Fall 2021 Specific Information

Dear Faculty,

I hope you and your students are settling into the new semester well and enjoying being able to teach and learn in-person again. Even with the high vaccination rate there have been students who have tested positive for COVID or been exposed to positive cases. This has added to the stress of the start of the semester. If you do have any students who need to isolate, you should get information from SDS regarding accommodations for these students  and also from the VPUE’s office on suggestions for supporting these students. (A few ideas are included at the end of this tip).

Mask Compliance

A few students have expressed concerns about instructors and TA’s not wearing masks and about instructors not enforcing that all students wear masks. So, just a reminder that it’s our responsibility as instructors to ensure that all students wear their masks in class and for us to set the right example. If a student refuses to wear a mask you can and should ask the student to leave the room. The current masking guidance is here: Face Masks | COVID-19 Response | Cornell University 

Information for Faculty on Student Stress, Academic and Mental Health Support and Resources for Students

  • Notice & Respond: Assisting Students in Distress 1.0 – 2021-2022 Edition (30 min) The Skorton Center has developed a Notice & Respond Course for faculty to help them recognize and support students in distress. It contains suggestions for talking with a student and for helping connect the student to additional resources where the student can get more help than you are able to provide. 

Enroll in and take the "Notice & Respond" Canvas course now

Supporting Students in Quarantine or Isolation

Please be supportive of students in quarantine or isolation as they try to stay current in your class. You will receive similar information from the VPUE, but if you want to think ahead, here are some ideas:

  • Reassure students that you understand they have to miss class and will need help staying current with the class.
  • Record your lecture with Zoom or Panopto and share the link with the impacted students. Instructions for sharing a Zoom recording started through Canvas with a subset of students: https://canvas.cornell.edu/courses/1848/pages/sharing-zoom-meeting-links-with-select-users
  • If you are teaching in Upson, Gates G01, Phillips 101, Hollister B14, Olin 155 and 255, or Thurston 203 or 205 use the room camera(s) to record lectures. You can get help learning to set this up by emailing coecis-help@cornell.edu which will generate a ticket to the ITSG.
  • Reuse old recordings. CTI can help you recover recordings from last year that are no longer visible. Email teach@cornell.edu
  • Share slides or lecture notes with impacted students.
  • Ask students to find a partner in the class, or assign partners and have them share information and notes from the class if one needs to miss a class.
  • Identify the sections in the textbook that were covered in class so students know what to study.
  • Hold Zoom office hours, either for impacted students, or open to all. Perhaps split hours across the week between in-person and Zoom. Don’t identify the students on Zoom as COVID impacted so as not to disclose health information.
  • Adjust deadlines as needed.

And finally, Engineering Advising, is available for consultation on students in distress. 

I hope you don’t need any of this information, but it may help to save it where you can find it should any of these issues come up amongst your students.