Maintaining Educational Continuity in the Context of COVID-19

03.08.20

Dear Colleagues,

Much has occurred since the provost’s message on COVID-19 preparedness. Universities across the country from Seattle to New York have decided to transition to completely online classes. Others, including LMU’s Loyola Law School, have decided to engage their faculty in trial runs that temporarily take their classes online. The Westchester and Playa Vista campuses similarly need to be ready to move our courses online to preserve continuity of instruction, and we are also planning to conduct a trial run shortly after spring break. As a reminder, please visit LMU’s Coronavirus Website for the latest information and guidance from the university.

To support you, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and the Instructional Technology team are partnering to offer a Faculty Hub for online teaching support. We will be providing training, face-to-face and via Zoom, for your ease in attendance. We strongly hope that you will use the time over spring break to take advantage of these resources and get your materials ready in case LMU needs to move to fully online instruction.

The CTE will be open from Tuesday, March 10, through Friday, March 13, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Faculty can meet with Instructional Technologists in the CTE during these hours, or they can contact the Instructional Technology team via the “Keep Teaching Hotline” at 310.258.7222. Additionally, individualized Zoom consultations will be available upon request during these hours for those who will not be on campus or prefer to work remotely. Faculty can also access a number of resources, including walkthroughs and training recordings, on the Keep Teaching website.

The following face-to-face sessions will be available in the CTE at the times listed below (or via Zoom upon request):

Brightspace
Email, Content, Discussions, Quizzes
Tuesday, March 10 | 10-10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, March 11 | 2:30-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 12 | 10-10:30 a.m.
Friday, March 13 | 2:30-3 p.m.

Zoom
Synchronous Class Sessions & Virtual Office Hours
Tuesday, March 10 | 10:30-11 a.m.
Wednesday, March 11 | 3-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 12 | 10:30-11 a.m.
Friday, March 13 | 3-3:30 p.m.

Asynchronous Interactive Discussions
Voicethread, FlipGrid
Tuesday, March 10 | 11-11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, March 11 | 3:30-4 p.m.
Thursday, March 12 | 11-11:30 a.m.
Friday, March 13 | 3:30-4 p.m.

If you are a faculty member who has been certified in online teaching via Quality Matters or the eFaculty Certification course, or if you have expertise you’d like to share, please fill out this survey, and we will add your name to a Box file for folks to reach out to for support.

Finally, please feel free to reach out to your Instructional Technologist or the ITS Service Desk (servicedesk@lmu.edu or 310.338.7777) for general support issues or guidance in accessing support resources. We are committed to supporting you as you prepare for this potentiality.

Thank you,

Kathleen Weaver, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Research, Professional Development, and Online Learning