OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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To: OSU Faculty
From: Andrea Ballinger,Vice Provost & CIO, University Information and Technology
and Alix Gitelman, Vice Provost, Office of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Statistics, College of Science
September 15th, 2020
Dear faculty,
This message includes important and timely updates to help you prepare for fall term, regardless of whether you are teaching on-campus or remotely this fall. There are four components to this message: technology in the classroom, remote proctoring options, reserving classrooms to teach remotely, and classroom cleaning. We urge you to take advantage of the many resources provided by University Information and Technology, the Center for Teaching and Learning, OSU Facilities, Office of the Registrar and other partners, all of which are working hard to ensure that you have a successful fall term.
Technology in the Classroom
UIT-Academic Technology has outfitted over 300 classrooms with cameras and microphones to support remote teaching via Zoom. If you have been assigned a classroom or lab (in Corvallis, OSU-Cascades or Newport), and would like someone to review with you the room’s capabilities in advance of the fall term, please reach out to us. To make these in-room consults possible, we urge you to schedule a meeting at your earliest convenience. To schedule a consult, please complete the form available at this web link: https://beav.es/oxb
Topics for consultation include:
Overview videos about using the updated technology in the classrooms are available here: https://is.oregonstate.edu/cts/zoom-classroom.
Proctored testing options
There are two proctoring options for fall term, Automated Proctorio and People-Powered Proctoring (PPP).
Automated Proctorio is available to faculty interested in using an online proctoring system that monitors students’ environments during an online, Canvas-based assessment. Proctorio does not work for all exam types and it has some limitations in accuracy. Instructors must carefully review Proctorio flags, which can only indicate the possibility of academic misconduct. To learn about the possibilities and limitations of Proctorio, please visit: proctoring-options-information-osu-faculty.
Proctorio is offering two recorded webinars to support teaching faculty who are interested in learning more about Proctorio:
Friday, Sept. 18, 1-2 p.m. (PT) - Proctorio Overview: this session will provide a demonstration of automated Proctorio's main features as well as the faculty and student experience within the tool. This is a great session to attend if you are new to online proctoring, are deciding whether or not to use Proctorio in your course, or if you already plan to use it but want a general introduction to this tool. Zoom link (no password required): https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97321760983
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2-3 p.m. (PT) - Proctorio Set-up: this session will provide technical training on exam set-up in Proctorio for faculty who plan to use the tool in their courses. You will learn about settings choices and how to optimize Proctorio features for your particular exam design. The session will also provide an overview of interpreting results the Proctorio Gradebook. Zoom link (no password required): https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/92814818030
People-Powered Proctoring (PPP), provided by UIT-Academic Technology, involves human proctoring through Zoom. PPP uses OSU volunteer faculty and staff to proctor exams in remote-instruction classes. The emphasis in this method is to produce a context and expectations analogous to classroom proctoring. We do this via Zoom meetings, which the students join while taking their exam.
For more information about People-Power Proctoring write to [email protected]. If you are ready to request People-Power Proctoring for your exam, complete the form at the following link: https://beav.es/ofZ
Reserving a classroom to teach remotely
Instructional staff (TAs, faculty, instructors) who need to use an on-campus classroom to deliver their course remotely should work with their departmental scheduler to make a room request with the Office of the Registrar scheduling team. Department schedulers can reserve classrooms for faculty online, and they can request one-time reservations or recurring reservations through the term. Faculty at OSU-Cascades should contact Konnie Handschuch to request on-campus classroom space in Bend.
Academic leaders in each college should be aware of faculty presence on campus. Questions about scheduling a classroom should initially go to the schedulers in each academic unit. The Office of the Registrar is happy to answer questions about the reservation process and can be reached at [email protected]. Please visit the Office of the Registrar website for more scheduling continuity resources, including open buildings, modality definitions, and social distancing capacities for classrooms.
The Teaching Faculty resources website contains this information and much more to support teaching in fall term and beyond. Please visit it for more resources: https://covid.oregonstate.edu/teaching-faculty
Technical Keep-Teaching Assistant - faculty support for Zoom sessions
Faculty at the Corvallis campus may request a Tech Keep-Teaching Assistant (TechKTA) to assist a specific course section with various aspects of teaching in Zoom, so that they may focus on content and delivery. For example: muting/unmuting students; looking out for students who virtually raise their hand; turning off students’ audio and/or video if it is disruptive; limiting chat functions if needed to Host/Co-Host (Instructor and TechKTA); and so on.
TechKTAs are UIT student workers (and a few staff) trained by Academic Technology. Please note that the TechKTAs are not academic assistants in any form. They are trained to assist with course Zoom sessions, not Canvas.
To request a TechKTA, please submit this form: https://beav.es/TechKTA
Cleaning in classrooms
OSU Facilities is performing two types of cleaning for classrooms. There will be touchpoint cleaning throughout the day in academic buildings where teaching is occurring. Additionally, each evening classrooms used to teach during fall term will be thoroughly disinfected. It is critical that any classroom used for teaching is scheduled accurately with the Office of the Registrar to ensure that disinfection is scheduled for that room.
Each Corvallis classroom scheduled for teaching in the fall will have a cleaning supply kit from facilities that includes:
Faculty should use these materials to wipe down teaching areas that will be shared with other faculty. There will be a wall mount sanitizing station in each room for students to use as needed. Supply inventory in each room will be monitored periodically to ensure it is maintained at satisfactory levels.
Each OSU-Cascades classroom will have cleaning wipes provided for classroom users to wipe down tabletops and high-touch parts of chairs after use. Additionally, there are usage protocols for OSU-Cascades classrooms posted on the OSU-Cascades COVID-19 website: https://osucascades.edu/covid. The protocols are summarized to include guidance around:
We are continually grateful for all faculty and staff at OSU working hard to ensure a successful fall term for our students.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Thank you,
Andrea Ballinger, Vice Provost & CIO, University Information and Technology
Alix Gitelman, Vice Provost, Office of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Statistics, College of Science