• Self-care and wellness during COVID-19. See detailed list of resources under “Self-care and wellness resources for students.”
• UW Emergency Aid for Students
• Any Hungry Husky Program
• UW Counseling Center and Hall Health are available to help. Hall Health has also produced a flyer for coping with COVID-19 related stress.

These resources are tailored toward the unique opportunities and experiences of engaging in online learning.

• Guide to online learning
  Review this site to help support your transition to online learning.
• IT at the UW – Student Quick-Start Guide
  UW Information Technology (UW-IT) guide to getting connected.

• UW Student Technology Loan Program: Get hardware on loan
• Husky OnNet: UW VPN (Virtual Private Network) service recommended for connecting to UW sites and online course instruction. This is the best way for international users to access UW online tools.

• Free internet access
  • Comcast
  • Spectrum
  • Charter
• For students who have an internet provider:
  • Review your provider’s website – many providers are offering unlimited data and other free services to existing customers. Many providers have signed on to the FCC Keep Americans Connected Pledge.
• Tips for accessing the internet:
  • Turn off video
  • If at all possible, plug directly into your cable modem with an ethernet cable.
  • Consider getting cable/DSL/fiber options with either Comcast or CenturyLink.
  • Be aware of how many people are using the internet in your household. The more people actively using the same internet connection will experience more problems.
  • For better performance, you may have to reboot computer or internet router. Contact your internet service provider for specific instructions on how best to do this if you aren’t already familiar with this process.
  • For faster service, consult with your internet service provider for available upgrades on newer equipment and/or speeds. Related costs and services may vary.

Netiquette refers to a code of behavior to promote professional digital interaction.  When attending an online class or in a breakout room, treat the experience as you would an in-person class, especially if you are required to show yourself on video.  Think about how you are presented both in words (in a Chat or other typed discussion board), in sound (because everyone can hear all of the sounds in the room you are in), and in image (because everyone can see you and the background – real, virtual – behind you).

Do’s:

• Mute your microphone on entering, if it is not already muted. Keep your microphone muted unless you are speaking.
• Consider using earphones to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of other students in the class. This can also reduce feedback, so individuals don’t hear themselves speaking if multiple microphones are unmuted in a breakout room.
• If you will be on video at any point during the class session, dress as if you were in an in-person classroom.
• Set up a space where you can work effectively and without interruption. If you need to leave your workspace during class, stop your video and mute your audio.  In Zoom, you can use the “clock” icon in the Participants panel to signal to your instructor that you needed to step away.
• Be sensitive to the diversity in your learning community and understand that English is not the first language for everyone.
• Be respectful of others’ opinions even when they differ from your own.
• Review your comments before you push the “Send” button.
• Stay engaged during the class session. Consider returning to typical methods of note-taking and putting your phone in a place you cannot access it during the session.
• Realize that online classroom Zoom sessions may be recorded to facilitate asynchronous access by student colleagues in different time zones and/or with access issues. Even if your video remains off, make sure that your Zoom username/avatar is professional.
• Consider adding your personal pronouns to your Zoom username so everyone else in the session can refer to you correctly and you can aid in making your Zoom session a more inclusive space.

Don’ts:

• Share confidential information, including passwords or student’s IDs.
• Use all caps or exclamation marks as it can be interpreted as yelling.
• Make personal or insulting remarks.
• Make sarcastic commentaries and/or jokes to avoid misinterpretations.
• Correct others’ spelling or grammatical errors publicly.
• Engage in distractions, including calls on your cell phone, the TV, your pets, your housemates.
• Drive! Driving while in class is a safety hazard.
• Engage in leisure activities, including drinking or smoking.
• Use virtual backgrounds that are distracting, inappropriate, or controversial.

Getting started

• Turn on Canvas notifications to ensure you receive alerts when there are changes or posts in Canvas.
• Learn how to find and submit assignments on Canvas
• Check your UW email at least twice a day, setting up email forwarding if necessary.
• Familiarize yourself with Zoom. Zoom Pro is now available to all current students, faculty, and staff.
• If your instructor uses Poll Everywhere, sign in to the application with your NetID to sync your responses with Canvas.
• Set up a distraction-free workspace and set aside time to focus.

9 common issues and proffered solutions

1. A Space To Call My Own, Not
Shared housing, cramped spaces, not quiet, not appropriate to “share” on video; blurring of the line between work and home.

Students can:

• Schedule or block your school time to maintain balance. Try to coordinate and communicate these times with your roommates.
• Headphones help reduce background noise and make it easier to focus. Noise cancelling ones are best, but any help.
• Virtual backgrounds (that are professional and aren’t distracting) allow students to be “anywhere” and maintain personal privacy.

2. Zoom Exhaustion – Tiring, Draining, Eye Strain
Long days sitting in front of a computer with little interaction (lectures with >100 students) and almost no physical movement/work.

Students can:

• Create a daily schedule and follow it. Schedule breaks for meals and physical activity.

Students can ask faculty to:

• Intersperse material with 30 second physical breaks – everyone gets up and walks, jumps around (Recommended, not required. My experience is that students say they want this but resist my urging them to move).
• Interact with students.
• Allow students to bring their real lived experience, especially now, into the classroom.

3. Zoom/Panopto Ineptitude
Faculty are still having difficulty with mastering the basics; constant revisions of Zoom not helping.

Students can offer faculty their:

• Tips and tricks.

