July 16, 2020 Update: COVID-19

Faculty & Academic Staff Briefing #38

Dear Faculty and Academic Staff:

This brief includes:

• Faculty: Please Share Your Course “Blurb”
• Fall Reopening Information
  • Classroom Videos and Classroom Capacities
  • Staggered Course Schedule Update
  • Classroom Cleaning Update
• Faculty Panel Webinar: Flex-Hybrid – Invitation for Faculty
• Milestone One: Kick-Off Conversation
• Milestone Two: Course Design
• President Akande’s Town Hall: 2pm July 23
• Recent Messages from the College

FACULTY: PLEASE SHARE YOUR COURSE “BLURB”

On Wednesday of next week, July 22nd, students will be able to “see” a preliminary fall course schedule is in Student Planning.  This will include whether a faculty member intends to teach in the classroom or virtually.  In order to describe more fully what students will experience in your classes, we are asking all faculty to submit a few sentences about your class plan.  On August 3rd we will send students a customized message with the “blurb” for each course where they are registered.  Please fill out this form by Friday, July 24th, with a few sentences of what students can expect in your class(es).

FALL REOPENING INFORMATION

Katherine Birrow, Chief of Staff, and Kerry Sleeper, a longtime Vermont public servant who recently served on the Governor’s COVID-19 response team through the Agency of Human Services, are coordinating Fall Re-Opening Operations.  If you have questions we ask that you direct them to Feedback@champlain.edu.  Here are some updates on campus operations for for this week:

Classrooms: A group of faculty and staff visited campus this week to measure space capacity in the classrooms with the state mandated 6ft social distancing guidelines. In general we expect capacities to be capped at 40%.  There are some rough cut videos of CCM 444, Aiken Morgan room and the CCM 434 Art Studio and Joyce 202 with a mock class discussion.  

Staggered Course Schedule Update: As stated in the July 2nd academic brief message, in order to reduce the density of students, faculty, and staff in between classes we will be staggering the start/end times of all sections.  A more detailed communication will be coming soon.  We anticipate making this update on Monday, July 20th. 

Classroom Cleaning Update: The campus will have increased custodial services from Janitech next fall.  Each classroom will be cleaned multiple times each day and the schedule for cleaning will be posted on each classroom door. Depending on the class schedule for any given room, it may not be possible to clean every room in between each class  In addition, we will be providing cleaning supplies in each classroom for any student or faculty member who would like to clean their own space.  Faculty are not required nor responsible for the cleaning of their classrooms.

There will also be specific cleaning protocols and supplies for computer labs 

FACULTY PANEL WEBINAR: FLEX-HYBRID COURSE DESIGN–INVITATION FOR FACULTY

Monday’s faculty panel webinar on Flex-Hybrid course design for students and families had over 550 attendees, the recording will be available on the View next week.  The same panel of faculty members: Barbara Columbo, Murat Gungor, Don Haggerty, JoAnn Patel and Gary Scudder will each share the insights they learned from the rapid transition to remote learning this past spring and their course design plans for the upcoming fall in a webinar for faculty next week: Monday, 7/20 from 10:30-11:30am.  Look for a calendar invitation from the CLT with the Zoom link details coming soon.

MILESTONE ONE: KICK OFF CONVERSATION

Signup for your kick-off conversation with the CLT if you haven’t already done so. Not only will this quick 30 minute conversation ensure you get support designing your Fall courses it will also ensure you have the technology you need.

MILESTONE TWO: COURSE DESIGN

As you design your courses, schedule your course design check-in.  You can schedule this with the CLT or with a peer.  There are important resources available to prepare for your meeting. 

If you are going through the design process with peers, when you meet with a peer to help each other with your designs, use these guiding questions to structure your conversation. After the meeting, let your team lead know that the meeting was completed.

You can find a complete overview of the course design process on the CLT website.

If you have not yet had your 30-minute Kickoff Meeting, please sign up right away!

PRESIDENT AKANDE’S TOWN HALL

Be sure to RSVP for President Akande’s Faculty and Staff Town Hall, July 23rd at 2pm using this form. A calendar invite with the Zoom link will be coming soon.

RECENT MESSAGES FROM THE COLLEGE

• Message from Student Affairs & Residential Life – Fall Update #4 (7/10/20)
• Message from the President – Fall Update #3 (7/10/20)
• Message from the President – Student Exchange & Visitor Program Impacts (7/10/20)

IMPORTANT RESOURCES

Course Planning:
CLT: Fall Flex Hybrid Ramp-Up Guide 
Flex-Hybrid Design Team Meeting Sign-up CLT Team Meeting Sign-up
Faculty Canvas Mentor List

Campus Reopening:
State of Vermont Mandatory Guidance for College and University Campus Learning  
The View: Updates on the Coronavirus
The View: Academic Updates
Faculty Daily Briefing Email Archive

Student Resources:
Access to Coaching and Tutoring Support