1. COVID-19
  2. Faculty Information

Faculty Information

Messages sent to faculty from the Provost can be found here.
Crowd-sourced Teaching Online Resources

This crowdsourced and curated list of Teaching Online Resources can assist faculty with generating ideas for their classes, including tips and links to free materials, virtual labs and more. It is an evolving work-in-progress that will be refined and added to in the coming days.  

Alternative Instructional Formats offered by UNC System

This resource is intended to provide assistance to faculty who need to move their classes online quickly. It is designed to support the use of technology that allows faculty to hold classes when circumstances prevent them from physically meeting with students. Continual updates to this document can be found here and this site also contains the native Word documents for easy use and remix, as well as PDF and web versions for mobile accessibility. 

Helping All Students Access WebEx Session Content

Some students may not be able to join live WebEx sessions for a variety of reasons due to the current pandemic (childcare, eldercare, illness, lack of proper equipment, internet issues, etc.). Here are a couple ideas you may consider to help these students:

  • Share your lecture materials with students ahead of time and ask students to dial in to the telephone number for your WebEx session. If you are using slides, handouts or other visual aids in your WebEx presentation, you can send these materials to students before the session starts by posting them in Canvas. Then they can dial in by phone to listen and follow along with the materials you had sent to them.

  • Record and share your WebEx sessions with students to review after the fact. Even if students cannot join the live session as it is happening, they could watch the recorded version at a later time. All WebEx sessions can be recorded, downloaded and shared in Canvas, with captions automatically added that are editable by you, to make reviewing the recordings more helpful. 

Video Captioning Makes for Greater Accessibility 

All recordings, including WebEx recordings, that are uploaded into Canvas are automatically machine captioned with over 93% accuracy. These captions can be edited by the user, too.   

Some Students May Not Have the Correct Equipment for Proctored Tests With Respondus Monitor or Respondus Lockdown Browser

For faculty who have students who lack the necessary equipment, you can refer to a new FAQ that explains how you could to determine which students are affected by this and ideas for alternative assessments. Please note that Respondus Lockdown Browser also does not work with Chromebooks.

Students May Not Have Internet Access Readily Available to Them

We know some students have trouble accessing the Internet at home. Students can use eduroam to go online at any of the close to 20,000 eduroam campuses across the US! There are 38 sites across the Carolinas alone, including many campuses in the UNC System. See: How do I log in to eduroam wireless on my computer? and How do I log in to eduroam wireless using a phone/tablet?

Internet Providers and Software Giants Respond with New Offers 

Adobe is providing students temporary at-home access to Adobe Creative Cloud for personal use. Active students were emailed Thursday to follow these instructions to enable access to Creative Cloud Desktop Apps on their personal device. Click here for a resource list of IT-related services announced to help you learn, teach, and work remotely.

Ideas for Access and Support for Online Classes

Ashlyn Walden and Cat Mahaffey, faculty members in WRDS who are both trained in Quality Matters, provide a tip sheet for faculty members who are new to remote instruction.

Advice when quickly moving courses online, by: Amy Young, Portland State University

  1. Be kind to yourself and your students. Everyone is stressed, even if they're playing cool. That includes faculty. And that's okay.
  2. Many universities have a considerable number of pedagogical experts ... Be kind to these people. They are suddenly very slammed.
  3. You will not recreate your classroom, and you cannot hold yourself to that standard. Moving a class to a distance learning model in a day's time excludes the possibility of excellence. Give yourself a break.
  4. Prioritize. What do students REALLY NEED TO KNOW for two weeks. We have to strip it all the way down--in my campaigns class, that means I need them to post infographics on their research and now post narrative context and slides. But I'm going to punt on presentations because we just don't have time. Which sucks. But these are not normal circumstances.
  5. If you're making videos, student viewership drops off precipitously at 5 minutes. Make them capsule videos if you make them. And UPLOAD to YOUTUBE because it TRANSCRIBES for you. Do not assume your audio is good enough or that students can understand without transcription. This is like using a microphone at meetings--I don't care if you don't need it, someone else does and they don't want to ask.
  6.  Make assignments lower or no stakes if you're using a new platform. Get students used to just using the platform. Then you can do something higher stakes. Do not ask students to do a high stakes exam or assignment on a new platform.
  7.  Stay in contact with students, and stay transparent. Talk to them about WHY you're prioritizing certain things or asking them to read or do certain things. I've moved to doing that in all of my face-to-face teaching anyway, and it improves student buy-in because they know content and delivery are purposeful.
  8. Do not read on best practices for distance learning. That's not the situation we're in. We're in triage. Distance learning, when planned, can be really excellent. That's not what this is. Do what you absolutely have to and ditch what you can. Thinking you can manage best practices in a day or a week will lead to feeling like you've failed.
  9. Be particularly kind to your graduating seniors. They're already panicking, and this isn't going to help. If you teach a class where they need to have completed something for certification, to apply to grad school, or whatever, figure out plan B. But talk to them. Radio silence, even if you're working, is not okay.

Classes and Labs

Information about summer and fall semesters, spring semester grading exceptions, study abroad and other academic information can be found on the Niner Nation Cares website. Additional information about fall semester can be found in the May 4 message from Chancellor Dubois.

Additional information for faculty 
Academic Affairs will communicate with faculty members with additional information about ongoing resources to assist in course instruction. Faculty are directed to provide the maximum flexibility possible for students during this time.

Faculty Staff Textbook Loan Program
Faculty and staff who took advantage of the Faculty Staff Textbook Loan (FSTL) Program should either contact Linda Burke (lburke10@uncc.edu) to set up a time and date to return their textbooks or mail them back to the store at their own cost.

