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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>FYI. David<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Bonnie Zimmerman
[mailto:bzimmerm@mail.sdsu.edu] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, August 31, 2009 3:28 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Deans:; jlackrit@mail.sdsu.edu; kitano@mail.sdsu.edu;
swilliam@mail.sdsu.edu; mstover@mail.sdsu.edu; lamaster@mail.sdsu.edu;
catkins@sunstroke.sdsu.edu; lholler@mail.sdsu.edu; ppapin@sciences.sdsu.edu;
rgerman@mail.sdsu.edu; rdunn@sciences.sdsu.edu; Chairs and Directors :<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Resources for Teaching and Course Planning<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Deans, Associate Deans, Chairs and Directors: Please
circulate this email to all your faculty. It includes some important
information about available resources for instructional materials accessibility
and emergency situations. Bonnie<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Colleagues:<br>
<br>
As we begin a new--and challenging--academic year, I want to share some
information and resources that may help you with your teaching and course
planning. This memo addresses two important issues: instructional
materials accessibility and what to do in the event of an emergency that
requires closing the university.<br>
<br>
<u>Instructional Materials Accessibility<br>
<br>
</u>Under the auspices of the Accessible Technology Initiative, SDSU has been
working on a plan to make all course materials (books, readers, web sites,
videos, etc.) accessible to all students, regardless of their learning styles
and needs. Most of you have heard about this over the past two years, and
have already adopted many best practices. The task force of faculty,
staff, and administrators that has been working on our plan had hoped to
continue making significant advances in meeting our goal of a fully accessible
learning community. We still believe in that goal and are committed to
achieving it, but in recognition of our current situation, we have regretfully
decided to suspend work toward establishing additional mileposts for the coming
academic year. Although we are not going to set new goals, we do want to
communicate the resources that are currently available to you. <br>
<br>
We have made much progress in small things that make a big difference, such as
prompt ordering of textbooks. You can find a handy list of specific steps
faculty can take to ensure student access to instructional materials at <a
href="http://access.sdsu.edu/instructmater.htm">http://access.sdsu.edu/instructmater.htm</a><span
style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"'>. </span>We are also pleased to
announce the services of Jon Rizzo in Instructional Technology Services, whose
primary duty is to support faculty on accessible instructional materials.
I ask for your continued attention to making your instructional materials
accessible to all learners.<br>
<br>
The task force will also give full support to any of you who would like to work
with your department and/or college this year to increase awareness of
accessibility issues. Let us know how we can help, and we will sit down
with you at any time (except our furlough days, of course!) to work out a plan
of action.<br>
<br>
SDSU continues to take accessibility very seriously, but we also recognize the
demands upon the faculty and the reduction in work time we all face due to
furloughs. We hope you will agree that this is a realistic, if sobering,
assessment of what we can do during these difficult times. Please keep in
mind that accessibility considerations are NOT optional when a student with an
identified disability is enrolled in your class. In that case, the
resources of Student Disability Services, as well as those of Instructional
Technology Services, remain available as always to help in this
situation. You may contact SDS at <a href="http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/sds/">http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/sds/</a>.<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Campus Closure for Emergencies<br>
<br>
</u>Over the past years, SDSU has experienced emergency situations,
specifically wildfires, that have closed it down for short periods of
time. The H1N1 flu outbreak last spring also raised the possibility of
campus closure, and the epidemic is predicted to be more pervasive this coming
flu season. Nor can we forget about the possibility of a destructive
earthquake, such as the one that hit CSU Northridge in 1994. It is
important for faculty to think ahead of time about the measures they would take
should the university close for several days or weeks during the semester.<br>
<br>
The university's emergency preparedness plan requires that we have responses
ready for these situations. We learned during the H1N1 flu event that we
were behind in our preparation, and began to develop a plan that we can now
communicate to the faculty. Key to this plan is the use of our learning
management system, which currently is Blackboard. During Spring 2009,
there were 1,669 active instructor accounts in Blackboard, although many
instructors use Blackboard minimally. We encourage the rest of the
faculty to begin to use the system, and encourage <i>all</i> of you to learn
enough about its key features to support course work during a university
closure.<br>
<br>
Faculty should not attempt to work through their own email lists. If you
do so, you risk violating university policy and/or privacy laws, and your lists
may not be accurate and up-to-date. As an alternative, the Blackboard
email function is more secure and reliable than individual faculty group email
lists. Instructional Technology Services provides support for learning
and effectively using Blackboard. But they will be severely challenged to
support new users interested in more complex features on short notice,
particularly in emergency circumstances. The best solution is to prepare
now for problems that might arise in the future.<br>
<br>
ITS has developed a web site with specific recommendations for faculty and
graduate teaching associates to consider in preparation for a sudden campus
closure. Please access their site at <a
href="http://its.sdsu.edu/preparedness">http://its.sdsu.edu/preparedness</a>.<br>
<br>
Thank you for your attention to these important matters, and I wish you the
best for a productive year.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Bonnie Zimmerman<br>
Associate Vice President<br>
for Faculty Affairs<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Bonnie Zimmerman<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Associate Vice President<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>for Faculty Affairs<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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