Hybrid/Online Instruction Programming Working Group - Office of The Provost

Hybrid/Online Working Group Charge

Charge for the “Hybrid/Online Working Group”
February 22, 2021

S. David Wu, PhD
President, Baruch College

Introduction. The Covid-19 pandemic has both forced and inspired higher education institutions to rethink the role of hybrid and online learning modalities. Students and faculty recognize that in order to support accessibility and best practices, it is essential to investigate how and when to offer courses, certificates and degrees online and in hybrid formats.

The Hybrid and Online Working Group will be led by Interim Provost Lee, and he has charged the team with learning from the achievements and challenges of the past. Additionally, the group will work to identify not only the best practices for teaching and learning, but also how the College must support such programming administratively.

Charge:

It is the intent of the College to offer up to 25% of its courses on either fully online or in hybrid formats. It is recognized that in order to achieve this goal, the College will need to explore, at a minimum, the following:

Best practices across higher education.
Strengthen academic support services.
Administrative support systems.
Cutting edge technology on campus and online.
Accessibility.
Define what online and hybrid models mean.
Explore HyFlex classroom models that enable students and faculty to redefine the classroom.
The financial implication of each modality
Foster open and transparent communication and input across College staff, faculty and the student body.

The working group has been further refined into areas of need as following:

Faculty and Staff Engagement and Communication
Technology and Software Infrastructure
Scheduling and Student Support Infrastructure
Training and Instructional Design

Proposed Timeline:

The integration of online and hybrid programs will evolve over time and as such so too will the working group. While the initial focus targets support for the Fall 2021 semester, the working group is expected to continue its efforts for the foreseeable future.

Communications, Meeting Agendas, and Meeting Notes

Working Group Members

Ed Adams, Senior Registrar
David Birdsell, Marxe Dean, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
Ann Clarkson, Associate Dean, Division of Continuing and Professional Studies, College Now, Online Learning, and Special Liaison/Project Manager for the President
Art Downing, Vice President for Information Services and Dean of the Library
Mary Gorman, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Strategic Academic Initiatives
H. Fenwich Huss, Willem Kooyker Dean, Zicklin School of Business
Sam Johnson, Chair, Faculty Senate
Art King, Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students
Jessica Lang, Dean, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Christina Latouf, Vice President for Communications, External Relations & Economic Development
Myung-Soo Lee, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Allison Lehr Samuels, Director, Baruch Center for Teaching and Learning, Lecturer, Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management, Field Mentor, Lawrence N. Field Programs in Entrepreneurship
Dennis Slavin, Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning and Assistant Vice President

As the working group identifies and responds to the needs to our community, additional subcommittees will be convened. Below are the members currently identified.

Faculty/Staff Engagement and Communication Sub-Group

Dennis Slavin (Lead)
- Sophia Gilbukh, Real Estate
- Allison Hahn, Communication Studies
- Samuel Johnson, Psychology, co-chair
- Theodore Joyce, Economics and Finance
- Nicholas Sibrava, Psychology
- Dennis Slavin, Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning and Assistant Vice President, co-chair
- Don Waisanen, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs

Technical and Software Infrastructure Sub-Group

Art Downing (Lead)

Student Support Infrastructure Sub-Group

Mary Gorman (Lead)

Training and Instructional Design Infrastructure Sub-Group

Allison Lehr Samuels (Lead)

Resources

Feedback The Working Group Received

This is the feedback that the working group has received, and the comments are being addressed by the committee.

- I am a very petite Asian female student who would have to take public transportation to take Baruch’s graduate classes, how can Baruch ensure my safety when the number of violent crimes, sometimes targetting Asians, is so high? The mayor offers travel buddies for city workers, what will Baruch ensure students’ safety in this current political climate? Will the school be willing to provide students an option to learn remotely should we feel unsafe? (I really don’t feel safe taking the subway now because every time I have in the past 12 months, I have seen too many mentally-ill homeless people)

- Hello,I would like to share some feedback regarding the Online/Hybrid format of Fall 2021 classes. As someone living with 3 family members who have high-risk comorbid health conditions, I am deeply concerned and worried that going back to classes in-person for Fall 2021 will put them at severe risk. This risk is also as a result of my having to commute and use public transportation. As a graduate student with a full-time job, going back to school for in-person classes for the time being is still of major concern and fear for me. I believe in-person classes should be (optional) for this Fall 2021 semester and possibly open for in-person classes for Winter 2022/Spring 2022, when more people will be vaccinated and when there will be less concern about the spread of Covid19. I appreciate you creating this link to share our deep concerns regarding in-person classes. Thank you

- I am extremely concerned about the new vaccine mandate for the Fall semester of 2021. I work better on campus rather than remotely. However, I have health issues that cause fear of getting the vaccine. I know there has also been complications with women getting the vaccine that do not relate to COVID-19. I understand the importance of it, however, it is new and not officially approved by the FDA.

