Vice Provost Messages
Instructors, Beginning with spring 2021, KU has adopted a new strategy of marking courses that have low-cost or no-cost course materials. This strategy aligns with a growing effort among higher ed institutions to provide cost information as secondary criteria students can consider when selecting courses. We have all heard the challenges many students face when it comes to affording college. Some students work two or three jobs, while others skip meals or make other financial sacrifices to pursue their education. Hunger and homelessness among college students has been on the rise in recent years, and these challenges disproportionately impact marginalized and vulnerable populations: low income, first generation and students of color. Beyond tuition and fees, textbooks can be a significant cost that some students struggle to afford. Reports indicate textbook costs have increased 1000% — triple the rate of inflation — since 1977. Students, faculty and staff representing groups and units across campus have advocated for and used a variety of strategies for reducing and eliminating the cost of course materials for these students. The Course Marking project team worked within existing platforms and created a process to automatically mark courses based on material adoption information instructors already provide every semester to the KU Bookstore. The Schedule of Classes will display: The threshold of $45 was selected based on KU student and instructor responses to a survey earlier this year asking what they considered the upper limit for affordable course materials: This was largely a student-initiated effort, with the collaboration of several campus partners. Instructors don’t have to do anything new or different to support this effort. The course materials information you routinely provide each semester will be used to automatically designate courses as low-cost or no-cost. If you want to learn more about how you might adopt low-cost or no-cost course materials in the classes you teach, reach out to the Course Marking team at marking@ku.edu. The team also is interested in your comments and suggestions for improving the program. Learn more at marking.ku.edu. Respectfully, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Dear Faculty: In response to the pressures and disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Provost office will exclude the 2020-2021 academic year from the seven-year period for post-tenure review. This exclusion will delay each faculty member’s post-tenure review by 1 year, including for those faculty who had been scheduled for review in the 2020-2021 year, excepting those faculty who have already had the 2020-2021 academic year excluded from their review period due to leave or administrative appointment as described in the University policy on post-tenure review. No action from you is needed, unless you choose to be evaluated as previously scheduled. If you do so, please inform your departmental chairperson, unit director, and/or Dean to ensure that you understand and adhere to all internal processes and deadlines. If you have any questions, please contact me at 864-6489 or facultydev@ku.edu. Sincerely, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development Dear Instructors, I want to share with you several updates on the end-of-semester student survey of teaching and provide guidance on the inclusion of survey reports in all types of evaluations. I want to thank the Faculty Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities committee of Faculty Senate, the Faculty Success Design Team, the ad hoc Committee on the Student Survey of Teaching, and others for their input on how our evaluation of teaching should adjust to the challenges presented by COVID. Take care, and stay well. Chris J. Christopher Brown, Ph.D. Professor Geography and Atmospheric Science Environmental Studies Program Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Dear Instructors, Thank you all for your ongoing work into our third week of classes. I continue to receive your questions via facultydev@ku.edu, and I'm aware of other issues and concerns from the members of our faculty success design team and faculty governance. Some of you by now have interacted with students who have tested positive for COVID-19 or who have been identified by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health as a close contact of someone who is positive. Thank you for working as quickly as possible to communicate with them and adapt courses while they are isolated or in quarantine. Students, their parents, and all of you are understandably anxious with our growing awareness of the virus in the community. I've reached out personally to our public health officials to discuss your concerns about what to do and what to say to your class. Public health professionals are aware of our classroom configurations and our mask policy, which greatly reduce the risk of transmission in the classroom. Under current guidelines – in a classroom that maintains physical distancing, our classroom seating configuration and masking policy – health officials would not consider anyone as a close contact of a positive case from interaction in a classroom setting. Here is some additional guidance: The university is continuing to provide prevalence testing for targeted groups and for a sample of the KU community. Leadership is also exploring opportunities to expand testing capabilities on campus to ensure individuals who are experiencing the onset of symptoms can be tested as quickly as possible. More information will be available soon. If you tested positive for