Following are questions aggregated from multiple town hall meetings held by Dean Kimberly Lawless regarding Back to State planning for fall. Questions may not be phrased as asked in the town halls because similar questions were asked in different ways. The questions below combine and reword similar questions to avoid being repetitive. In some cases, the answers point to official information from the University’s Back to State website because that is the most up-to-date, accurate information available on the topic. The date the information was added or updated appears at the end of each question.
Table of contents
-
- General work topics
- Faculty-specific work topics
- Evaluations/tenure
- Teaching/pedagogy
- Learning
- Advising
- Field experiences and student teaching
- Graduate students
- Safety
- Gathering/study spaces
- Student concerns
- School partnerships
- Herr Clinic
- Housing
- College fiscal concerns
- Main College of Education FAQ site
- Messages from Dean Kim Lawless and Human Resources
For other important information and resources,
please visit:
College of Education COVID-19 Forms
COVID-19 Dashboard
College of Education FAQ site
College of Education task forces
University-wide Back to State details
Messages from Dean Kim Lawless and Human Resources
.
General work topics
The expectation is that an office area that is outward-facing to our students will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, where some staff presence will be needed on-site, we're asking managers and department heads to consider staggered and alternate scheduling to cover that time period and simultaneously minimize the number of people in an office space. Individual staff members' work hours can be flexible, as long as the goal of having the office staffed during regular business hours is achieved overall. Department heads and managers are working with staff to come up with solutions that work best for their individual areas.
We understand people have needs to pop into their offices. We accommodated that even during the spring shutdown. We need to know exactly who is in our spaces and when they are there, in the event that we need to contact trace. If you come in and we don't know about it, we won't know to contact you if someone gets sick. Or, if you get sick, we won't know who you have been around that would need to be contacted. As with the spring, the expectation is that you let your department chair and Julian Morales know if you are coming onto campus for a quick pop in.
The unexpected stresses on faculty, staff, and students are of concern to all of us. For evaluation purposes, we realize this is an important issue, as reflected in the COVID 1-year extension that faculty can take, but it is not one that we have comprehensive answers to right now. Over the spring and summer semesters we tried to take a very flexible and adaptable approach. We have to understand times are going to change productivity is going to potentially decrease in the short term. Currently, we are focusing on the many decisions and plans that need to be made in order to open the University to offer instruction for students. Then we will be able to address other important concerns including long-term impact on productivity. Looking forward, child care centers are opening. Schools are making and announcing decisions for going back to school. We are optimistic that this will alleviate some of the strain on some families.
There also is a section in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that covers child care. If you have child care issues, you are encouraged to reach out to Absence Management to see if your particular situation falls under the act because you may be able to use benefits under that act that are provided by the federal government.
Without students on campus, all work that can be completed remotely should be done remotely. For staff, this will mean going back to 100% remote work as of Nov. 20.
Faculty-specific work topics
Penn State’s contact tracing process consists of multiple layers of outreach. This process prioritizes getting the COVID-positive individual into isolation. The first layer involves reaching out to the individual who has tested positive for COVID. Next, contact tracers contact those who have been identified by the COVID-positive individual as close contacts. Finally, contact tracers will notify others who might need to know, such as faculty members and instructors via an email from a “Student Support Services” address via our Maxient system. An example of the notification letter is provided here. We will continue to refine and improve this process as we learn more this semester.
For more details, click here.
Faculty can use their offices to conduct remote classes, if needed. There may be situations when a faculty member needs to be on campus to teach remotely — due to poor internet service at home, for example. If this is the case, the faculty member would need to work with the department head to make sure they are part of the plan for returning to the office for work and accounted for on the Return-to-Onsite Work Authorization form.
All research that can be done remotely, should be done remotely. It is unlikely that use of an office for tasks that can be done remotely will be approved to be done in the office. Under extenuating circumstances, such as uses of restricted data sets that are not able to be handled from home, or use of specialized equipment, a faculty member can complete the “Return to On-site Research” form available from Associate Dean for Research Greg Kelly. These requests will be considered by weighing the health risks with the need to conduct on-site research work. Approvals are needed by the associate dean for research, dean, vice president for Human Resources and the provost. Begin by contacting Greg. Further information can be found here.
No, of course not, but what I do ask is that we wait to make these decisions until we know what the landscape looks like as we start the semester. At the end of the day what we should be thinking about is, how can we provide the educational experience that our students need in a way that meets their needs that also maintains our own safety? Based on our pilot, the students were EXTREMELY cooperative – wore masks, sat in assigned seats and actually moved between face-to-face components and technology-enabled tasks very fluidly.
As far as disapproval from colleagues, I would assume that our colleagues are adults and realize that people make different decisions for different reasons. So, I would ask that we respect each other's decisions.
While there always are exceptions, when at all possible continue to use Zoom for meetings, advising and office hours, to maintain safety and help de-densify our spaces.
If someone is in high risk category, it is preferable that you don't come to campus, but that choice ultimately is yours. This applies also if you are a caregiver for somebody in high risk category. Faculty who are providing in-person instruction at any point during the semester can change their mind if circumstances change and should work with their supervisor to make appropriate adjustments.
