Instructor Preparations for H1N1 (“Swine”) Flu
September 22, 2009
In order to minimize the spread of H1N1, anyone with fever or flu-like symptoms is urged to stay home and not to come to campus until 24 hours after the fever is gone (in the absence of any medication that controls fever). Experts at the Centers for Disease Control now expect that the H1N1 virus will last 3-5 days, which would occasion missing a week of class.
The following suggestions should help instructors plan for their own illness and the illness of their students.
- Tap a colleague or teaching assistant to cover your classes.
- Post your notes for a missed lecture or course on Chalk.
- Provide students with assignments via Chalk.
- Expect email notification from individual College students who are ill.
- Relax attendance requirements for classes, discussions, labs, lector sessions, etc.
- Offer students opportunities to make up work as needed and appropriate.
- Plan to offer make-up exams.
- Arrange for proctoring of those exams in your department or school.
- Do not expect a note from the Student Care Center confirming a student’s illness; the SCC has stated that its staff will be too busy caring for the sick to provide notes for those who were previously ill.
- Contact your area dean of students, department chair, or dean for additional guidance if particularly complex situations arise.