COVID-19, please follow the instructions of your healthcare provider or health officials. By all means, please do what is needed to take care of yourself and your family. If you are teaching an in-person course, please inform your chair or dean that you have been asked to isolate and that you will need to adjust your course. For example, if you are feeling well enough, you could transition the course to fully online for a brief period while you arrange with your chair or dean to hire a classroom technology assistant to meet your students and facilitate a video-conference with students in the classroom. If you are too ill to perform your duties, please inform your chair or dean so someone else can step in to maintain course continuity. Please remember that the Family First Coronavirus Response Act ensures that all eligible employees (regular, temporary, full or part-time, faculty, staff or student) with active paid appointments, who are unable to work or telework due to a variety of COVID-related conditions and situations are eligible for some amount of paid leave. Just a quick reminder here, please do everything possible to end your classes on time. We want to make it as easy as possible for students to get to their next class, whether in-person, hybrid, or online. I will work to offer regular messages to all instructors as the semester continues. Please send your questions to facultydev@ku.edu. This message, as well as previous messages from me, will be archived on the Faculty Development website. Take care, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Dear Instructors, Thank you. Here we are in the first week of classes, and now your preparation is bearing fruit. I thank you for all you did to reach this point and recognize what an extraordinary achievement it was. Data from the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Center for Online and Distance Learning, and KU Information Technology show that you collectively devoted tens of thousands of person-hours in professional development over the summer in preparation for fall. Our students are now benefitting from this work as they continue their education. In these first few days of classes, I have received questions on some important topics and want to offer guidance. It is important we continue to address the needs of our students directly affected by COVID-19. Our surveillance testing shows some students are positive for COVID-19, or are identified by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health as a close contact of someone who is positive. These individuals have been instructed to isolate or quarantine. I can understand that this situation can increase anxiety in already challenging times. Please remember, many additional measures are in place at KU to help reduce the risk of transmission and testing was undertaken in part to help individuals understand their status and take appropriate action to help protect themselves, their friends and family and the larger community. I want to provide some clarity on procedures related to test results, and it comes down to following the guidance of public health officials and adapting courses for students: While it may feel unsettling to learn that a student needs to isolate or quarantine, our instructional spaces have been modified to better protect you and your students. Research indicates that wearing a mask and appropriately distancing from others helps mitigate the risk of contracting the virus. Class participants who have been adhering to physical distancing guidelines, as in our modified classrooms, would not be considered close contacts by either Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards. Please do not change modality of your course unless you have been personally contacted and advised by a county health professional that it is appropriate for the circumstances. If you have any concerns about your own health, please contact your healthcare provider. Some instructors have asked questions regarding protections they have against liability claims. Under the Kansas Tort Claims Act (K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq.), the State of Kansas assumes liability for the negligent or wrongful acts and omissions of its employees (including KU employees) who are acting within the scope of their employment. Additionally, recent Kansas legislation provides that a person conducting business shall be immune from liability for a COVID-19 claim if such person was acting pursuant to and in substantial compliance with public health directives. You can view the full bill here. Many of you have asked about how the university's Intellectual Property policy relates to the work done to develop new online and hybrid courses due to COVID-19. The current policy adheres to KBOR regulations concerning mediated courseware. It was not written with a pandemic in mind with the need to develop courseware that allows for seamless transitions across in-person, hybrid, and fully online modes of instruction. Faculty Development and Faculty Governance will partner to clarify that the courseware developed in response to COVID-19 is owned by the creator. Recording your online or in-person class sessions can be useful for a number of different reasons, including allowing asynchronous participation in hybrid courses. If you are recording just for students in your class, you do not need student consent to do so, although it is a good idea to let students know you’re recording. If you are recording to share the recordings with audiences beyond your class, please visit the Flexible Teaching website for guidance for gaining consent, sharing