Coronavirus Updates

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As you know from the President’s letter to the BC community, Boston College has made the decision to suspend all in-person instruction on campus in an effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. While on-campus classes will not be held, faculty will be expected to teach students remotely. To allow students time to adjust to this decision and return home, all classes---with the exception of ongoing online classes---will be suspended effective at the end of teaching this evening (March 11). Remote instruction will begin on Thursday, March 19. Other University operations and services will continue for the remainder of the semester.    

We realize that this is a significant disruption and imposes additional burdens on you and our students, but the need to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19 and maintain the health and well-being of our community remains our highest priority.

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and your deans and department chairs have already sent you communication on ways to teach online or electronically. I ask all faculty, if you have not yet done so, to please contact a member of the CTE (centerforteaching@bc.edu) or your deans or department chairs on ways to move your course content and requirements online or electronically. The CTE is offering training classes, live and online, to help you accomplish this: https://www.bc.edu/offices/cte/teaching/covid-19-preparations.html.

Each school has designated one or more individuals to serve as its contact person should you have questions regarding teaching remotely. Technology questions should be sent to the CTE or your school’s Technology Consultants (https://www.bc.edu/offices/its/depts/support/tci/tc/tclist.html). All other questions may be sent to your school contact listed below.

Carroll School of Management

Ethan Sullivan, Senior Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Program, ethan.sullivan@bc.edu
tcfulton@bc.edu

Connell School of Nursing

Colleen Simonelli, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Program, colleen.simonelli@bc.edu
Susan Kelly Weeder, Associate Dean for Graduate Program, susan.kelly-weeder@bc.edu
Thomas Wahhab, Senior Technology Consultant, tc.cushing@bc.edu

Law School

Diane Ring, Associate Dean for Faculty, diane.ring@bc.edu
Kyle Fidalgo, Educational Technology Specialist, kyle.fidalgo@bc.edu

Lynch School of Education and Human Development

Ana Martinez-Aleman, Associate Dean for Faculty, ana.martinez-aleman@bc.edu
Tc.campion@bc.edu

Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences

Gene McMahon, Associate Dean, gene.mcmahon@bc.edu
Respective department chairs
Humanities Technology Consultants: Paul Emery and  Fawn Herd, tc.humanities@bc.edu
Sciences Technology Consultants: Howard White and Chris Cardosa, tc.sciences@bc.edu
McGuinn Technology Consultants: Bob McColgan, tc.mcguinn@bc.edu
St. Mary’s, Devlin, Robsham and Maloney TCs: Ken Porter, tclcas@bc.edu

School of Social Work

Thomas Walsh, Associate Dean and MSW Program Director, Thomas.walsh.3@bc.edu
Dan Bairos, Senior Technology Consultant, tcgssw@bc.edu

School of Theology and Ministry

Maura Colleary, Associate Dean, colleary@bc.edu
Ahmed Naim, Technology Consultant Supervisor, tcbright@bc.edu

Woods College of Advancing Studies

Michelle Elias Bloomer, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Program, michelle.elias@bc.edu
Tristan Johnson, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Tristan.johnson@bc.edu
Ahmed Naim, Technology Consultant Supervisor, tcbright@bc.edu

For future updates, please check periodically on the BC coronavirus web page (bc.edu/coronavirus).  Additional information on effective remote teaching techniques can be found at the bottom of this email.

I am grateful to the many members of our university who have been working tirelessly to respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. We are going to get through this by working together and learning from each other. I thank you for your commitment to our students’ education.

Sincerely,

David Quigley

Provost and Dean of Faculties

 

Technology for Teaching Remotely

The following strategies have been found effective: 

  • Many Canvas features commonly used to support face-to-face classes are also ideal for teaching remotely.  See information on:
  • Meet with students online in real time through Zoom, sharing screen, audio and video.  If you are new to Zoom, please email canvas@bc.edu to request a Pro license.  Please note: To allow other classes the opportunity to meet virtually if necessary, please schedule online exchanges only at times when your class would normally meet.
  • Try Google Hangouts Meet for office hours.
  • Use Panopto to record a narrated slide presentation that students can watch through Canvas.
  • The larger the group, the larger the risk in relying solely on synchronous technologies that need to work for everyone in real time.  Combined solutions are often best, for example record a brief lecture, then meet on Zoom for Q&A or set a prompt in a discussion board.
  • For additional information, see the CTE’s Teaching Through Disruption resource.
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