[SC-pod] H1N1

[Susanne Morgan]

Greetings, Susan,
I used ideas from the POD thread and mostly from CRLT at UMich and sent 
an informal note on ICTeach, our faculty/staff listserv. I'll paste in 
what I wrote. The president responded immediately.....will paste that in 
too so everyone can envy us our new leader! In addition I offered to our 
provost to help draft a more formal message to faculty but she has not 
yet taken me up on the offer. I think it is critical to be ahead on this 
one. Since we faculty know we are the center of the world, it is truly 
hard to imagine absence if we are not at death's door. But for the 
public health we have to be.
Best,
Susanne

Hi, everyone,
We saw yesterday's Intercom announcement about public health measures in 
the likely event of a flu outbreak. Of course, as community members we 
too should stay home from the first signs through 24 fever-free hours. 
This is particularly hard for us, because our classes naturally depend 
on us.

The national faculty development list has been circulating resources 
related to faculty preparation for an outbreak and I wanted to share the 
essence with you. I'm phrasing it as "we should...." rather than 
"consider...." because as a faculty member and a medical sociologist I 
feel strongly about our public health responsibilities. But I am not 
issuing orders!

    * Adjust your attendance policy to allow for possible extended
      absences, and note in your syllabus that deadlines might have to
      be changed.
    * Tell students your plans for notification: them to you; you to
      them in case you are absent.
    * Employ online resources like Blackboard for posting class material
      and permitting students to continue to work while absent.
    * Prepare for your own absence, such as knowing how you would post
      online notes and facilitate student activities

One of the best resources was prepared by the Center for Research on 
Learning and Teaching and sent to faculty by the provost at the 
University of Michigan. You can see it here 
<http://www.crlt.umich.edu/flu/index.php>:

What are your thoughts? What is your advice to our colleagues? Here is 
where "reply" is the right button!

and then Tom Rochon wrote:
This is an extremely helpful post Susanne -- thank you so much for 
compiling this short list of preparations that faculty should undertake.

In addition, it is important that faculty know what is going on in the 
IC community, not just in their families and their classes.  Paying 
attention to notices and advisories from the Hammond Health Center will 
be important.  Regular perusal of Intercom never meant so much to us as 
it may mean in the coming months!

Thanks to everyone.  Through the actions we take, we can make a 
significant difference in the course of H1N1 through our community.

Tom

PLINER, Susan wrote:
> Dear Small College Colleagues,
> I have recently received a request from our Provost to gather resources and tips for faculty who might need to isolate themselves should they become sick.  Have any of you been dealing with creating ideas for faculty if they can't get to class to teach due to illness?  If so, I would love to hear what direction you are taking.  Also, I would be interested in hearing from folks what they think might be problematic with such an approach.   Thanks to all! Susan
>
> Susan M. Pliner, Ed.D.
> Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
> Interim Director, Centennial Center for Leadership
> Assistant Professor, Education Department
> Hobart and William Smith Colleges
> Learning Commons, Library 1st Floor
> Geneva, NY 14456
> (315)781-3354
> (315)781-3862 Fax
> http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/
> pliner at hws.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
> SC-pod mailing list
> SC-pod at conncoll.edu
> http://oak.conncoll.edu/mailman/listinfo/sc-pod
>   

-- 
Susanne Morgan, Ph.D.
Center for Faculty Excellence
Ithaca College
953 Danby Road
Ithaca NY 14850

morgan at ithaca.edu
607-274-3521
http://ithaca.edu/cfe

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://oak.conncoll.edu/pipermail/sc-pod/attachments/20090901/15f8fec9/attachment.html