The message from the University is clear – each program is expected to have a "healthy footprint" of in person classes, whether they be fully in person or a hybrid class. What that looks like is different in each program and each college. It is clear that students – who are paying room and board or renting apartments to be physically present here are doing so in order to have a residential learning experience – albeit modified. Faculty who are part of a vulnerable population or who have other challenges with providing in-person instruction at any point during the semester should work with supervisors to determine how adjustments can be made. If someone is in high risk category, it is preferable that you don't come to campus, but that choice ultimately is yours. This applies also if you are a caregiver for somebody in high-risk category. If you are not in a high-risk category or a caretaker for someone in a high-risk category, please have a conversation with your PIC or department chair about what we can do to make you feel more comfortable teaching in person. We need to think about this not only in the short term, but also regarding the long-term implications of short-term decisions. While this is first and foremost a safety decision, that does not mean there are no financial implications down the road. There are many people in our environments who don't have a choice. They have to be on-site to do their work. If we don't try to marshal forward to teach, lots of people may be out of work – not only at the University, but also in the businesses in the community. We need to think about the overall greater good. While these may be personal decisions, we all are in this together and every decision affects other people.
We understand people have needs to pop into their offices. We accommodated that even during the spring shutdown. For fall, if the task does not require use of University space (e.g., teaching in person or specialized equipment available only on campus), we are requesting that you continue to work remotely. This request is for two purposes. First, reducing the density of our spaces (entryways, central office spaces, bathrooms, etc.) keeps it safer for the people who are required to be present. Second, we need to know exactly who is in our spaces and when they are there, in the event that we need to contact trace. If you come in and we don't know about it, we won't know to contact you if someone gets sick. Or, if you get sick, we won't know who you have been around that would need to be contacted.
As with the spring, the expectation is that you let your department chair and Julian Morales know if you are coming onto campus for a quick pop in.
The dean's understanding of the town hall was that there was an expectation to return to campus. There is choice, but the University and college administration are trusting faculty to think about the overall ecosystem of the courses you teach – the college, the University and the community – to make decisions about what is in best interests of your students and of the overall program. There are a variety of formats being marshaled forward. At the end of the day, the dean will not force a faculty member to come to campus this fall and teach. However, we need to think about how our decisions affect our colleagues’ decisions as well. There is a need to have some residential footprint, so these are not individual decisions. They impact your faculty colleagues, staff, students, and the long-range horizon for your program. Further, it is important to consider others in our workforce, not just faculty, who are not capable of working remotely – our cleaning and maintenance staff, dining and residence hall employees and even our local business depend on our residential programs, so that greater good should also part of the broader consideration.
Evaluations/tenure
SRTEs will be administered this fall, but how they will count is still evolving. The Vice Provost’s office is assembling a task force that will look into the ways that we evaluate teaching effectiveness, including things such as different types of teaching data that could be informative beyond or in addition to SRTEs. But in the meantime, we do need to gather information about faculty members' teaching effectiveness, especially for those faculty who will be going up for reviews in the future. One thing to be aware of is that in the recently updated University P&T documents there are some newly offered suggestions about how to do this. Those ideas might be viable for this fall for documenting teaching effectiveness, so I would encourage you to look at them.
It is important not to conflate the two issues. The promotion and tenure (P&T) process does not look at the venue through which you teach. What is evaluated is your teaching effectiveness. It would be foolish of me to guarantee that bias won’t invade the space of a tenure committee. These are human-run endeavors and all humans express bias. However, we will discuss this in the charge for committees and we will watch for bias – of any kind. We have started conversations with heads of departmental P&T committees as well as chairs to think about the process. This is something being discussed at the University level as well.
Teaching/pedagogy
Click here for the session presented on June 22, 2020, regarding fall Instructional Models from the Learning Design team (Chris Millet and Jana Hitchcock). This was a review of the proposed instructional models developed in conjunction with several Provost-charged teams responsible for preparing the university for the fall semester.
Click here for the Learning Design the session presented on July 2 by Chris Millet and Jana Hitchcock, focusing on mixed-modes of instruction. The session presented a variety of design considerations for your courses and considered affordances for flexibility and potential solutions to scheduling complexities, while maintaining social distancing requirements.
The University perspective on CM and CP courses is that we want to reserve seats in CP and CM courses for students who are going to be in person. That's the guiding logic, but there's really a lot of variability across the various programs that we offer in the college. Some courses are upper-level and offered only to students in the major, so someone taking the course remotely is not "taking a seat" from someone who wants to attend in person. Other courses are open to students University-wide, and preference should be given to students who intend to attend in person. However, some courses are required for graduation and students may not able to attend in person, so we should consider the possibility of exceptions in that situation. We encourage you to encourage your students to speak with their advisers in terms of accommodating these requests. More information can be found at https://keepteaching.psu.edu/fall-2020/flexible-instructional-modes/ and https://keepteaching.psu.edu/fall-2020/frequently-asked-questions/
There are students who may get ill during the semester or who situations might change, and we need to be able to meet their needs. It's not about re-teaching those students, but it is about making sure that those students have what they need to be successful if they have to change course. The Keep Teaching website on flexible instructional modes includes information on this topic.
