College of Arts and Sciences (8/19/2020)

Welcome to the College’s weekly email updates. These updates include news relevant to IU’s plans for fall 2020. They are organized into sections based on the people to whom the information is most relevant (but you are welcome to read all of them!).

In this issue:

For graduate students

• COVID testing updates
• CAS “Interrupts”

For faculty, staff, and graduate students

• Managing stress
• Community Responsibility Acknowledgement (CRA) form
• Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)
• Travel approvals

For faculty and graduate students

• Upcoming changes in high-speed computing
• Guidelines for undergraduates participating in research

For all instructors

• Classroom protocols
• Online Course Questionnaires (OCQs)
• Proctoring Online Exams

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

COVID testing updates

We realize that there is a lot of confusion and/or uncertainty among graduate students about the COVID testing requirements. Earlier today, we learned from the campus that some previous messages from campus and university (and that the College was relying on) contained misstatements resulting in contradictions. Please understand, though, that this is because things are changing rapidly.

The campus clarified the following this afternoon:

• Testing is mandatory for all students, both undergraduate and graduate students, living off campus in Bloomington even if their courses are all online, they are teaching completely remotely, and don’t intend to be on campus at any time. An “off-campus Bloomington student” is any student living within Bloomington city limits in a dwelling that is not an IU residence hall, Greek housing, or IU apartment.
• Once you have registered, you should not wait for an email invitation to schedule arrival testing. You should go directly to go.iu.edu/scheduling for scheduling a test as soon as possible.
• There are comments and reports of the scheduler system not working. Seeing “no appointments available” is most likely an indication that you are not currently registered or enrolled for Fall classes, or you are not in current student standing (the appointment app is only open to students). You also need to manually search for available testing slots – if there is no appointment available on the day/time selected, you will receive a “no appointments available” message, and you should try a different day/time combination. If you are registered, have tried multiple time options, and still cannot schedule, you should contact the UITS IT Support Center:
  • Chat: http://ithelplive.iu.edu
  • Phone: 812-855-6789
  • Email: ithelp@iu.edu

What to do for "arrival" testing of students arriving in Bloomington later in the semester is being worked on.

CAS “Interrupts”

A CAS "interrupt" means that when you attempt a CAS login, you will be redirected to a different location for an action before being able to login. A CAS interrupt is scheduled for midnight Wednesday, Aug. 19 (tonight) for students who have not yet signed the Student Commitment Form (SCF). Such students will be redirected to the SCF, and will need to sign it before being able to login and access anything that uses IU login to authenticate.

If you have not already scheduled a COVID arrival test, you may receive a CAS interrupt later this week requiring you to schedule a test or complete a waiver process. A waiver form will be available tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 20, and will be shared in an email from the campus/university including more details.

FOR FACULTY, STAFF, AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

Managing stress

Those of us in Owen Hall are keenly aware of how stressful life has been for many of us since last March. We will continue to try to find ways to increase the support we offer and reduce the challenges you face related to your work for IUB. At the same time, we encourage you to take advantage of other resources for self-care, including those featured on the Healthy IU website. Even as we move into the busy semester, it is important for us all to try to find ways to rest and rejuvenate.

We also encourage continued recognition that the stresses associated with the pandemic differ based on individual factors as well as social identities, such as race, gender, and social class. As several commentators have stated, “We are in the same storm but not in the same boat.” Please continue to be kind and compassionate with each other as we venture into this uncertain fall. Take special care to make sure that the members of our community with the least influence and power do not carry the heaviest burden of caring for others. We all benefit from being part of a community that cares for all of its members.

Community Responsibility Acknowledgement (CRA) form

Please remember to complete the Community Responsibility Acknowledgement (CRA) form as soon as possible. Anyone who has not completed the form by September 1 will not be able to access IU resources that require a CAS login. About 95% of faculty and staff have completed the form already. If you have not, please do so soon to avoid being "locked out."

Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

Indiana University will provide eligible employees with paid sick leave or emergency family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Currently, all information regarding the FFCRA, including the application forms for staff and academic appointees (e.g., faculty, student academic appointees), is available on the IU HR website,
https://hr.iu.edu/relations/coronavirus/faq-i.html. FAQs relevant for academic appointees have been included. The form for academic appointees will route to the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs for review; the form for staff will route to Human Resources. Academic appointees who have questions about whether or not they are eligible for this leave are welcome to contact the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs to discuss their individual circumstances (vpfaa@iu.edu). We ask chairs who receive requests for leaves to contact Jane McLeod (jmcleod@indiana.edu) and Sean McGuire (semguir@indiana.edu) to discuss the department’s instructional needs.

There is interest in conducting a brief survey to learn more about the caregiving responsibilities of College instructors. Any College instructor or faculty who would like to participate in preparing and/or analyzing the survey should contact collrequ@iu.edu with a subject line: “FFCRA Survey.”

Travel approvals

All out-of-state domestic travel and all international travel must receive prior approval from the Executive Dean’s office during fall 2020.

