Faculty FAQ

SMC has provided a robust Distance Education/Online Learning program since the late 1990’s. It is instruction delivered asynchronously (I.e., not in “real time”) and offers a variety of features that ensure students receive the same level of instruction as their on-ground counterparts. All Distance Education courses are approved by the Curriculum Committee.  They also have a different apportionment process than our on-ground and hybrid classes.

Remote Instruction is our response to the COVID-19 crisis. This is a temporary measure to enable on-ground students to continue progressing toward the attainment of course objectives and SLOs using a different instructional modality outside of the physical classroom setting. Students will participate from home or other off campus location of their choosing. Faculty will teach the course either from their home or a classroom that has been equipped with a web cam using Zoom meetings, or through Canvas shells, or a combination of both.

Classes will remain in the remote modalities for all of spring semester.

No. You are welcome to use class materials, tools and Canvas shells developed for your DE class, but students may not have the ability to use all of the DE techniques and, because they did not sign up for a DE class when they registered, we can’t just put them into a DE section.

You should put warnings on your content that students would be violating the SMC Code of Conduct if they repost your original digital content.

We anticipate very few class cancelations. For those rare cases, faculty may work on instruction-related non-teaching assignments in lieu of instructional classroom and preparation time. Faculty must consult their department chair to identify those alternative assignments. Department chairs must contact Academic Affairs for alternate assignment approval and to determine the work hours required for an equivalent assignment. Emeritus (noncredit Older Adult program) and Health Science faculty should consult with the program administrator (Emeritus: Scott Silverman, Health Sciences: Eve Adler).

No. At this time, all classes must migrate to remote learning modalities, including hands-on lab and activity classes. In cases for which this is not possible, the department chair must consult with Academic Affairs.

Faculty should be as creative as possible and work together to find ways to enable our students to progress in their education to the maximum extent possible. The wealth of information, images, videos available to us via Internet, simulations, practice at home – all are viable tools to help in this challenging time. Both asynchronous and synchronous methods are acceptable, but if synchronous meetings are planned, they must occur at the days/times originally schedule for each section so that student scheduling conflicts do not arise. Benefits to asynchronous methods include the ability to make up missed class time. The total amount of instructional time for each section should remain the same in the remote modality as it would have been if in-person meetings had continued.

We are urging all faculty to be creative, understanding, and to adjust their assessment of students’ progress given the tremendous challenges faced by faculty and students at this time.

Yes, all activities, events, and field trips outside of online and remote instruction have been postponed or cancelled.

This is no longer possible. Perhaps students could take a video of their work and send it to you?

For student projects that require studio time for various stages of a project’s development, alternative methods will need to be devised. At this time we are not conducting any on-ground classes.

View Instructional Continuity for a checklist and training options. 

View Student Remote Instruction for tools and steps on how to use these tools.

Faculty may use their own technology at home or access the classrooms that have been equipped with instructional technology on the main campus. This alternative will be available while the campus remains open to essential employees.

Several hundred webcams were ordered on March 11, but only a fraction of the expected order has been delivered to date. These are being deployed based on priorities established by Academic Affairs in consultation with Department Chairs. Check with your chair to identify classrooms with cameras installed. We are working to obtain the remaining cameras, but supplies are limited as colleges nationwide make similar arrangements. Please work towards moving to teaching from home if at all possible since campus closures could be required.

Yes, to the extent that we can obtain licenses and push this technology to students and faculty. Please coordinate with your department chair.

Please let your Department Chair know of tools needed to facilitate students’ instruction at home. Be creative – perhaps there are online assignments, experiments, simulations, written exercises, etc. that students could pursue at home.

Zoom appears to be a very effective option for delivery class lectures, but Canvas also offers a wide range of effective tools that can be used to augment Zoom meetings. The important thing is to provide students with as many hours of instruction as would normally have occurred during this time to ensure that they are making progress toward achieving the objectives and SLOs of the course.

Remote instruction can also evolve over time and consider adding tools as you become familiar and adept with basic functions and features of Canvas and Zoom. The college is providing training and will continue to provide support during this time.

The state has approved the removal of a W, as long as the following criteria is met by the "Guaranteed Withdrawal Deadline" (found in Corsair Connect)for the course in question:

• The student drops the class

• The student submits a Petition for Withdrawal Due to Extraordinary Conditions to admissions@smc.edu

Students are asked to VERY carefully consider if dropping the class is truly in their best interest. Understandably, tensions and frustrations are high, but do consider potential consequences, such as: financial aid impact, reaching educational goals, health insurance, visa status (F-1 students visit www.smc.edu/askiecc), and many others.

Refunds of enrollment fees will be issued within 45 days after the petition has been processed. If the student remains enrolled in any other class, student services fees (Health, Associated Students, ID Card fee) will not be refunded.

No. Per Human Resources, all faculty evaluations (probationary tenure-track, part time and full-time) are suspended for spring 2020 and will resume in fall 2020.

Please use Zoom or reschedule meetings until after this semester. For example, the Program Review Committee will be meeting via Zoom. Check with the committee chair for information.

We will offer Community Education (fee-based) classes online or remotely. Those that cannot be offered online will be cancelled.

That is unlikely. We don’t know how long the pandemic will continue to interrupt normal college operations. As the situation evolves, more information will be provided.