recordings and limiting student faces/images in your recordings. I encourage you to review this information and follow the guidance to ensure you respect the privacy of your students, as well as comply with FERPA and other regulations. COVID-19 testing is still underway. New faculty, staff and GTAs can visit a mobile test site set up in the Naismith Hall parking lot at 19th Street and Naismith Drive for a free walk-up COVID-19 saliva test. No appointment is necessary. Thanks again for all you are doing to engage with our students, whether they are here in person or connecting with you and their classmates remotely. I’ll continue to be available for your questions (please send them to facultydev@ku.edu) and I will work to offer regular messages to all instructors as the semester continues. This message as well as previous messages from me will be archived on the Faculty Development website. Take care, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Instructors, Thank you for following these updates closely. I know you have a lot of new information to track as we approach the start of the semester, and I appreciate your diligence. Below you will find additional relevant course logistics information. The “MyStudents Dashboard” allows all KU instructors to access data visualizations about their current students. The dashboard can help you craft activities, materials and assignments that speak to the needs of an academically and socio-demographically diverse classroom. Follow this link to visit the dashboard (you must be logged into KU Anywhere VPN). The dashboard is the product of a year-long collaboration between the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), the Office of Analytics and Institutional Research (AIR) and more than 60 faculty at KU. A podcast on Navigating the New Student Dashboard is available on the CTE website. A CTE webpage with additional pedagogical resources will be available soon. Feel free to contact AIR’s Corinne Bannon at corinne-bannon@ku.edu with any dashboard-related questions or concerns. It is imperative that classes end on time to allow sufficient time for everyone to move carefully and safely between classes and access buildings with the CVKey app. Time between classes has also been increased to 15 minutes to serve this purpose. Please plan accordingly and respect this time as it will be needed for travel between classes. Many of you are adapting courses to support students who are unable to be on campus. Students who have approved course adaptions are included in class enrollment counts, however, they do not occupy a physical seat in the class. You can allow additional students to enroll up to the physical distancing capacity of the room by increasing the enrollment capacity and using permission numbers. Please contact your department scheduling officer for assistance. Students cannot switch between course sections until they have officially moved into another section in the course management system. This ensures that room capacity in the new course section actually exists. If a student needs to temporarily attend another section due to illness, to make up missed class sessions, etc., you can support this need as long as you ensure sufficient physical distancing capacity exists. Please do not move or allow your students to move furniture in classrooms. Furniture is arranged to ensure physical distancing. Additionally, furniture must remain in the classroom in which it is placed. Please note that students can turn in their seats (without moving them) to speak to their classmates in order to facilitate in-class discussion and collaboration. In order to assist you in sharing/reinforcing relevant information with your students, attached are two slides you may wish to incorporate into your first class session. These slides (and many other helpful ideas for syllabi) are also available at https://flexteaching.ku.edu/syllabus-language. Again, thank you for your cooperation and hard work as we prepare for this unprecedented semester. Take care, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Instructors, A tremendous amount of work went into scheduling courses for the fall semester with the goal of providing as much clarity as possible regarding course meeting dates, times, locations and delivery modes. However, a technical issue resulted in all online class components being labeled as “ONLNE ZOOM” which caused confusion. This issue has now been resolved by indicating online components of classes, whether fully online or hybrid, are generically “ONLINE” to emphasize instructors have discretion as to what online platform to use. Instructors can also employ real-time or asynchronous instructional methods. (See the links below for resources related to alternating cohort courses and in-person instruction options.) To reiterate, student course schedules will not reflect each course’s platform (e.g. Zoom), and it is imperative that you tell your students how online class times will be facilitated. As in past semesters, instructors are responsible for creating any Zoom rooms, Microsoft Teams Rooms, etc., or setting up asynchronous activities in other platforms and sending the relevant links to students. If your class only meets once per week and you are using an alternating cohort schedule (i.e. group A will meet on odd weeks and group B will meet on even weeks), sections were not created for each cohort. In these situations, you will need to split the students into cohorts and communicate group assignments to students. To help ensure students retain this important information, we ask that you clearly reiterate and clarify course