The Teaching Center will offer two new virtual workshops this week to further assist with the transition to remote learning. 

• April 2, 5-6 p.m.: Creating Scaffolded Projects for Remote Delivery Courses
• April 3, Noon-1 p.m.: Essentials of Remote Grading and Feedback

The Student Opinion of Teaching Surveys will begin on Monday, April 6, and end Sunday, April 19.

• The survey period will start one week later than normal and run for two weeks instead of three.
• Four questions will be added to all surveys to gather student input about the transition to remote teaching and learning.
• Instructors can add their own personalized questions through April 5.
• Survey results from this term should not be used as part of the 2019-20 annual review process, or submitted as part of a dossier for promotion or tenure for T/TS/AS faculty, unless a faculty member requests them to be included.

Like most other public forums, it’s possible to have a person (who may or may not be invited) disrupt an event that’s meant to bring people together. To help combat this in the remote environment, authors at Zoom Blog created a list of settings to consider that will help keep your sessions free from "crashers" and uninvited guests. Some tips include:

• Not publishing your personal meeting ID for public events.
• Preventing attendees from sharing their screens.
• Password protecting your meeting or allowing only signed-in users to join.

We hope that the first day of remote teaching has gone smoothly for you and your students. We wanted to share a few important updates with you and will continue to do so throughout the week. Additionally, we wanted to make you aware that two virtual workshops that we facilitated on Friday are now available for viewing (information below). 1) Please read the message from Provost Cudd to all Pitt faculty members on March 20. The message addresses significant topics like:

• access to faculty offices and labs for instructional purposes.
• guidance for grading.
• thesis defenses and other milestones.
• teaching assistants and teaching fellows.
• academic term dates.
• summer term planning.
• Student Opinion of Teaching Surveys.
• resources for teaching remotely.

In anticipation of the resumption of class on March 23, please review the details contained in this message to help you launch your courses on Monday.

1. See our new guidelines for communicating with students as classes resume.
2. Visit teaching.pitt.edu for immediate access to resources on instructional continuity in the remote environment.
3. Read the message from Provost Cudd, which contains important information about available resources, as well as information about policies and facilities, and the Provost’s message to students.
4. Please direct technical questions (related to software, home network connections, your computer, Zoom, basic LMS questions, etc.) to the Help Desk, 412-624-HELP. They are open 24 hours.
5. If you contact the Teaching Center (teaching@pitt.edu or 412-648-2832) we will respond as quickly as possible, as we work to triage the calls/emails and get them directed to the right person.
6. Our remote hours of operation for the week of March 23 will be 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

In anticipation of the resumption of class on March 23, please review the details contained in this message to help you launch your courses on Monday.

1. See our new tips for communicating with students as classes move online are available to all faculty.
2. Visit teaching.pitt.edu for immediate access to resources on instructional continuity in the remote environment.
3. Read the message from Provost Cudd, which contains important information about available resources, as well as information about policies and facilities, and the Provost’s message to students.
4. Direct your technical questions (like basic Blackboard/Canvas, Zoom, software, home network connections, etc.) to the Help Desk at 412-624-HELP. They are open 24 hours.
5. If you contact the Teaching Center (teaching@pitt.edu or 412-648-2832) we will respond as quickly as possible, as we work to triage the calls/emails and get them directed to the right person.
6. Our hours of operation for the week of March 23 will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.