How do the changes in on-campus operations status affect my research group?
With respect to the academic and research/scholarly work overseen by the faculty, the UW defines several levels of operation:

• Fully Operational: Everyone on campus, no change in duties or duty stations.
• Modified Operations: Some portions of the UW move to remote work. In the current situation, this has been in-person classes and employees who can telework. Telework means that the job the person normally performs can be done remotely given proper computer hardware, software, and specialized equipment and supplies. All individuals working under a faculty PI must adhere to the lab health and safety plan, and must be given an opt-out not to come to campus for health reasons.
• Restricted Operations: All portions of the UW that can be moved to telework should be. Only employees whose duties are deemed “critical,” including maintaining the health and safety of organisms or essential pieces of equipment (e.g., those that need to remain on and functional daily), and in some cases employees conducting experiments or maintaining active data collection in which the sudden cessation would compromise the work, may come to campus. All individuals working under a faculty PI must adhere to the lab health and safety plan and must be given an opt-out not to come to campus for health reasons.
• Suspended Operations: Employees identified by their unit as performing an essential service are required to report to work during suspended operations. Employees in positions that are not designated as essential do not report to work when operations are suspended.

As of this writing and the Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” proclamation, remote work, or telework, is the standard until at least April 9, 2020. This literally means that unless the research is determined to be critical, all researchers must work remotely during restricted operations, even if that means adjusting the time course of the work (e.g., moving to analysis or writing work instead of continuing to perform lab work).

Note that critical operations in a research context which would require the presence of people on campus include, but are not limited to: keeping research organisms alive and healthy and maintaining critical equipment, and may include research milestones and research processes that cannot be accomplished remotely and cannot be delayed without significant loss of data. An example of the latter might be the last stage of a multi-stage experiment where all data would need to be discarded if the final data were not collected. Please have conversations with each of your lab personnel as to whether any of the work they do would be determined to be “critical” and could only be done on campus or at a UW field station.

I have questions about grant deadlines, and about whether there are new restrictions on my research.
The College of the Environment has disseminated guidance originally compiled by Lisa Cantore, SAFS Grants and Contracts Manager. You can find it here. This page is part of the COVID-19 Resources for Researchers.

What is a lab health and safety plan?  Do I have to have one?
Yes. Especially under the current epidemic, it is essential for all labs to have a health and safety plan that all members of the lab are aware of and agree to.

What is a telework agreement?  Should anyone in my lab have one?
The UW requires prior approval before commencing telework, or remote work from home or another off-campus location. It is best practice and an expectation in the College that all teleworking employees – including graduate student RAs, postdocs, technicians and other professional and classified staff – will have a written telework agreement in place. This benefits both the employee and the PI because there is an agreed-upon written contract outlining work tasks and status. Work with each of your employees to fill in your unit’s telework agreement form (if one is available) or use the UW HR Telework Agreement form. Note that once employees commence teleworking you can cooperatively review and modify the task list as needed.

My lab is very stressed by the current situation. Some people want to come in and others want to stay at home. What do I tell them?
At the moment, the Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” proclamation is restricting all non-critical access to campus, effective 26 March through 6 April 2020. It is important that everyone in your lab be aware of this proclamation, that those who do perform critical duties are notified that they are designated as critical employees and are allowed to physically report to work if necessary to carry out those duties, and that everyone have a plan for remote work if at all possible.

As a PI, you are responsible for communicating with everyone in your lab about their work, working conditions, and about how these recent changes will affect work and career progress. Everyone in the lab is looking to the PI for guidance, so be prepared to initiate these conversations.

Also be aware that the College has held open Zoom meetings with graduate students (FAQs here) and with postdocs (FAQs here), where we have covered questions about how to initiate a conversation with your advisor, an activity many students and postdocs find awkward, difficult and even intimidating.

How do I handle it if one of my lab employees informs me they have tested positive for COVID-19?
Please make sure they know to stay home until otherwise directed by their healthcare provider and instruct them to contact the Environmental Health and Safety’s Employee Health Center at emphlth@uw.edu or 206-685-1026. Also, please report it to the College Response Team (Julia Parrish, Stephanie Harrington, Megan Russell and Molly McCarthy) so we can coordinate with EH&S and others on appropriate communications to the College community, if any are required.

