Bruin Brief 2022-02-25: Spring classes: remote and in-person

UCLA administration sends direction about allowable in-person and remote teaching on a regular basis, including instructions for how to obtain exceptions. Today we review the expectations of SON faculty teaching in Spring 2022, and then consider how to build toward more (and more inspiring!) remote teaching opportunities in the future.

Here are the main points for Spring quarter*:

• Classes will be held in person

• Limited remote instruction is allowable. A faculty member can ask the SON Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (@Clark, Lauren) for approval to offer up to 2 weeks of class sessions remotely during spring quarter.

• Students with documented disabilities will be provided necessary course accommodations per the recommendations of the Center for Accessible Education.

• Masking requirements remain in place for all faculty and students in indoor spaces

Reasons to move a class to remote. Under the pandemic guidelines for remote teaching, the main reason a nursing course would be changed from in-person to remote would be a faculty member’s ADA or COVID-19 accommodation. Those accommodations must be approved by Insurance and Risk Management to be actionable.  

Currently approved remote courses for Spring 2022. We put together a proposal to ask for remote teaching approval for selected nursing courses for Spring quarter (only), and were granted approval for just two courses:

• Nursing 239B Adult/Gerontology Primary Healthcare for APN II

  Nursing 225B Advanced Pharmacology II

Pending requests for other remote courses for Spring 2022.  We also requested that N236 (on the same day as N239B) and N465B lecture (on the same day as N225B) be permitted to be remote learning for Spring because of course adjacency. The Education Working Group of the Undergraduate and Graduate Councils of the Academic Senate took issue with that request and have not (yet) approved it. Now we have classrooms assigned for N236 and N465B. Those same classrooms are available for students to remotely attend N239B and N225B, even though the schedule of classes now reflects that all four classes—239B, 225B, 236, and 265B--are online.  Faculty teaching these courses  are working with the Program Directors, Shelli Shepherd, and Lauren Clark to prepare for remote teaching with on-campus access for students.

 FAQ: What if I want to go remote in Spring? Is it too late?  It’s too late to ‘go remote’ with your Spring class. In fact, none of us has the authority to decide to ‘go remote’ with a course. There is a process for requesting consideration of remote teaching. All classes must be held at the time and at the place listed in the schedule of classes. The only exception is the 2-weeks remote option that faculty can request for a course in Spring 2022 only (see above—send an email to @Clark, Lauren).

 The process for requesting remote courses in future quarters. If you wish to convert a course from in-person to remote, know that our school leaders support innovative approaches to teaching in this swiftly modernizing world!  Please work with the Program Director and the program faculty to discuss your idea. Then move forward with their support to the Curriculum Committee with a revised course syllabus.

 We will be deliberate about which courses become permanently remote, which have both remote/in person sections to honor student preferences, and which will stay in person. Even in the remote category, we have hybrid and hyflex to consider. Program directors will host conversations in program meetings about remote teaching. You can ask to get on that agenda if you have a course to discuss.

 Once the School level of approval for a course transition to permanent remote status is achieved, there are University reviews to pursue.

• Requests to create online versions of existing courses (or propose new courses in online format) follow regular Senate processes, outlined in the Undergraduate Fully Online Course Approval Policy (PDF)  and in the Graduate Distance Education Course Approval Policy (PDF).

• Per existing Senate policy (PDF), approval is not required to offer undergraduate courses in hybrid form. “Hybrid” in this context means that the instructor of record interacts in person with students for at least one pedagogically significant hour each week (not counting office hours or secondary sections.) However, Senate approval is required for graduate courses using this form of hybrid.

Looking ahead: The AACN Essentials also help us re-imagine teaching in classroom, hybrid, and remote modes. As we update our curricula to integrate the Future of Nursing and the AACN Essentials, we will purposefully build in new ways of teaching. For example, there may be circumscribed content that can be crafted into a stand-alone, asynchronous 1- or 2-unit offerings.  Maybe genetics/genomics, or telehealth, or some other kind of competency-based learning would be suitable for new kinds of teaching formats. All of this is up to the faculty to consider.

 We are entering an exciting new educational era post-pandemic. We experienced distance platforms and have new Essentials to inspire us. The future is bright at UCLA SON!

These points were summarized from the email memo to Faculty and Department Chairs (dated 1/26/2022) entitled ‘Spring 2022 Allowable Exceptions to Onsite Instruction” and the memo (dated 2/24/2022) entitled ‘Indoor Masking Protocols to Remain Unchanged for Winter Quarter.’