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FAS Updates and Important Deadlines
For All Staff and Faculty
| September 29, 2020
In this Update: |
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Thursday, October 1, 2020 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm
FAS Town Hall
Friday October 9, 2020 from 3:30pm to 5:00pm
Committee of Departments Meeting
Monday October 12, 2020
Thanksgiving Day (University closed. Classes will not be held.)
Tuesday October 13, 2020 from 1:30pm to 3:00pm
Graduate Council Meeting
Wednesday October 14, 2020 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm Conversation with the Dean Friday October 23, 2020 from 3:30pm to 4:30pm Faculty Board Meeting Monday October 26, 2020 to Friday October 30, 2020 Fall Term Break
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Further to the Provost's message that was sent to students last week, I would like to update you on the plans we have made for the Faculty of Arts and Science 2021 winter term:
- in addition to the remote delivery of first-year courses, almost all upper-year and graduate courses will be offered remotely this winter.
- only a few exceptions will be made for undergraduate students who are graduating and need to complete individual capstone projects that require specialized equipment or space and a very small number of graduate courses that require similar access to equipment or space.
- These few individual students will be receiving communications directly from their Department Head and/or Undergraduate Chair or Graduate Coordinator about on-campus access. Please note that we will be communicating this decision to all students later today in coordination with other faculties, so we would appreciate it if you would hold off on emailing students about this.
These plans are based on the following considerations:
- our continued top priority of protecting our community in the face of the ongoing pandemic and the upswing in cases and partial campus closures in our province. Our goal is to avoid having to close campus.
- our commitment to providing high-quality academic programming and equitable access to learning for all of our students and to ensuring that graduating students fulfill the requirements for their degrees.
- the challenge of delivering classes on campus. We are aware that distancing makes communication in classrooms on campus very challenging, with students sitting two metres apart in large auditoriums while wearing masks and the instructor either masked or behind plexiglass. The opportunities for rich discussion and/or group work are limited.
The mounting number of factors that are impeding our ability to bring students back to campus safely and teach them effectively has made it clear that we should instead be focusing our energy on offering a strong and accessible remote program this winter.
We know that it is important to communicate with you and listen to you now, as we all prepare for this transition. We understand that this decision will present significant challenges for those who counted on access to teaching labs or production and studio spaces for their courses. We are committed to working closely with these Departments to identify and secure additional resources as needed to ensure that these students continue to build their knowledge and skills remotely this year.
Over the next few weeks, instructors will have the opportunity to think carefully about how best to deliver their remote courses. During this time, we will survey those currently teaching remotely to find out what is working, such as the mix of synchronous/asynchronous classes and the optimal timing of mandatory sessions. We will provide feedback and lessons learned to all instructors teaching in the winter term based on this survey. We will also offer drop-in webinars on teaching remotely to help inform course design decisions, which are listed on QUartsci.com/remote-teaching.
Please also see the details below about our Town Hall on Thursday and our Lunch and Conversation on October 14. I hope you will join me to share your experience, ask questions, or to just listen in on the conversation and stay in touch.
Thank you once again for all of your patience, hard work, and dedication in these challenging times. Please stay healthy and safe.
Sincerely,
Barbara
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Join us for a Town Hall to ask questions or to just listen in on the conversation and stay connected to our community. We will be available at 12:00pm this Thursday, October 1, 2020 via Zoom. As always, please also feel free to email us at [email protected].
Join the Zoom Meeting here. Meeting ID: 897 6190 1211 Passcode: 727897 Find your local number here.
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HR Workshop
On Tuesday, October 6, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, join the FAS Human Resources team for a free webinar:
This is a marathon, not a sprint: Strategies for managing the stress of uncertain times
High pressure, intricate problems, and juggling working from home - the current pandemic is requiring us to respond quickly, compassionately, and creatively. But how do we retain the ability to think clearly when the reality is that many of us were launched into this pandemic already tired and somewhat depleted?
Neuroscience has demonstrated that, if not carefully managed, chronic stress, switch-tasking and technology can have negative impacts on our productivity and overall well-being. In this webinar, we will discuss the neurophysiology of crises, stress, and uncertainty and learn evidence-informed strategies to support one another and stay connected as a remote team.
Learn more and register here.
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Remote Teaching Updates
Recently, the Queen's Streaming Service was upgraded to address long delays experienced in processing the upload of videos. Users should no longer experience delays in the uploading of videos. If you have any videos that were uploaded prior to 7:30 am on September 19th, that are falsely reporting as "Processing", please delete the video and upload again.
