Auburn University has Academic Contingency Policies with three key areas of guidance: faculty contingency plans, academic units contingency plans for instructor absences, and the contingency class attendance policy.
Teaching Online Tools and Tips
- The Biggio Center published a Class Continuity Preparation website with information for the following functions:
- Conducting live classes, meetings, and office hours using Zoom
- Canvas for communication and grading
- Lecture capture using Panopto
- Offering exams online through Canvas
- The Biggio Center offers a “Zoom Room” feature that directly connects to a Zoom room where Biggio Center and IT representatives are available to provide support, including addressing specific questions, sharing screens, and other collaboration features.
- Online Learning Consortium (OLC) provides a collection of resources and initiatives to support your efforts in moving courses to an online format when emergency situations arise.
- Stanford University’s guide provides suggested action to take quickly when making the shift from classroom teaching to online teaching. The Best Practices information can be useful when thinking about teaching online during a crisis.
- Instructure/Canvas provides 20 Best Practices and Expectations for Online Teaching
- The Auburn University Office of Accessibility publishes information on Universal Design in learning and you can find tips there for making learning materials accessible. Check out their Access Academy for more information about Canvas accessibility and other technologies to assist with learning.
- Auburn University Libraries provides support for remote teaching and research with a listing of services, programs, and resources available during the COVID-19 closure.
Working Remotely Tools and Tips
- Communication. The key to being successful in any professional role is to establish good communication. When working remotely you will not be near your co-workers or supervisor. Schedule remote meetings with them to connect on your projects and daily tasks. Email is one way to communicate, but Microsoft Teams or Zoom are other tools that can be used for video conferencing.
- Cloud Storage. Box and Onedrive are cloud storage services that Auburn University has licensed. Consider moving files into one of these resources so you have access to them regardless of which device (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) you are using. Contact Jim Ellis if you have confidential data for options.
- Microsoft Teams can also function as a chat-based workspace in Office 365 to help you work more effectively. You can create, edit, and share content. You can also call and chat with team members. Contact Education Technology Services via ServiceNow if you need a new Team created for use in your unit. A beginner’s guide to Teams is available for help getting started.
- Wifi and Virtual Private Network (VPN). Access to consistent WiFi is important. You will need WiFi to access the Virtual Private Network (VPN) Consider the AU Access applications you will need to use remotely and learn to log in to the VPN before attempting to login to AU Access, Kronos, AdviseAssist, etc.
- Workspace. Prepare a workspace where you feel motivated and can be productive and focus on your job tasks.
- Daily Routine. Structure your day like you would at your AU office. Organize your day around what you will do when over the course of the day.
- Social media. Social media does make it easy to open and browse quickly, but it can interfere with work. Consider logging out of every social media account or work in a private browser window.
- Work when you are most productive.
Submit a Service Request in ServiceNow
Request IT help by submitting in the ServiceNow portal. These instructions with screenshots are available in the Knowlege Base article named “Incident Submission and Tracking.”
- Navigate to www.aub.ie/oit
- Select “Login”, located in the top right of the webpage
- Select “Get Help”, located below “How can we help?”
- Select “Report an Issue.” Complete the form with all required information. Once complete click “submit.”
LinkedIn Learning Video Collections
Auburn University provides professional development/training videos to its employees via LinkedIn (formerly Lynda.com). The following three collections offer brief videos that may help with creating accessible PDFs, adding voice to PowerPoint, and working remotely.