Faculty Guide for Safe Return

Review information on classroom layouts and how to maintain safety and cleaning protocols.

Classroom Diagrams

Classroom capacities have been reduced to accommodate new density and distancing requirements. Our facility and safety teams have created diagrams for every in-person classroom that illustrate the overall classroom set-up, faculty teaching area, and student seating locations that will need to be maintained during the class period. Review the classroom layouts to see the way your classroom is set up.

There are several things you can do to support classroom safety and cleaning protocols:

• Follow signage posted in the classroom 
• Locate and support the use of the entrance and exit points in each room 
• Minimize movement in the classroom to protect social distancing requirements 
• Locate the cleaning supplies and order more when needed 
• Establish a plan with students for sanitizing the space before and after class 
• Make sure you sanitize equipment including technology 

Learn about the resources designed to support faculty success in delivering high-quality courses. 

Teaching and Learning Programs Designed for Faculty 

At CU Denver there are a number of offices devoted to supporting faculty success in teaching and learning. These offices have developed additional program offerings specifically designed to support and enhance faculty success in delivering remote, online, hybrid, and on-campus courses.    

• The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning 
  • ACUE Courses 
    The goal of these courses is to support faculty teaching online courses with research-based techniques designed to enhance active learning, student-centered course design, and effective teaching practices. 
  • Designing and Teaching a Virtual Course 
    The Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning has created a self-paced, 10-module course for anyone developing and teaching a virtual course. This course is non-facilitated, meaning that you can work through the contents at your own pace, based on your own needs and interests. Register here. 
• Office of Digital Education (ODE) 
  ODE offers a variety of workshops and training programs designed to support online and remote teaching and learning. Sample program offerings include: Online Skills Master Bootcamp, Canvas Basics, Zoom Basics, Developing Online Discussions, Creating Video Assignments with Techsmith Nomia (Relay), and more. 
• ThinqStudio 
  Thinqstudio offers workshops and events throughout the academic year focused on transformative pedagogies. Programs cover topics such as effective practices, explorations of new ideas in teaching and learning, utilizing digital tools, and teaching in digital spaces.   
  • The SEHD Hybrid Flexible Teaching Academy
    Resources from this academy can be found on the ThinqStudio website. 

Find tools for delivering high-quality instruction through Canvas. 

Faculty Tool Kit: Effective Course Practices Checklist 

The Faculty Tool Kit provides faculty with a roadmap to developing a high-quality course beginning with the syllabus and continuing with course design/organization, aesthetic design, interaction and collaboration, and effective use of technology and assessments. In addition, the course design strives to ensure universal access for all students. This tool is designed to support a high-quality teaching and learning environment. A link to the tool kit is located on the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning website.

Course Formats

To help faculty make informed decisions, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning offers a guide that details each course format. See how these course formats  are being described to students. Faculty recommend sharing the appropriate course format diagram in your Canvas course shell as students may find this information to be helpful.

Canvas Course Welcome/Orientation Home Page  

Faculty from the Teaching and Learning Implementation Team developed Canvas home page draft language for all faculty to utilize to welcome students and communicate the structure of their course. The Canvas home page is the first thing students see when logging into a course, and the welcome/orientation page sets the stage for a positive learning experience. 

Recording and Embedding Zoom Sessions into Your Canvas Shell 

Low classroom capacities and student safety issues mean that many students will be Zooming into on-campus courses or require other ways to access course content. Recording and embedding recordings of your teaching in Canvas is a means to open up access. 

Faculty colleagues developed strategies for managing student privacy concerns when recording classroom sessions and posting recorded Zoom sessions within the Canvas course shell in ways that deter downloading for inappropriate purposes. 

Recommendations for Managing Student Privacy Concerns: 

• Notify students in the syllabus that classroom sessions will be recorded 
• Notify students before recording a session, every time you record a session 
• If students object to being recorded, faculty can turn the recording on and off to capture their own comments but not the student's comments and/or provide students with the option to actively participate in a discussion board
  

Embedding Recorded Sessions in Canvas 

• Review the step-by-step PDF guide and instructional video that demonstrates how to embed video content in Canvas Course Shells. 
  

 

Tech-ready classrooms allow faculty to facilitate live Zooming for students who are not on campus.

OIT has created helpful resources to support the use of this technology: 

• User Guides
  • Laptop and Logitech Group System Operation
  • Room PC and Logitech Group System Operation 
• Video demonstrations of classroom technology
  • TSS Remote Learning Setup Laptop 
  • TSS Remote Learning Setup PC 

Recording and Embedding Zoom Sessions into Your Canvas Shell

Low classroom capacities and student safety issues mean that many students will be Zooming into on-campus courses or require other ways to access course content. Recording and embedding recordings of your teaching in Canvas is a means to open up access. 

Faculty colleagues developed strategies for managing student privacy concerns when recording classroom sessions and posting recorded zoom sessions within the Canvas course shell in ways that deter downloading for inappropriate purposes. 

Recommendations for Managing Student Privacy Concerns: 

• Notify students in the syllabus that classroom sessions will be recorded 
• Notify students before recording a session, every time you record a session 
• If students object to being recorded, faculty can turn the recording on and off to capture their own comments but not the student's comments and/or provide students with the option to actively participate in a discussion board. 

Embedding Recorded Sessions in Canvas 

• Review the step-by-step PDF guide and instructional video that demonstrates how to embed video content in Canvas Course Shells.

Explore available resources for supporting compliance with safety requirements. 

Every person coming to campus will be required to comply with safety protocols. A number of processes, policies, and tools have been modified or created to support this compliance. 

• The Daily Attestation Form asks everyone to confirm their adherence to safety requirements. 
• A training video on Creating a Safety Culture on Campus and Training Materials from this training explores strategies to address non-compliance of safety protocols. 
• The Student Code of Conduct outlines student rights and responsibilities, behavioral expectations, and the university conduct process. It has been updated with Appendix 1: Student Infectious Disease Mitigation Protocols to clearly identify the expectations for compliance with safety protocols. 
• A Faculty Guide for Holding Students Accountable lays out the expectations for compliance around safety protocols and the process to follow when students are not compliant.

ID Information and Building Clearance 

Make sure you have a visible ID. Buildings not in use for classes will require encoded access. Visit the ID Station for more information. 

Connect students with study spaces and resources to succeed.

Student Study Spaces 

Learn about the Student Study Spaces with and without computers that are available across campus for drop-in or reservation.

Providing Information for Students 

Direct students to academic, financial, and mental health resources, such as the Student Resource site. Consider posting a link to these resources in your course Canvas shell.