CUNY FGL Colleagues:

The UFS is working to make a difference in the approach to online instruction as CUNY moves toward fall of 2020. Thus, we are asking that you share, with as many faculty as possible, the link to the UFS Spring 2020 Survey of CUNY Online Transition and Faculty Needs. Based on the survey results, the UFS will move fast to reach out to CUNY OAA and strongly encourage closer collaboration in planning for the fall semester online instruction. As many of you are aware, the sudden transition ordered by CUNY Chancellery put too many faculty in a difficult situation, because most knew only the traditional mode of face-to-face instruction. Such faculty sought ways to replicate in-person teaching mode, which led to large numbers opting for instructional designs that used synchronous (real time allocated to class teaching method) activities-- an approach that puts strain on attendance, retention, and ultimately, student achievement. On the other hand, asynchronous instructional design has been shown in educational research to produce higher rates of success.

The AAC and UFS strongly urge you to enlist as many of your faculty as possible in completing this survey, thus helping us understand the current faculty needs when it comes to online instruction for the summer and fall. Please send out the call to participate supplied below to your colleagues. The survey takes @ 5 minutes to complete.

The survey is now open. It is set to run from April 17, 2020 at 12pm to May 10, 2020 6am.

If as the FGL of your College you need access to the data being gathered before May 10, 2020 you can request all data available to date from Phil Pecorino ( ppecorino@qcc.cuny.edu )who will send it to you in raw form. You can then look at what came from your campus as well as the overall responses.

Thank you all! Academic Affairs Committee on behalf of UFS Executive Committee

Letter /email : To Be Sent by FGL to Individual Faculty Members:

Colleagues:

The decisions to place all CUNY instruction online, and then to halt it and restart it, were made without any faculty involvement in the Task Force advising the Chancellor. The majority of the faculty and students were un-prepared for the transition that created stress, confusion, and instructional challenges. As the upcoming summer semester is going to be done in online mode (and decisions for Fall 2020 will be made soon), the UFS Academic Affairs Committee wishes to help faculty get support they need for the summer and fall semesters, in order to teach more effectively online, and manage the needs of students in online environments. The UFS has designed the embedded survey (UFS Spring 2020 Survey of CUNY Online Transition and Faculty Needs ) in order to understand faculty needs, and then, to reach out to the Chancellery in order to share CUNY faculty needs and collaborate more closely on achieving them. Please respond to this survey as soon as possible, so that the Academic Affairs Committee of the UFS can gather the necessary information. It takes @ 5 minutes to complete The survey is now open. It is set to run from April 17, 2020 at 12pm to May 10, 2020 6am.

Thank you for your participation! It will help many faculty and students! UFS/ Academic Affairs Committee

Please click on this link and participate in the survey https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sBgbwZfCU6XFZiduozH2FJL6n7nv-tNkhuVq0VgoZUQkNHWVM5OUZQMjNISU8zTzhVNzJETlQwVy4u