Prepared by the Yale Faculty of Arts and Science committee on communal expectations for teaching and learning
This is a unique time in the history of Yale University. Amid multiple national crises, instructors and students have the opportunity to continue our commitments to education, the creation and preservation of knowledge, and service to our communities. Students and instructors will return to fall classes under pandemic restrictions and ongoing uncertainty, and will benefit from reaffirming established responsibilities and in some cases articulating new ones to one another; and to the University’s mission. In this new milieu, inequities may arise. Access to technology is not uniform, and neither is technological know-how. Teaching and learning through screens, chats, email, and other technically-mediated atmospheres asks students and instructors to relate in fundamentally different ways. Further, instructors and students, not to mention college deans and other community members and people close to them, may have health concerns and additional familial responsibilities. The hybrid teaching and learning environment, which will be operating in the context of these possible additional stresses, brings new challenges as well as opportunities.
The following principles, which derive in large part from existing university policies, lay out the responsibilities of students and instructors under partial or full remote learning during the pandemic.
Above all, we want to affirm that we are a community that cares for and attends to one another and is responsive to this unique situation.
Instructors
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Students
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Learning Together
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Universities create communities of learning in which we all are taught by one another’s diverse experiences, knowledge, and expertise. This requires an inclusive environment that supports intellectual exchange along with the principles of mutual respect. Conduct that erodes or degrades the principle of mutual respect is unwelcome. |
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Promote Communication and Transparency
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Open communication is vital to building and maintaining a sense of community, particularly in predominantly online classes. A positively impactful connection between instructors, teaching fellows, and students in a remote environment depends on frequent and transparent communication between all constituents of a course. |
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Instructors have a responsibility to…
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Practice Patience, Compassion and Flexibility
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Individual circumstances can diverge widely within a large, complex community under the circumstances of the pandemic. There will be different reasons students and instructors need to request flexibility in meeting deadlines and fulfilling assignments. Consideration of these requests should respect the individual and attempt to respond to their individual needs. The objective is to create an educational environment in which everyone can fully participate. No one with a role in a course should be expected to take on inordinate levels of responsibility. During this period, students and instructors should be patient with each other and flexible in their expectations. A heightened sense of understanding should accompany our interactions. |
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Produce Equity & Accessibility
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Yale should have an inclusive culture, built upon a sense of belonging for everyone. To achieve this, we should actively invite and honor the contributions of every member of our community. By inclusion we mean that every matriculated student and every instructor receive equality of opportunity, fair treatment, and equitable access to resources and information. |
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Protect Academic Integrity
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All members of our community have an expectation of honesty in intellectual exchange. Under the new conditions, students may have reasons to consider cutting corners, cheating, plagiarizing, or otherwise compromising the trust that upholds the intellectual community. It is vital that all involved interrupt this tendency and address the underlying issues, whether potential dishonesty stems from confusion about the boundaries, anxiety about performance, or other limitations brought on by the pandemic. |
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Use Technology with Intention & Care
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All members of our community are learning how to use new tools and technology. These tools create possibility but also create new responsibilities: as a community, we must commit to using technology responsibly, respecting those with whom we share the online learning environment and responding with patience and cooperation as others learn. |
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Committee membership:
Chair
- Larry Gladney, Phyllis Wallace Dean of Diversity and Faculty Development in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Physics
Members
- Michael Bochkur Dratver, Undergraduate Student, Jonathan Edwards College ‘23
- Emily Erikson, Associate Professor, Sociology; Member, FAS Faculty Senate
- Jenny Frederick, Executive Director, Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
- Maria Del Mar Galindo, Graduate Student, Department of English
- Anjelica Gonzalez, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
- Sarah Mahurin, Residential College Dean, Timothy Dwight College; Director of Undergraduate Studies, Special Divisional Majors
- Paul North, Professor of German
- Susan Sawyer, Senior Associate General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
- Rebecca Toseland, Senior Lecturer, Economics; Director of Research Support, Tobin Center for Economic Policy; Resident Fellow, Morse College