Faculty preparation
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Although it may be possible for most classes to be offered in person, circumstances and official guidance might require that some or all classes be offered through remote instruction. For that reason, faculty members will need to prepare for both modes of instruction in the fall. Faculty members will individually determine which mode of instruction will best suit their personal situations, pedagogical practices and disciplinary requirements. The College will ask all faculty to indicate their initial preferences in mid-June, so we can begin to provide students with a preliminary sense of the modes of instruction; we will then ask faculty their preferences again by mid-July, to see if ongoing developments in public health and the steps towards campus safety have affected any decisions. This process will help us plan for any revisions to the curriculum and ensure that students will be aware of the dominant teaching mode for their classes.
The three options for instruction are:
- Remote: Some faculty members will be unable to teach in person due to health constraints or because they still feel unsafe in doing so. These faculty members should be able to select an all-remote teaching plan and prepare their courses to provide the highest quality remote instruction.
- In-person: It may be possible to offer some courses – such as lab sciences, studio art and performing arts – only in an in-person environment. In these cases, the College will help faculty members create safe solutions for in-person instruction. If there is no safe solution, the faculty member may create an alternative course, and the College will assist students who need to find a suitable replacement course, possibly at another institution.
- Blended: Some faculty members may choose to design their courses in a blended mode, with some in-person instruction and some remote instruction. For example, lectures might be delivered via remote formats and seminar meetings or discussions might occur in an in-person format.
Faculty members should feel free to explore these possibilities according to their own sense of their discipline, their preferred pedagogies and teaching expertise.
To help faculty prepare, the College will strongly support a robust series of faculty pedagogy trainings and workshops featuring academic technology, instructional design, shared pedagogy practices and teaching-the-teacher workshops throughout the summer.
The College is currently working to develop operational action plans on multiple fronts: residential life, facilities, dining services, academic support services, cocurricular programs and the many other departments that contribute to campus life and operations.