To continue with my GAME Plan, I mentioned last week my available resources which mostly depended on having the language department computer lab and with internet access. After some evaluation, I failed to consider the possible situations where the lab is not working or at my disposal. It is a common occurrence at the university to be without internet or even electricity, it really happens. This is where I need a contingency plan in case of these events. One possible solution is rescheduling the activity, yet this would push back or impede future activities along the way. Another possibility would involve a secondary location and to be ready within a few hours of said circumstances. I asked around and discovered that there is another department computer lab which just needs the permission of the coordinator to use. If all else fails, then I could opt to have them video record and upload to the group blog or wiki in order to be evaluated. I imagine more questions and concerns will arise when implementing and considering my colleagues when sharing the computer lab. For the moment I am glad I have these valuable resources to use with my students and will push my colleagues to follow suit.
John -
ReplyDeleteI guess in our current state of technology,it is difficult to imagine that a university would not have a computer laboratory available, or that the students would not have access to technology independent of your class. In my mind, these instances would be few, and the causes of the outages would be extreme enough to cancel classes in general. If there is no power, then how can anyone have class, especially a computer lab. I guess it is a consideration.
Does your university have a contingency plan for emergencies? You might want to investigate te facility maintenance department and how they plan to restore power, and then approach an IT department to find our their plan once power has been restored. If your dilemma actually happens a great deal, then you may want to give you students a contingency plan for your specific class so that their instruction continues even though their class has been cancelled.
Todd Deschaine
Hello Todd,
DeleteMy university does have a contingency plan for emergencies, yet I am sad to say it is one that is not practiced enough or feel sure of. I have been at this school for 4 years now and only once have we had a simulation to practice any kind of emergency. My personal contingency, if the power goes out, is to simply go back to class and have them open their books. What else can I say, my hands are tied when it comes to the reliability of this university.
Thanks for your comment and recommendations.
John A.