- PLEASE allow those of us who are vaccinated and adhering to safe guidelines to return to campus in some form. Online learning is not a substitute for the in-person experience. Online and hybrid models have a very important accessibility component, and should be continued as much as possible, but not all of us learn best online, and online-only, when there are safe alternatives, compromises some of our abilities to succeed.

- Open everything!

- I just wanted to follow up on my suggestion for implementing remote full-time as an option permanently-and actually come to think of it why not part time too! I had a couple more ideas that I hope are helpful as you plan for the best possible working environment moving forward. If it helps, I was thinking that if a compromise is needed because you don’t believe in having 100% remote employees, you might consider requiring that employees work a certain percentage of their career in CUNY in-person and the rest remotely. For example, an employee might be required to teach for 10 years in-person and then they can do the rest of their career remotely till retirement. Another idea is if these positions are competitive, you might ask employees to apply for them in some way and try to find the best reasons to offer them. For example, in the case of spouses who are both academic, it can be extremely difficult to find excellent academic positions for both in one geographical location. Research showed how important it is for worker productivity and wellbeing to have their spouse with them and employed with a meaningful job. I hope my suggestions help you and learning the most from our experiences in this regard and enhance employees’ and students’ quality of life and productivity.

- I appreciate that you have the full-time remote option and hope you will consider maintaining this permanently. I would strongly consider the possibility even with reduced salary and modified benefits. I’d strongly urge you to open negotiations with the union if you were to decide that renegotiating the contract must be necessary to extend the remote full-time option permanently. Even though I do love my colleagues and my students and will still want to have the option to be in person with them for some semesters, I’d also very much appreciate the opportunity to spend valuable time with my parents and sisters and extended family elsewhere. I know we have vacations, but they are really not enough and strongly believe that this will increase worker engagement and productivity if we have also the option of remote full-time work. I also very much support maintaining expectations of rigorous work and outcomes even in remote work and I am sure this would be part of any negotiations with the union. I feel that I have been able to perform my job brilliantly remotely and hope to get to continue to do so. I believe balance is important and of course students should get to experience education in-person, but we can do that while offering the full-time remote option permanently even when covid-safety concerns are no longer an issue.

- As a freshman of Baruch who attended classes online during Spring 2021, I appreciate it if Baruch hosted a tour of the campus sometime before Fall 2021. This will help us get acquainted more with the building and allow us to find our way when traveling between classes.

- Staff made a lot sacrifices working remotely. They adjusted. Some might not be looking forward to commuting 1.5 hrs to campus. They have proved themselves successful and productive without the 1.5 hrs commute.
  In other words, staff should NOT be forced back on campus.
  If there are guidelines from above (CUNY Central, Albany) that require certain percentage of employees to be back on campus, these guidelines should be interpreted in a manner that is respectful of employees’ individual preferences.
  I hope Baruch would show leadership and creativity in the way it interprets the guidelines.
  Autonomy, respect and flexibility… to all employees.
  One last thought: Staff that is student-facing, could still work remotely, interacting with students via Zoom (there could be a computer + camera at the counter at Baruch, w/ student interacting with employees not face-to-face but remotely).

- As someone working full time at odd hours, it has been difficult to devote myself to my studies. After undergrad school I was unable to continue with grad school. Since Baruch started online and hybrid courses due to the pandemic it motivated me to begin my grad school studies. It will be much easier to fit classes into my schedule. I hope the option of hybrid courses continue to be an option.

- The Baruch Forward website needs to be updated. It mentions only fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters at the very beginning, as if they hadn’t happened yet. And I can’t find any confirmation that classes this fall will be primarily online, as we were told earlier. What needs to be stated specifically is: Are or are not most classes going to be taught online this fall? (All faculty are preparing for online instruction.)

