Emergency Blackboard (Bb) Trainings Offered

Bb Serves as a Communication Tool in the Event of a Pandemic or Other Emergency

As Provost Simpson has noted in a recent e-mail to all faculty members…

…The current CDC Policy Guidance for H1N1 for the Higher Education Community includes the following:

“If possible, residential students with flu-like illness who live relatively close to campus should return to their home to keep from making others sick.”
“Do not require a doctor’s note to confirm illness or recovery.”
“Consider altering policies on missed classes and examinations and late assignments so that students’ academic concerns do not prevent them from staying home when ill or prompt them to return to class or take examinations while still symptomatic and potentially infectious.”

These recommendations may require some revisions to your usual policies on absences and late assignments. 

In the event of a pandemic (or catastrophic weather) emergency, instructors will need to use alternate methods of communication (and instruction), such as Blackboard, to reach their students.

Those currently using Blackboard are encouraged to continue to use it both to communicate and to share course content with their students.
Those who have never used Blackboard to communicate with their students are urged to attend a 45-minute-long hands-on H1N1 Readiness: Faculty Bb training session to be held in the Center for Learning Technologies’ Faculty Development Lab, Gornto 411. Please choose a time from those listed below and register at http://clt.odu.edu/facdev.

As the threat of a pandemic looms, the sooner this emergency communication training is undertaken, the better.
 H1N1 Readiness: Faculty Bb Training Schedule:

November 
Monday, November 2   4:00 – 4:45*
Tuesday, November 3 12:30 – 1:15*
Wednesday, November 4   4:00 – 4:45
Thursday, November 5 12:30 – 1:15*
Tuesday, November 17 12:30 – 1:15*
Wednesday, November 18   4:00 – 4:45
Thursday, November 19 12:30 – 1:15*
Tuesday, November 24 12:30 – 1:15*
 
December 
Tuesday, December 1 12:30 – 1:15*
Thursday, December 3  12:30 – 1:15*  

* Trainings marked with an asterisk are available via two-way delivery to the Centers (Virginia Beach Center, Tri-Cities Center, and Peninsula Center) and via video streaming to personal computers.  For more information, call 683-3172.

Departments interested in organizing personalized H1N1 Readiness: Faculty Bb Training sessions for their faculty members can contact Susan Boze at sboze@odu.edu or 683-3172. Two days’ notice is required.