We do not currently have an update on this. For the latest information from the Graduate School, please visit their information website.
Yes. The University is renovating all general purpose classrooms to include video capture and sound technologies and we are working on that for our departmental classrooms as well.
We need to think about our students and their expectations. We know from our own data, students who choose to do residential vs. World Campus come from very different populations. People make pointed decisions about the type of instruction that's best for their learning. Our students want to come back to campus. In reality, there is a peer-to-peer collegiality imbued in the physical presence of the environment that they are missing in remote learning. Surveys indicate while students are very appreciative that we did not take them off their trajectory, the vast vocal majority did not like the remote instruction. It's not what they paid for. Students are coming back to campus in the fall, paying for housing and board, with the expectation that there is an instructional reason for them to be here. If we don't make good on that, we are falling short of providing them the experience they were expecting to have. It's understood that there are things we can do with technology. What we can't do is meet students' expectations and desire for some interaction in residential spaces on campus. If students wanted to have a remote experience, they would have applied to World Campus. It's the ancillary experience in the environment that makes the in person class better. So, we have an obligation to try, and to meet them where they are.
University-wide surveys already have shown the strong desire of students to be back on campus. Regarding the specifics of which courses they attend, there are many moving parts. Our piece of that puzzle is nearly complete, and that is to identify which classes will be held in person, which will be hybrid and which will be remote, and have classrooms assigned for those classes that will have some in person component. Around July 15 students will have access to this information and then will be able to go through the advising process. In addition, to help plan for a successful transition back to in-person instruction this fall, Penn State’s leadership is asking students to complete a single-question poll in LionPATH regarding their intentions about returning to campus. For details, check Penn State News.
There is a preference to have a residential footprint for programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels that are related to first-year experience or entrance to major. Part of that is to provide a sense of community for those students.
If you are in a person in a high-risk category or are taking care of a person in a high-risk category, the dean's preference is that you to stay remote. Beyond that, the questions to ask are about meeting the pedagogical needs of students to a level that provides what it is we are purporting to provide while also maintaining the safety of those in the environment. The decisions are not solitary but should be talked about as a group because while there are no minimum percentages mandated, the University has pledged to have a "healthy footprint" of residential courses across all programs so that is the expectation. Each person's decision affects everyone else in the program and should be considered in that way.
There’s a fluidity we have to have for classes. The dean is recommending faculty consider a flipped model for their courses to make use of the time as pedagogically useful for students as possible. This is a unique time for innovating and exploring new and different things. Zoom limits flexibility and natural communication. It limits robust, open debate. We also have to keep in mind what the students are expecting in the fall, which is to have a modified in person class experience.
We understand the ambiguity of these decisions. We can’t tell you the pedagogies to use in your class. For residential classes, there are expectations that students will be doing residential activities. Thinking creatively, is there something that should be brought into this space? If people are separated by a computer, why is it a problem if they are separated by six feet? Are there other things your class does? Everybody is going to have to switch out their pedagogy to some extent. What could you do and what do you need to have in place to feel safe doing it?
Click here for the session presented on June 22, 2020, regarding fall Instructional Models from the Learning Design team (Chris Millet and Jana Hitchcock). This was a review of the proposed instructional models developed in conjunction with several Provost-charged teams responsible for preparing the university for the fall semester. A second session is planned for July 2 and the recording for that will be linked here once it is available. In addition, in March we set up an Education Faculty Collaborative Community in Teams, moderated by Joon Yoon. Every faculty member in the college is included in that space to make it easier to collaborate and discuss ideas. Also, the University has a website called Keep Teaching that offers resources to help faculty access the information they need to teach courses this fall.
These decisions are more for students we bring here in residence. For your students, it makes sense to continue to do what you’re doing.
Learning
All instructional modes are designed to help you reach key learning outcomes and allow you to engage with faculty, peers, and course content. Review the information about each flexible instructional mode to make the best decisions if adjusting your schedule or selecting your courses in LionPATH.
- In-Person Instruction (CP). Students meet in the assigned classroom at the time assigned in the course schedule. Students are expected to attend all classes in-person. In the event of occasional and/or temporary absence, students will follow the attendance policy of the University, with some flexibility.
- Mixed-Mode Instruction (CM). A combination of instructional modes is used to meet social distancing requirements in physical spaces, while also providing students with opportunities for face-to-face interaction and access to specialized on-campus spaces and equipment.
- Remote Synchronous Instruction (CR). Students attend all classes remotely at the scheduled time. Faculty will identify the communication and collaboration tools appropriate for real-time student interaction and engagement in their course.
Remote Asynchronous Instruction (CW). Course material is made available for students to work through on their own schedules with deadlines for activities and assessments. A variety of communication and collaboration tools are provided for student interaction and engagement.
