Overarching Principles
World-class residential education
We are a residential educator. That is core to what we do. Our aim is to have a meaningful residential component in most if not all courses to the extent possible in a safe and secure manner. These residential components should promote engagement among peers and instructors to maximize student learning experience.
Health, safety, well-being
Safeguarding the health, safety and well-being of students, faculty and education support personnel must be our priority. Anyone can elect to come to campus in person or to remain remote. All courses will have an option supporting both in- person and remote modes.
- All meetings in-person will require PPE and social distancing for everyone’s safety.
- We will seek to accommodate all students, staff, and faculty who are not be able to come to campus.
Instructor Expectations
UNL Calendar
All College of Engineering courses will follow the UNL Calendar for Fall 2020 regardless of campus. For a review of the dates for UNL, see the UNL Academic Calendar at: https://registrar.unl.edu/academic-calendar/.
Modes of Teaching
A table is designed to offer instructors a means to approach making adjustments to their course design to meet the demands of Fall 2020 (and possibly Spring 2021). All models include a mix of synchronous and asynchronous components. The models are not prescriptive; rather, they are intended to offer five general approaches. For all models, students choose in-person or online subject to classroom in-person limits and personal needs.
A special table was designed to provide ideas on how instruction and learning might occur in each of the models. The ideas presented are not prescriptive; rather, they are intended to offer five general approaches. The table includes information on phases of student learning with examples.
Click the image below to view the complete tables of Models for Flexible Course Delivery.
Teaching Labs
A guide to teaching lab courses for Fall 2020 is now available: Click Here
Instructor Resources
The instructor resources section of this guide is divided into two main parts: Classroom Space & Technology and Teaching Resources. These resources are meant to support COE faculty teaching in Fall 2020.
Classroom Space & Technology
- A list of spaces, including technologies on UNL City and East Campuses, is available at; https://its.unl.edu/t3/classrooms-and-learning-spaces/
- A list of CoE classrooms with Fall 2020 seating capacities and available technologies is available at https://engineering.unl.edu/it/coe-learning-and-collaboration-spaces/
- Zoom Classroom Quick Start Guide
- CoE IT/AV is discouraging use of lapel microphones in favor of ceiling microphones; lapel microphones may introduce a viral transmission risk; results in high cost of providing microphones to individual faculty members.
- Each instructor should have a conversation with his/her Unit Leader to see if the mode of teaching selected, space and technology needs are adequately addressed and that it will fit the Unit’s T&L goals and objectives as well as the overall needs of COE students. They also need to identify any relevant and additional resources in terms of infrastructure, professional development, technology, etc.
Professional Development & Teaching Resources
The Engineering and Computing Education Core (ECEC) is the primary contact for COE faculty. Questions about these resources or for in-person support, faculty can reach out to the ECEC Director Dr. Tareq Daher at tareq.daher@unl.edu.
1. Pedagogical Resources
COE Template Resources
A course syllabus template and Canvas template with recommendations and examples that you can implement in your course.
CTT Online Teaching Guide
The Center for Transformative Teaching created an essential guide for preparing online instructional materials, assessment, and more.
Essential Instructional Technologies
Instructional Technology tutorials such as Zoom, VidGrid, Canvas, that will help you reform your teaching in the fall.
2. In-person support
To learn about ways to teach effectively within the current environment, there are several opportunities for faculty to engage.
Please contact Dr. Tareq Daher for program and department related questions.
City Campus faculty members may contact Nathan Pindell for instructional design and development support.
Scott Campus faculty members may contact Yaoling Wang for instructional design and development support.
Biological Systems Engineering faculty members may contact Robert Vavala for instructional design and development support.
3. Professional Development schedule
The Engineering and Computing Education Core is offering training for faculty throughout the Fall 2020 semester. A full schedule will be available to faculty by the end of July, 2020. Please visit the Fall 2020 Faculty Professional Development page for more information.
Limitations
Different classes may require various degrees of a residential component. We must ensure that all learning outcomes are met for each of the various teaching and learning modes.
Fall 2020 term will follow these dates (https://covid19.unl.edu/forward-to-fall):
- Remote learning begins August 17 (this includes ALL classes regardless of mode of instruction)
- In-class instruction begins August 24
- Labor Day and Fall Break are suspended
- Fall semester will be completed on November 25