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Course Continuity Planning at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Catherine L. Kelley, Ph.D. Assistant Provost, Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology. About Fairleigh Dickinson. Mid-sized private university with four campuses Metropolitan Campus: Teaneck / Hackensack, NJ
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Course Continuity Planning at Fairleigh Dickinson University Catherine L. Kelley, Ph.D. Assistant Provost, Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology
About Fairleigh Dickinson • Mid-sized private university with four campuses • Metropolitan Campus: Teaneck / Hackensack, NJ • College at Florham: Florham / Madison, NJ • Wroxton, England • Vancouver, BC, Canada (new this fall) • About 12,000 students • Four colleges encompassing liberal arts & sciences, education, professional programs, business, continuing education • DL initiatve: All undergraduates must take one DL or blended class each year
Motivation • FDU is almost entirely tuition driven • Our President was moved and troubled by the hurricane disasters of 2005 • He was also very concerned about the possibility of an outbreak of H5N1 or “Avian Flu” • If we closed for long enough that we would need to reimburse tuition or be unable to open, our doors would close for good
President’s Charge • In Spring 2006, the President challenged his Executive Cabinet to develop a plan to keep classes running if our doors must close • Many in the cabinet felt that this was impossible • The charge fell on my office and our CIO • We wanted to create a plan that would work for other disaster scenarios, not just H5N1
First steps • Analysis of what it would take to convert a campus based class to fully online • Communication plan is crucial – “if you can’t reach them, you can’t teach them” • Faculty need to know something about teaching online • FDU’s distance learning initiative helps as many of our faculty already use Blackboard • Can’t count on just one system • Suppose Internet is not available
The Plan • Faculty will develop their own teaching plans • Four steps: • Communication plan • Course preparation • Learn to use Blackboard • Between 1/3 and 1/2 of our faculty use Blackboard in some way • Need to train the remaining faculty • Learn at least one other delivery method
Blackboard resource • Preparation materials • Checklist / Quiz • Can (in theory) track faculty participation • Most of them have not filled out quiz, even those known to have created plans
Wiki • We later created a wiki so that faculty could add their own ideas, and we could more easily change material • http://fdu-coursecontinuity.wikispaces.com • So far, have only minimally advertised the wiki • Please feel free to join the wiki and make changes