July 15 was the date given for not only those decisions to be made, but also for room assignments to be made for the CP or CM courses. Now, there may be a few things that are still being resolved so in in an odd case, something might change. For example, we're still chasing down rooms for two of our classes that are intended to be CP where we want to have all of our students together. Based on the rooms that may be available and their new lower capacity levels, we might have to throttle that to a CM. In addition, as we are learning about what the students' choices are some courses might flip to accommodate those choices. If you don't see something in your Canvas site in the next week or so, it's certainly reasonable to reach out to your faculty members and ask them.
We took this in the College of Education as a task that was done program by program, department by department. So, while individual faculty had the final say on the mode of their instruction, it really was a group decision, based on priorities we set as a college. We wanted to make sure that we had an excellent first-year experience. So, we prioritized those classes for in-person modes either CP or CM. Entrance to major classes within the College also were given high priority. Many of the upper level classes also require some type of CP or CM experience, such as many of the methods classes and obviously student teaching. In that way, we worked to cover the trajectory for undergraduates.
For graduate students, the same process was followed, but it was done a little bit more in communication with students that are actually in the program since there are fewer students and faculty have one-on-one relationships with their advisees.
By and large, in the College of Education roughly 70% of courses in our undergraduate programs have some in person component, whether they are CP or CM. When you include all of our undergraduate gen ed's, our program classes as well as our graduate classes, a little more than 50% of our courses have some in person component.
Different mixed mode classes will look different, depending on the learning objectives for the course. Some classes are using mixed mode instruction because there were not classrooms large enough to facilitate social distancing. In order for the instructor to interact in person with all of the students in one week, students enrolled in a mixed mode class might rotate when they are attending in person and when they are attending remotely, however different configurations are possible. This is just one example of how a mixed mode course could run.
Student can learn more about mixed mode possibilities, and watch a video of faculty sharing their plans for mixed mode instruction, here: https://keeplearning.psu.edu/fall-2020/flexible-instructional-modes/mixed-mode-instruction/
Those courses are intended for students who are in person on campus. If there's a reason to have to enroll in one of those courses from a remote distance we will have an exception process for that and you should contact your adviser to discuss your options. If you become ill during the semester, your instructors will work with you like they have worked with you in the past.
When you go into the schedule of courses, click into the section information for the specific course. When you get into the specific section information up in the top there's a field that reads "instruction mode." That's where you're going to see the information, and that's how you know in which of those four instruction modes that specific section of that courses being offered. It really is important to check this for the specific section you're interested in scheduling, because we have many courses, both in the College and other areas of the University where there are multiple sections offered and some are in different delivery modes.
Because classroom capacities have been reduced to enable social distancing, the University has gotten creative with creating alternative classroom spaces. There still will be classes in the classrooms in Chambers building that you're used to populating. But we also have classes in unique places including the Bryce Jordan Center.
With the reduction of classroom capacity to enable social distancing, the University has turned to unconventional spaces for use as classroom space. We have had to move EDPSY 11 to the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC). We had to have a facility that was large enough and given the time that that course is offered, the BJC was what was available.
They have four sections of the lower ring of the arena that they have in the rotation. They will rotate through those sections during the day from class to class to class so they can go in and clean each section after it's been used. The instructor will be on the floor and hopefully they'll be on the Jumbotron, so it will be a unique experience.
If you're looking to make some changes to your core schedule at this time, please don't go into it thinking that you have to go through it alone, that you have to make these changes yourself. That's why your academic advisers are here, to help you make sure that you don't miss something that could have negative consequences down the road.
There are a few important pieces to this that any student has to consider. In advising we always keep in mind that every student's individual circumstance and situation is unique. And we're very cognizant of the fact that all of you have a lot of different factors going into your decision-making right now, regarding whether to come back to campus, and what types of courses you are comfortable taking, as well as what's available in your preferred delivery mode. We're aware that many of you initially registered for your fall courses in March or April and a lot has changed since that time, not only in terms of the University's ability to deliver courses in specific on-campus venues and with various modes, but also in terms of the public health situation that we're all living in right now. This is why it's important to have the conversation with your academic adviser, so they're aware of those factors are and help if you need to switch some coursework.
Our faculty are working very closely with a learning design team to make sure that our courses are exceptional courses this semester, even under the challenges that we're facing. And so faculty are being very creative about how we use instructional time both when we're meeting together and when we're remote. Class times won't be shortened, but instead faculty are looking at ways to use that instructional time differently.
There may still be some shifting in the way that we offer courses, but right now we're trying to hold steady and make sure that the portfolio that we have offered for students is available to you.
The fall semester will begin as originally scheduled on Monday, Aug. 24, but campus-based, residential instruction will end Friday, Nov. 20, with the remainder of the semester — including final examinations — being delivered remotely and online when classes resume after Thanksgiving break on Nov. 30.
That is a block that is taken once you enter the major the early childhood elementary and early childhood major. The courses consist of a collection of methods courses that are discipline-specific and a field experience. Most of the instructors in the DI block have opted for a hybrid mode, so there would be some in person connection for those and that is a little harder to navigate. When you register for DI block, you're registering for a collection of 12 credit hours. We're working with advising right now to be able to communicate how to navigate that schedule, but there is a strong in-person footprint for the DI block and the LLED block also has a mix, predominantly of those mixed mode courses opportunities to meet in person and some remote instruction.
