Information & Updates from Provost Poser

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you again for all of your hard work that has gotten us to the cusp of going fully online on Monday and for the last five weeks of the semester. There will surely be some technical issues next week, but because of your preparation and the outstanding work of Cynthia Herrera Lindstrom and the staff of ACCC, I believe we are ready.

Please find here a 2-page document created to help you and your students troubleshoot technical problems that you could confront on Blackboard, Webex, and Zoom. ACCC will send this directly to students, but please share this with them as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are international students who have returned to their home countries and will be completing the semester online from there. We also have students who may have new jobs that prevent them from being able to “attend” all of the class sessions, and other students whose Wi-Fi connections may be unstable or who experience a glitch during the class, as well as for those who may have childcare and other responsibilities to deal with at home. For all of these reasons, and to the extent possible, I encourage you to record your lectures so that they are accessible at other times. Video sessions can be recorded on Blackboard, Webex, and Zoom, and instructions for this can be found on the ACCC website.

Many faculty need to make changes to course syllabi under the circumstances. This is acceptable, but please use discretion so as to minimize potential impact on student performance, and be sure to inform all students in the course of any changes.

In a reversal of earlier announcements, we decided late yesterday to close the Daley Library completely, along with all other computer labs on campus. This change of plan is the result of careful consideration about protecting the health and welfare of our students, faculty, and staff. If you learn of students who do not have computer access at home, please direct them here, where they can log in and then fill out a form with ACCC and receive a laptop and/or Wi-Fi hotspot in the mail.

Finally, an update on two academic matters:

• The grading policy for Spring 2020 will be finalized soon following consultation with the Senate Executive Committee. I expect it will be available by Monday morning.
• A committee is looking at final exam proctoring options and we are expecting that recommendation next week.
• Important academic deadlines for this semester are:
  • Registration for Fall 2020 semester opens March 30.
  • Course late drop deadline has been moved to April 3.
  • Registration for Summer Sessions I & II has been moved to begin on April 15. Summer Session I will be completely online. We will decide about Summer Session II by April 15.

Again, thank you for your dedication to UIC and our students, and good luck on Monday! Please feel free to let me know how it’s going.

Susan Poser
Provost