logistics for students during the initial class meeting. We also ask that you post the course logistics information on each course’s syllabus and in the learning management system (e.g. Blackboard). Campus classrooms will be open starting Monday, Aug. 17. I highly encourage you to visit your classrooms before the first day of class so that you can practice and plan for the uniqueness of this semester. To gain access to buildings, you will need to use the CVKey app. While you are there you will notice physical distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures that have been implemented this summer. Plexiglass barriers and other safety equipment have been installed in most classrooms. KU has erected outdoor tents that students can use when participating in online classes and studying. We are also in the process of identifying existing common spaces and specific rooms in buildings that can be used for these purposes. This work is still in progress, but an online campus map at rockcha.lk/study-spaces shows this information. If students ask you about available study space, please direct them to this site. (It is recommended you use Firefox to view this site.) If you have a concern about personal protective equipment measures or the distancing layout of any of your teaching spaces, please contact KU Operations at kuoperations@ku.edu. Someone will follow up with you as soon as possible. Additionally, if you have a concern about any IT-related equipment, please contact your departmental IT support staff. Finally, the Center for Teaching Excellence has collected information on alternating cohort courses and ideas for creating online options for in-person courses. I want to acknowledge that all of you are working very hard to prepare for this unprecedented semester. Your commitment to your students and to KU is seen and it is appreciated. I am grateful to you for all you do. Take care, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Dear colleagues, As you continue preparing for fall classes, we want to share syllabus strategies and language that may help you communicate with your students this fall. We encourage you to: “To protect all of us, everyone must wear a mask in the classroom as required by the Protect KU Pledge and by University policy. Violations of the mask policy in classrooms are treated as academic misconduct. If you come to class without a mask, I will ask you to put one on. If you do not put on a mask when asked, you will have to leave class. Violations will be reported, and consequences will follow, up to and including suspension from the course.” It is considered academic misconduct if a student is not wearing a mask in a classroom. We ask that you address it and report it by following these steps: Please note: Students who fail to wear a mask, but who DO comply when asked to wear one, or students who leave the room without incident, will receive educational notices asking for compliance for the benefit of everyone’s health. Guidance on this procedure is forthcoming to chairs and deans. Respectfully, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Colleagues, Class attendance policies can increase student engagement and many of us use attendance points in calculating the final grades in our courses. This fall, using attendance as part of grading will be complicated by a number of factors that make synchronous participation in lectures, activities and exams difficult for some students. These factors include: University Senate Regulations are clear that instructors control attendance and grading policies for their courses. This semester, however, students are facing many unique challenges and we encourage you to take attendance not for grading, but as a way to monitor student engagement so you can reach out and help students who might be struggling. Consistent class attendance, whether in-person or online, is an important indication of engagement and student success. However, we do not want to penalize students who are facing health, technology or other challenges to synchronous participation. Students who are ill or who are taking steps to protect their own health or the health of others should be given an excused absence (no doctor’s note required) from in-person class activities if they have COVID-19 symptoms or are following state or local quarantine guidelines. I encourage you to include clear health and attendance guidance for students in your syllabi. I have included some suggested language you can use or adapt. The following is suggested language you can add to your course syllabus to communicate COVID-related attendance guidance: Please use the CVKey app for self-screening to help determine if you should attend in-person class activities. If you choose not to use the app or do not have a compatible device, please use the paper health assessment form. The app and the paper form are available at cvkey.ku.edu. You will be given an excused absence from in-person class activities (no doctor’s note required) if you answer yes to any of the questions in the app or on the paper form. Symptoms and other guidance in the app and on the paper form may change based on new federal, state and local health recommendations and requirements. It is important that you spend the necessary time working in this course to achieve the expected outcomes by the end of the term. If you face challenges to fully participating at any time during the semester, please let me know, and please contact me if you expect to miss class. I am available and ready to support your success. Additionally, if you need to report an extended illness or serious accident, please