March 25, 2020

To: UC Santa Barbara Faculty and Instructors

From: David Marshall, Executive Vice Chancellor

Re: Instructional Updates and Related Resources for Faculty and Students

This message forwards some important new updates from Associate Vice Chancellor Stopple and Associate Dean and CITRAL Faculty Director Adler-Kassner, and also highlights other information relevant to the beginning of Spring Quarter instruction.

I am very grateful to our colleagues in Undergraduate Education, Instructional Development, CITRAL, Graduate Division, Academic Personnel, and Student Affairs, and to offices across campus, for the extraordinary efforts they are making to serve our students and maintain the educational mission of the University of California. The dedication and determination of our faculty, staff, and students in the face of these challenges are inspiring. 


Undergraduate Student Concerns

  • Ensuring Accessibility: We are making many efforts to ensure that students will be able to participate in remote instruction. Although our local surveys indicate that 94% of our undergraduates have devices that allow them to work remotely, the Basic Needs Center and Financial Crisis Response Team in Student Affairs set up a program to loan computers to those students who needed them before they left campus. Campus systems and licenses for delivering instruction are provided free to all students.
  • Keep Learning UCSB: Resources for Remote Learning: This is a new, comprehensive resource site for students, created by Undergraduate Education (including the Transfer Student Center and the ONDAS Student Centers) and Student Affairs (including CLAS and EOP). It is designed to provide student resources and assistance with remote access and remote learning (including links to special services being offered by internet providers across the state). Faculty and TA’s can link to these sites from their courses.

Please note: If students have logistical or technical issues with remote engagement when instruction begins, they should be directed to email help@collaborate.ucsb.edu.  
 

  • Connecting with Students: A GauchoSpace survey is being developed that faculty can use to learn more about student needs in remote courses.
  • Academic Standing: During this emergency, the College of Letters & Science has decided that all students who are “subject to disqualification” after Winter 2020 will be reinstated on probation. Any students who have concerns about their academic status or their ability to be successful in Spring Quarter should speak with a college advisor.  (In this context, students are subject to disqualification after a term if their term GPA is less than 1.5 or they were on probation for the term and their term GPA is less than 2.0 or their cumulative GPA after the term is below 2.0.)
  • Graduation Requirements: Questions have been raised about what to do for graduating seniors if they miss required courses, mostly lab and field courses, due to the move to remote instruction. Conversations are underway with the Senate about a waiver policy for Spring 2020 degree candidates. The details are still being worked out.
  • Grading Options: A proposal is before the Academic Senate to extend the deadline for students to switch between letter grade and P/NP from the end of the seventh week to the end of the tenth week of the quarter (i.e. the last day of instruction.)

 

Faculty and Graduate Student Instructor Concerns

  • The Instructional Continuity Site is updated regularly, and we encourage instructors and Teaching Assistants to check it often for new resources. New materials to assist TA’s in section planning will be available soon. We also are hiring additional graduate students with both technical and subject area expertise to assist faculty and departments as they mount their curriculum and set of their courses.
  • Access to Campus: Please note that the Governor’s orders include an exception for institutions of higher learning insofar as they deliver essential services, and delivering remote instruction is considered an essential service. Social distancing and other precautions are crucial, as is reducing the density on campus as much as possible, but faculty may use their offices and instructional facilities on campus if they need them to teach their courses.  
  • Spring Quarter Timing: The transition to remote instruction is daunting for everyone. The beginning of Summer Session just one week after the end of Spring Quarter made it difficult to change the academic calendar. Summer Session will be more important than ever this year as students seek to complete their studies and requirements. In addition, many faculty did not want to reduce the number of instructional weeks in Spring Quarter, which would force them to curtail their syllabi and course plans. We also have been told that students are very eager to reconnect with the campus, resume their studies, and engage with an academic community. No UC campus on the quarter system decided to seek permission from the UC Office of the President to change its academic calendar.
  • Flexibility in a Time of Transition: We understand that instructors will exercise flexibility in the first week of the quarter if they need some time to get organized in the transition to remote instruction. We encourage instructors to communicate with their students as soon as possible to check in with them and to inform them about plans for the course and provide them with any appropriate assignments. We know that some instructors will use the beginning of the quarter to get their courses up and running. We trust the faculty to do their best to figure out what works for them and their students, and we recognize that courses will evolve.
  • Teaching Assistants will be crucial as we move to remote instruction. Our undergraduates will need help and support in completing their courses so they can fulfil their requirements and achieve their educational goals. It is important that faculty in courses with TA’s communicate with them regularly and carefully monitor their workload so they do not exceed the 220-hour maximum per quarter. As we have stated previously, the campus will honor its contractual obligations; if a course with TA’s is cancelled, another assignment will be found for the TA’s. For other information, see the Graduate Student FAQ for Graduate Students on Coronavirus Impacts posted by Graduate Division.
  • TA resources: A new tutorial designed to help TA’s learn strategies for online teaching and technologies that support these approaches is being developed. It will provide TA’s opportunities to practice remote technologies and to ask questions. The new tutorial will be linked on the Instructional Continuity site and announced on Grad Post. TA’s can learn more about GauchoCast and Zoom by joining the self-guided “Teaching with GauchoCast and Zoom” GauchoSpace site.
  • ILTI: Another valuable site to consult is the UC Innovative Learning Technology Initiative. In addition to the portfolio of approved on-line and hybrid courses that are available for cross-campus enrollment for all students, ILTI has many useful links to assist all instructors. You can find the equivalent of our Instructional Continuity site for all the other campus, guides to teaching with Zoom, and numerous links to Virtual Science Labs and related resources. Departments are encouraged to review the on-line courses offered through ILTI to see if they would be appropriate to recommend to students. Efforts are being made to expand enrollment capacity.
  • UCTV: UCTV has 20 years of video archives that include both public programming and academic content. These archives are searchable and presented in useful topical and thematic categories, and there is a section with resources for teaching. UCSB has been a major contributor to UCTV, including many lectures sponsored by Arts & Lectures, the Carsey-Wolf Center, the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, the Institute for Energy Efficiency, the Technology Management Program, and the Groundbreaking Research/Innovative Technology (“GRIT”) interdisciplinary series of faculty lectures sponsored by Summer Sessions. Consider these high-quality video lectures as possible curricular supplements or as ways to create a sense of intellectual community for students “outside of” class.

 

Other Concerns

  • Academic Progress: We have recognized that the disruption caused by the closing of research labs will have an impact on faculty productivity. Please see the Academic Personnel Updates Related to the COVID-19 Crisis for information about relevant policies for faculty. We understand that childcare responsibilities in this crisis situation might also have an impact on faculty productivity. Graduate students may have comparable concerns about productivity and academic schedules and requirements. Discussions to address graduate student policies are ongoing.  
  • Principles of Community: In his first message to the campus community about the coronavirus situation, Chancellor Yang wrote: “We would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm our shared commitment to treating all members of our community with respect, and to upholding our Principles of Community. It is unacceptable to discriminate against or profile any members of our community.” Our international students and colleagues face additional pressures at this time and we offer them our support, respect, and understanding.


Thank you again for your remarkable efforts to serve our students, support each other, and maintain the values of our UC Santa Barbara academic community.