Checklist – 10 things to do to prepare for teaching in the Fall of 2021.

In response to the question, “How can I best prepare for the Fall of 2021 given the current conditions?”, I prepared a 10-point checklist.  References and links are included in the longer version below.

Checklist

• 1.   Encourage Vaccines
• 2.   Encourage Masks
• 3.   Encourage Proactive Community Testing
• 4.   Encourage Social Distancing
• 5.   Define Your Absence Policies
• 6.   Stay Empathic
• 7.   Create Classroom Climate
• 8.   Showcase Guest Artists
• 9. Reach out for Support
• 10.  Keep Engaging Students

Detail

1. Encourage Vaccines: Encourage vaccinations in your syllabus, on Canvas, and in-person and provide accurate vaccine information: https://bit.ly/utvaccineguidance
   
2. Encourage Masks: Encourage masking in your syllabus, on Canvas, and in-person and provide accurate masking information: https://bit.ly/utmaskguidance
3. Encourage Proactive Community Testing: Encourage frequent and free Proactive Community Testing in your syllabus, on Canvas, and in-person and provide accurate PCT information: https://bit.ly/utpctguidance
4. Encourage Social Distancing: While not all classrooms have flexible, set up your classroom and seating arrangements as you see fit – as far or as close apart as you see fit.
5. Define Your Absence Policies: Think about and document a clear absence policy in your syllabus, on Canvas, and review in person. Note in your syllabus that CoVID-19 absences will fall under the same policy unless students with documented COVID-19 concerns work with you in advance to determine specific arrangements. Just as you have over the past 18 months, you have the freedom to define alternative assignments for any student you deem needs them. You do not need to live-stream all of your courses to accommodate students if that is not possible for you.
6. Stay Empathic: Empathy means walking in someone else’s shoes and feeling the toe pinch. Many of us used empathy to ask key pedagogical questions over the past 18 months and to adjust our teaching accordingly. Such as:  What do my students really need to know given the limits on my bandwidth and theirs? What is the best way for them to learn specific content? How will I know if they have it down, especially when we are remote? Our ability to ask these questions ensured instructional continuity and can continue to do so.
7. Create Classroom Climate: Create a sense of belonging for students by setting the stage for classroom engagement. Create classroom engagement and community guidelines together. Share with students that you expect that guidelines will likely get broken and create a plan for how to respond when that happens. Revisit guidelines often but especially before big projects, guest artist visits, or team projects.
8. Showcase Guest Artists: Keep inviting guest artists from around the world to visit and engage with our students.
9. Reach out for Support: Get ideas and support for teaching from the CoFA’s Office of Instructional Continuity and Innovation or UT Austin’s faculty innovation center.
10. Keep Engaging Students:  Break up your lectures by chunking them up into 10-12 minute chunks; avoid overwhelming students’ working memory by putting too much information on slides or reading slides to them; help students remember what they have learned by giving them opportunities to pull that learning from their memories. Read more on pages 1-4 here.

 

Helpful COVID-19 Links

 UT’s dashboard is here. Austin information is here. Past updates are here. 

UT Vaccination info is here. UT Vaccine Hub is here. 

Where you can get PCT. Report the results of your off-campus test here or at 512-232-5050, UT’s Behavior Concerns and COVID-19 Advice Line (BCCAL)