4. Pre-recorded Lectures Are, Well, Boring
It is hard to stay engaged!!

Students can:

• Watch at 1.5 speed.
• Actively take written notes and pause video if you need a break.

Student can ask faculty to:

• Include their video when lecturing/recording lectures.
• Create assignments (e.g., Canvas quizzes) on the lecture material to help students focus.
• Keep lectures SHORT (~10 min) and concept specific. Think about main goals of a lecture and separate into individual lecture “vignettes” for each of these goals. Follow each vignette with a short quiz or discussion post.
• Mix different ways to deliver content (e.g., video lectures, podcasts, maps, concept maps, interactive timelines, news, primary literature, etc.)
• Offer a time when all students can watch lectures live and offer questions.
• Host office hours or review sessions so students have a chance to interact.
• Try a “flipped classroom” model so lecture time becomes Q&A.
• Host guest lectures to mix-up the speaker, experience, and style.

5. Pacing
Content delivery is too slow and there is limited interaction; instructors are explaining the platform, but not really using all of it…

Students can ask faculty to:

• Make use of participant buttons (e.g., Yes/No) as a regular check-in.
• Make use of all of the participant buttons, including “go faster” and “go slower” – and invite students to use them!
• Use the Chat for questions and have TA assemble and prioritize in real-time.
• Integrate Poll-Everywhere with Zoom. For faculty who are having trouble with or are intimidated by Zoom polls, Poll Everywhere is great.

6. Breakout Rooms are Stilted, Not Working
No one talks, no one knows what to do, no one poses questions; anxiety-inducing especially for those who need time to compose their thoughts; held at the end of class; some courses are defaulting to the majority of time in break-outs.

Students can:

• Use your video!!
• If you don’t use your video, make sure your cameo is an image of you and that your name is displayed, and that you are contributing with audio.

Students can ask faculty to:

• Not replace lecture or other content delivery time with break-out time and expect students to remain motivated and involved – they still want to hear from PhD-level experts.
• Provide clear, written expectations for what you expect students to do in the breakup room.
• Ensure that students have a TASK in the breakout room (e.g., moderator, timekeeper, reporter, etc.) and that one (or all) students can present out to the whole group after the breakout room. In 10 minutes, students can answer a question in small groups, develop a single PowerPoint slide, and then share it out in the whole group.
• Structure break-outs with time to re-group and share/synthesize.
• “Jump” from room to room and check how things are going but greet students and announce why they have joined (e.g., “I’m interested to hear your thoughts on topic 6” or “can you tell me how you all determined it was 97.2%?”).
• Be aware of the “ask for help” feature in Zoom.
• Randomly call groups (or students within) after the breakout room to explain their answers, so group members stay engaged.

7. Too Many Platforms
Zoom, Canvas, Panopto, Slack, Google Docs, Teams, email, Slack! Students are having a difficult time negotiating all of these channels.

Students can ask faculty to:

• Pick a subset of these; at a minimum – Canvas!
• Use technologies that are supported by UW-IT (e.g., Panopto, Canvas, Zoom).

8. Labs Are Now Just Watching
The content is not strong; we just watch a computer simulation; we have to do it by ourselves – there is no interaction; “anything that can get you off the computer would be good.”

Students can ask faculty to:

• Include real video of the lab work with the instructor/TA in the video.
• Create virtual lab groups.
• Video virtual tours – at least we can watch someone else going there and explaining it to us.
• Send students lab kits and/or assign labs with simple materials students have at home (e.g., paper, scissors). This is a welcome break from screens – anything to promote hands-on and out-of-doors.
• Create video-based “decision tree” labs – you can see what happens if you pick the wrong answer; you can try again.

9. Group projects are hard to coordinate
We never meet or see each other; we formed an email list and some people never respond; people try to set up meeting times at 9 pm.

Students can:

• Set up a work plan and timeline for the project with group member names attached.
• Delegate and share work over a platform like Google Drive or Slack.
• Set weekly, short check-ins to keep tabs on progress.

Students can ask faculty to:

• Use Zoom break-out rooms specifically for group check-ins each week.
• Request groups meet over Zoom at least once and send the action items that result from that kick-off meeting.
• Have group participation be part of project grade; make group members grade other members and themselves on participation.

Options to address Spring and Autumn Quarter Grades

If you received a lower grade in class(es) than you were hoping for or if your circumstances impacted your ability to fully engage as a student these options may help:

• Switch numeric grading to S/NS: A policy change that designates spring 2020, summer 2020, autumn 2020, winter 2021, spring 2021 and summer 2021 quarters as “extraordinary circumstances” quarters allows you to switch your numeric grades to S/NS or S/NS grades to numeric grades after grades posted and before your degree has been awarded. Grades that were changed from numeric to S/NS for these quarters will count toward major/minor and graduation requirements.
• New Former Quarter Drop (FQD) policy: Beginning spring quarter 2020, this replaces what was known as the Hardship Withdrawal Petition process. An FQD allows you to retroactively drop your courses for a previous quarter. This removes your GPA scores and your credits for the classes that quarter.
• Getting credit for “X” or “I” grades:  An “X” grade indicates the instructor has not submitted your grade yet (for various reasons). An “I” grade indicates that you were making satisfactory progress and experienced a disruption so the instructor gave you additional time to complete the course. An “I” grade must be addressed by the end of the following quarter (for spring, the next quarter is considered the end of autumn). If you have an “X” or an “I” on your transcript, connect with your instructor to make a plan to address it in order to receive credit for the class.