Teaching During Unplanned Events

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► TLC Guide to Teaching During Unplanned Events

Adapting to Teaching Disruptions

Disruptions to teaching — such as power outages, wildfires, evacuations, and public health emergencies — have become more common. They can range from short-term interruptions lasting a few days to long-term closures extending for weeks or months.

Staying Informed

In the event of longer-term disruptions, the TLC will mount a “Keep Teaching” website as was done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sign up for CruzAlert and monitor UCSC websites for important notifications and updates. Ask your students to do the same.

Preparing Ahead

There are several key steps you can take to prepare for potential disruptions to teaching and learning.

Plan & Communicate

Develop a plan (and a plan B) for disruptions and communicate it to your teaching team. Your plan should include information about communication channels and technologies you will use in a disruption. Your plan may entail adding asynchronous elements (such as reading, independent assignments, or pre-recorded video) to your Canvas course, as they generally make responding to unplanned events easier. In other instances, it may entail moving to synchronous options such as Zoom.
Include a statement in your syllabus addressing how the teaching team will communicate with students should there be a disruption.
Send students a survey (sample) at the beginning of your course to give them an opportunity to share concerns or challenges they may face. (To make a copy of the survey sample, sign into your UCSC Google account, go to Forms, click on “Template Gallery,” and look for “UCSC: Preparing for Disruptions.”)
Communicate consistently, whether you are using Canvas Announcements, email, or a discussion tool (Discord, Slack, etc.), students should know which method to expect. It’s also advisable to use more than one method of communication, especially when sending critical communications (e.g., sending an email and an identical Canvas announcement).
Communicate with your students as soon as possible, through whichever channels are typically used in the class, to let them know the changes you’ll make to the class due to the disruption (e.g., class will be held on Zoom). Even if you don’t know what adjustment you’re going to make, let them know that you’re aware of the disruption and that you’ll circle back with a plan within 24 hours.
Keep lines of communication open and consistent to keep students informed about a possibly changing situation and the current status. Relatedly, make sure that students have a standard way of communicating with the teaching team.

Utilize Key Technologies

Keep your Zoom app current by installing the latest version.
Familiarize yourself with the ways to prevent and respond to Zoom disruptions (“Zoombombing”).
Add your course materials to your Canvas course and publish the course even if you are primarily teaching in person.
Familiarize yourself with Lecture Capture and consider scheduling to have your lectures recorded, even if you aren’t disrupted; having recordings from previous offerings will provide more flexibility for responding to unplanned events in the future.
Get to know the media management tool YuJa, as it will be especially helpful if you are using any recorded or pre-recorded video materials.
Consider downloading apps like Zoom and Canvas Teacher to your mobile device for easier communication.

TLC Guide