Planning for COVID-related absences

Planning for COVID-related absences

Supporting students who cannot come to class

In the event that a student must isolate during the semester, students are being encouraged to reach out to you directly. You may also hear from Student Support Services (S3) (undergrad students) or GradSupport (graduate students) to discuss ways to best support the student. Information for students (and all MIT residents) who are in isolation can be found on DSL’s Wellbeing and Support page.

To save time and reduce stress during the term, make a plan before the semester begins for how you will support students in the event of absences and communicate these plans to your students on your course syllabus.

Making class content more readily available

Capturing the in-person classroom experience for students who are unable to attend in person

If the size and format of your subject supports this, it is strongly encouraged that you record your class sessions. Regardless of the method of video and/or capture and distribution you choose (see below), make sure to clearly articulate your decision, policy, and expectations with your students. You’ll want to specify:

• Whether the video will be available only to students who are unable to attend class in-person or to the entire class;
• Whether the video/class session will be streamed (with short delay) or available asynchronously after class
• How students can obtain access to the recording and/or the stream;
• If you plan to stream the video – whether or not you will interact with students who are viewing the stream.

Your recordings can have a range of formats and goals

• Recordings of your classes (audio only or audio & video) – with synchronous, remote student access and interaction. You may want to ask another member of the teaching staff to monitor remote students questions and comments, and 
• Recordings of your classes (audio only or audio & video) – with synchronous, remote student access without remote student interaction
• Recordings of your classes (audio only or audio & video) – for asynchronous student viewing after the live class session. If you choose this option, consider how remote students can ask questions about class content. You can recommend that they email questions to you or a particular TA, or that they post them to Piazza, Slack, or another platform. Let students know that they will receive responses after class.

If remote students have questions during class, you can recommend that they email them to you or a TA,  or that they post them to Piazza, Slack, or another platform. Let students know that they will receive responses after class.

In addition, please follow these guidelines for Notifying & Informing Students abut Classroom Recordings (also available at MIT Now).

1. Recording your class

As you plan your subject, consider how the following can affect your recording decisions.

• Existing course resources
  • Have you recorded lectures in the past that cover the same or similar enough material?
  • Can similar lectures be found in previous iterations of the course on OpenCourseWare?
• Modes of instruction & course structure
  • Does your class format lend itself to recording?
    • classes that focus on content delivery are generally well suited for recording
    • classes with a large amount of student-student interaction, with physical, hands-on activities, performance, etc, may be less suited given that more sophisticated AV arrangements are necessary to capture discussions and conversations effectively
  • What modes of instruction do you need to record?
    • boardwork
    • slide presentations
    • group work and discussions
  • What components and sections of your class are essential to capture?
  • Will it be necessary to capture video or will audio and links to material suffice?
• Support from your Teaching Assistants
  • Are there TAs or other instructional staff who are available to manage recordings?
  • Could a TA hold a tutoring session over Zoom to go over the lecture material and answer any questions that would have been asked in recitation?

There are a number of recording options (video and/or audio) that are available to you:

• Self-recording
  • iPad. Using Zoom or other software such as Explain Everything. Mounts for iPads are available in all classrooms and goose-neck mounting stands are available in many. 
  • Laptop. Using Zoom or other software.
• Recording done by the instructional staff in your course 
• Recording done by a student in your course with your permission
• Automated lecture capture (only available in certain classrooms).  However, the Registrar’s Office is available to support instructors who are interested in teaching in a room with automated lecture capture but who are not currently assigned to such a room. Contact schedules@mit.edu ASAP to review options.
• Recording by MIT AV (includes a fee)

When creating recordings, please consider:

• wearing a lapel/lavalier microphone to adequately capture your voice. We recommend using a lavalier mic attached to your collar, lapel, or a lanyard around your neck. Lavalier mics should not be close to your mouth. It will function best if you position the mic near your collarbone about a hand-span distance (20-30cm) from the mouth.
  • To request equipment and/or services, please complete either:
    • the MIT AV request services form. To learn more about using a microphone during classes to record or project your voice, or
    • IS&T loaner request form for faculty and staff. 
  • See our post on preparing to teach with masks. 
• MIT’s Digital Accessibility guidelines. 

While planning to record your class, consider how the following can affect your decisions.

Existing course resources

• Have you recorded lectures in the past that cover the same or similar enough material? 
• Can similar lectures be found in previous iterations of the course on OpenCourseWare?

