Academic Continuity

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Sloan-C foundation stepped in and formed a consortium of universities which provided courses for students impacted by the hurricane. They talked about how many institutions have plans for business continuity in a disaster, but not so much for academic continuity.

This ties in interestingly with a survey of students done by the SBCTC.That survey noted that students expected ALL faculty to use course management systems (like Blackboard) in their instruction and that they expected them to use it competently. If we were to rely on online instruction as a means of academic continuity, we would have to reach this goal. After all, the aftermath of a disaster is not the time to train faculty on how to use Blackboard and to get new course sites set up. All of this needs to be in place BEFORE the disaster strikes. Interesting stuff, that we should talk about in relation to our strategic and disaster plans.