Dining and Transportation

Dining and transportation information can be found on the Auxiliary Services website.

Administrative Leave

Additional information on the changes to Administrative Leave can be found in the June 26 HR message.

After consultation with the Office of State Human Resources (OSHR), the UNC System Office recently issued new guidance on work and leave provisions effective July 1 and in place until revised or rescinded. For Administrative COVID-19, the following changes are in effect:

  • Employees who cannot telework: Employees who cannot telework due to the nature of their jobs may continue to use the modified Administrative Leave COVID-19. However, the amount of administrative leave to be used has been reduced to one-third of the employee’s pay for the scheduled hours they cannot telework. 

  • High-risk employees: Administrative Leave COVID-19 is no longer available for high- risk employees. Employees not working due to high-risk situations must use their own leave or leave without pay. Employees who are considered high risk or are caring for individuals who are considered high risk must submit either a Request for High Risk Special Consideration Form or Request to Return to Work Form to HR.

  • Elder care needs: Employees who need to use Administrative Leave COVID-19 for elder care needs due to COVID-19-related elder care facility closings can receive administrative leave at the original two-thirds rate for a maximum of 12 weeks. This mirrors the childcare provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Once an employee has exhausted 12 weeks at the two-thirds rate, the administrative leave will be reduced to one-third rate, as long as administrative leave is still in effect. 

As a reminder, employees can choose to supplement the Administrative Leave COVID-19 pay with their available leave. Leave will be used from their available leave balances in the following order: Compensatory Time (all types) > Sick Leave > Vacation Leave > Bonus Leave (BONSAL, then BONSPL, then BONREG).

Families First Coronavirus Response Act 

The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was enacted to address the impact of COVID-19 in the United States. This includes two types of leave that apply to the University and provide paid leave benefits to eligible University employees. This regulation is effective April 1, 2020, and expires December 31, 2020. More information and resources are available on HR’s FFCRA webpage.

COVID-19 Leave Bank

The new guidance from the System also allows for the opportunity for institutions to create a “leave bank” so employees can donate leave to colleagues who cannot work due to COVID-19 but who have exhausted their accrued leave, similar to the voluntary shared leave program. Unlike the voluntary shared leave program, donations for this new program are made to a leave bank, not to individual recipients. The donations will be equitably distributed to all employees who meet eligibility criteria.

For more information on both donating and receiving leave, please visit the HR website.

Other Campus Services

Most campus services are operating in a virtual capacity. To find more information on specific areas, offices and services of the University, visit the respective area's webpages for hours of operation and other changes.

Travel

Please review these travel FAQs for the latest information. 

Events

Camps -- All in-person camps at UNC Charlotte scheduled for July and August have been canceled. Any camps that can transition to an online or remote delivery may continue. 

Events and Conferences -- All other events and conferences at UNC Charlotte and those sponsored by the University at off-campus locations are canceled through July 31. Information about events and conferences beginning Aug. 1 will be shared by June 30.

Commencement

Visit the commencement website for more information and up-to-date information.

Other Information

Return-to-campus guide
As faculty and staff begin to return to campus ahead of the start of fall classes, the University has developed a guide with information regarding health and safety practices, cleaning standards and other resources. This guide can be found on the Niner Nation Cares website homepage.We also know all the information you need won’t be found in this version of the guide. There are still questions to be answered, and we are working diligently to get the needed information to you. We will provide an updated version of this document before classes resume. A similar document will be developed for students and families, too.

Campus Signage
A working group is developing a variety of signage options for the return to on-campus operations as part of a comprehensive fall operations communications strategy. Departments and units are asked to please refrain from making their own signs. More information and ordering should be available to managers in the next one to two weeks. In the meantime, please reach out to ba-comms@uncc.edu with any questions. 

Parking Information

Mail and Package Services
Mail Services will deliver to mailrooms on campus on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through the end of July. Departments are encouraged to have their outgoing mail ready for pick up by 10 a.m. View all of Mail and Package Services’ operational updates.

Building Access
Most buildings will remain on swipe access from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, which means a 49er ID card will be required to enter buildings. This excludes the Student Health Center, Student Union, Facilities Operations and Parking Services (FOPS), Cato, Prospector, Auxiliary Services and the Facilities Management and Police and Public Safety building (FM-PPS). All buildings are in normal (locked) conditions from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., Monday through Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Faculty and staff who have already secured swipe access to a building will remain able to access that building during the normal locked conditions. 

Stay Informed

The University is committed to keeping the campus community updated during this rapidly evolving situation.
 

  • NinerNotices: We will send notices as more information becomes available.

  • Website: We will continue to keep the Emergency Management website and FAQs updated with the latest information. Check these resources often. 

  • Social Media: We will communicate with you on social media via the NinerAlerts Twitter and Facebook accounts and the University’s main Twitter and Facebook accounts. 

Resources

Emergency Fund for Students
For those who are able, there is still time to make a donation to the Student Emergency Fund. To date, the University has awarded more than $333,000 to approximately 900 students thanks to the generosity of donors. However, more than 700 additional students have requested support from the fund. All donations go to meeting that need.

Employee Support
UNC Charlotte offers employees experiencing economic difficulties access to emergency loans up to $250. Donations to the emergency loan fund can be made via the UNC Charlotte giving website. The North Carolina State Health Plan has also made some changes to further assist employees during this time, including the elimination of any co-pay requirement for COVID-19 testing.

 

This page was last updated on Thursday, July 2, 2020.