All faculty members have a backup plan and an instructor to support them if something happens and they do become ill.
To maintain social distancing and to reduce the density of the population in buildings at any given time, office hours for College of Education courses will be held remotely via Zoom.
An important piece of information to bring in into this conversation is that the fall is going to be a partnership. We're promising and dedicated to providing an educational experience for students that want to be in residence and the lion's share of our undergraduate students certainly want to have some residential footprint. But at the same time, we're asking for partnership in understanding that many of our spaces like our faculty office offices, for example, can't accommodate two people that are socially distanced at six feet. And we also have density issues in our hallways. There will be fewer people populating the academic wings and many of the service wings of our buildings, but there will be somebody always present to help direct you and provide information that you need. The best way that we can accommodate the office hours is through the remote Zoom version of it. That said, there may be a professor that has an interest in meeting with a student outside where social distancing is more readily available and as long as social distancing, masking and hygiene protocols are followed, that is allowable.
Advising
Graduate students
The overall goal is to de-densify the campus as much as possible. Unless you have an essential reason to be on campus, such as attending an in person class or conducting research that can only be accomplished on campus, then you should not come to campus.
As with faculty and staff work, all work that can be done remotely, should be done remotely. It is unlikely that use of an office for tasks that can be done remotely will be approved to be done in the office. Under extenuating circumstances, such as uses of restricted data sets that are not able to be handled from home, or use of specialized equipment, a graduate student can work with their faculty adviser to complete the “Return to On-site Research” form available from Associate Dean for Research Greg Kelly. These requests will be considered by weighing the health risks with the need to conduct on-site research work. Approvals are needed by the associate dean for research, dean, vice president for Human Resources and the provost. Begin by contacting your adviser.
The situation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is evolving and changing regarding which international students may take remote courses and how many they may take. It's best to check the Global Penn State FAQ and communicate with your adviser for the most up-to-date information.
The orientations are run by each department and these plans are still evolving. You should be receiving an email soon about orientation, once details are finalized.
The ability to provide assistantships at this point is quite constrained. That said, if you're still looking for an assistantship you may want to ask your adviser about options, including the possibility of working on federal grant money to help a faculty member with research data collection. This also is fairly constrained, but may be an option.
Field experiences and student teaching
Bus trips will not happen during fall semester, but faculty are looking to have alternative experiences. We're still trying to work out the details of how tutoring could work. Your instructors will be reaching out to you with details of what these things are going to look like once that has been determined.
Field experiences are going to be pretty limited in a lot of our courses. A lot of the effort now is going into finding those placements for our seniors who are looking at student teaching and need to have that experience in order to graduate in a timely manner. So, for some of the other coursework, whether it be a version of CI 295 or something like that, there's really nothing finalized yet because things are still changing day by day, but it's possible that some of those field placements may be modified.
We are tethered to both the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the school districts with which we have partnerships. As the Pennsylvania Department of Education firms up its plans and schools formulate their plans, we will be better able to answer the questions about student teaching placements.
Our plan right now is to try to the best ability to accommodate students' desires for student teaching. Hopefully we'll be able to accommodate students that want to do an in person experience with an in person placement, and students that want only to do a remote placement with a remote placement. But those plans are still evolving.
For all of our programs in curriculum instruction we have been and continue to be in communication with the different districts to learn what their parameters are going to be for us in their buildings and we're remote in some circumstances. We've heard from some districts, but not all, because some are now just navigating through what PDE and the governor has said to them recently about their preliminary guidelines and how they'd like them to be switched or new restrictions and guidelines that are coming out. So, districts are renegotiating their plans for the fall and, we're waiting for those plans. But please know that we're working very hard to come up with plans to accommodate every student that we have so that you can progress and complete your certification requirements.
The situation is the same for special education field experiences, early field experiences and the PDS program.
We have sent out a survey to ask about your preference for an in person field experience or a remote field experience, so please be sure to complete that as soon as possible. We are trying to collect as much data as we can to make sure that the experiences are fitting the needs of our students and the needs of the students in the districts that we partner with, so we will definitely be paying attention to the responses in that survey.
Most of our experiences have extra time built in and we're exploring different ways to add longer blocks of field hours and stagger them with different classes This year instead of doing two days a week. So, due to that we don't feel that there that will be a major concern to acquire the number of hours that you need. And also, there may be the option of participating remotely, if you are not too ill.
The instructors and all of the programs have been working to modify the way that we engage in schools, so that the hours can be accomplished before Nov. 20. After Nov. 20 there will certainly still be opportunities to engage with your coursework remotely but we are expecting that the hours that you're required for field experiences will be completed by Nov. 20.
That is very dependent on the district and the mentor teacher but last spring it looked like a lot of communication between the mentor and the Penn State student, and a lot of planning, as you would do normally in the classroom and knowing how to use your computer. That's a little bit different than the everyday of being in person, but it's also being able logistically to understand how to deliver instruction and to assess students in a different environment. Our goal and aim is to make sure that the remote synchronous option and the in person option are providing you with all the opportunities to complete the competencies required of you to successfully be certified and complete the assessment forms at the end of the semester.
Field experiences won't end on Nov. 20, although they may move to remote status. We're still working out the details on an exception process for students who want to remain in their in-person placements after Nov. 20, but we can't offer details because things are evolving.
There is an exception process for when there's an internship that's in person and Penn state is remote and we intend to use that process in cases where that is applicable. We've been very successful in using that for RHS internships, for example, and our education policy internships.
We need for everybody to obtain all of the hours that they can in field experience to go toward their graduation requirements. So, we will be continuing to collect those hours even after Thanksgiving, whether it be remote or in person.
Some students may choose to try to stay in their districts. Now there will have to be a process for that. Districts likely will be concerned if students are going home, and there may be a quarantine period. So that is still in flux. Our ideal situation is to provide that opportunity for you if you want to stay in person, but we can't promise that right now.
Yes, there's the possibility that some candidates will be moved or cohorts will shift, depending on the candidate's preference and what that school district is able to provide. However, our intent is to keep people in the region that they're in. We're not going to move someone from the central region to the Pittsburgh region unless that's something that they prefer to have happen – and it that case, we would try but cannot promise anything.
The special education program is small enough that we do not have multiple school districts so there probably are not going to be changes. We're working with our partners, but we are far more dependent on the partners' decisions and will adjust to what they are doing.
Some districts are not offering remote asynchronous instruction. So if you choose that you may need to be moved from an initial placement that you thought you were going to be in. The same is true that some districts are only offering asynchronous remote for our student teachers and not expecting them to be in school buildings. If you chose an in-person experience, that site would no longer be appropriate for you.
So you can imagine with all of the student teachers and all of the pre-student teachers and all of our school partnerships that this is a big puzzle spreadsheet to try to make sure that everybody is matched up with what is available to them and what they want. We're working really hard on this, and expect that we will be successful in helping you find the placement that you need.
We're keeping track of everyone's hours, to make sure that you have enough for your certification requirements. If the school were to cancel in person instruction, we will be creative about how our students can obtain those hours. We could very easily pair up students with somebody that's remote in a different situation to garner some hours or look at changing some placements around to make sure that we fulfill what you need as a student.
The partners that we have do understand PDE requirements for hours so that when at all possible, we really can count on help from our partners in these extreme circumstances.
If the school district is all synchronous remote and we're able to place you there, and the only class that you would have in person would be that seminar, then we will work with your supervisor to accommodate your attending that seminar remotely.
While we can't guarantee anything, at this time we do not believe that you will need new, additional educational software to complete a pre-student teaching experience.
Safety
Each classroom space will have a new maximum capacity established, with a significant decrease in density for those spaces to enable social distancing. That new capacity will be posted outside the room. We have removed some hallway furniture, to limit the spaces where people can congregate and ensure social distancing. We are providing hand sanitizing stations and signage to promote social distancing, personal hygiene and mask-wearing. We also will provide cleaning supplies in each classroom and in common areas.
Everyone is responsible for this – faculty, staff, students and administrators. Guidance for classroom instructors can be found here. We're going to have to depend on all faculty, all staff and all students to work on compliance together.
As part of Penn State’s Back to State plans shared at a July 30 town hall meeting in preparation for the fall semester, the University has released plans for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing for those in our community. Details can be found on Penn State News.
University Health Services (UHS), a unit of Student Affairs, now offers telemedicine to provide safe and convenient health care to students, even when not on campus. UHS is committed to continuing to support students during these difficult times, and as part of this commitment, services have been expanded beyond the traditional face-to-face medical visits. Telemedicine is one of the ways to reach out to students, allowing for both phone and video interactions, with the latter being done through Zoom. For details, check Penn State News.
The answer to this question is included in the University's FAQ. There are very simple steps to follow. First, remind the student or the individual that a mask is required in that space. If they insist on not wearing a mask, it is within the jurisdiction of the faculty member to request that the individual leave the room. If the individual doesn't want to leave the classroom, the faculty member may dismiss the class and report the student to the Office of Student Conduct. If the situation continues to escalate, the faculty member can call 9-1-1, although we don't expect to have those kinds of situations in the classroom.
Classroom guidance for instructors is posted here and on the Student Conduct website. This document describes the steps that faculty can take to provide a positive learning environment and manage COVID-related concerns in the classroom. The guidance includes a sample statement for faculty to include in their course syllabi as well as a series of steps that faculty can take if a student fails to adhere to health and safety requirements. Students who fail to comply with requirements will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and will not be allowed to return until the matter is addressed through Penn State’s conduct process. For more information on how to prepare to manage classrooms this fall, watch this video featuring Danny Shaha, assistant vice president for Student Affairs.
Mask-wearing is part of the safety regulations on campus. If an employee – staff or faculty – does not wear a mask, it will be considered a safety role violation. Human Resources will work with the individual to determine the facts and the circumstances of the matter to determine if any corrective action is necessary.