Is teaching a “critical” function under the University’s restricted operations mandate?
Yes. If it is not possible for you to teach a portion of your spring quarter course from home, and it is only possible for you to do so from campus, then you and/or your instructional team (e.g., lab coordinator, TAs) may access campus for that specific purpose. Examples might include but not be limited to: accessing a particular lab or computational space with specialized equipment and facilities; accessing organisms or biological materials that can not be taken home. Examples would NOT include using your desktop computer in your office to record lectures.

What about the first week of the quarter?  Should teaching be any different?
Yes. The Provost’s Office (see below) has strongly suggested using the first week to ease the students, and yourselves, into a fully online quarter. The College of the Environment is interpreting these guidelines as follows:

• Use the first week as a reading week.
• Create an assignment that is tied to a learning objective of the course that directly involves that reading.
• Make that assignment due at the beginning of the second week.
• Adjust your course content accordingly. That is, both rearrange and delete material.
• If you are Zooming your course, consider meeting with your students once (only) in the first week.

Here is the verbatim guidance from the Provost’s Office (their bold emphasis):

For undergraduate courses, treat the first week of the course as transitional. Together, you and your students are exploring – and learning – what it means to teach and learn remotely. Test the technology in a low-stakes manner. If your class is meeting synchronously (for example, through video conferencing), use the first meeting to review your course syllabus and discuss learning goals. This will allow you to “kick the tires” on the technology, assess connectivity challenges and provide a smooth transition to remote instruction. Please note that the first week must include instruction in order to meet accreditation and financial aid requirements.

Require graded assignments only after the first week of spring quarter in order to allow your students and yourself time to adapt without the pressure of graded work.

Are there other guidelines or requirements for spring quarter?
Yes. In general, please consider the real possibility that some-to-all of your students will be stressed by the combination of:

• an all online quarter
• the limitations of their technology (what hardware they have, whether they have wifi at home, whether they have a quiet, calm space to work)
• health situations they may be experiencing at home

At the same time, consider that you and your teaching team may be experiencing some-to-all of these same stresses. Therefore, dialing down is a wise course of action. This might include:

• limiting content to essential learning objectives
• decreasing the number and depth of assignments
• creating deadline flexibility; accept late work, and focus with students on making that work as good as it can be

I’m a first-timer at online teaching. Help!  Who/where can I turn to?
The College has a faculty-led Online Teaching Team with membership across the units. They have put together a living resource with information added every few days. It is set up for beginners, as well as accomplished users.

• Here is the entry page, COVID-19 Resources for Instructors
• Here is the main Canvas page, Online remote instruction resources

Please check this resource daily!

I need a tablet/headset/Go-Pro camera to make online work for my spring class, what do I do?
The first stop is your unit. Contact your Chair or Director immediately. The second stop is the Dean’s Office. We are buying technology faculty need to make teaching work, with the understanding that these resources will be part of a tech loan library, not the personal or research property of the faculty.

I’m a novice at online and my TA isn’t much better, what are my options?
The units and the Dean’s Office are partnering to create a set of “super-TA” positions within units that could use help to up the online teaching game, especially regarding how to handle labs and fieldwork. Check with your unit leadership about whether there is an identified super-TA, or other expert person detailed to help.

I’m worried that my students may not have the technology, wifi or bandwidth to fully engage online, what do I do?
The College is assessing the technology needs of our majors as a starting point. At the moment (25% reporting), access to a computer is not limiting (98% have one). Access to WIFI (83% with stable access) and to a quiet workspace (61% with access) are more severe restrictions.

We are also developing a laptop loaner program inside the college for our majors. Finally, we are encouraging faculty to work with the Online Teaching Team to consider ways to make sure your course is accessible to all of your students, including asynchronous course delivery.

My summer course is a fieldwork course; should I cancel it?
We have not received guidance from the UW administration on Summer quarter yet. However, we are suggesting that all faculty who are teaching field-oriented courses, or study abroad courses, to consider cancelling them now.

My summer quarter course is run through Continuum College, will it still be held?
Again, we do not have guidance yet on summer quarter. However, you should immediately check with your unit Chair/Director and Administrator, as the budget model for summer quarter currently places any fiscal shortfall (because of low enrollment) onto the unit. Thus there are multiple issues – academic and fiscal – to take into consideration.

If your Summer course can be easily accommodated as an online course, and it is a course needed as a prerequisite to a majors course or is a required majors course, please do consider teaching it a priori as an online course.

The College has compiled a list of self-care and wellness resources for faculty, staff and students.