Dear College of Education Faculty, Staff, and Students,
Thank you for responding to our survey in May about your experiences during the transition to online learning and remote working due to COVID-19. I and other members of our college leadership team are grateful for your time and your insights.
What We Learned from You
- Ongoing and transparent communication and online gatherings helped promote a sense of support and connection to the college community.
- For students, flexibility in accessing course materials and interactions with instructors and peers were important factors that helped you feel supported in your online courses.
- Among our students, your biggest concerns were related to staying motivated to do school-related work and staying mentally healthy as you continued to complete your coursework online.
- For our faculty and staff, your biggest concerns were related to the health and safety of you and/or your family if you should return to campus in the fall. Staff also reported a high concern about job security.
What the College is Doing to Address Your Feedback
- We will continue to share informational emails, host Zoom town hall meetings, and post updates on our COVID website to keep you informed. We will also develop plans to promote a better sense of connection and support among the college community as we move forward together.
- The Office of Instructional Innovation (OI2) will continue to provide professional development, course preparation support, and instructional consultation to faculty in the college. We encourage all instructors to contact OI2 at oi2@utexas.edu to find out about summer support and to begin your course preparation as soon as possible.
- We will work on sharing resources to help students manage their school-related work, stay mentally healthy, and ensure that their basic needs are being met.
- We will also work on resources to help faculty and staff stay mentally and physically healthy as they balance family and work-related responsibilities while working remotely.
We are waiting to hear from UT leadership on decisions about policies and procedures that will be used to ensure the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff who will return to campus in the fall.
Again, thank you for participating in the survey. Your feedback is very important to us as we make decisions about the upcoming fall semester. Please send your questions and/or suggestions to dean.education@austin.utexas.edu.
Warmly,
CHARLES R. MARTINEZ, JR. | Dean and Professor
The University of Texas at Austin | College of Education
