We hope that you and your students meet the spring semester safe and sound, sheltered and warm. The recent series of storms in Northern California has presented us with another important reminder to establish and maintain effective communication with our colleagues and our students. The start of the term is a perfect time to develop a shared understanding with your students of how you will remain connected if and when our lives and our learning don’t go according to plan.

To the extent that is practical and appropriate for your course, try to build in grace for students. Take time now to consult with colleagues about how you can maintain a fair and equitable learning environment for students, while recognizing that they--and you--are complete human beings who may struggle to meet deadlines, who catch viruses, who have to navigate competing priorities, and more. What sort of relationship does your syllabus create between you and your students? Is it invitational, or does it discourage conversation and connection (like those “it’s in the syllabus!” memes)? We recommend the Accessible Syllabus resources created by colleagues at Tulane University--especially their really excellent examples of positive, invitational, cooperative syllabus language. We were also excited to find the Writing Assignment Review service from SJSU’s Writing Center: Their trained student reviewers will provide feedback on any writing assignments you use in your classes, including places where you can make your instructions more effective and welcoming.

Develop a plan for how you will communicate with your students, both routinely and during times of disruption. How will you communicate with your students? How will you field phone calls? Do you need to gather any information from them now in order to reach them (whether during a campus closure, or when you’re concerned about their welfare)? Ask students to update their profiles in Canvas and make sure that they’re receiving announcements and messages in a timely way. Remember that, in addition to Canvas and Zoom, you have other communication tools that may be a good fit for you, your students, and your course content, including the Google suite (Mail, Drive, Docs, Slides, Hangouts, etc.). Test this plan with your students, and take care to share this with them via multiple modes; this will allow you to refine your process before times when communication may be more challenging.

And, finally, caring for others means caring for yourself too. You are a role model for your students, and, as such, it’s important to consider how you are modeling care for self and others. It is more than ok to call in sick when you’re not feeling well, make use of the resources available through our Employee Assistance Program, or reach out to a friend or colleague for support. Please reach out to us in the Center for Faculty Development and eCampus if there’s anything we can do to support you and your students.