicate the changes more than once. During times of stress, people may find it harder to absorb and remember information and will need reminders.
  • Be prepared for student questions about missing classes, assessments, or assignments. Think ahead about your policies and how much flexibility you will allow. Be transparent about your decisions and inform all your students about the options available to them.
• Acknowledge the difficulties of the situation. Please see our resource for how to acknowledge and discuss incidents with your students.   

Adjusting your teaching and grading plans

One of the challenges during times of disruption is deciding how to adjust your teaching plans if it becomes necessary. A good place to start is by considering your learning outcomes and asking yourself how students can still achieve the outcomes within the constraints of the situation.

Some possible adjustments to consider:

• Postponement or rescheduling. For some situations, such as a bad storm, it may be clear that you need to postpone and reschedule. Extending deadlines for assignments is another possibility.
• Lighten the load. Could you cut some readings or reduce the number of assignments or homework questions while still teaching the most important learning outcomes? Keep in mind that it can be difficult for students to focus, study, read, and listen during times of change and uncertainty. Temporarily lightening the load might be a good option.
• Move materials or class sessions online. In some cases, moving class or office hours online, or adding online materials such as videos or readings can continue to support student learning if you cannot meet in person. 
• Offer options. In some situations, students may be impacted to differing degrees. Are there ways to offer options to students, for example completing an alternative assignment? 
• Adjust roles and responsibilities. Some types of disruptions will mean that you or other members of your teaching team may not be available. Determine how roles and responsibilities may be shifted or reassigned. 
• Change the assignment structure or grading methods.
  • Consider reducing the number or length of assignments. Depending on your content, there may be a benefit to selecting a representative sampling of items or tasks.
  • Peer-assessment and self-assessment strategies can reinforce student learning and greatly reduce a grading workload. FeedbackFruits is a learning technology that helps facilitate peer and self-assessment.
  • Leverage learning technologies. There are numerous platforms to enhance, support, and streamline your assessment efforts. Technologies like Gradescope are designed to help faculty facilitate and streamline the provision of feedback on various types of assessments.

Please reach out to CTI for a consultation for additional support or come to our Zoom Drop-In hours.