Everyone is responsible for this. We're going to have to depend on all faculty, all staff and all students to work on compliance together.
The University is working very closely with downtown businesses, the Borough of State College and with landlords. So, there's going to be united effort in compliance with guidance. The pledge that the students are going to take includes conduct out off of campus as well. One of the things the Borough Council will be doing in early August is approving a Borough mandate for mask-wearing. So, it will be not just on campus, everyone will be subject to fines from the Borough if they're off campus and not wearing masks.
Custodial Services will resume normal office cleaning operations at the start of the fall semester.
It is recommended that individual units and departments clean frequently touched surfaces daily or as often as needed. Departments should develop a schedule and determine who will conduct the cleaning. Doing so will help to conserve cleaning supplies. It is recommended to use EPA registered disinfectants. It is recommended that individuals keep their workspace clutter-free and cleans their workspace at the end of each day. Please contact Brandy Wood or Julian Morales for necessary supplies and specific departmental cleaning procedures. The Return to Work Task Force will work with unit leaders and supervisors to ensure they have proper PPE per employee and adequate cleaning supplies.
Updated Cleaning and Disinfecting Procedures in Response to Coronavirus (PDF) can be found here.
To support the health and well-being of students and employees, there will be extensive, daily cleaning of high-touch surface areas, classrooms, labs, offices, restrooms and other common spaces across the University. Desks, podiums, conference tables, interior doorknobs, interior doors, push plates, handrails, light switches and other identified high-touch areas will be cleaned and disinfected at an appropriate frequency. The University has procured several thousand hand-sanitizer stations, which will be placed in high-traffic areas, and hand sanitizer and/or cleaning wipes will be available for each classroom and classroom building. Enhanced cleaning practices also will be implemented for these spaces. In addition, units will develop cleaning protocols and schedules to disinfect high-touch surfaces and shared equipment within their areas and offices.
Additional information can be found here. Updated cleaning and disinfecting procedures in response to coronavirus (PDF) can be found here.
GPC – The University and the Space Management Office will be responsible for all general-purpose classroom space. The University will determine the maximum occupancy of each room and will provide hand sanitizer stations and cleaning materials within each space.
Departmental Classrooms – Custodial Services will disinfect all classrooms once daily. Each classroom will be supplied with cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer stations. Individuals using the space(s) will be asked to wipe down their workstations once they are done. We encourage faculty to allow for this cleaning to take place at the end of each class. College operations will stock cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer. Please reach out Brandy Wood or Julian Morales if supplies are needed.
The University has information relevant to this question here. It is best to check the University's Back to State website often, because information is changing as new data are received about the virus and its ability to spread. In addition to University protocols, it's important that everyone help in cleaning spaces. Just as you would wipe down gym equipment before and after using it, it's wise to wipe down the podium and other equipment before and after use, for your own safety and the safety of your colleagues.
In brief, the University is focusing on wearing masks, social distancing, frequent cleaning and hand-washing, and staying home if you are not feeling well. For details – which can change as new data informs the University's plans – check the answer to this question in the Back to State FAQ.
All safety measures the University is putting in place evolve from science, and science does not support the use of Plexiglas or face shields for this purpose. Plexiglas creates somewhat of a false sense of safety, because air does not hit something and stop. The best science demonstrates that masks are the best piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) we can use, along with social distancing of 6 feet or more, and hand sanitizing. It is required, as shared on the Back to State website, that face masks will be worn inside all campus buildings, including in classrooms. One of things good about having a faculty member in the summer pilot is that she is testing a variety of mics, masks and PPE to help determine what works best in terms not only of safety but also in communications in the classroom. In this video, Professor Elizabeth McGraw, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, explains why face shields may be appropriate for some medical professionals, but not for members of the general public.
We have not heard guidance on that. On the plus side, outdoors you would have the opportunity to expand the space for your class, air handling is different and it may feel more comfortable. However, the University is expecting that individuals also will wear a mask when outdoors on campus and in the community, so even if you are holding class outside you and your students will be expected to remain masked. Also, some students may not be present in the classroom and have to take your course remotely because they were unable to travel to campus or they may be sick with COVID and continuing to attend classes remotely. If you are outside, you will lose the technology being installed in the classrooms and may have to figure out another way to effectively stream your class via Zoom.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
This is something that is not within the University's control. However, if Megabus does run, it will have to maintain the same requirements as other mass transportation in the state of Pennsylvania for density.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
Department chairs have been given information about our current classes. While our classrooms are smaller and may not have the needed capacity, colleges at University Park are working together to try to find classrooms that will work for each other's faculty. The University also is working to find suitable general purpose classroom (GPC) space for classes that cannot be accommodated in departmental classrooms.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
It is possible, with planning, to swap groups of students mid-class. However, consideration needs to be made for getting one group of students out with minimal contact with the group coming in, so time should be built in for the swap. Also, OPP will not be not coming in to clean every space between classes and would not be able to clean the room during this swap, so you and your students will have to take a fitness club mentality in this, wiping down desks, chairs, computers, etc., before and after use, just as is done with equipment in a gym. If you are considering this, I encourage you to think about doing a flipped model. Put all content online for all students so there is some continuity in case you or a student get sick. The flipped model enables a lot of flexibility.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website. The University site also addresses the plan to manage to risk of inviting students back to campuses who could potentially reintroduce COVID-19.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
Details for how to manage this situation have not yet been finalized. Once they are, they will be available on the University's Back to State website.