Modes of instruction & course structure

• Does your class format lend itself to recording?
  • classes that focus on content delivery are generally well suited for recording
  • classes with a large amount of student-student interaction, with physical, hands-on activities, performance, etc, may be less suited given that more sophisticated AV arrangements are necessary to capture discussions and conversations effectively
• What modes of instruction do you need to record?
  • boardwork
  • slide presentations
  • group work and discussions
• What components and sections of your class are essential to capture?
• Will it be necessary to capture video or will audio and links to material suffice?

Support from your Teaching Assistants

• Are there TAs or other instructional staff that are available to manage recordings?
• Could a TA hold a tutoring session over Zoom to go over the lecture material and answer any questions that would have been asked in recitation?

2. Providing class notes

Consider making class notes accessible to students who cannot attend class. Here are some considerations:

• Are your teaching notes and/or slides comprehensive enough to be distributed as class notes for your students?  
• If you have TAs, can you ask them to take comprehensive notes of each class?
• Is collaborative note-taking a viable option? 
  • If you incorporate collaborative note taking, consider also capturing audio-only recordings (which may be easier to capture than video + audio).  Providing this combination of materials may be a comprehensive and effective way to support students who cannot attend in-person class.
    • it is recommended that you use a lapel/lavalier mic when making an audio recording – to obtain a wireless mic for teaching, please submit an IS&T loaner request form.
      • Microphones available through MIT can connect to both personal devices (laptop, table, phone) and speakers in classrooms
  • Classes that involve drawing images or complex formulae may be less practical for collaborative note-taking (although students could capture images by phone to add to notes)

You’ll want to consult with Disability and Access Services to make sure your notes meet accessibility standards for documents and images. 

Making special accommodations for group work & assessments

Depending on the time of the semester and the number of days a student might be absent from your class, you should consider: 1) how their absence will affect their ability to participate in and successfully complete assessments and assignments and 2) which assignments or assessments could be effectively completed remotely. The determination of whether a student is able to take or participate in a remote assessment should be made in consultation with the student and S3 or GradSupport.

Collaborative work

Students in quarantine will not be able to gather in-person to work on collaborative assignments together. If your subject includes collaborative assignments, you should consider:

• If there are tasks that can be done asynchronously, structuring the assignments and leveraging technology to accommodate asynchronous interactions. 
  • For collaborative work that requires synchronous interactions, consider whether Zoom or other platforms can be used.
  • For collaborative work that can be done asynchronously, consider:
    • how to structure the collaborative work effectively so that students can contribute in their own time. 
    • being explicit with your instructions for what is expected of each student
• Revising the goals, structure or deliverables of a collaborative assignment to ensure that remote students and in-person students have equitable experiences.

Written & timed exams

With respect to written, timed exams – last year’s concerns around academic integrity in remote exams will be less of an issue – since students will be isolated in their dorm rooms, and can be asked to take the exam synchronously with students in the classroom if they are healthy enough to do so. However, students will still have access to the internet and other resources, so design your questions to minimize opportunities for academic dishonesty.

Please see our post on Options for Final Exams from Fall 2021 for additional guidance on remote exams.

Presentations & performances

• Are recorded video presentations an acceptable substitute for classroom presentations?
• Can the presentation be facilitated remotely through Zoom or other video platforms?

For assessments that are offered frequently

• If you don’t already offer some flexibility within your grading scheme, consider allowing students to drop the lowest grade for assignments that are offered more than once (ex: problem sets, quizzes, or exams). 
• Communicate this decision in class and within your syllabus.

Supporting students if you are unable to teach in-person

Due to Covid-related isolation or quarantine requirements, it may be necessary for you to teach from home for portions of the semester or enlist a colleague to teach in person during your absence. In the event that you must remain at home, please discuss teaching options with your department head. 

For guidance on remote teaching, please see Resources for remote instruction below.

Pivoting to fully-remote teaching 

Although it is unlikely that faculty and instructors will need to completely pivot to remote instruction, it may be necessary to pause in-person classes for a few weeks. As with planning for individual student absences, it may be helpful to plan now for this possibility.

It is likely that this plan will be based on strategies and methods of instruction you used during the  2020-2021 academic year.  Even so, you may want to reflect on ways you can leverage what you and your colleagues have learned from teaching remotely to support remote instruction this semester.  Consider:

• How to best support community and student well-being during these stressful times
• How to best engage students during and outside of class
• What software & hardware can best help you teach remotely:
  • What software & hardware you found most effective and do you still have access to these tools?
  • Are there any tools you wished you had? If so, do you have them now or can you acquire them?
• What will you do if the “pause” coincides with a planned assessment
• How might you adapt/evolve/change your course learning objectives 

You may want to create a checklist of items you will need to have access to from your home/remote location.  This can help you (or a colleague) gather items more efficiently.

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