Dear Colleagues,

We understand that these are busy and challenging times, and we appreciate the time and thought you have put into your plans for the upcoming fall. Many thanks to those of you who completed the Faculty Online/Remote Instruction survey, which received over 800 responses. Your feedback has been extremely helpful to us to understand the instructional practices that worked well in the spring term and to consider ways to support your teaching most effectively moving forward.

Below, please find next steps to support your transition to online or hybrid instruction in the next academic year. Specifically, respondents who noted interest in:

• The Anchor four-day course design institute should have been contacted already by Digital Learning and Design and the Sheridan Center with more information about how to register. If you are interested in this program but have not yet signed up, there is still space available, particularly in the July and August dates. Please find more information about this faculty-to-faculty facilitated program here.

• Individualized support from Digital Learning and Design (DLD) will receive a message in early June detailing how to meet with an instructional designer. Appointments will be available from June 8 to August 19. We encourage you to register as soon as you are ready to start planning for fall. Feel free to email DLD any time with questions about our programs and resources. 

• Support from the Library will be contacted by Library staff by Monday, June 8, to schedule an appointment to discuss your course needs. We will be planning for all course reserve material to be online in Canvas in the fall, so we encourage you to add your requests to OCRA, the course reserves system, as soon as possible. Information about reserves and other ways the Library can assist you are included in this online guide to teaching support  If you have questions or would like additional support for your courses please email rock@brown.edu.

• Working with the Sheridan Center or Writing Center as a primary means of support will be contacted by a staff member in early June. If new questions or support needs arise, please contact sheridan_center@brown.edu. Please also note that the Sheridan Center will be offering online orientations for your GTAs and UTAs this fall. You can find more details about these and other events on Today@Brown and the Sheridan Center monthly newsletter.

• Graduate Student Course Support will be contacted by the Graduate School the week of Monday, June 8, to review your interests and to review appropriate graduate student appointments and compensation. Faculty are encouraged to consider joining the Anchor Program with a graduate student, by listing that student in your application. If new questions or support needs arise related to graduate students, please contact Graduate_School@brown.edu.

• Undergraduate course-design support through a SPRINT can expect to hear back from Dean Oludurotimi Adetunji and Dean Besenia Rodriguez by June 8.

• Course development resources should check the College’s course development funds website for details. Additionally, faculty planning to teach undergraduate courses with a community-engaged component may apply for mini grants of up to $500 through UFunds ("Engaged Course Development Mini-Grant"), administered through the Swearer Center. Soon the Swearer Center will also release a call for grant proposals to develop courses that include engaged research or capacity-building projects; for more information, email julie_plaut@brown.edu or jesus_hernandez1@brown.edu.

Finally, if you noted that your course is already online or that you can transition it easily with a how-to guide, the DLD Course Development Guide may be helpful as a framework to consider the different aspects of your course for the Fall.

We are also appreciative of your thoughtful responses to the survey question about what worked well for your teaching and what you might plan to do next time. We are in the process of analyzing these results and plan to share key findings with the campus community.

We, and the members of our teams, look forward to working with you -- as well as your graduate and undergraduate student collaborators -- in the coming months.

Best,

Catherine Zabriskie, Senior Academic Technology Officer, Digital Learning and Design
Nora Dimmock, Deputy University Librarian, University Library
Mary Wright, Executive Director, Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning