September 11, 2009
Colleagues,
In an August 25 e-mail, we reviewed the planning that was underway for dealing with the possibility of one or more major flu outbreaks this academic year. In that message, we wrote:
"Since we know that the magnitude of possible student cases will surpass the Health Network's ability to see students simply for the purpose of documenting medical absences (and because having ill students come to the Center simply for documentation might spread the flu faster), one of the highest priority tasks will be creating a university system for recording and communicating authorized absences. We are also discussing how other all-university academic practices and rules might best be adjusted. . . .
While those discussions are underway, it is important that faculty and departments review:
1. How they intend to manage faculty absences.
2. How faculty are planning to make it possible for students who are ill to keep up on their own while they are out and then catch-up on any course material or assignments they missed when they return."
We write today to update you on planning in each of these areas.
Web-Based Self-Reporting System for University-Excused Absences
Following the advice of public health authorities, the University has told students that they should not go to class if they have a specific set of flu-like symptoms and that they should self-isolate until 24 hours after their fever breaks. Because we have instructed students with these symptoms to self-isolate, we needed - as we mentioned in the August 25 note quoted above - a way for students to receive an authorized excuse for their absence without going to a medical provider for a note. The University has settled on a web-based self-reporting system as the best available mechanism for students to report flu-like illnesses and for faculty to be notified of University-excused absences for students who have reported illnesses with flu-like symptoms.
Students have been told that they should use this all-University excused absence notification system, that it is important to register on this system before any required work is due, and that the system will provide faculty with lists of students in their courses who have registered that they have a flu-like illness that requires them to self-isolate.
Because students have been instructed by the University to follow these procedures, it seems both fair and right that absences excused under this all-University self-reporting system be treated as the equivalent of a University sanctioned activity. As the equivalent of a University sanctioned absence, students can legitimately expect that they will not be docked for any attendance points or have this absence treated as an unauthorized absence in any other attendance policy an instructor has in place. They can also legitimately expect that faculty will make a reasonable effort to provide opportunities to make-up graded work. For their part, students have a responsibility to use the notification system and to take the initiative to make up missed work in a timely fashion.
We know that managing absences is time consuming and often frustrating. We ask for your cooperation and good humor for the most basic of reasons: we cannot tell students the University wants them to stay home and then penalize them for following our instructions. Faculty with questions about what constitutes "reasonable" efforts - or who find themselves in a situation in which students have expectations that the instructor believes are either unreasonable or impossible to accommodate - are encouraged to discuss this issue with their department head.
Phase 1 in the development and deployment of the self-reporting page for students was completed last Friday. Phase 2 - which will provide faculty with information on ill students in the classes for which they are listed as the primary instructor - is scheduled to be completed today (September 11). Phase 3 - which provides a reporting system for faculty and staff who are ill - is scheduled to be ready next Friday. The three phases are summarized below.
Phase 1:
- Students access the self-reporting page from RamWeb. To view the information presented to students before they enter the web page containing the self-reporting form, see https://wsnet.colostate.edu/cwis24/FluReporting/.
- The self-reporting form asks when they first developed symptoms, and requests some basic information about their condition and their place of residence.
- Once the student clicks the submit button, the information is entered into a database, and a confirmation email is sent to the student. This message includes the case ID and a reminder to come back within 10 days to either update or close the case.
- Phase 1 implementation was available to students mid-afternoon on Friday, September 4.
Phase 2:
- Later today, ACNS will email instructions describing how instructors can view lists of their students who have self-reported Influenza illness. Those procedures will involve logging in with an eID and password. Once a faculty member has logged in, the classes for which he/she is listed as the "primary instructor" will be displayed. Faculty will be able to view students that have self-reported, the date they reported, and the student's University ID and case ID. Courses in which no students have self-reported a flu-like illness will not be displayed.
- Students will be sent a follow-up message 10 days after they reported first showing symptoms if they have not closed the case.
- Scheduled implementation date: Friday, 9/11.
Phase 3:
- Reporting tools will be developed to track the incidence of Influenza for faculty, staff and students, allowing University officials to monitor conditions over time and to make informed decisions.
- Phase 3 should be ready no later than Friday, 9/18.
All-University Academic Rules that May Need Adjustments
While we certainly hope that the steps described above will be the only changes in established academic procedures we need to make, it may become necessary to offer further clarification of existing policies and consider some additional policy adjustments if we experience unprecedented levels of faculty and student illness as the result of the flu. The goal of any further policy guidance or adjustments will be to provide a menu of acceptable variations on existing policy that faculty are authorized to use to help manage the situation in ways that promote opportunities for faculty and students to complete the semester.
A small group of faculty and administrators is being formed to review existing policies in areas such as grading practices (e.g., if the schedule or composition of the graded material announced in the syllabus needs to be changed), the criteria for incompletes, and the dates for course withdrawals. Any recommendations from this committee will be brought to the Provost and the Faculty Council Executive Committee for review and evaluation. The committee will include: Alan Lamborn, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs; Tim Gallagher, Vice-Chair of Faculty Council; Dan Turk, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors; Margarita Lenk, Chair of the Committee on Teaching and Learning; Anne Hudgens, Dean of Students; Sandy Calhoun, University Registrar, Madlyn D'Andrea, Assistant Director of CASA and ex officio member of the Committee on Scholastic Standards; and representatives from other units on campus as needed.
If there is agreement that prevailing conditions warrant further changes, those changes will be broadly communicated and posted on the Provost website. Please be careful to adhere to all existing policies until such time as you are formally notified that changes have been approved.
Strategies for Helping Faculty and Students Complete Courses
The majority of the most creative problem solving on managing instructor absences and designing effective ways for ill students to keep up while they are sick and catch-up when they return is likely to take place "on the ground" in departments. The Institute for Learning and Teaching is preparing a site designed to share those ideas across the University. That site will feature FAQs, guides, and tips on how faculty can teach their classes through a period in which there are an unusually large number of student absences, how they can manage a course if they fall ill themselves, and techniques for helping students complete work they missed because of the flu.
Concluding Comment
While we hope that this flu season turns out to be much milder than many have predicted, we also know that we will be facing many challenges this academic year if the flu arrives at some of the higher levels that the CDC has indicated are possible. The fundamental purpose of the planning that is taking place at every level of the University is to find ways in which we can minimize disruption to the normal life of the University and the important work of our faculty and students. We have every confidence that, working together, we can achieve that goal.
-- Rick
-- Richard
Rick Miranda, Interim Provost/Executive Vice President
Richard Eykholt, Chair, Faculty Council