Here are a few other updates related to Fall Term teaching:
- If you need help with closed captioning or transcribing of your videos, the Student Educational Technology Assistant Team based in the CTL can help. Please use the quick link on the right side of the CTL home page to request assistance.
- If there is a recommended textbook for your class, you may let students know that the Campus Bookstore is now providing curbside pick-up of textbooks on Saturdays, and delivery to students in residence for a $5 fee. Otherwise there is a $25 flat rate shipping charge, regardless of the student's location.
- The standard class list query in PeopleSoft has been edited to provide student address information (city, country) for your use in determining time zone differences for any students who are not physically located in the Kingston area.
- The Faculty of Arts and Science is offering a series of webinars on preparing for midterms and final exams in onQ, with the first one today at 11:00am. Learn more here.
The Queen's Library is making student study spaces available in Stauffer Library on a scheduled booking system. Students can reserve blocks of time in the library using the guidelines found here.
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Retention Tools
As this is a different year and students are able to drop fall term courses until November 2, we encourage you to intervene early and start conversations with students who may be experiencing difficulties or are not engaging in course activities. In an effort to help, we have attached a graphic (below) that faculty members could include in an email to these students as a conversation starter, as well as a slide with resources for students that could be used in classes or loaded into onQ.
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Exam Accommodation System Deadline - September 30
The EAS Portal is now ready to receive data for all scheduled quizzes, tests and midterms for the Fall 2020 term.
The Exams Office will not be administering any midterm accommodations in Fall 2020, but will be providing student accommodation information for assessments submitted by the deadline.
If you are having any midterm assessments in your course where you would reasonably need to provide accommodations (e.g., extra time, etc), please log it as a mid-term assessment in the Exam Accommodation System by September 30 and no later than 2 weeks in advance of the assessment.
Accommodation information will be emailed to the instructor in a password-protected file the week prior to the scheduled assessment.
Review the user guide for our EAS Instructor Portal for more information.
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Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first Coffee and Conversation with the Dean event on August 24. We hope everyone enjoyed this informal way of staying in touch with the Dean and our FAS community. We would like to invite you to our next informal event, which will be a brown bag lunch with the Dean, faculty, staff, and students, at 12:00 noon on October 14, via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 811 9670 4946 Passcode: 391470 Find your local number here. Please join the conversion and feel free to bring a lunch with you!
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SASS continues to offer tailored support for individual courses. In recent years, they have delivered academic skills and writing workshops across almost every discipline/level in lecture and tutorial times at Queen's. In response to the move to online delivery, SASS continues to offer sessions via ZOOM and have added options, including tutorial videos, interactive modules, and tools to guide learning and writing. SASS works with students at all levels, from first-year undergraduates to senior PhD candidates, and can always customize content to reflect the syllabus and/or assignment instructions.
For some indicative samples of this year's work, see:
SASS is keen to work with faculty to develop support materials for students across the university while delivery is occurring remotely. If you'd like to discuss how they can contribute to your course, please email Dr. Ian Garner.
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The second application period for the KGU Visiting Professorship in Canadian Studies for the Fall semester 2021 is now open. Applications are due September 30, 2020.
Find further details and application instructions here.
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Contagion Cultures Lecture Series
This series is a Faculty of Arts and Science collaboration which helps to make sense of this pandemic through the expertise and insights of Arts and Science faculty members.
The series is live-streamed on Zoom every Tuesday at 4:00 PM EDT/EST.
Upcoming events:
September 29 - Continuing Care of the Elderly - Don Drummond and Duncan G. Sinclair, School of Policy Studies
October 6 - Contest over parks during COVID-19: The moral regulation of movement and space - Mary Louise Adams, School of Kinesiology and Health Studies
October 13 - The World of Work Post-Pandemic: Don Drummond and Patrick Deutscher, School of Policy Studies
For more info on the series and to register please visit: https://www.queensu.ca/sps/events
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Student E-Newsletters
For the latest student eNewsletters, please see queensu.ca/artsci. You can find our emails to students in the bottom right corner of our homepage.
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Follow Us on Twitter!
Don't forget that we have a Twitter account for Arts and Science Faculty and Staff! Get news and updates from the Faculty and the rest of the University, as well as another place to access the Staff & Faculty E-newsletter. Follow us @QUASfacultynews.
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