Easing of COVID-19 Restrictions

This week, Governor Walz announced a three-step process to lifting of restrictions that begin today, May 7, and will continue into the summer. The initial changes impact outdoor events and was communicated to students and employees today. You can see a summary of the changes in the three-step process by clicking on the image below. We are encouraged to see steps being taken as vaccine rates continue to increase. 

At this time, we are still planning on using classroom distancing measures as outlined by MDH for the summer (6 feet) and fall (3 feet). We will continue to monitor all guidance provided to institutions of higher education and consider changes as that guidance is updated. 

Feedback on Lecture Capture and Teaching Modalities

This afternoon I hosted the latest in a series of Provost Coffee Hours to listen to faculty feedback on using lecture capture and teaching in various modalities. The hour went quickly. I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the perspectives shared and the desire for ways that we can increase support for faculty and students going forward. You are invited to continue thinking about what has been shared on the Assumptions for Post-COVID Learning Environments document and can provide your feedback or thoughts through the end of May by accessing this anonymous Qualtrics link. 

We also have a survey open now for students to better understand their learning experiences with our four teaching modalities (i.e., face-to-face, blended, hybrid, virtual). At this point we have over 270 responses from Traditional and PSOC students. These results will be analyzed by the Academic Continuity Team (ACT), along with feedback from faculty and others, to inform decisions for the fall and indicate what type of support and training would be most helpful going forward. 

Summer Professional Development

This summer we are planning a series of helpful professional development opportunities for you. The Online Learning Office and Academic Technology have been gathering training ideas from faculty, groups on campus, and surveys that have been conducted. We are planning to offer classes and workshops such as Best Practices in Online Teaching (BPOT) and Improving Your Online Course (IYOC) through Quality Matters in addition to offering a full series of webinars on topics such as using Moodle and Zoom. To help encourage participation in these development opportunities, incentives will once again be available for faculty who participate in taking another step in their professional development. We will have more information in the following weeks.

Free Navigating Grief with Humor Course 

If you were able to attend today's Faculty Symposium keynote with Dr. Melissa Mork you know how important it is for us to have strategies for resilience and effective ways to cope with loss. In partnership with our Media network, Dr. Mork will be offering a free online course on Navigating Grief with Humor later this June. Registration will open on June 7. At that time, you can go to https://myktis.com/ for more details about the course and see steps on how to register.

This course is following another successful free online course entitled Christ through the Gospels which Melissa Larson is facilitating. That course begins next Monday, May 10, and has over 3,300 participants registered (note: registration for this course is now closed). I am so thankful for the creative collaboration taking place between Northwestern University and Northwestern Media.