What to do if You’re Sick
In the event that you get sick and are unable to lead your class for a period of time, TLS offers the following set of considerations on how to adapt your pedagogical approaches:
Communication
It is essential to communicate with students about what is happening. Update and communicate any changes to your course syllabus as soon as you can, using your preferred method. In your communications, you may want to address:
- Changes to any due dates or timelines
- Your ability (or inability) to respond to communications while you are away
- Expectations for students about work to complete while you are away
Course Materials and Activities
There are a number of approaches you can take to adjust your course plan, including:
Reduce/remove/move
- Removing or reducing content or assessments that are less vital to your learning outcomes
- Shifting the course schedule – some course material and activities may be easier to manage while you are absent
Replace/enhance
- Use recorded lectures from a previous offering of the course, if available
- Record short lectures to cover essential material only
- Enlist a colleague to do a guest lecture
- Identify material from other sources (open courses, additional resources and readings) that can serve to cover the material
- Shift lecture-based class sessions to asynchronous activities – like self-directed readings, student led-activities, or discussion forums
Alternate plans
- Use the time for students to review course material – practice concepts and skills
- Use the time for students to work on course assignments or to do group work
- Enlist a colleague to host office hours for students to ask questions
TLS Support
As you make adjustments to your course plan, TLS is here to help. These and many other supports are available to you:
- Complete a course consultation request form from the TLS Support Portal to discuss your plan with a TLS colleague
- Check the Brightspace support for instructors as you modify your course content and activities
- Get information and help with supported educational technologies
- Consider the course workload as you adjust your plan
- Explore alternatives for assessment activities
- Identify asynchronous alternatives for course activities that students can complete while you are away