Wednesday Wire: March 18, 2020

Submitted by Kris Boone, boone.3@osu.edu

Hi Folks,

Please see the notes below regarding LOTS of concerns. We are in a fluid situation; so reading your email is critically important. This includes emails from ATI, Dean Kress, and other university administrators.  We also have scheduled a zoom meeting for Friday afternoon. It will be recorded.

One of the most important messages from the university today is that we still have far too many people on campus. We need to reduce those numbers immediately.   

We also want to commend you on the hard work you are doing. You will benefit our students. Your patience with this situation and your flexibility are valued greatly. 

1) Orientation 

Per OAA, New Student Orientation for Autumn Semester 2020 will be virtual. The Orientation Planning Committee will be meeting shortly to adapt our current plans to this new format. We will provide updates as soon as possible.

2) As per University requirements, all courses must actively use Carmen. Three components are required:

a) Syllabus - Please update the content list, assessment, and grading scheme. Students must be provided an updated version of the syllabus prior to the March 23.  Also please announce to your students that they need to review the syllabus for those changes. 

b) Course Content – Faculty are encouraged to use asynchronous delivery to allow accessibility to students with varied internet access. 

c) Grades – Be certain the student is able to assess their current grade and see how future assignments will affect the final grade. This is extremely important as the drop date is April 3.

3) Practicum

Students are concerned about practicums, and some have not heard from their professors regarding practicums. This is an area where we may not be able to require additional practicum hours at this point. We have also learned that we were requiring more practicum hours than required by ODHE and other similar institutions, which we will need to change in the future. Most likely, your students would have achieved the required number of hours if our policy was keeping pace (~2.5 hours of work/week); so please bear that in mind.

4) Travel

All travel, including in-state, must go through the travel request process. Only essential travel is being approved. Conference travel is not considered essential travel. And we can expect further travel restrictions. Travel requests are being turned around quickly

5) Research

Please see the Dean’s message. Only critical research that needs to be done in a lab should be conducted on campus at this time. 

6) Commencement

Due to the current restrictions on gathering size for the next 8 weeks, the Ohio State ATI ceremony will be postponed. We are looking at future dates in the Summer and December. 

7) Final Exams

With the changes in the semester dates, we have had to change our final exam schedule. Please review the ATI final exam schedule at https://ati.osu.edu/currentstudents/academics/final-exam-schedule-ati. This schedule is specific to ATI. Cumulative finals must be given at the scheduled time during finals week. Non-cumulative finals may be given at the end of the semester. If you wish to change a final exam time or day, you must request approval from Academic Affairs so that we do not conflict and double book students.

8) Learning Lab

The Learning Lab will continue to operate. Student tutors are being trained on Zoom and electronic documentation. Tutors have reached out to established students to begin arranging sessions. For those students looking for a tutor, please direct them to Penny Nemitz.7. Penny will facilitate tutoring matches.

9) Library

The library will continue to operate virtually. The librarians are actively working to put a chat feature on the library page. 

10) ) Advisors – OnCourse

The OnCourse folks are actively working to provide ATI access. Please complete the FERPA and Institutional Data Policy training in BuckeyeLearn and email Carri Gerber.140 when you have completed the trainings. 

11) Academic Form Processing Instructions

Ohio State ATI is temporarily processing student requests via e-mail.  Please go to https://ati.osu.edu/form-processing-instructions for instructions and links to forms. All requests and approvals must be sent via OSU email accounts. 

12) Meetings

The Dean and others recommend we use the tools to which we already have access (Zoom and Skype for business) for meetings. 

13) Promotion and Tenure and Performance Evaluation

Because of the disruption caused by the pandemic, the university is guiding us to make allowances in performance evaluations during this time period. That includes classroom evaluations. If a classroom evaluation has not been conducted for a class that was face-to-face and has now moved online, we will not be evaluating that class through our peer system. Further, the university is going to allow tenure-track untenured faculty to extend their period of evaluation in an effort to better accommodate the disruption of their teaching, research and outreach programs. More information will be presented to those faculty members soon. 

14) IT Service
Cort Sutherland has asked us to share the following message regarding requests for IT service:

Hi all,
I need to ask you to please fight the urge to reach out directly to your favorite IT agent and instead contact us by our departmental line. I guarantee this approach will get you faster service, although it may be with an agent you have not worked with previously. There are 9 of us in total on the IT Service Desk team in Wooster, all of which are watching the phones, ready to help when needed. Given the current situation, we’re making every effort to resolve issues remotely, but we remain available for in-person support if remote options have been exhausted. We’re here for each of you and will help in any way we can. 
For immediate assistance, call 614-514-4848 x3 for Wooster
For non-urgent requests, contact online:
Email: servicedesk@osu.edu
Self Service: go.osu.edu/it

15) Student Programming & Life
The direct service providers in Student Success Services have been busy contacting students by email and newsletters with information on how to obtain services. Students can contact Program Excel Academic Mentors and Coaches, Ruth Montz from Disability Service, and Professional Counselor Jacqueline Belanger by email or their office telephone numbers.

Again, thanks for your patience and diligence. Also please take good care of yourselves during this stressful time.

Kris, Thom, Carri, and Michelle