Domestic travel approvals can be submitted through Chrome River and will route to your divisional Associate Dean for review and approval. Please attach the IU sponsored domestic travel form to your Chrome River form.

International travel requests must be approved by a University-level review committee. Applications should address:

• The essential nature of the proposed travel (i.e., importance to the relevant research agenda or course of study; inability to postpone or pursue remote options or other alternatives);
• Prevailing health conditions in the country of destination, with respect both to COVID-19 transmission rates and the availability of adequate health infrastructure;
• The absence of any entry bans or mandatory quarantines in the destination country that would render the proposed travel impracticable; and
• The feasibility of the proposed travel (e.g., flight availability; ability to re-enter the U.S.; access to necessary resources and facilities at the destination).

Please submit international travel applications to collreq@iu.edu. They will be routed to your divisional Associate Dean for review. College-approved applications will then be forwarded directly to the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs.

In-state travel does not require review and approval by the College. Those travel requests can be submitted through standard procedures.

FOR FACULTY AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

Upcoming changes in high-speed computing

For those among you who use high-speed computing for your research, please follow this link to learn more about the upcoming retirement of the Karst supercomputer and what comes next: https://collit.college.indiana.edu/high-performance-computing-hpc/

Guidelines for undergraduates participating in research

The Vice President for Research has issued updated guidelines for the participation of undergraduate students in research. In brief, undergraduate students may participate in research under several conditions, including that they not be pressured to participate in on-campus research, that any research that can be conducted remotely should be, and that any undergraduate student participating in on-campus research must understand and follow public health safety measures. Full details can be found in this document: https://research.iu.edu/coronavirus/undergrad-research-guidelines.html

FOR ALL INSTRUCTORS

Classroom protocols

The campus space and facilities operations team has confirmed that all classrooms will be stocked with disinfectant wipes or spray/paper towels. Instructors should plan to sanitize all surfaces with which they come in contact before class begins. Students should do the same. Because classroom configurations vary, the facilities operations team has not developed a specific cleaning protocol for each classroom.
We encourage instructors to visit their classrooms prior to the first class session to determine the best protocol for your specific class. (Because placing the disinfectant is among the simpler tasks for fall preparation, it is possible that the disinfectant will not yet be in your classroom. Facilities operations provided strong assurance that all classrooms will be ready for use by Monday.)

In addition to the cleaning that instructors and students do, custodial staff will clean high touchpoints (e.g., doorknobs, restrooms, elevators) many times each day. They will also enter classrooms periodically each day, and will deep clean classrooms every evening. Because of these additional demands on their time, custodial staff will only clean personal and department offices about once per month. Office occupants can place waste and recycling in the hall or can use the available bins between cleanings.

Details of other campus protocols were covered in Provost Robel’s email of Monday, August 17th, and will be discussed at the upcoming webinar with Provost Robel and Professor Aaron Carroll on Friday, August 21st at 10 a.m. Details on how to register for the webinar are in last Friday’s IU Bloomington update.

Online Course Questionnaires (OCQs)

We have recently learned that the statement we made at the Chairs and Directors meeting concerning the Online Course Questionnaires (OCQs) was guidance that we did not have the authority to make. We apologize for that.

Although the OCQ was made optional this past spring, it has NOT been made optional for this coming fall semester. All instructors are expected to use the OCQ in their courses.
When it comes to P&T documents, the first four questions used by the Campus for P&T purposes will still be used from these Fall OCQs. We strongly recommend that faculty contextualize their course evaluations in their teaching statement or elsewhere, and we recommend any faculty being considered for tenure and/or promotion include a COVID statement if they feel the pandemic has affected their teaching, research or service in any way. The statement is optional, but P&T committees would likely find it helpful to know about – and be helped in their understanding of – any contextual factors that a faculty member may wish to share.

One last note: Apparently there is still a broader discussion of the OCQ at the campus and UFC levels, but those discussions are ongoing. We are advocating that the OCQs are once again optional for this fall semester, but as of this moment, campus policy does not make their use optional.

Proctoring Online Exams

The ad hoc committee on online assessment issued a report recommending that instructors who must administer online exams use Respondus Monitor for proctoring. After the report was distributed, several challenges to using Respondus Monitor were identified, including that the STC computers do not have cameras, that Respondus Monitor does not work on Chromebooks, and that DSS cannot use Respondus Monitor with some of its technology. The campus is aware of these challenges and is working actively to identify solutions (e.g., making surplus computers available to students).

In this context, the committee recommends that all instructors who plan to use Respondus Monitor:

• survey their students early in the semester; a draft survey is attached
• provide a practice test early in the semester to identify students who will need assistance
• reserve space for students who do not have access to reliable technology to take exams in person
• consider other accommodations, such as oral exams, for those students.

Further details are provided in the attached message from Martha Oakley, a member of the committee and Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
The full report for administering and proctoring online exams may be found here.