Gathering/study spaces
One of the unique things that we're trying to deal with for the fall is a student might have an in-person class at 10 and then a Zoom class at 11 and then an in-person class at 12. So, where does one go in that timeframe, with a limited amount of time to get to where they can take their Zoom class? To help with this, we're opening up the Krause Innovation Studio space for drop in space.
Other spaces are going to look a little different this fall. Much of the ancillary seating in Chambers, in the science wing, the hallways and in the bridges that has been made available in the past will be taken offline because we have to guarantee social distancing.
The library also is working on a plan for how they're going to allow ancillary study space. A new module is being developed for the Penn State Go app that will allow you to look up where those ancillary spaces are all around campus, as each of the colleges was asked to marshal forward spaces that could be used for this purpose.
The office will be open, although we have to comply with room capacity maximums so we're going to have to monitoring and some physical controls and signage. But that's going to help all of us in terms of compliance and prevention and to work together as a community in in trying to fulfill that compliance.
The open study spaces will be open in the library, but of course they will be socially distanced so there will be fewer slots in the library. The stacks will be closed, so that we can keep access to the digital library that allows us to provide materials to students digitally that would normally be housed only in our hard-copy collections. The new study space that allows you to plug in and use your computer will be available, but there will be fewer slots available in there. The Libraries also are doing increased curbside pickup for materials that are actually checked out that we don't have the ability to offer you digitally.
For updates about the Library remote services click here, and for operations updates, click here.
Student concerns
For many of our students, you have existing relationships. Building on that rapport and trust, you have the ability to reassure students that you are confident they will succeed in learning if they choose the venue that is most comfortable to them.
We’ve been asked not to do that at a college level since it was done at the University level. Students have said they’re grateful they were able to continue their education in the spring, but pretty much unanimously did not like remote learning as an experience as they wanted to have and the majority thought they were hindered in their learning process. In Penn State News on July 2, it was announced that to help plan for a successful transition back to in-person instruction this fall, Penn State’s leadership is asking students to complete a single-question poll in LionPATH regarding their intentions about returning to campus.
Yes, they are doing that through information they are sharing through the Back to State website, through Penn State News/Penn State Today, through town halls and through other means as well.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
The University is going to give us language that goes directly into the syllabus for requirements to students. The college task forces also will look into creating such a module.
This topic is addressed here on the University's Back to State website.
The University is working on updates to the conduct plan for students, in parallel with a racial disruption protocol published on the Educational Equity website. We will get this plan out to you as soon as it is completed.
School partnerships
Field placement decisions need to be tied to certification requirements from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), and they have not yet released guidance for the fall. The College has an Internship and Student Teaching Task Force, and it is going through process of looking for number of options to have a footprint that matches state and PDE guidelines. There also is a University-wide task force, and Rayne Sperling is on that to represent our college. Until we have guidance from PDE, we cannot know for sure what adjustments would be acceptable for certification, so we really need to hear from PDE before we have an answer to this question.
This is a very good question, and one that the task forces are addressing. As further guidance is released, we will share it.
Herr Clinic
We have made some progress with this and now can view the videos from anywhere in the college. We're not sure it will be possible to view them off campus due to privacy issues, but we can set it up so individuals are not all in the same room while viewing the videos.
We do have limited funds available for technology needs and Julian Morales can be contacted about that. Regarding having counseling spaces that are safe in terms health and also address HIPAA concerns, we are still working through this and will share information when it's available.
Housing
The University announced on Penn State News that it remains flexible related to existing Housing contracts, and students who decide to study remotely can cancel their contract with no penalty. Because Housing availability is contracted for both fall and spring semesters, Housing officials ask that students who are already thinking of spring semester and want to retain the spring portion of their contract, should consult with the Housing office at their campus.
College fiscal concerns
We have been gathering information in a variety of ways to inform where we stand with enrollment – whether or not students are going to take a semester off or take a year off or maybe enroll remotely or go to a separate campus. Advising is tracking our undergraduates who are saying that they're not coming back to in-person right now and that number is somewhere in the 60 to 70 range. Enrollments are continuing to evolve, but our numbers are lower than they were last year.
At this time, this is an unknown answer because the disruption is still ongoing. For the moment, as many of you know, we have had a permanent 3% recission of our budget in the new fiscal year. This is on top of the 1% recission we had last fall. The University runs on tuition dollars, other student revenue (e.g., housing & dining), and a small allocation of state money. If our enrollment drops significantly and the expected state appropriation is throttled due to the pandemic, we could feel additional strain. These scenarios are still evolving as we garner a better understanding of what the 20-21 enrollments look like and how the fall unfolds for us at Penn State.