This message was shared with the faculty of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa on March 10, 2020.
Dear Colleagues,
As mentioned in the university’s message last week, the ITS – UH Online Innovation Center (UHOIC), with support from the College of Education, has provided the Teaching Online During an Emergency website to help our faculty prepare should we have to move all of our courses online.
As you know, the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff is our primary concern. The university is taking steps to prepare for the move to an all online delivery of courses should that be deemed necessary. However, we have not made a decision to do so at this time.
Of course, the situation is evolving rapidly here and around the world. As a state government entity, we continue to follow the guidance of the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, the governorʻs office and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We will stay connected with you as conditions change.
But we must work together to prepare—hence this email.
For those of you who are not familiar with the technologies available to move courses online, UHOIC will be pushing out mini-lessons to help you prepare. We are doing this over Spring Break, so that you can take the time to explore this modality. These lessons are to help you—and perhaps even your students—become familiar with the tools. To begin, I would like to encourage you to go to the Teaching During an Emergency website and under Create Your Plan!—download (instructions are on the site) the Teaching During an Emergency Checklist for Faculty (Google Sheet). Be sure you are logged into your official UH account before you click on the checklist link. When you click on the link, you will see the Checklist.
Future lessons will include a screencast (screen shots and videos) and instructions, as well as “online” consultation sessions. These will continue to be posted on the Teaching Online During an Emergency website.
Faculty teaching online should be aware of ADA compliance issues, especially in relation to materials uploaded to Laulima. Faculty should also be cognizant that not all students have access to computers and the Internet in their homes, and may need time to find a location from which to do their school work.
Our goal is to provide our faculty with learning materials so that by the end of Spring Break, we will be ready to complete the semester online should the need arise.
You may request additional assistance by completing the UHOIC request assistance form.
Best,
Michael Bruno