contact Student Support and Case Management at course-adapt@ku.edu or 785-864-4060. A case manager will send email notifications to your instructor(s) on your behalf. When you are able, you will need to follow up with your professors to coordinate a temporary arrangement regarding missed instruction and coursework. Faculty colleagues at the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and staff at the Center for Online and Distance Learning (CODL) can assist you in strategizing ways to adjust the way you measure your engagement with students away from the traditional taking of attendance for a grade in class. KU’s new FlexTeaching website also has information on attendance and student engagement. With a mix of in-person, hybrid and online classes, knowing who is showing up and engaged is harder than ever. KU is expanding the capabilities of Qwickly Attendance, a tool you may have used in the past to manually take attendance in Blackboard. Now with Qwickly Attendance, you can allow students to check in themselves, whether they are attending a class in-person or online. Qwickly Attendance keeps track of attendance throughout the semester and provides a dashboard where you can see information at a glance. Students can also track their own attendance in each class. More information about Qwickly Attendance is available on KU’s Blackboard website. Students should contact their instructor(s) directly to report an absence. However, students who need to report an extended illness or serious accident should contact Student Support and Case Management at course-adapt@ku.edu or 785-864-4060. A case manager will send email notifications to the student’s instructor(s) on the student’s behalf. When they are able, the student will need to follow up with professors to coordinate a temporary arrangement regarding missed instruction and coursework. Please see studentaffairs.ku.edu/student-emergencies. The guidance I’ve included here on attendance and student engagement was developed following input from a number of different groups that were asked in early July what guidance the University should provide instructors when dealing with the challenges they will face regarding attendance in fall 2020. Groups included the Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities committee of Faculty Senate; the Teaching and Learning Design Team; the Faculty Success Design Team; Academic Success; CTE and CODL. Thank you for your attention and input. Sincerely, Chris J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045 Dear Instructors (Faculty, GTAs, and other instructional staff), As you begin preparing your course for the fall, we know many of you are also thinking through the various scenarios and concerns that may arise amongst your students during the semester. There may be a number of circumstances that lead students to request an online adaptation to an existing in-person or hybrid course, including personal situations before or after the start of the semester. The various combinations of issues and solutions can be complicated, so Academic Success and Student Affairs have partnered to establish a process to facilitate communication among students, advisors, faculty and other staff to receive adaption requests and work to find the best way possible for us to help students continue their progress. An information sheet for instructors, GTAs, and departments about the course adaptations process can be found online. Students who need a course adaptation will be directed to complete a course adaptations request beginning August 3. The info sheet and website also provide insight as to how students are being asked to communicate absences and the additional support available through the Student Support and Case Management team. Bottom line is we are here to help you in preparing to provide online adaptations to your courses. CTE’s Flexible Teaching site is a great resource to assist you in thinking through possible adaptations. Beyond that, no action is needed on your part in the adaptation process, until you are contacted through the adaptation request process. Thank you for all that you do to support our students! J. Christopher Brown Vice Provost for Faculty Development Susan Klusmeier Vice Provost for Academic Success University of Kansas Center for Faculty Development and Mentoring facultydev@ku.edu 785-864-6489 1450 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 145 Lawrence, KS 66045
What is course marking?
How will courses be marked?
Why was $45 chosen for the low-cost threshold?
What was the process for implementing course marking?
What can you do?
Delay of Post-Tenure Review
Online Administration of Student Course Surveys
Timing
Protecting student anonymity
Surveys for Spring 2021 and beyond
Instructor guidance: optional inclusion of student survey reports in evaluation files
How to evaluate teaching without student survey reports
Students, Covid-19, and Your Class
Instructors Testing Positive for COVID-19
Ending Class on Time
Students Who Need to Isolate or Quarantine
Changing Course to Online
Liability and COVID-19
Intellectual Property and Flex Teaching
Recording of Online Class Sessions
New Faculty, Staff and GTA Testing
New student information dashboard
Course timing, capacity and room arrangements
Ending on time
Course adaptations and enrollment capacity
Students switching sections
Room layout
Additional safety & syllabus info
Guidance on safety measures
Physical safety
Study Spaces
Help and Resources
Suggested syllabus language regarding masks:
Guidance regarding masks:
Qwickly Attendance Tool
Responsibilities of Students
A Collaborative Effort
