New Workshop Series Aims to Prepare Faculty for Potential Academic Disruptions

01/27/2025

The Paul C. Reinert, S.J. Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning will host a workshop series for faculty in February. The series, Fire Drill Series: "What’s Your Teaching Plan in Case of Academic Disruption?," will focus on how to deal with academic disruptions like the move to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The March 2020 pivot to online instruction might be a distant memory, but disruptions are increasingly becoming part of academic life. These disruptions might be brief, or they might last for days, weeks, or even months. How prepared are faculty members if they need to quickly pivot to an in-person course to an online format? What would be needed to do and how would it be done?

Building on the lessons learned from 2020 and the new expectations and regulations for distance teaching, this 3-part workshop series revisits some of key points, requirements, and actions necessary to maintain a continuous, quality learning experience for students. 

The workshops will take place from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Wuller Hall, Room 222. 

During the series, participants will:

• Friday, Feb 14: Identify types of disruptions, evaluate the emergency readiness of their courses, and prepare a continuity checklist.
• Friday, Feb. 21: Develop plans for different disruption scenarios and consider accessibility during disruptions.
• Friday, Feb. 28: Revisit effective practices for using the distance education technologies necessary to maintain instructional continuity during a disruption.    

More details can be found online.  Registration is required.