- Hi, I hope you’re doing well. Reading the latest new regarding the vaccination mandate I got a little bit concerned and I feel trapped right now. I haven’t gotten vaccinated yet and I was debating for a while since all the news about the serious side effects was making me worried. I wanted to kindly ask you to consider an option of opening more online classes for those who aren’t willing to take the vaccine. In my opinion it would be fair for both people who got vaccinated and who for those who haven’t.

- It find it ironic that few faculty could be encouraged to teach online pre-Coivd, but now few choose to teach in person when offered the choice. The reason: many faculty find it simple to post powerpoint slides and give multiple choice tests from testbanks; it is also very convenient not to have to come to campus. Students suffer. Thus, the college should insist the departments requires faculty teaching online classes to submit a detailed proposal as to how lectures, homework, exams, and interactions will be delivered. The Centers for Teaching and Learning could provide departments with a guide to best practices. Since the Chairs have argued this is too burdensome a filter, then proposals to teach online could be limited to large introductory classes as a first step to insure a base-level of quality online instruction so that students are not poorly served.

- Hello! With everything opening up and mask mandates becoming more flexible, can the university give us guidance on reopening the athletic and swim facilities? I am looking forward to going back to the gym and would really like to utilize it the ARC this summer.

- Hello,I hope that you are well. While I understand the push for in-person classes. I feel as though there are many grievances to this issue. I don’t understand why there is the need to move classes to in-person when people registered for online classes. People and families have already made plans banking on this, my family is one of them. I need the classes that I registered for to be online as I need to help support my family during these times and the online classes help to reduce transportation costs. I really hope that you plan to rethink your decisions as this impacts many people. Hard-working people who expected their classes to be online.

- It is completely unfair that my classes were changed to in person when I requested online classes. I signed up for online classes because they work better for my schedule and I’m angered that the college would simply change them back to in-person without my consent. I had already arranged my year based off of online classes and now I’ll have to find a way to commute to campus while I work part-time. If this college truly cared about its students then they would change the classes back to their original arrangements.

- Hello,I hope all is well.I have one question. How could Baruch College administration change online classes to in-person after many students have already registered and taken the time and effort to plan their schedules? This seems unfair.Thank you,
  Student

- Changing the courses from online to in person is a blatant disregard to the lives and safety of students. I signed up to be online because we are still in a pandemic and do not want to be exposed to others, for both my wellbeing and theirs. To not even notify the students is completely unacceptable.

- Classes should remain online because of prior engagements. They may have been planned far in advance and it allows students the ability, without cars and commuting to take classes with ease unlike being in person.

- Do not change the course modalities (example: changing an online course to in-person). People have prior commitments and work schedules that they need to work around. Some people have to commute a great distance to get to school and changing an online course to in person disrupts their schedule.KEEP THE CLASSES THE WAY WE REGISTERED FOR THEM!! DON’T CHANGE THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION!!

- I just received news that classes have been changing from online to in-person/hybrid. Why? I’m an out-of-state student and I think that this is an awful choice. Now, I need to scramble to find housing and a place to live because of this. If you were going to make changes you should have announced it or done something more cohesive? Not sending any notification to students and changing it, feels horrible. At least, if all microeconomics classes were online, you should have given the choice for some to return in person and keep some online. What happened to we will try and keep all modes of instruction??? Please, reconsider.

- Hello,I think that you guys are making the wrong moves in transitioning online classes to in-person. People took these classes and now they’re scrambling to change plans. It’s just very frazzling.

- i’m a student who commutes from new jersey to new york city and to have my classes now hybrid is completely unjust?? KEEP THE MODES OF INSTRUCTION THE WAY IT IS.i have work and have already blocked out time to work and now i need to go into the city?? PLEASE KEEP THE MODES OF INSTRUCTION THE WAY IT WAS BEFORE.

- This change is unjust for various reasons: students have responsibilities, others cannot be vaccinated in time due to health reasons, could possibly slow down graduation as some students cannot make it to in-person classes, some students will also be out of the country during the said semester, etc.PLEASE RECONSIDER

- as an international student who has not made plans to return to the united states due to COVID issues, i think the transition to in person classes won’t work. please keep the modes of instruction the same. its unfair. how am i supposed to find housing and a plane ticket back. please rethink.

- I am very confused. Can you explain what’s happening with online classes? Are they all transitioning? Can you please show some clarity. I would prefer for classes to stay online because traveling alone at night is scary and I have multiple night classes.

how can you just change classes to hybrid courses and not tell the students?? what happened to fully online classes??