Each Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

Several faculty members have reached out to ask about some model language for syllabi, regarding absences and illnesses related to COVID-19.  Others have asked for some model language for syllabi, regarding absences and illnesses related to student mental health challenges. These are welcome questions, and they offer an opportunity to ‘think out loud’ a bit about what we’ve learned over the past two years—and how that learning might show up in course policies and syllabus language.

There isn’t any one perfect way to establish norms and expectations around class attendance and late work—though I tend to favor kindness and clarity.  There are, though, questions we can ask ourselves, when thinking through how to communicate with students about our course policies regarding attendance and assignments.

1.  How important is it that students attend and participate?  If it is very important (and I think it likely is) are we designing classroom interactions that reinforce that – are we creating spaces where their voices and contributions matter? Are we signposting the learning that goes on in class conversation?
2. How important is it that students turn work in on time?  If it is very important (and I think it likely is), are we explaining why? Are we designing assessments and assignments that build on each other? Are we offering multiple low-stakes opportunities for demonstration of learning? Are we offering a chance to improve on work already turned in?
3. How important is it to know students’ reasons for missing, or for turning work in late?  If it is important, *when* is it important (before class/missing? within a week after?)?  How much detail do we want and need?  And, is this an email, an office hours conversation, or a ‘grab me after class’ situation?
4. What are the worries about making ‘exceptions’ to students?  Are they around fairness? Are they around equity (and, have we thought about the difference between equality and equity in our teaching?)? Are they around workload? Are they around preparing students for jobs once they leave Drake?  Do our policies reflect good answers to those worries/concerns?
5. What are colleagues doing?  Is it important to have consistent practices across sections of the same course, or within a department or school?  How can we have unit-level conversations that surface these expectations, variations, and similarities?

The past two years have reminded us that students live complicated lives—lives that are stressful, joyful, full of disruption, and sometimes difficult to manage.  COVID-19 also reminded us that we faculty live complicated lives—lives that are stressful, joyful, full of disruption, and sometimes difficult to manage.  This has always been true—but COVID put that truth into high relief.

I would advocate that we take account of these human existences, in our syllabi and course policies.  This means balancing student needs with our needs with the learning objectives we’ve defined for the course.

As we enter the 2022–2023 academic year, we all hope it will be a bit more like years we vaguely remember—the slightly easier years—the years not disrupted by a global pandemic.  We also all know, I think, that we are likely to face challenges that we hadn’t anticipated, and to need to help students cope with things they might never have been asked to deal with, in previous years.  This generation of students is exceptionally good at advocating for themselves and their needs;  hope we celebrate these skills—and that we design course policies and language that ask them to recognize the importance of hard work and clear communication, while providing them the grace and wiggle room they might need, as they prioritize their education amidst a panoply of competing demands on their time, attention, and health.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost