Dear colleagues,

As promised, I will continue to update our community on new developments and resources to prepare for the possibility that we may be unable to offer courses in person in the coming weeks.  As the SPH Remote Teaching Coordinator, I will collect and disseminate new information as it becomes available.

First, you should have received an e-mail from the University Provost with a link to a brief Digital Resiliency Survey on Monday night.  Please complete that survey from home or wherever you might teach remotely, if we need to move to that format.  The survey aims to gather data to assess our preparedness for remote teaching and to identify areas for improvement.

Second, please download the Zoom client and review the many Zoom training resources that were linked in my March 10 message.  If you would like to attend an in-person Zoom training, BUMC Ed Media has scheduled several opportunities, including one today, Wednesday March 11 from 11am-12pm in L-411.  Please bring your laptop to take full advantage of this hands-on training session.  Additionally, Ed Media has just added office hours the rest of this week in L-310, as follows. Wednesday March 11, 9-10:30am & 1-4pm; Thursday March 12, 9am-12pm & 1-4pm; Friday March 13, 1-4pm.  Please drop in with your device to get set up with Zoom or to practice.  If you are unable to attend any of the above sessions, this training hand-out is a good self-study.  If anyone needs additional training sessions, please let me know and I am happy to coordinate with the Ed Media staff.

If we need to run courses remotely, you do not need to convert your course to an asynchronous online format. You should teach your scheduled session synchronously and have students join online using Zoom.  The Zoom platform allows instructors to record sessions and make the recordings available to students who are unable to join.

Please consider practicing with Zoom now (e.g., try holding a regular meeting). Review the Getting Started guide and integrate your Zoom account with other BU services.

Third, Mary Blanchard, the BU Alumni Medical Library Director, is preparing to support faculty and students in the event of a campus closure. The Alumni Medical Library already provides an extensive collection of ebooks, ejournals, and databases that are accessible from anywhere 24/7. They plan to further increase support of online learning by evaluating print books on Reserve and investigating whether in some cases electronic access to these books is feasible. Please let me know if the current online resources are sufficient for SPH curricula or if you have any specific requests.

The following is a list of library services that will be continued in the event BUMC closes due to an emergency situation:

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Lisa Sullivan
Associate Dean for Education
lsull@bu.edu

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