Recast | Week 5 Resources and Reminders, Winter 2021
From: Academic Deans <deans@evergreen.edu>
Date: Friday, January 29, 2021 at 3:47 PM
Dear Hard-Working Colleagues:
We are rolling up on the mid-point of the quarter and of the academic year—halfway there! Amazingly, little shoots are poking up from spring bulbs.
Behold your Week 5 Winter 2021 Resources and Reminders! Please read on for more information on…
- No Winter Mentoring Day
- Redesigning Student Affairs Workshops
- Week 5 Check ins
- Power Outage Planning
- Academic Statement support
- Tuition Waivers
- Student Wellness Services
Thank you for turning in your SURF applications. We will be reviewing these and listing SURF projects for students to apply to very soon.
Mentoring Day. Winter Mentoring Day has been canceled; Advising is working to provide extended support hours to students. You are still your students’ best and most accessible resource for helping them plan; please consider making some time in class and/or during evaluation conferences to counsel students.
Redesigning Student Affairs workshops with Larry Roper. If you are interested in joining theRedesigning Student Affairs workshops on Feb 5 and 19, 2021 please register here.
Week 5 check in and support: It’s time for those mid-quarter check-ins with students. This means as much clear communication as possible with students so they know exactly where they stand in terms of earning credits. To view a nice set of guidelines we issued previously, please see below.*
Power Outage Planning. Do you have a plan with your students for possible loss of power and the usual communication routes? A reminder from the LTC is here: https://sites.evergreen.edu/ltc/continuity/. In general, we recommend establishing a protocol for communication with students at the beginning of the quarter. Which could include: A group text to use in the case of emergencies; an old-fashioned phone tree where each individual knows who they are to call; or students set up Canvas to send them text messages.
Academic Statements: Students will still be required to submit their annual and final academic statements this spring. As you know, a well-written Academic Statement is a tribute to the student’s learning; a hastily written one can overshadow all the wonderful things you write about them in your evaluations. With that in mind, we encourage you to dedicate some extra attention to the Academic Statement in your 5th week conferences, particularly for your graduating seniors. Annual iterations of the statement are due Thursday, May 13; graduating seniors need to submit their final statement by Friday, June 11, 2021 . More information at https://www.evergreen.edu/academicstatement.
Tuition waivers. Many of you have been going above and beyond advocating for your students to get tuition waivers. These are complicated, and there are a number of regulations that govern how we can use them. Please support our overworked staff members by not over-promising what the institution may or may not be able to do for students. Registration and financial aid staff are the experts on what is and is not possible.
Student Wellness Services is operating, and available to provide support to students via phone and HIPAA compliant video conferencing. We recommend that you submit a report to the Care Team if there is elevated concern for a student’s well-being or safety, especially if there is danger of credit loss. Care Team members will try to connect with the student and offer resources/support.
*More Week 5 Reminders
Week 5 check in and support: As we near mid-quarter in this new remote environment, reaching out individually to each student is critically important. In these check-ins you can inquire about any obstacles to the learning environment, as well as field questions about program content, achieving learning objectives and earning credit. Again, we hope that flexibility, compassion and creativity can be extended to students who may not all be able to respond to program/course assignments in the same way, particularly due to their access to synchronous learning tools. The “Remote Learning Tips for Students” module on the Keep Teaching Canvas Site may be useful for you as you are advising students. If you are not yet enrolled in the Canvas site, or would like to consult about these sessions, please contact learningandteaching@evergreen.edu.
5th week warnings. You may have more than your usual share of students who are in danger of losing credit this quarter. We’re guessing that even students who were doing ok in Week 1 may be feeling the crisis catching up with them (as it is surely catching up with all of us, who have been working full-throttle since before spring break). Before you decide to reduce credit, we invite you to explore some other possible options.
Is your student not showing up for class?
· If it’s an internet connectivity issue, please make sure they know about the “one tap” mobile option that can allow them to connect by phone. There are a variety of resources for students on the Preparing for Remote Learning site.
· If Zoom or Canvas are confusing for them, please direct them to the Help Wiki, where they can also submit a help ticket.
· If it’s a hardware issue, you might direct them to the emergency loans that can support students in purchasing equipment
Is your student showing up but not turning in work?
· It’s possible that the work that you are requiring isn’t something the student is technologically able to complete. We recommend that you ask them directly about barriers they may be experiencing and work with them to consider alternatives that might meet your learning objectives.
· We also recommend that you direct students to Academic Advising, which has a variety of options for getting in touch. Advisers may be able to help troubleshoot issues students are too shy to talk to you about.
Is your student’s in-class performance not as engaged or well-prepared as you’d like it to be?
· Giving them models and examples (ideally, multiple options) of what you expect their work to be may be helpful for students who are easily distracted, or who are having a hard time thinking clearly about what good work looks like in this moment.
· You may also want to offer alternatives to synchronous video, to make sure that students can demonstrate engagement with the course content and ideas. This could include discussion boards in Canvas or responding to reflective prompts.
Have you lost contact with your student altogether?
· We recommend that you submit a report to the CARE Team. Whether you’re worried about a student’s physical safety, or just want to flag the fact that a student in in danger of losing credit, this helps staff triage and connect the student to resources that may help.
Asynchronous options: As a reminder, the email that went out from Elizabeth Williamson on April 2, 2020 stated an expectation held by academic leadership: “Given the barriers students are facing, the awarding of credit will not be dependent on a student’s capacity to participate synchronously. In other words, we expect faculty to design learning experiences for students who can participate in live online class meetings, and an alternate pathway for those who have limited access to tools like zoom. We see this as an ethical response to the situation our students are in, given that the shifts we have had to make in our pedagogy happened after registration took place.”
Your,
Deans
The
Evergreen State College is open; find updated information at www.evergreen.edu. We are working remotely in order to reduce the spread of
COVID-19.
In addition, the following
academic administration offices will be working reduced hours on Fridays due to
lower staffing levels. Our available hours are Monday through Thursday from
8-12/1-5 and on Friday from 8-12:
Deans Area
Institutional Research
Academic Budget Office
Provost’s Office
