Essential Practices

The expectation is that, at minimum, all faculty should commit to the following essential educational practices for remote and online teaching:

  1. Use a consistent central platform for the course (e.g. communication, materials, assignments, grades and class meetings); for the sake of cross-campus consistency for students, this should be Canvas and Zoom in almost all instances, knowing that Canvas can also serve as a portal to external tools.
  2. Hold remote office hours on a regular and consistent basis and ensure that students know how to contact instructors for consultation.
  3. Provide regular opportunities for synchronous and/or asynchronous engagement among
  4. students and between instructors and students; instructors should go beyond posting written materials, assigning assessments, and holding office hours.
  5. Communicate with students often; provide feedback in a timely way.
  6. Set specific expectations for student engagement; clearly define course attendance and participation policies.
  7. Make course materials accessible and maintain academic integrity, particularly for assessments.

The College of Arts and Sciences faculty are proud to provide high quality pedagogy to all of our students. The next section specifies a set of detailed recommendations and suggestions that beyond basic Essential Practices and further address the principles above.