General Strategies

Generally it is recommended that faculty are encouraged to develop a specific plan for how to
teach from home, to communicate the plan to their dean, and to practice their plan well in
advance of an emergency event. In order to make sure that everyone has had an opportunity to
give the issue careful consideration, Vice Presidents of Instruction may consider asking each
faculty member to submit a one-page plan about how he or she intends to manage instruction
during a school closure. The plan may be very simple, or more complex, depending on the
individual faculty member's needs and comfort level with technology. So as not to overwhelm
faculty with choices, consider giving faculty a short menu from the choices below that your
college is prepared to support.

With respect to administration, it is recommended that all eLearning support staff set up to work
from home: PCs, mics / cameras, high speed connections, Elluminate, e-mail, and phone.
Further, it is recommended that crucial support staff be prepared to leave campus and work from
home at the first indication that a wide-spread pandemic is imminent.

Specific Strategies

1. Before addressing eLearning solutions and strategies, it is important to note that there are
several low-tech measures that instructors can take to ensure that students have the information
they need in case of a closure:

a. During the first week of class, the instructor should ensure that they have accurate and up
to date contact information for each student to include a voice number and email address.
b. Faculty should spend extra time creating a detailed syllabus. Faculty should make hard
copies of the syllabus and hand it to all students first week of class. Online students should be
directed to make a back up or physical copy of the syllabus. The syllabus should include:
· Specific information so students can continue working independently through the
material, including goals & objectives for each week, chapter reading assignments,
and due dates for exercises & paper assignments.
· Independent research projects that are prepared in advance and can be initiated with
simple email instructions.
·Alternate contact information for the instructor should the campus network, learning
management system, etc go down.
c. Faculty should consider organizing the students into small groups or have everyone pair
with a "study buddy" so that each student would have someone to call to find out crucial
information about course assignments and expectations.

2. With respect to strategies that employ basic eLearning technology, there are several steps that
can be taken to maintain communication during a forced hiatus. These solutions should be
familiar to faculty (email), or require only a short tutorial in order to use effectively:

a. Create or learn how to access an email distribution list in the college learning management
system or elsewhere.
b. Instructor provides clear instructions about how to contact him/her via email or other
platform (in syllabus).
 c. Make sure each faculty member has a jump drive to back up their files and take them
home.
d. Instruct faculty about how to use a simple chat website (e.g., Meebo, Tinychat) to hold
virtual office hours, including:
· How to set up and manage an online chat session.
e. Instruct faculty about how to create a simple blog (e.g., Blogger) that could be used to
communicate with students, including:
· How to create an account and log on,
· How to create a post,
· How to upload a file,
· How to make a link.
f. Instruct faculty about how to remotely distribute documents (e.g., Google Docs or Scribd)
or presentations (e.g., SlideShare) to students, including:
· How to create an account and log on,
· How to upload a file,
· How to send a link to students.

3. The following strategies employ significantly more technology, and thus will require more
training for faculty who are not already acquainted with eLearning technology (a minimum of 90
min. for basic functions on most platforms):

a. Instruct faculty about how to create a more ambitious website (e.g., Ning), blog (e.g.,
Drupal) or wiki (e.g. Wikispaces, PBworks) that could be used to communicate with
students, including:
· How to create an account and log on,
· How to create a post (or edit a wiki page),
· How to upload a file,
· How to make a link.

b. Instruct faculty about how to use Elluminate for virtual class sessions. (Elluminate has
high quality online training – Faculty could complete 3 hour basic training on their own.)
Instruction should include:
· How to schedule a session,
· How to use a headset with microphone,
· How to activate webcam.
· How to share a file,
· How to take a web tour.
c. Build a shell in Angel for all classes on campus (classes that would benefit from a website
– class-site). Create ID for all students (deactivated then activated as used). Instruct faculty
about how to use Angel. Training should include:
 · How to log on,
· How to post an announcement,
· How to upload a file,
· How to make a link.
· How to create a discussion forum.

Resources

1. Closure Ideas from Leslie Ann Wallace at BTC

(http://btcresources.wikispaces.com/Closure+Ideas)

• This wiki contains lots of practical information and tutorials about how to set up a blog or
wiki, as well as how to use these tools effectively.

2. Example Preparedness Plan Description (Preparedness_Sample_Plan)

3. eLearning Bootcamp from Rick McKinnon at SPSCC (http://web101.wikispaces.com/)

• This wiki contains information about how the tools of eLearning can be used to enhance
student engagement and amplify learning, as well as supporting documentation about
both synchronous and asynchronous modes of online instruction.

Web Tools Mentioned in this Advisory

• Blogger (www.blogger.com)
• Google Docs (docs.google.com)
• Meebo (www.meebo.com)
• Ning (www.ning.com)
• PBWorks (pbworks.com)
• Scribd (www.scribd.com)
• TinyChat (tinychat.com)
• WikiSpaces (www.wikispaces.com)