FA Secretary Cynthia Eaton collaborated with the incredibly helpful Denny Teason of the Eastern Campus Activities office to host pizza parties as a way to encourage students to complete the SUNY Campus Climate Survey. (photos by Cynthia Eaton)

• SUNY Campus Climate Survey: We wrote about the Campus Climate Survey in the October issue of The WORD and have been encouraging everyone to complete it. The college set a goal for completion rates to be 25% for employees and 10% for students. Chief Diversity Officer Christina Vargas recently indicated that the current response rate is 23% for employees—which is terrific—but only 2.9% for students.
  
  THE SURVEY DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, 12/20 so please complete the survey yourself if you haven’t already done so and continue spreading the word with students.
  
  Often we hear concerns from our students but when we share their stories it’s taken as merely anecdotal. However, when students share their own experiences in the survey, it becomes data and enables the college to better address their needs.
  
  We know semester’s end can feel like a blur, but even an announcement during your last class, an email to students or a post in your Brightspace can help nudge up those student completion numbers. There are now links you can access for the survey:

1. Student survey — research.net/r/5JYQF7V — and upon completion students can enter a drawing for some free SCCC swag
2. Employee survey — research.net/r/7BCC7X6 — and upon completion FA members can enter a drawing for some free FA swag, including our popular Yeti mugs, coffee cups, FA branded fleece, etc.

• Wintersession 2024 checks: According to payroll, faculty who teach during the wintersession will receive one check on January 23.
  
  
• Holiday hours for the FA office and Benefit Fund office: Anita will be out of the FA office from December 23 to January 3.
  
  Mary Kaffaga will be out of the Benefit Fund office from December 23 to December 27 as well as from January 3 to January 10; in addition, during the last week of December, Mary will be in the Benefit Fund office on December 30 and January 2 and working from home (available by email and phone) on December 31.
  
  
• Resources for all of your classes, not just distance education: This semester we have heard from a handful of faculty about being observed in their distance education (DE) and other classes. Because a good number of questions have to do with clarifying what does and does not count for the federal requirements on regular and substantive interaction (RSI) and well as the new YuJa tool in Brightspace, here are some resources for you:
  
  

  • Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) website — Especially check out the sections on Online Teaching, Brightspace, Accessibility and Documents & Resources, then contact Dean Carol Hernandez and her staff for assistance!
  • Learn About YuJa — CTL can help you learn how to use this new video sharing tool within Brightspace. Rather than link your students to external YouTube videos, you can use YuJa right in your Brightspace class. YuJa can also be a way to replace all of those narrated PowerPoints you have been using. Here is a page on how to upload a video to YuJa and edit the captions. Contact CTL for training assistance.
  • FA DE and Brightspace materials webpage: This page on the FA website provides free modules for you to download, modify and use in your classes (syllabus module and student help module) as well as a few Brightspace instructions pages plus links to previous WORD articles on distance education.
  • New federal regulations for regular, substantive interaction in DE courses (The WORD, December 2021) — Because so many questions have arisen, this page can help you better understand that if you are doing at least two of the following five things on a regular basis, it qualifies as substantive interaction:
    
    

    1. Providing direct instruction
    2. Assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework
    3. Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency
    4. Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency
    5. Other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency (e.g., Middle States).